Vancouver has a lot of room to grow — upwards.
That’s according to the latest density report from the free-market think tank the Fraser Institute.
Despite being Canada’s densest urban centre, Vancouver ranked 13th among 30 international “peer cities” when it came to density levels, according to the report.
Four other Canadian cities made the list, including Montreal at 16th place, Toronto at 19th, Mississauga at 23rd and Calgary at 24th.
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The study chose cities based on the criteria that they were from high-income countries and had high populations.
While cities like Hong Kong, Paris and Athens took the top spots, Fraser Institute senior policy analyst Josef Filipowicz said it’s better to compare Vancouver to San Francisco.
“It’s approximately the same size, so between 110 and 120 square kilometres. And yet, San Francisco has about 140,000 more people who live there,” he said.
“So it gives you as bit of context, that’s like if you had the City of Vancouver and the City of Coquitlam in the same footprint.”
The report argued that Vancouver, Toronto and other Canadian cities facing affordability crises have room to grow — without sacrificing livability.
Filipowicz said there’s several ways that Vancouverites could increase density in single-family neighborhoods, and not all of them involve high rises.
“Density has many different forms, and some of these cities featured in fact have height limits. Like Paris, I don’t think much goes over 66 feet, so it’s interesting how different cities do it differently,” he said.
Vancouver’s former chief city planner Brent Toderian said holding Vancouver up to other “peer cities” like San Francisco is a matter of “comparing apples to oranges.”
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“Vancouver has had most of its development in the so-called recent era, whereas San Francisco had most of its development decades and decades, even 100 years ago,” he said.
Toderian agreed that cities like Vancouver and Toronto have the potential to add density, but said it shouldn’t come at the expense of farmland or urban sprawl.
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“All densification, if it’s going to be successful, has to be in the context of a good value system around good planning, good urban design, good multi-modal thinking that emphasizes walking, biking and transit, good amenities to make sure that density is livable and lovable,” he said.
“This can’t just be a math exercise.”
The City of Vancouver has signaled a willingness to experiment with new forms of density, aiming to build 10,000 new townhomes, rowhouses and infill properties on the affluent westside, along with nearly 48,000 new units of rental housing.