Vancouver's past, present, and future, in words and photographs.

In this slim, amply illustrated volume, Vancouver, BC, urbanist Keith Higgins provides a natural history and typology of the "Vancouver Special," a housing type that proliferated from the 1960s through the mid-1980s. Distilled from Higgins's vast online archive, the book ultimately recommends that we go outside and wander the streets of Vancouver to see these very special houses with our own eyes. With 24 black & white photographs.

This book examines the development of Vancouver’s unique approach to zoning, planning, and urban design from its inception in the early 1970s to its maturity in the management of urban change at the beginning of the twenty-first century. By the late 1990s, Vancouver had established a reputation in North America for its planning achievement, especially for its creation of a participative, responsive, and design-led approach to urban regeneration and redevelopment. This system has other important features: an innovative approach to megaproject planning, a system of cost and amenity levies on major schemes, a participative CityPlan process to underpin active neighbourhood planning, and a sophisticated panoply of design guidelines. These systems, processes, and their achievements place Vancouver at the forefront of international planning practice. The Vancouver Achievement explains the evolution and evaluates the outcomes of Vancouver’s unique system of discretionary zoning. The introductory chapters set the context for the study: they cover the invention and refinement of this system in the reform movement, its development of policies, guidelines, and control processes, and its translation into official development plans and neighbourhood design in the 1970s. Subsequent chapters focus upon the downtown, waterfront megaprojects, single-family neighbourhoods, the city-wide strategic planning programme (CityPlan), pressures for reform of control processes, and current downtown and inner city developments, especially issues of affordable housing, social exclusion, and multiple deprivation. The concluding chapter summarizes The Vancouver Achievement, explains the keys to its success, and evaluates its design success against internationally accepted criteria. Heavily illustrated with over 160 photos and figures, this book – the first comprehensive account of contemporary planning and urban design practice in any Canadian city – will appeal to academic and professional audiences, as well as the general public

Vancouver's streetscapes and neighbourhoods have changed drastically in recent years. New buildings representing current architectural trends are mixing with and often replacing those of earlier eras and tastes, and a maturing architectrual melange is emerging. This book invites the reader to explore the city's continually evolving urban landscape in a highly readable, yet authoritative, guide to its architecture. In this completely updated edition of Exploring Vancouver, with brand-new entries and accompanying photographs, Harold Kalman and Robin Ward have divided the city (including the North Shore, Richmond, Burnaby and New Westminster) into fourteen areas, selecting buildings and structures in these neighbourhoods that represent the best exakmples of the new and old architecture. Each area is preceded by an informative introduction that provides historical context for the entries that follow. There are over 400 entries, each featuring a short description that combines architectural, historical and social commentary. The prose is lively as the authors consider the new and the old, the modest and the grand, the attractive and the not-so-attractive in a wide-ranging work that encompasses everything from heritage to "monster" homes. This book is designed as a walking tour guide, with a map of each area showing the location of every entry.

Produced in conjunction with the website Vancouver Is Awesome, this book collects stories and photos about the people, places, events, and phenomena that collectively have infused Vancouver with a distinct flavor and flair and which laid the foundation for the eclectic city that is consistently named one of the world's top tourist destinations. From vaudeville to beatniks, Rudyard Kipling to Hunter S. Thompson, violent squirrels to train-hopping dogs, Vancouver Was Awesome is an entertaining, informative, and at times jaw-dropping tour of one city's awesome past. Lani Russwurm is an historian who runs the blog Past Tense Vancouver.

The go-to book on Canada’s west coast gem—from affordable activities to crime and punishment, slang to weather, people to politics, and much more. From “Gassy” Jack Deighton and the Klondike Gold Rush to the Chinese Head Tax to Japanese Internment, the Strathcona Protest, Vancouver Canucks and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games to profiles of the original “Dominic Da Vinci,” Larry Campbell, famed author Douglas Coupland, and environmentalist David Suzuki, no book is more comprehensive than the Vancouver Book of Everything. No book is more fun. Well-known Vancouverites weigh in on every aspect of their beloved city. Historian Chuck Davis gives us his top five events that shaped its history; author Jen Sookfong Lee gives us her top five best things about living in Vancouver; Vancouver Sun restaurant critic Mia Stainsby gives us the city’s top five cheap eats and Global TV’s meteorologist, Mark Madryga, offers up his top five Vancouver weather events. From the city’s First People and infamous weather to its slang, heinous crimes, and the ubiquitous Japa dog, it’s all here. Whether you are a lifelong resident or visiting for the first time, there is no better resource about the city of Vancouver, you’ll love the Vancouver Book of Everything. “Even born-and-bred Vancouverites will doubtless find something of interest in the Vancouver Book of Everything.” —The Westender “The book combines tourist elements . . . with facts that even seasoned Vancouverites may not know.” —Miss604 “When your friends start asking questions about the city, hand them the Vancouver Book of Everything.” —Vancouver Sun

Essays based on a monumental-sized photograph by preeminent visual artist Stan Douglas.