Vancouver

===Urban planning===
[[File:Vancouver aerial view.jpg|thumb|upright|Aerial view of [[Downtown Vancouver]]. Urban development in Vancouver is characterized by a large residential population living in the city centre with mixed-use developments.]]
{{Main|Vancouverism}}
{{As of|2021|post=,}} Vancouver is the most densely populated city in Canada.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |date=February 9, 2022 |title=Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities) |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810000201 |access-date=August 7, 2022 |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] |archive-date=February 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224145930/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810000201 |url-status=live }}</ref> Urban planning in Vancouver is characterized by high-rise residential and mixed-use development in urban centres, as an alternative to [[urban sprawl|sprawl]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Vancouverism |work=Canadian Architect |url=http://www.canadianarchitect.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?aid=1000205807&issue=08012006 |first=Julie |last=Bogdanowicz |date=August 2006 |access-date=June 9, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> As part of the larger [[Metro Vancouver]] region, it is influenced by the policy direction of livability as illustrated in Metro Vancouver's Regional Growth Strategy.

Vancouver ranked high on the [[Global Liveability Ranking]] and stood at number 1 on the list for several years until 2011.<ref>{{cite news |title=Vancouver loses its bragging rights as most livable city |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/08/30/vancouver_loses_its_bragging_rights_as_most_livable_city.html |last=Fong |first=Petti |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=August 30, 2011 |access-date=April 13, 2023 |archive-date=October 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007133013/https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/08/30/vancouver_loses_its_bragging_rights_as_most_livable_city.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In recent years, it has dropped, ranking as low as 16 in 2021. {{As of|2022}}, Vancouver was ranked as having the fifth-highest quality of living of any city on Earth.<ref>{{cite news |title=World's Most Livable Cities For 2022 |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-dominates-top-10-list-of-world-s-most-livable-cities-for-2022-1.5959453 |last=Marcus |first=Lillit |newspaper=CTV News |date=June 23, 2022 |access-date=April 13, 2023 |archive-date=January 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125003709/https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-dominates-top-10-list-of-world-s-most-livable-cities-for-2022-1.5959453 |url-status=live}}</ref> According to ''[[Forbes]]'', Vancouver had the fourth-most expensive real estate market in the world in 2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=Vancouver ranked 4th most-expensive housing market in the world |url=https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-4-most-expensive-housing-market-cbre-2019 |last=Smith |first=Ainsley |newspaper=The Daily Hive |date=April 16, 2019 |access-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223234912/https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-4-most-expensive-housing-market-cbre-2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> Vancouver has also been ranked among Canada's most expensive cities to live in. Sales in February 2016 were 56.3 percent higher than the 10-year average for the month.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rebgv.org/news-statistics/metro-vancouver-home-buyers-set-record-pace-february |title=Metro Vancouver home buyers set a record pace in February |access-date=March 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311082733/http://www.rebgv.org/news-statistics/metro-vancouver-home-buyers-set-record-pace-february |archive-date=March 11, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Tann |last=vom Hove |title=City Mayors: World's most expensive cities (EIU) |work=City Mayors Economics |date=June 17, 2008 |url=http://www.citymayors.com/economics/expensive_cities_eiu.html |access-date=March 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316150554/http://www.citymayors.com/economics/expensive_cities_eiu.html |archive-date=March 16, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Beauchesne |first=Eric |date=June 24, 2006 |title=Toronto pegged as priciest place to live in Canada |work=[[Vancouver Sun]] |url=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=245b1dc8-1b43-46cb-bd84-6e78ab8a5afb&k=54140 |access-date=November 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227122715/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=245b1dc8-1b43-46cb-bd84-6e78ab8a5afb&k=54140 |archive-date=December 27, 2009}}</ref> ''Forbes'' also ranked Vancouver as the tenth-cleanest city in the world in 2007.<ref>{{cite news |last=Malone |first=Robert |date=April 16, 2007 |title=Which Are The World's Cleanest Cities? |work=[[Forbes]] |url=https://www.forbes.com/2007/04/16/worlds-cleanest-cities-biz-logistics-cx_rm_0416cleanest_slide_13.html |url-status=live |access-date=December 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130200233/http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/16/worlds-cleanest-cities-biz-logistics-cx_rm_0416cleanest_slide_13.html |archive-date=November 30, 2009}}</ref>

Vancouver's characteristic approach to urban planning originated in the late 1950s, when city planners began to encourage the building of high-rise residential towers in Vancouver's [[West End, Vancouver|West End]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Some things worked: The best – or worst – planning decisions made in the Lower Mainland |first=Frances |last=Bula |url=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ad56af4e-0f14-4717-9603-5fe5a0713e4c&k=51576 |newspaper=[[Vancouver Sun]] |date=September 6, 2007 |access-date=December 4, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604123009/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ad56af4e-0f14-4717-9603-5fe5a0713e4c&k=51576 |archive-date=June 4, 2011}}</ref> subject to strict requirements for setbacks and open space to protect sight lines and preserve green space. The success of these dense but livable neighbourhoods led to the redevelopment of urban industrial sites, such as North False Creek and Coal Harbour, beginning in the mid-1980s. The result is a compact urban core that has gained international recognition for its "high amenity and 'livable' development".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=Thomas A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ky8iSkNycC&dq=West+End+Vancouver+compact+urban+core&pg=PA237 |title=The New Economy of the Inner City: Restructuring, Regeneration and Dislocation in the Twenty-first-century Metropolis |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-77134-4 |access-date=September 6, 2022 |archive-date=October 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231018184045/https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ky8iSkNycC&dq=West+End+Vancouver+compact+urban+core&pg=PA237 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2006, the city launched a planning initiative entitled [[EcoDensity]], with the stated goal of exploring ways in which "density, design, and land use can contribute to environmental sustainability, affordability, and livability".<ref>{{cite web |title=Vancouver EcoDensity Initiative |url=http://www.vancouver-ecodensity.ca/content.php?id=48 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513201310/http://www.vancouver-ecodensity.ca/content.php?id=48 |archive-date=May 13, 2009 |publisher=City of Vancouver |access-date=July 3, 2009}}</ref>

{{wide image|Vancouver panorama stanleypark.jpg|1000px|Vancouver skyline from [[Stanley Park]]}}