It's time for a Metro Vancouver urban development strategy
Vancouver, get ready for the population bomb.
Statistics Canada reckons the provincial population might reach seven million in the next 25 years, up from the current 4.5 million people. Since two out of three new arrivals to B.C. come to Metro Vancouver, that means the city's population could swell from 2.3 million to at least 3.8 million people by 2036.
Translation? Our days of being that mid-sized city by the Pacific that's the perennial darling of livability studies may be numbered.
Vancouver voted number 1 city in North America
We were voted No. 1 again in North America a few days ago, this time by the Mercer survey of 221 cities around the world. But in a generation, if the numbers coming out of Ottawa hold up, we'll be close to the size of Toronto today, now a busy metropolis that's a pressure cooker of humanity, traffic jams and subways that pack commuters in like sardines.
What will Metro Vancouver look like in a quarter century or so, with close to four million people? Can we escape Toronto's fate and stay atop the livability surveys?
Well, it's anyone's guess.
Read more: The Vancouver Sun