Parks & Open Space

Parks

Vancouver aims to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. They are on the right track as their city is home to more than 240 public parks. [1] As part of their Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, Vancouver hopes to increase its residents’ access to nature. Specifically, one of its main goals is for all residents to live within a five-minute walk of a park, greenway, or other green space by 2020. Currently, 92% of residents enjoy this privilege. [2]

Stanley Park From Above

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/05/stanley-park-worlds-most-beautiful-city-parks/

Stanley Park

Stanley Park lies adjacent to the core of downtown Vancouver on its southeast side, and is surrounded on the other three sides by the Pacific Ocean (Coal Harbour, Burrard Inlet, and the English Bay). [3] Before the arrival of Europeans, it was a coastal village called Whoi Whoi. It is located on about 1,000 acres of a forested peninsula and was set aside as a federal reserve in 1859. In 1887, the Canadian government granted the City of Vancouver use of the land as a public park. Stanley Park is a result of the large urban parks movement that began during the mid-nineteenth century in Canada and the United States. New York’s Central Park also came out of this movement and is the first notable example. Park advocates around this time period believed that parks could cure many of the problems of urbanism and were vital to the growth and development of cities. [4]

Stanley Park is a national historic site under the administration of Parks Canada, the agency that heads the country’s national commemorative program. Its Guiding Principles and Operational Policies state that its main objectives are “to foster knowledge and appreciation of Canada’s past through a national program of historical commemoration, to ensure the commemorative integrity of national historic sites… by protecting and presenting them for the benefit, education, and enjoyment of this and future generations, in a manner that respects the significant and irreplaceable legacy represented by these places and their associated resources, and to encourage and support the protection and presentation by others of places of national historical significance that are not administered by Parks Canada.” It is also considered as a cultural landscape, which is “any geographical area that has been modified, influenced, or given special meaning by people.” During development, the Park Board was able to mediate a compromise between people who wanted it to remain a semi-wilderness and those who wanted to use it for recreational purposes. The result was a hybrid open space that has both natural and cultural significance to many. From 1913-1936, Stanley Park was under the management of W.S. Rawlings. Under his leadership, many park landscapes and plans were laid out and he guided them to have British influences. Currently, park authorities have respected the importance and coexistence of both the natural and cultural landscapes of the park, and seek to maintain both. They continue to seek preservation of nature in the park, and even intentionally try to promote oneness between the natural and artificial landscapes by softening their boundaries. [3]

Stanley Park is one of Vancouver’s most popular tourist attractions, visited by an estimated eight million annually. It recently celebrated 125 years, but it is Vancouver’s first and largest urban park (it opened in 1988). There are many must-see gardens in this park – the Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden, the Rose Garden and floral displays, the Shakespeare Garden, and the Stanley Park Rock Garden. Several famous landmarks can be found in Stanley Park – Lost Lagoon, Siwash Rock, Hollow Tree, Beaver Lake, Prospect Point, and Brockton Point Lighthouse. Stanley Park is very accessible by all types of transportation – walking, biking, driving, and public transit. [5] One should spend a whole day here and take in the various sceneries Vancouver has to offer.

Stanley Park Foliage

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx

Queen Elizabeth Park

Located at the center of Vancouver, Queen Elizabeth Park is another popular tourist attraction, drawing 6 million people every year. It is also the highest point of the city at 152 meters above sea level, providing spectacular views all around. One must see the Quarry Gardens, the Arboretum, the Rose Garden, the public art, the fountains/plaza, and the painters’ corner. [6]

Queen Elizabeth Park

http://vancouvercityphotoimage.com/tag/queen-elizabeth/

Hastings Park

Hastings Park is one of Vancouver’s largest urban parks. It is evidence of Vancouver’s efforts toward sustainability and being a more environmentally friendly city. The city’s Hastings Park/Pacific National Exhibition Master Plan envisions making this park greener, more active, and useful year-round, but this ambitious vision could take up to twenty years to accomplish. [7] In fact, greening Hastings Park is one of the four highest priority actions of the city’s Greenest City 2020 Action Plan.

VanDusen Botanical Garden

According to Vancouver’s city website, VanDusen Botanical Garden used to be a golf course up to the mid-1960s. In the 1970s, it was designated to become a housing development. However, 22 acres were dedicated to the creation of a botanical garden at the urging of a group of citizens. [8] Places to see here include the Korean Pavilion, the Maze, the Stone Garden, and the Scottish Shelter. [9]

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Located at the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is the first of its kind outside China and beautifully represents traditions of the Ming Dynasty. The park is accessible by all types of transportation, but there is an entry fee. [10]

References

1. City of Vancouver. The History of Stanley Park. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park-history.aspx.

2. City of Vancouver. Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/Greenest-city-action-plan.pdf.

3. Dick, L. (2000). Commemorative Integrity and Cultural Landscapes: Two National Historic Sites in British Columbia. APT Bulletin, 31(4), 29-36. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1504674.pdf.

4. Kheraj, Sean (2013). Inventing Stanley Park: An Environmental History. Vancouver: UBC Press.

5. City of Vancouver. Stanley Park. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx.

6. City of Vancouver. Queen Elizabeth Park. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/queen-elizabeth-park.aspx.

7. City of Vancouver. Transforming Hastings Park and the PNE. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/hastings-park-pne-master-plan.aspx.

8. City of Vancouver. VanDusen Garden. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/story-of-vandusen-botanical-garden.aspx.

9. VanDusen Botanical Garden. Garden Features. Retrieved from http://vandusengarden.org/explore/vandusen-botanical-garden/garden-features.

10. City of Vancouver. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/dr-sun-yat-sen-chinese-garden.aspx.