CanU changed in 2020.
How ?
We saw clearly that our mission - advocacy for great city-building through design - must expand to ensure that the benefits of a great city are accessible to all. This was the focus of our recent 2020 STEP UP Series,* which included four conversations on how urban design can make access a priority.
We’re sharing highlights of the STEP UP Series over the coming in a series of short videos.
We are also starting a series of interviews with authors of recent books that explore urban design in contemporary city-building through the access lens.
CanU 2020
Interview
The first interview is with Larry Beasley, former Co-Director of Planning for Vancouver. During his tenure Vancouver underwent a dramatic transformation, driven by the idea of livability. His book, Vancouverism, provides insights into his thoughts and actions at the City between 1986 and 2006. Don’t miss this evocative conversation between Larry Beasley and Meg Holden, director of the urban studies program at Simon Fraser University. Their conversation covers all the critical themes in the book and doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff: affordability, the role of planners as city-builders, deal brokering with developers, and exporting the principles of Vancouverism abroad. Larry shares what worked and what didn’t in the remarkable downtown transformation he helped to shape.
To round out the discussion of livability in Vancouver, join Larry’s tour of South Downtown, part of the CanU 2020 STEP UP Series. Gain valuable insights as Larry illustrates many of Vancouverism’s principles through the lens of his own neighbhourhood, a place he continues to live in and learn from.
