Vancouverism as suburbanism

Some cities are known for schools of thought (Frankfurt, Chicago, Los Angeles), or even shapes and colours (Vienna), but rare is the city with its own “ism.” As one of the truth spots for the “new urbanism” in the 21st century, Vancouver’s mantra of “Living First” has found validation across the global-city discourse-complex for its winning combination of density, livability, and sustainability – all rendered seductively real in the forest of glass-walled condominium towers that has colonized the downtown core since the late 1980s (figure 7.1). Vancouverism – the term used to describe Vancouver’s urban political-economic model of dense, amenity-enriched residential development in the downtown core – has been artfully crafted by a self-conscious network of “city builders” who have gone on to promote the livability paradigm around the world, in the company of a growing ensemble of “globe-trotting public officials, journalists, and urbanists at large” (Barnes, Hutton, Ley, & Moos, 2011, p. 322). This is a city that likes looking at itself in the mirror, and with but a few notable exceptions, it continues to be impressed with what it sees.