“CityStudio Vancouver is an energetic hub of learning and leadership where students design and implement Greenest City 2020 solutions.”

CityStudio has engaged hundreds of students through the unique inter-institutional campus-city collaboration (C3) to develop projects and research related to urban sustainability that may help the city where they have identified the most need. The Campus City Collaborative (C3) – a collaborative partnership between the City of Vancouver (‘the City’) and six Vancouver post secondary institutions, including The University of British Columbia. CityStudio integrates learning with current projects in the City of Vancouver and in local communities.

CLIENT

For this CBEL project, our client is the City of Vancouver Strategic Transportation department. Two of the city’s strategic action plans, including the Greenest City 2020 and Transportation 2040, both aim to transform Vancouver into world’s greenest city with a focus of prioritizing and promoting foot, bike and mass transit, as well as decrease motor traffic in the city. Key targets for the city by 2040 is to have the majority (2/3) of trips made on foot, bike and transit, to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels and to have the cleanest air of any major city in the world.

PROJECT GOAL

Our project goal is to propose improvement to the False Creek Flats area in response to the City of Vancouver’s 30 year plan of transforming the area into a “green enterprise zone” where thousands of people and industries will work and operate. The city’s goal is to tag the False Creek Flats area as foot and bike accessible industrial land that will support the downtown core and as a greenest tech area in the world to work.

CONSTRAINTS

Our group is aware that in every project, there will be several negotiable and non-negotiable constraints that we should consider. In False Creek Flats Improvement Plan, we have to keep in mind that we are not allowed to remove any railway lines, including the Burrard Inlet, or build tunnels underground. In addition to that, any changes that may affect the Produce Row and Cottonwood Gardens will not be approved due to their cultural significance to this area. City of Vancouver is determined to maintain False Creek Flats area as an industrial area for access to downtown. An idea of building a bike overpass near the northeast corner has been proposed and will be opened to discussion with our client.

STRATEGIES

To achieve our project goal, we will adopt a timeline methodology as we progress. First, we will conduct a team site visit to gather information and experience the area. We will then conduct a baseline assessment with Mr.Peter Cohen, our contact from the City of Vancouver, to discuss areas of improvement that are of interest to our team and seek approval from Mr. Cohen. After obtaining key areas to work on, our team will perform option development. We will research on new technology that will improve the sustainability of the area, as well as case studies from other cities that may be used here in Vancouver. Finally, we will present our solution to the identified areas of improvement on a poster and present the poster in UBC as well as City Studio’s April 1st networking and show off event.