{"id":26592,"date":"2015-02-02T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T18:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=26592"},"modified":"2019-05-25T08:28:46","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T15:28:46","slug":"vancouvers-best-public-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of Jay Banks<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Growing up in Vancouver, I didn\u2019t really have a good understanding of what makes a lively public space until I had travelled to Europe. It\u2019s true that we have a seawall that wraps around the city offering spectacular views of the ocean of mountains, and we have some great beaches and parks. But, it wasn\u2019t until I took my first trip to Italy as a teenager that I saw how great a public space can be.<\/p>\n

I still vividly recall my first time visiting Rome\u2019s Spanish Steps. It was the beginning of spring, probably around sunset because the sky had an orange glow. On the steps, there were lovers, families, tourists and office workers milling about, taking pictures, chatting, playing or rushing home from work. Below the steps, there were flower vendors selling enormous sunflowers and cafes bustling with people drinking wine or espresso and devouring pizza.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never seen a public space more alive.<\/p>\n

I came back home, a little bummed that my city was so lacking in spaces like this, which exist all over Europe. Thankfully over the years, Vancouver has grown up a little and can claim some great public spaces of its own. However it is still rare in this city to find public spaces that are active year round. So what are Vancouver\u2019s best public spaces?<\/p>\n

My criteria for choosing the city\u2019s best are: year-round use, plenty of entertainment, recreation, beauty, and a diversity of people and activities.<\/p>\n

Here is a list of my top 5 favourites:<\/p>\n

1.) Robson Square<\/strong><\/p>\n

It needs a lot of improvement, but Robson Square is Vancouver\u2019s only central downtown public square. For a few years, it was a dead zone. The City of Vancouver resuscitated it by bringing back the skating rink, adding food trucks and closing down the 500 block of Robson Street to allow for funky street furniture every summer, turning it into the city\u2019s living room. If you want to get away from it all, head up the hidden steps to beautiful gardens above. Down below, you can skate in the winter, or salsa dance in the summer. And near street level, you can posh it up at the Vancouver Art Gallery Cafe or grab a sandwich from Mom\u2019s Grilled Cheese and eat on the Gallery steps. Now, if they could only finally do something about the sad sack of mulch that is the Gallery\u2019s North Plaza\u2026..<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

Photo: SniperPhotoShots<\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n

2.) Granville Island<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of Vancouver\u2019s longest running, public space success stories, Granville Island has always been a hub of diverse activity. The small island is home to theatres, Emily Carr University and art gallery, artisan shops, a micro brewery, a massive toy store, cafes, restaurants, playgrounds, a yoga studio, community centre, street performers and a bustling market, not to mention that it is home to many office spaces, it is very rare to see these spaces unoccupied due their popularity in the area, specially because these come fully equipped with the best Office Chairs online<\/a> to offer comfort while working. <\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

3.) English Bay<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the foot of Davie Street along Beach Avenue, sits one of Vancouver\u2019s finest beaches, where you can sit on a bench or a log, dip your toes in the sand and get a glorious view of the sun setting and dipping below the ocean. Any time of year, you can watch bikes and rollerbladers go whizzing by, grab some food at one of the local restaurants, and watch tourists pose with the Ah-Mazing Laughter statue.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

4.) Grandview Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grandview Park is nestled in the heart of Commercial Drive, one of Vancouver\u2019s best neighbourhoods. Once a hangout for drunks and shady characters, the park was renovated in 2010 and has become the centre of the community. Year round, families congregate in the playground just outside the Eastside Family Place, musicians strum guitars, artists sell their wares and cyclists play bike polo.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

Photo: Grandview Park<\/em><\/h5>\n

5.) Olympic Village<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opened to the public after the 2010 Winter Games, the Olympic Village is one of the city\u2019s most gorgeous examples of landscape architecture. The central square is home to two giant sparrow sculptures and is flanked by two great brew pubs and a bakery\/cafe. There are beautiful places to sit along the new seawall extension and the newly created \u201cHabitat Island\u201d, which to some has become better known as \u201cBeer Island<\/a>” (just please take your garbage out with you, people).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

