2018-2019 2017-2018 | Page 74

Development of Vancouver’s waterfront encourages a
live-work-play harmony, with easy pedestrian access to the
seawall, urban green spaces, and view corridors as
breathing room between buildings
Photo: © stockstudioX / istockPhoto.com
Shorelines
Pacific links by louise phillips
Standing sentinel at the edge of Coal Harbour, towers on the edge of the
City of Glass seem to confer with one another. “Not much breeze on the
water tonight,” you can almost hear them saying. “Look at those North
Shore mountains, those cruise ships heading for the Lions Gate Bridge, those
freighters loading in the port.”
In a young city, these buildings are the youngest, facing a future inextrica-
bly tied to the Pacific Rim. That’s nothing new. Trade with Asia beginning in
the 1880s established Vancouver’s importance to Canada and its place in the
world, when Canadian Pacific sent trans-continental freight trains to load its
fleet of Empress steamships for journeys to China and Japan.
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