Vancouver Livable Region Strategic Plan
Core idea
UGB, centers, transit corridors
Why it matters
North American model of growth management
Description
Greater Vancouver's 1996 Livable Region Strategic Plan steered regional growth into a compact metropolitan structure of complete communities, a green zone, and a transit-oriented network, underpinning the high-density, livable 'Vancouverism' model.
Significance
Vancouver's plan and the 'Vancouverism' it produced — slim residential towers on lively low-rise bases, oriented to transit and public waterfront — became an internationally exported model of dense, livable city-building.
What became of it
Adopted by the Greater Vancouver Regional District with municipal support in 1996 and guided regional growth for over a decade before being succeeded by the Metro Vancouver 2040 Regional Growth Strategy.
Critique
Critics argued the containment-and-density approach constrained land supply and contributed to housing affordability pressures.
What shaped it
- The compact city (1973-1990s)
- Transit-oriented development (TOD) (1993)
- The green belt (1898 concept / 1938 law)
- Sustainable development (Brundtland) (1987)
Plans it influenced
- Greater Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt (2005)
- Auckland Unitary Plan (2016)
- Toronto Official Plan 2002/2019 (2002/2019)
- Halifax Regional Plan 2023 (2023)
Sources
- https://metrovancouver.org/about-us/Documents/livable-region-strategic-plan.pdf
- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Vancouver,_British_Columbia_Livable_Region_Strategic_Plan