By Andrew Pask
When talking about Olympic legacies, the question of public spaces—streets, sidewalks and gathering places—becomes an important one. What will March 2010 hold in store, once the last athletes and IOC officials have left town? Here are three ideas and opportunities that bear thinking about:
Pedestrian Streets – The transportation plan for the Games includes the temporary creation of several car-free areas in the downtown core. They will be heavily used during the Games, showcasing some real possibilities for future transportation planning. Such pedestrian corridors can be a boon for our long-term sustainability, economic development and public health, and we should be working hard, as residents, to advocate for pedestrian corridors in our post-Olympic city.
Safety – It was a bit dodgy to say the least. Early in 2009, Council passed a motion requesting funds from the province for “temporary” surveillance cameras to monitor public spaces during the Games. Once the funding was in place, the province made a little aside that went something like this: “What? Temporary? Why would we fund temporary cameras?” Bad move. The cameras—proven to be largely ineffectual at reducing crime—need to go after the Games are over. Vancouver does not need long-term police monitoring of residents as part of any ‘gift’ from Victoria.
Gathering Places – Upgrades have been made to several community centres and park facilities, but what about the opportunities for imagining entirely new gathering places? One site that should be front and centre is the large, city-owned parking lot at Georgia and Beatty Streets. Once known as Larwill Park, this parking lot used to be one of the city’s grand gathering places (it got shut down as such in the 1950s). Now, temporarily repurposed as an Olympic “Live Site”, the parking lot should be kept as a gathering place. A renewed Larwill Park would help to build a strong linkage between False Creek and the downtown core, providing necessary open space (and perhaps our long-missed public square) in a park-deprived area of the city.
Each of these ideas also speaks to a more general consideration of the social and political use of public space in the city. The Olympics—which come with a full contingent of pros and cons—provides an important opportunity to look at Vancouver’s public spaces and the role that they play in our overall quality of life.
Andrew Pask is director of the Vancouver Public Space Network, which works on advocacy, education and outreach pertaining to the city’s public realm. For more information see VancouverPublicSpace.ca.
