VANCOUVER’S MISSING MIDDLE ComparingVANCOUVER’S Urban Forms to InformMISSING New Residential MIDDL BuildingE Typologies in Vancouver Comparing Urban Forms to Inform Residential Building TypologiesJames Beaudreau for Vancouver School of Community and Regional Planning University of British Columbia November 2014 James Beaudreau School of Community and Regional Planning University of British Columbia November 2014 VANCOUVER'S MISSING MIDDLE Abstract by Vancouver, British Columbia is JAMES ALFRED BEAUDREAU experiencing rapid growth. The city currently faces difficult questions about B.S., Northeastern University, 2002 how it will grow, and how to ensure this M.P.A., San Francisco State University, 2009 growth is sustainable. Some kind of intensification of residential land uses will A PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF undoubtedly need to be part of the strategy THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF for increasing the supply of housing in the city, but questions remain about how this MASTER OF ARTS (PLANNING) intensification should be carried out. This report compares the built form of in Vancouver's low-density, single-family THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES communities to older and more established neighbourhoods in cities in both North School of Community and Regional Planning America and Europe. The purpose of this exercise is to understand how the built form We accept this project as conforming of the city, such as the street patterns and to the required standard types of buildings, affect the level of density. This report finds that there is a ...................................................... significant amount of land in Vancouver that could be redeveloped to meet future ..................................................... housing needs. ..................................................... THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA November 2014 © James Alfred Beaudreau, 2014 Vancouver’s Missing Middle i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS available to answer questions or help My partner, Greg, will forever be resolve problems. appreciated for his patient and loving I would first like to thank all of the faculty support and encouragement throughout my at the University of British Columbia's I owe a very special thanks to my advisor time at SCARP. He is also owed a debt of (UBC's) School of Community and Associate Professor Maged Senbel. He is a gratitude for proofreading this report. Our Regional Planning (SCARP) who have committed and enthusiastic teacher. His two cats, Annabelle and Mackenzie, who provided me with an incredible opportunity hands-on approach to teaching, especially we adopted in the first year of my program for professional and academic growth over in his studio courses, provided some of my at SCARP, offered a wonderful distraction the past two years. The field of planning is fondest educational experiences at SCARP. when I needed a break from my studies; very broad and filled with tensions and His knowledge, guidance, and unfortunately, they were also responsible conflicts that make for a challenging encouragement has been pivotal to the for providing an unlimited source of intellectual environment, much moreso development of this project. procrastination from coursework, creating than I anticipated when I began the some long nights when deadlines program. I appreciate the dedication with Patrick Chan, with the City of Vancouver approached. which the SCARP faculty seek to prepare Planning Department, who served as a students to tackle some of the very difficult reader for this project, provided invaluable problems facing our world. insights and suggestions that greatly enhanced this project. I would also like to give a special thanks to all the adjunct faculty who take time out of My classmates at SCARP, in particular their busy lives to be an integral part of the Alex and Megan, provided great support education offered at SCARP. These throughout the program. I look forward to Professors in Practice provide a significant enjoying their friendship for years to come. value to the program by sharing their real- world experiences and offering invaluable I would also like to thank my family for professional and career-planning advice. supporting me in every way through all my This project was significantly assisted by educational, professional, and personal their collective insights about current endeavours. My parents, Donald and Mary, planning issues in the City of Vancouver. in particular, worked very hard to make sure that my brothers and I had access to The staff at SCARP are also owed thanks opportunities that allowed us to pursue our for providing such wonderful and often dreams. They also taught us important life unnoticed support to the program. Patti lessons, including the importance of Toporowski offers outstanding support to curiosity, skepticism, and integrity. the masters program, and is always Greg and our cats in our downtown Vancouver apartment ii Vancouver’s Missing Middle PREFACE dissatisfaction of being stuck in the house connect with an entire new community of with nothing to do except read or watch people. I took a job at the counter of the television. At the same time, the idea that coffee shop, where regulars from the This report, the capstone requirement for there was a larger world out there out of neighbourhood would gather each my Master of Arts in Planning degree at my grasp was enormously frustrating. The afternoon. It was a diverse group–gay and UBC SCARP, was in many ways a very lack of a car, in a community with no straight, young and old, working long time in the making. It was a project public transportation and with distances professionals and retirees, bartenders and that built upon a lifetime of personal between destinations too far to walk, was a professors–and it provided a experiences, combined with many values key obstacle. much-valued source of connection to the and professional interests that led me to community around me. enrol in SCARP. As a child, my family had visited cities around the northeastern United States such In subsequent years I've had opportunities I grew up in a suburban community in as Boston, New York, Montreal, and to live in other vibrant urban central Massachusetts. My parents, of Washington. I fell in love with the neighbourhoods in Washington, DC; modest means, worked hard to buy a home complexity of cities, with all the interesting San Francisco; and now Vancouver. I've in the suburbs. They felt it was important people who seemed to live in them, and never owned a car, and in almost each city to raise their three sons in a house on a with the beauty of the layers of old and I was able to walk to work. These cities quiet street, with a big yard, and in a new buildings. As I began to make college offered so many different environments to community with well-regarded schools. In plans, I knew that I needed to be in a city. spend time in, such as quiet parks with many ways, it was a perfect environment expansive city views, lively parks crowded for a child to grow up in. Once we were a My first college dormitory at Northeastern with people on picnic blankets, secluded bit older and independent, our bicycles University in Boston overlooked the Back coffee shops where you could lose yourself provided access beyond the suburban Bay Fens, part of the Emerald Necklace in a book, and crowded pubs to meet subdivisions onto country roads where we park system designed by Frederick Law friends after work. I've had many could explore the surrounding woods. We Olmsted in the late 19th century. Walking serendipitous experiences of meeting new explored stone walls from long-abandoned around the neighbourhoods and exploring people in such places, making connections farms that went on for miles, and played in quiet residential streets of Beacon Hill and that often resulted in long-lasting babbling brooks building dams and looking The Back Bay provided a great deal of friendships. I love the experience of living for crayfish. stimulation and joy. in cities, and would never consider returning to a suburban community. As I grew older, however, this suburban While in college, and as a young gay man landscape seemed to abruptly restrict both in the process of coming out, the discovery One of the reasons why I was interested in autonomy and mobility. Although the idea of a coffee shop at the corner of Tremont attending SCARP was a profound concern of adolescents afflicted by suburban ennui Street and Union Park in Boston's South about environmental sustainability. I hoped has become a bit of a cultural cliche, I can End provided me with an opportunity to to be able to learn how to design cities that vividly remember the boredom and Vancouver’s Missing Middle iii were environmentally sustainable and Vancouver and other cities struggling with could reduce our ecological footprint to growth and housing shortage are currently prevent further degradation of our facing. environment. At SCARP I learned that achieving such a goal is a herculean task, one that may be impossible to achieve in our lifetimes. However, we know–in large measure–what is required to make our cities more environmentally sustainable. Better land-use planning is a central element, with the aim of creating compact, complete, walkable communities. In Vancouver today, as in many cities throughout North America, there is great conflict surrounding change, especially as it concerns intensification of residential land uses. As single-family homes give way to larger buildings, neighbours often lament the loss of their communities characterized by trees, green lawns, and secluded back yards. In Vancouver, such change is often perceived as loss. However, while some attributes of these communities, such as the large expanses of private space, may be lost, there is a lot to be gained by having denser communities. Such communities may also be healthier, more economically productive, and offer a higher quality of life.