Search for Metro Vancouver's best neighbourhood: South of the Fraser, Round 1
As Metro Vancouver has grown and evolved, virtually all of its 2.5 million residents live in a traditional neighbourhood.
But the way those communities developed means their features change depending where you are in the region.
"You see some neighbourhoods that developed purely on walking, some of the older neighbourhoods in the City of Vancouver, New Westminster, North Vancouver," said Andy Yan, director of SFU's City Program.
"But it's going to be interesting to see what happens with neighbourhoods that developed post-war, largely around the automobile, and whether you'll see people come out and talk about those types of neighbourhoods."
For the next five weeks, each Tuesday in the Search for Metro Vancouver's Best Neighbourhood will focus on the South of the Fraser quadrant, spanning Delta and the Township of Langley.
Some of those are older, walkable communities — including Ladner and Fort Langley — but many of them developed in the middle of the century, and thus share car (or streetcar) centred characteristics, particularly when it comes to housing density and retail options.
But which neighbourhood will be considered the champion?
We'll start with 48 neighbourhoods, and week by week we'll eliminate them in a series of one-on-one polls ... until we eventually crown a winner that will face the Vancouver winner in the Final Four.
However, that won't be for a while. Tuesday, July 14 will see voting in the first round of the South of the Fraser quadrant. Polls are open until midnight.
How were neighbourhoods determined?
We've divided the 192 neighbourhoods into four quadrants, aiming for relatively equal population between them. While the South of the Fraser has 31 per cent of Metro Vancouver's population, we felt it was enough of a cohesive unit to keep together.
Choosing the 48 posed some difficulties: the City of Langley has six detailed neighbourhood plans for a population of just 25,000 people. The Township of Langley also lists six residential areas, but their population is around 115,000. Delta has three core population areas — Ladner, Tsawwassen and North Delta — but each of those has separate neighbourhoods.
Meanwhile, while the City of Surrey has traditionally conducted planning around six core areas — South Surrey, Cloverdale, Fleetwood, Newton, Guildford and Whalley — it has plenty of smaller community associations and agreed upon neighbourhoods.
But using a combination of formal neighbourhood plans, historic communities and real estate zones, we've come up with a list that includes more than 95 per cent of people in the region.
The following neighbourhoods received automatic byes to the second round: Ladner, Tsawwassen Centre, Guildford, East Newton, West Newton, City Central, Cloverdale, Clayton, Fort Langley, Brookswood, Murrayville, Boundary Road, White Rock, Crescent Beach, Scottsdale and Sunshine Hills.
Vote now!
