(Photo by Ted McGrath via Flickr/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
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The city of Vancouver is known as one of Canada’s greenest cities. Vancouver is certainly beautiful, being lodged in a highly mountainous region. As you drive across Lionsgate or Second Narrows Bridge from Vancouver into North Vancouver, you can see the scenic North Shore mountains.
But is the city really as green as they say it is?
According to a study by the University of British Columbia (one of Canada’s top research universities located just outside of the City of Vancouver), the places within Vancouver that desperately need green spaces are not likely to have them. The study also found that green spaces were more likely to be found in areas where wealth is higher and less likely in places where income is lower and unemployment is increased.
Why Is This Important?
Building and maintaining green spaces in an urban environment has many benefits. These include better mental health for residents, higher exercise rates, greener transportation, increased real estate prices, and cleaner air quality.
With higher mental health issues generally seen among low-income neighbourhoods, it is hard to imagine why the city of Vancouver has been avoiding building green spaces in these areas. Developing these spaces would lessen the mental health strain of many residents. However, because green spaces near housing increase real estate prices, the city may be less inclined to build them in low-income neighbourhoods, where housing is less expensive.
Canada’s economy is also heavily dependent on the real estate market, especially a market where prices are drastically rising. If green spaces are built in low-income neighbourhoods, the rise in real estate prices is less drastic than in a high-income neighbourhood. So, the government is less inclined to build green spaces in low-income neighbourhoods even if the well-being of the people living in those neighbourhoods would rise.
Sheffield’s Blueprint for Greener Cities
Vancouver may be considered one of the greenest cities in Canada, but it is nowhere near as green as Sheffield in the United Kingdom. With a population of only 550,000, Sheffield has around 4.5 million trees, over eight times the number of people. Residents can enjoy many outdoor activities, such as rock climbing, paddling, swimming, cycling, running, and hiking.
Although Vancouver offers many of these activities, Sheffield offers much more. The green spaces are very condensed, and travel between many of them is easily accessible by cycling or walking.
Sheffield also has 61% green space, while Vancouver has only 18%. Sheffield was originally known as an industrial steel-fabricating city, so it is quite surprising that it has grown to be the greenest city in the United Kingdom.
But how did Sheffield become so green? What started as an initiative by the residents to stop the city from falling healthy trees to plant saplings in 2012 eventually turned into the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership, which launched in 2021. This initiative was highly community-oriented, with a twelve-week open consultation with the community and organizations to see what the city needed regarding street trees.
What Should Vancouver Do?
The city of Vancouver must follow Sheffield’s example and consult residents from all areas (especially low-income areas) about the need for more trees and public green spaces. It must advertise the initiative within lower-income communities and make residents aware that it is taking the community seriously. The city must also seriously consider each resident’s opinion.
Vancouver must also focus more on making green spaces accessible to all residents and not just residents who live in high-income neighbourhoods. Building an accessible network of green spaces in low-income neighbourhoods would demonstrate the city’s genuine commitment to equity and public well-being.
Both Sheffield and Vancouver are beautiful places. Both cities contain sustainable methods of transportation. However, Sheffield is a clear winner when it comes to providing all residents with the means to enjoy the city’s green spaces. In Sheffield, there is a connected network of green spaces. In Vancouver, this only applies to Stanley Park, the city’s biggest park and recreation area.
While Stanley Park is big and beautiful, it is not easily accessible for all residents across the city of Vancouver, especially lower-income residents, as the real estate surrounding the park is some of the most expensive and sought-after in the Vancouver market.
Vancouver must demonstrate that every resident matters, regardless of their wealth. The city must commit to building a network of interconnected green spaces in all neighbourhoods. This way, everyone can enjoy Vancouver and view it as a truly green city.
Edited by Light Naing and Osama Alshantti
