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118-629: The EcoDensity Initiative was officially launched in 2006 in Vancouver , British Columbia, Canada, in conjunction with the World Urban Forum . The initiative was a response to deconcentration of urban land use due to urban sprawl. The initiative used density, design and land use as catalysts towards livability, affordability and environmental sustainability . Some of the program's objectives were to reduce car reliance, deliver more efficient urban land use, improve green energy systems and build

236-623: A 96-home mixed-income housing development in South London , was designed by Bill Dunster Architects and sustainability consultants BioRegional for the Peabody Trust . Despite being populated by relatively average people, BedZED was found to have a footprint of 3.20 gha per capita (not including visitors), due to on-site renewable energy production, energy-efficient architecture, and an extensive green lifestyles program that included London's first carsharing club. Findhorn Ecovillage ,

354-480: A car, it uses data from life-cycle analysis . Such applications translate the consumption of energy , biomass ( food , fiber ), building material , water and other resources into normalized land areas called global hectares (gha) needed to provide these inputs. Since the Global Footprint Network 's inception in 2003, it has calculated the ecological footprint from UN data sources for

472-510: A change of 4.9% from its 2016 population of 631,486, making it the eighth-largest among Canadian cities . More specifically, Vancouver is the fourth-largest in Western Canada after Calgary , Edmonton and Winnipeg . With a land area of 115.18 km (44.47 sq mi), it had a population density of 5,749.7/km (14,891.6/sq mi) in 2021, the most densely populated Canadian municipality with more than 5,000 residents. At

590-428: A comprehensive report available on its website. Similarly, Newman (2006) has argued that the ecological footprint concept may have an anti-urban bias, as it does not consider the opportunities created by urban growth. He argues that calculating the ecological footprint for densely populated areas, such as a city or small country with a comparatively large population—e.g. New York and Singapore respectively—may lead to

708-432: A hegemonic strategy because of the massive opposition. Without a community-centred bottom-up approach neighbourhood associated the concept as "green overcrowding", "greenwashing", or "density without amenity". This was due to neither EcoDensity nor related policies were designed to provide affordable housing rather than to moderate future price increase. This resulted in the breakdown of a historical trust between residents and

826-470: A higher biocapacity to such regions. For example, replacing ancient woodlands or tropical forests with monoculture forests or plantations may therefore decrease the ecological footprint. Similarly if organic farming yields were lower than those of conventional methods, this could result in the former being "penalized" with a larger ecological footprint. Complementary biodiversity indicators attempt to address this. The WWF 's Living Planet Report combines

944-598: A leading force in the city's society and economy until the rise of anti-German sentiment with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Today the Chinese are the largest visible ethnic group in Vancouver; the city has a diverse Chinese-speaking community with speakers of several dialects, notably Cantonese and Mandarin . Neighbourhoods with distinct ethnic commercial areas include Chinatown , Punjabi Market , Little Italy , Greektown , and (formerly) Japantown . Since

1062-451: A nation's prosperity, or the economic activity of humanity as a whole. The model is a means of comparing lifestyles, per capita consumption, and population numbers, and checking these against biocapacity . The tool can inform policy by examining to what extent a nation uses more (or less) than is available within its territory, or to what extent the nation's lifestyle and population density would be replicable worldwide. The footprint can be

1180-591: A particular destination, and depends on the tourists' behavior. Comparisons of TEFs can indicate the benefits of alternative destinations, modes of travel, food choices, types of lodging, and activities. The carbon footprint is a component of the total ecological footprint. Often, when only the carbon footprint is reported, it is expressed in weight of CO 2 (or CO2e representing GHG warming potential (GGWP)), but it can also be expressed in land areas like ecological footprints. Both can be applied to products, people, or whole societies. Ecological footprint accounting

1298-412: A person, a community, a city, a region, a nation, or humanity as a whole. Footprints can be split into consumption categories: food, housing, and goods and services. Or it can be organized by are types occupied: cropland, pasture, forests for forest products, forests for carbon sequestration, marine areas, etc. When this approach is applied to an activity such as the manufacturing of a product or driving

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1416-613: A population density of 918.0/km (2,377.6/sq mi) in 2021. Approximately 75 percent of the people living in Metro Vancouver live outside Vancouver itself. The larger Lower Mainland-Southwest economic region (which includes also the Squamish-Lillooet , Fraser Valley , and Sunshine Coast Regional District ) has a population of over 3.04   million. The 2021 census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 274,365 persons or 42.2% of

1534-459: A rejoinder by Giampietro and Saltelli (2014). A joint paper authored by the critical researchers (Giampietro and Saltelli) and proponents (various Global Footprint Network researchers) summarized the terms of the controversy in a paper published by the journal Ecological Indicators. Additional comments were offered by van den Bergh and Grazi (2015). A number of national government agencies have performed collaborative or independent research to test

1652-654: A resilient and adaptable community. In high-density urban areas , utilizing the existing infrastructure and transit and community amenities tends to lead towards a more sustainable and livable state. Accordingly, EcoDensity was designed to strategically enhance densification with the primary aim of efficiently structured neighbourhoods, denser urban-patterns and increased affordable housing. The "eco" in EcoDensity stands for both ecology and economy (affordability). "Density" in urban planning refers to upward or more compact construction, as opposed to urban sprawl . Vancouver

1770-620: A response to deconcentration of urban land use due to urban sprawl. It aimed to achieve a more sustainable urban form through the intensification of existing neighbourhoods. Specifically, to increase density in low and medium dense areas along transport corridors in an environmentally friendly way that reduces the ecological footprint of the city. Consequently, eco-densification has the potential to strengthen urban sustainability measures; however, its inherently narrowed scope and unintended consequences pertains to limitations. The EcoDensity Initiative spawned laneway houses and increased density along

