Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
I visited for the first time in 2017 and have to agree with you. There's nothing jarring about the False Creek area but nothing pleasing either. What surprised me most about Vancouver was how one could have so much density but still feel completely lifeless at street level. West Georgia at the Stanley Park end was block after block of absolutely nothing.
Interestingly, I found the downtown East Side's built form the most interesting and engaging part of Vancouver. I stayed in the West End and liked that part of town as well.
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In my opinion Vancouver is one of those cities that has seen such intense gentrification and real estate speculation that some neighbourhoods have gotten worse over the years, or at least never developed much as interesting places to live, even though they saw enormous investment or price increases.
Coal Harbour is a prime example of this. It has a combination of high rents and empty or underused housing so there isn't enough business to keep many shops open. Many parts of the West Side like Point Grey feel like they've stagnated or declined a bit even as prices shot way up. The neighbourhoods that used to be run down have had the most positive development. These are places like Main Street or Commercial Drive.
There's also the fact that Vancouver is a very new city. Most of the good parts of other Canadian cities were built 100+ years ago. Vancouver has some of the nicest modern construction but it is still not building anything like 1860's neighbourhoods.
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