Suggestions for urban site seeing in vancouver.

[GorG]

Hey guys,

I'm traveling for a couple of days to Vancouver and would love some suggestions on places to see. I've heard that river creek is a pretty amazing space, besides that i've had a bit of difficulty tracking down some urban hotspots without getting sent to Sites regarding the MDP for Vancouver or discussions on upcoming projects. What i'm after is areas with historic significance from a planning or architectural perspective. I would also like to see some examples of redeveloped brown field sites. Hope you guys could help me put or at least point me in the right direction.

[Pinion]

Where is River Creek? Did you mean False Creek? It was all industrial until the 90s and is now one of the most desirable areas in Canada. The north side (Pacific and Davie) is the epicentre.

One brownfield still in development that no one else will probably mention is in my avatar, the Pier/Shipyards in North Vancouver (Lonsdale ave and Esplanade). Easily accessible from downtown by public transit. If you go on Fridays during the summer it looks like this


My photo

Plus a nice view back towards downtown


My photo

The area is older than Vancouver itself - formerly known as Moodyville. Still has active shipbuilding yards and tugboat ports beside it.

Gastown (Water St) is the historical area downtown and very trendy right now. Check out the Woodwards complex (West Hastings St and Abbott).

Also the Olympic Village on Southeast False Creek (Athletes Way and Manitoba) changed an industrial area to beautiful mid-rise neighbourhood in under three years.

In general we don't have much brownfield development though because port land is still very viable.

[red-paladin]

What i'm after is areas with historic significance from a planning or architectural perspective. I would also like to see some examples of redeveloped brown field sites.

The Olympic Village on false creek is a good example of a brownfield rejuvenation. In fact, most of False Creek is. The Concord Pacific lands have been called the the largest master-planned community in North America.

[GorG]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions! and yes I meant false creek not river creek. Is Lonsdale ave and Esplanade active throughout the weekend? I arrive Saturday morning.

[spm2013]

Sorry, the Night Market is only Thursday and Fridays at Lonsdale. Haven't been down there much on the weekends so not sure about that..

[whatnext]

If you're looking for something a little less "urban planned" than False Creek or Lower Lonsdale you could check out Steveston, one the centre of Canada's salmon fishing industry. There's two historic sites, lots of restaurants, shops as well.

http://www.mashedthoughts.com/2013/0...-downtown.html