Urbanarium debate questions who should plan our
city — experts or neighbourhood residents
In August
2014, I wrote a column on whether it was time to stop listening
to experts.
It was
inspired by Vancouver city council’s announcement that it was establishing a 48-person
Citizens’ Assembly in Grandview-Woodlands to spend eight months
learning about neighbourhood planning so residents could provide informed input on
a controversial community plan.
My column
was also influenced by an article titled ‘The Fall of Planning Expertise’ in Planetizen,
an online website for the urban planning, design, and development community.
It described
how society seems to have lost respect for "experts" — those who have
knowledge and/or experience in a particular field — and replaced it with a kind
of "expertise egalitarianism" whereby everyone's opinion is given
equal weight.
Since
writing the column, the Citizens’ Assembly has issued its report and
planning recommendations. They often depart from what many planners would
regard as appropriate building forms and densities.
On the
controversial proposal for a high density, high rise complex at Commercial and
Venables, the members could not reach a consensus,
and agreed to disagree.
There
have been other significant events in Vancouver since my column. In January
2016, the Urbanarium Society, in partnership with the Museum of Vancouver,
created an exhibition titled Your Future Home: Creating the New Vancouver.
My
colleague Naoibh O’Connor (it’s OK, I can’t pronounce her name either) wrote about the opening of the exhibit. If you
are interested in Vancouver’s future, I highly recommend that you visit this exhibition
before it ends on May 15. The museum is located at 1100 Chestnut Street, within
the Planetarium.
In
addition to the exhibit, the Urbanarium Society has organized a series of debates
along with the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Moderated
by David Beers, founding editor of The Tyee, expert teams argue
competing visions for solving Metro Vancouver’s biggest challenges. Audience
members vote before and after each debate, with a prize awarded to the team
that changes the most minds. So far
there have been four debates.
The first
was on the proposition that we open all neighbourhoods to densification. Former
Vancouver director of planning Brent Toderian and architect Joyce Drohan did
their best to justify the benefits of increasing neighbourhood densities.
However, the debate was won by UBC professor emeritus Michael Goldberg and
former Vancouver mayor Sam ‘EcoDensity’ Sullivan who convinced many in the
audience it may be best to leave certain neighbourhoods alone.
The
second debate was on the proposition that we build fewer towers. The third
debate was on the proposition that we legislate housing affordability. The
fourth debate looked at whether Vancouver needed an overall city plan.
To see
who participated in these debates, and who won, go to urbanarium.org where you
can also watch videos of the debates.
On May
11th, the final debate of this season will
take place. The proposition is ‘Let experts plan’ and two teams will argue
whether citizens should be more empowered to decide what gets built Vancouver;
or whether the process is already too prone to public pressures, stifling the
creativity, know-how and vision that professional planners are hired to provide.
I will be
arguing the pro side of this debate and joined by Judy Rudin.
Rudin is
not a professional planner. On the contrary, she is a communications consultant
who describes herself as a fan of the democratic process who specializes in
promoting public engagement.
Our
opponents are two well-known Vancouver personalities.
Michael Kluckner is an artist and author
best-known for his 1990 book Vanishing Vancouver, and its 2012 sequel.
He is a member of the Heritage Commission and president of the Vancouver
Historical Society.
Charles
Campbell is a former editor and writer with the Georgia Straight, the Vancouver
Sun and The Tyee. He worked with the Citizens' Assembly on the
Grandview-Woodland Community Plan to salvage a planning process that he claims
was botched by senior city managers.
The
debate will take place on May 11th at the UBC Robson Square Theatre, starting
at 6:30. You can obtain tickets at urbanarium.org. If you
think neighbourhood residents need more power at city hall, I hope you will
attend. I might change your mind.
© 2016 Vancouver Courier
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