Photo: VPSN<\/em><\/h5>\n

What are your favourite public spaces in Vancouver?<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Jillian Glover<\/strong> is a communications advisor who specializes in urban issues and transportation. She is a former Vancouver City Planning Commissioner and holds a Master of Urban Studies degree from Simon Fraser University. She was born and raised in Vancouver and is very interested in how people in urban environments engage in their cities. In her spare time, she writes about urban issues at her blog, This City Life \u2013 which you can visit at www.thiscitylife.tumblr.com.<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of Jay Banks. Growing up in Vancouver, I didn\u2019t really have a good understanding of what makes a lively public space until I had travelled to Europe. It\u2019s true that we have a seawall that wraps around the city offering spectacular views of the ocean of mountains, and we have some great beachesContinue reading “What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6051,"featured_media":26594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11230,22,26,28,11235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-green-space","category-neighbourhoods","category-parks","category-urban-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces? - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces? - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photo courtesy of Jay Banks. Growing up in Vancouver, I didn\u2019t really have a good understanding of what makes a lively public space until I had travelled to Europe. It\u2019s true that we have a seawall that wraps around the city offering spectacular views of the ocean of mountains, and we have some great beachesContinue reading "What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-02T18:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-25T15:28:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/01\/Granville-Island-night-aerial-view_600.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"398\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jillian Glover\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jillian Glover\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/\",\"name\":\"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces? - Spacing Vancouver\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/01\/Granville-Island-night-aerial-view_600.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-02T18:00:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-25T15:28:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/89e66ce29d5c5a783f3ac2190ebd7e56\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/01\/Granville-Island-night-aerial-view_600.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/01\/Granville-Island-night-aerial-view_600.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":398},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Vancouver\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/89e66ce29d5c5a783f3ac2190ebd7e56\",\"name\":\"Jillian Glover\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b56cc9c9388f3c0046ea1af7a952af3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b56cc9c9388f3c0046ea1af7a952af3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jillian Glover\"},\"description\":\"Jillian Glover is a communications advisor who specializes in urban issues and transportation. She is a former Vancouver City Planning Commissioner and holds a Master of Urban Studies degree from Simon Fraser University. She was born and raised in Vancouver and is very interested in how people in urban environments engage in their cities. In her spare time, she writes about urban issues at her blog, This City Life \u2013 which you can visit at www.thiscitylife.tumblr.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/thiscitylife.tumblr.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/jillianglover\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces? - Spacing Vancouver","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces? - Spacing Vancouver","og_description":"Photo courtesy of Jay Banks. Growing up in Vancouver, I didn\u2019t really have a good understanding of what makes a lively public space until I had travelled to Europe. It\u2019s true that we have a seawall that wraps around the city offering spectacular views of the ocean of mountains, and we have some great beachesContinue reading \"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces?\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Vancouver","article_published_time":"2015-02-02T18:00:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-25T15:28:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":398,"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/01\/Granville-Island-night-aerial-view_600.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jillian Glover","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jillian Glover","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/","name":"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces? - Spacing Vancouver","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/01\/Granville-Island-night-aerial-view_600.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-02T18:00:20+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-25T15:28:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/89e66ce29d5c5a783f3ac2190ebd7e56"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/01\/Granville-Island-night-aerial-view_600.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/01\/Granville-Island-night-aerial-view_600.jpg","width":600,"height":398},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2015\/02\/02\/vancouvers-best-public-spaces\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What are Vancouver\u2019s Best Public Spaces?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/","name":"Spacing Vancouver","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/89e66ce29d5c5a783f3ac2190ebd7e56","name":"Jillian Glover","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b56cc9c9388f3c0046ea1af7a952af3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b56cc9c9388f3c0046ea1af7a952af3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jillian Glover"},"description":"Jillian Glover is a communications advisor who specializes in urban issues and transportation. She is a former Vancouver City Planning Commissioner and holds a Master of Urban Studies degree from Simon Fraser University. She was born and raised in Vancouver and is very interested in how people in urban environments engage in their cities. In her spare time, she writes about urban issues at her blog, This City Life \u2013 which you can visit at www.thiscitylife.tumblr.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/thiscitylife.tumblr.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/jillianglover\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26592"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33334,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26592\/revisions\/33334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}