A new approach to urban development has transformed Vancouver from a once small-town city to a global metropolis. Over the past forty years this change has been initiated by an embrace of free market ideology that has resulted in the emergence of a city that is simultaneously one of the most liveable, and unlivable places in the world. The objective of this research project is to detail the nature of how Vancouver’s rise to global notoriety has been coupled with a civic bifurcation that carries with it various issues that are plaguing the urban condition. Situated in the same conceptual framework of what Elvin Wyly and David Wilson referred to as ‘Dracula urbanism’, this project focuses on some of the most significant instances of convergence and divergence within the city’s built environment. It is my hope that this research project serves as a partial mapping of Vancouver’s newly acquired and carefully polished identity, while also highlighting the dangers of building urban spaces that serve primarily as products.
