Poor Mall!

Central City is a beautifully designed mall with all the right shops such as T&T, Future Shop and of course a long parade of clothing store to keep you fully entertained. Its spacious, has tons of parking and there is a skytrain station right at the doorstep. Its also the sleepiest mall with very few shoppers even during the weekend peaks. I am currently sitting at this mall wondering why is it that it is unable to attract any shoppers.

It then occurred to me why this might be the case. Central City is no where near a highway exit. Although it is right next to a major road (King George Highway), only local consumers would come here. There is no regional appeal to the mall because not many people know its here, its a bit out of the way from Highway #1.

What about the skytrain? Metrotown is a huge mall in Burnaby sitting right next to a skytrain station. It is probably one of the busiest mall in the GVRD, granted it also has more than 100 stores. One reason that mall attracts a lot of shoppers is because its located between Vancouver and Surrey. Thus, anyone who is commuting on the skytrain to Vancouver, probably passes through Metrotown. Location plays a key role here. You need to make a specific trip out to Surrey to get to Central City and not many people are willing to that. Unfortunately, this area of Surrey has a bad reputation as being a bit shady so this might play a factor as well.

Alas, this poor mall remains a sad, sleepy mall. It seems that if the mall is not right next to a highway or if its not centrally located, then its not going to be attracting a lot of visitors.

Suburban Shame

I spent almost my entire life living in the suburbs. I never really had reason to complain, I had a big back yard, my friends and I lived close to each other and we always felt safe in our neighbourhoods. The suburbs was the perfect place to grow up. Why would anyone think differently?

On a recent site visit to one of our projects, my boss and I got into quite an interesting discussion on why he HATES the suburbs!! I was shocked to say the least but he had some valid points. He told me that when he use to live in Seattle, he lived exactly a mile from work. But thanks to the way the city was designed he had no choice but to DRIVE to work.

"I lived in the suburbs only once in my entire life. My home was one exit away from my work but there was no pedestrian crossings or safe path that I could take to get to my office. If I wanted to walk, I would need to take a detour 5 miles even though I lived only a mile away! My time is very valuable, I don't want to waste it sitting in traffic."

My boss and his family now live in downtown where they can walk or take transit to any location they need go daily. They are involved in the ZIP car program (vehicle-sharing) so they have a vehicle whenever they need it, which is not very often. He claims that not only is his quality of life better (more time to spend with his wife and son) but he's healthier now because of all the exercise he is getting.

Many would claim that downtown streets are not entirely pedestrian friendly but the suburbs are worse. Sure we may have wide new sidewalks but when do we actually use them to make a walking trip? The atmosphere in the suburbs is not endusive to non-automobile trips, everything is just too far from each other!

So sure I might have a nice yard but all the time I might have spent in it is now lost in commuting everywhere. What a shame....!

The Numbered Grid

I love Surrey for they way they have systematically developed their road network. (See the map image to the left) Although we have a few named streets, the avenues and streets for the most part are numbered so that its one big beautiful grid. This is a good thing right?

Maybe not... the numbered roads are great for directions and navigation but it completely takes away something from the city. "120 Street is the shady part of town" sounds odd when we are use to hearing "Hastings Street is the shady part of town." Its not just the fact Hastings Street is more heard of but the actual name gives it some 'substance' and history. The name itself evokes some feelings... numbers do not.

Does a numbered grid take away value and character from the city?

Introduction: "What its all about"

When roads are designed, planners and engineers focus on building a system which is capable of efficiently and safely moving its users around the region. However, rarely do we consider how these roads will shape our communities and ultimately our cities. There is more to a street or highway than its simple ability to take us places; it also creates the environment around us.

This whole topic started with a few innocent questions from a friend of mine. He asked me if I preferred the roads in Surrey (generally a suburb area) to the ones in Vancouver.

"Of course Surrey has the better roads," I answered. "Not only do they have designated left turn signals, wider curb space but now there are also designated right turn lanes for large developments."

My friend nodded in agreement. "Sure, Surrey does have all those things and the roads feel easier to drive on but there is no sense of community when you drive in Surrey. Everything has a specific space and everyone always wants to drive on the main roads. In Vancouver, everyone drives everywhere. When you drive in Vancouver, you know you are going through different neighbourhoods and communities because there are shops, parks and schools scattered everywhere. I don't feel that in Surrey, its too planned… too well thought out."

Now as an engineering student, I almost took offense to his comment but I realized that there needs to be more to a road network than its ability to move traffic. Now this maybe more of a zoning and planning issue but I want to explore how the road networks in the GVRD have shaped this region. How would a highway through downtown Vancouver change the GVRD of today? How is the Pitt River Bridge and the twinning of the Port Mann going to effect the sprawling communities? Are things getting better or worse?

Keep your eyes on the road because its going to be one interesting journey!