The Future Lives Here!

Panelists
Linda Hepner

Mayor, City of Surrey

Andy Yan

Director, Cities Program, Simon Fraser University

Mike Harcourt

Former Premier, Province of British Columbia, Former Mayor, City of Vancouver.

Presentation of student proposals by Patrick Condon and Scot Hein, Professors, UBC Master of Urban Design Program.

Overview
Given current trends, by 2060 Surrey BC will be the most populous city in BC and among the top ten most populous cities in Canada. In addition, as the Metro Vancouver region grows predominantly to the east, Surrey will be at the geographic center of the urban region as well.

What happens when the region’s largest “suburb” is the “center city”? How does the role of this huge and poly-centric city change? What does a city look like that grows not primarily from internal births but rather from wave after wave of immigration? How does an archetypal suburban city, one organized around the needs of baby boomer era families, adapt itself to the wildly cosmopolitan demographics of today, of tomorrow, of four decades from now? And how does a city organized around the car become a sustainability leader, where living, moving, and working are all contributing to making a better world?

All of these questions and more were taken up, and in depth, by the students of urban design in the new UBC Master of Urban Design Program. For three years, and in partnership with the City of Surrey, UBC students explored what this city would look like when, by 2060, the city will house over 1 million souls; when English will no longer be the first language of most of its citizens; when most of the jobs in the region are to be found there; where housing is hopefully still more affordable and where large families are still the norm.

We are clearly looking at a different city, a different region, and even a different world.

Please join us February 7 to see what such a world would look like.