Expert voices are calling for Vancouver council members to cancel the July 14 public hearing on the city’s master plan to create 17 new retail villages, which they argue are illogical and will harm existing shopping hubs
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Public pressure is growing on the city of Vancouver to stop rushing forward with 17 new high-density retail “villages.”
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The former co-chief planner for Vancouver, Larry Beasley, has written a strong four-page letter to the mayor and council warning the plan to upzone almost 600 city blocks is a “serious misdirection that will have profound negative unintended consequences to the whole city.”
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With the Villages Plan slated for public hearing on July 14, a coalition of 30 veteran urbanists, architects and scholars, called Housing Reset, have also urged Mayor Ken Sim and councillors to stop the hearing because the “everything-all-at-once” initiative “would harm existing neighbourhood commercial areas.”
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Meanwhile, planner Lewis Silberberg, the lead author of a 2023 report to the city on retail vitality and walkable neighbourhoods, doesn’t understand the logic behind why the “village” sites, which currently contain only a scattering of shops, were chosen.
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The Villages Plan, Silberberg said, appears to break the cardinal rule of retail planning: “Thou shall not create competition with existing neighbourhoods,” especially with established commercial centres.
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All of the critics of the Villages Plan support the idea of clustering retail outlets together for walkability and efficiency, but they oppose the city’s sweeping upzoning, including for buildings up to six storeys. They say it will endanger existing commercial centres, some of which are already struggling with vacancies.
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“At its core the disagreement may not be about density itself but rather the difference between planning for density versus planning for community,” Erick Villagomez, a UBC planning lecturer, wrote in an opinion piece for The Vancouver Sun. “Planning for density asks how many homes can fit in a neighbourhood. Planning for community asks how those homes connect to schools, parks, libraries, businesses, transit, public spaces and the social fabric that already exists. Density is measured in units. Community is measured in relationships, belonging and quality of life.”
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Simon Fraser University business ethics professor emeritus Mark Wexler thinks along the same line. Wexler says the Villages Plan controversy reflects a classic battle between “entrepreneurs” and “communitarians.”
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Entrepreneurs, including developers and their political allies, believe in moving fast, getting things done and “win, baby, win,” Wexler said. But communitarians, like Villagomez and members of Housing Reset, support “going slowly and increasing participation” so that “everyone can end up enjoying peace and prosperity.”