1888-594: A rural intentional community in Moray , Scotland , had a total footprint of 2.56 gha per capita, including both the many guests and visitors who travel to the community. However, the residents alone had a footprint of 2.71 gha, a little over half the UK national average and one of the lowest ecological footprints of any community measured so far in the industrialized world. Keveral Farm, an organic farming community in Cornwall,

2006-610: A typical coastal British Columbia mix of Douglas fir , western red cedar and western hemlock . The area is thought to have had the largest trees of these species on the British Columbia Coast . Only in Elliott Bay , Seattle , did the size of trees rival those of Burrard Inlet and English Bay . The largest trees in Vancouver's old-growth forest were in the Gastown area, where the first logging occurred and on

2124-426: A useful tool to educate people about overconsumption and overpopulation, with the aim of altering personal behavior or public policies. Ecological footprints may be used to argue that current lifestyles and human numbers are not sustainable . Country-by-country comparisons show the inequalities of resource use on this planet. The touristic ecological footprint (TEF) is the ecological footprint of visitors to

2242-695: A warm-summer Mediterranean ( Köppen: Csb ). While the city has the coolest summer average high of all major Canadian metropolitan areas, winters in Greater Vancouver are the fourth-mildest of Canadian cities, after nearby Victoria , Nanaimo and Duncan , all on Vancouver Island. Vancouver is one of the wettest Canadian cities. However, precipitation varies throughout the metropolitan area. Annual precipitation as measured at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond averages 1,189 mm (46.8 in), compared with 1,588 mm (62.5 in) in

2360-568: Is 38.1 cm (15.0 in) but typically does not remain on the ground for long. Vancouver's growing season averages 237 days, from March 18 until November 10. Vancouver's 1981–2010 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone ranges from 8a to 9a depending on elevation and proximity to water. As of 2021, Vancouver is the most densely populated city in Canada. Urban planning in Vancouver is characterized by high-rise residential and mixed-use development in urban centres, as an alternative to sprawl . As part of

2478-592: Is a modernist high-rise, now converted into the Electra condominium. Also notable is the "concrete waffle" of the MacMillan Bloedel building on the north-east corner of the Georgia and Thurlow intersection. A prominent addition to the city's landscape is the giant tent-frame Canada Place (designed by Zeidler Roberts Partnership Partnership, MCMP & DA Architects ), the former Canada Pavilion from

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2596-512: Is a way forward to achieve affordable housing . Furthermore, the Initiative aimed to deliver sustained growth and enhance livability . The EcoDensity policy was unpopular. The political leadership backed by the development oriented agenda was not united towards promoting sustainability, which led to eco-density being used as a label to greenwash their program. In all, the traditional planning culture involving various stakeholders turned into

2714-622: Is also a high variation within countries, based on individual lifestyles and wealth. In 2022, countries with the top ten per capita ecological footprints were: Qatar (14.3 global hectares), Luxembourg (13.0), Cook Islands (8.3), Bahrain (8.2), United States (8.1), United Arab Emirates (8.1), Canada (8.1), Estonia (8.0), Kuwait (7.9) and Belize (7.9). Total ecological footprint for a nation is found by multiplying its per capita ecological footprint by its total population. Total ecological footprint ranges from 5,540,000,000 global hectares used (China) to 145,000 (Cook Islands) global hectares used. In 2022,

2832-452: Is built on the recognition that regenerative resources are the physically most limiting resources of all. Even fossil fuel use is far more limited by the amount of sequestration the biosphere can provide rather than by the amounts left underground. The same is true for ores and minerals, where the limiting factor is how much damage to the biosphere we are willing to accept to extract and concentrate those materials, rather than by how much of them

2950-444: Is called ecological overshoot. Ecological footprint analysis is widely used around the world in support of sustainability assessments. It enables people to measure and manage the use of resources throughout the economy and explore the sustainability of individual lifestyles , goods and services , organizations, industry sectors , neighborhoods, cities, regions, and nations. The ecological footprint concept and calculation method

3068-463: Is characterized by environmental awareness and successful urban planning with a path of urbanization that is unique in North America. The EcoDensity Initiative aimed to facilitate greater housing affordability and diversity through strategic densification that focused on environmental sustainability and livability. Part of this status could be attributed to the natural setting of the city between

3186-731: Is currently located was referred to by the Stó꞉lō in the Upriver Halkomelem dialect as Lhq’á:lets , meaning "wide at the bottom/end". Speakers of the Island dialect of Halkomelem referred to the region of Vancouver as sqwx̌wam̓ush or skwóm̓esh , referring to the Squamish, or as Pankúpe7 , a transliteration of the English word "Vancouver". Archaeological records indicate that Aboriginal people were already living in

3304-453: Is legitimately available to human beings. If we assume that some biocapacity should be left for other species, the level of ecological overshoot increases.   According to Wackernagel and the organisation he has founded, the Earth has been in " overshoot ", where humanity is using more resources and generating waste at a pace that the ecosystem cannot renew, since the 1970s. According to

3422-400: Is necessary for countries to maintain an acceptable standard of living for their citizens while, at the same time, maintaining sustainable resource use. The general trend is for higher standards of living to become less sustainable. As always, population growth has a marked influence on total consumption and production, with larger populations becoming less sustainable. Most countries around

3540-477: Is similar to blaming a scale for the user's dietary choices. Even if true, such criticisms do not negate the value of measuring different cities', regions', or nations' ecological footprints and comparing them. Such assessments can provide helpful insights into the success or failure of different environmental policies. Since this metric tracks biocapacity, the replacement of original ecosystems with high-productivity agricultural monocultures can lead to attributing

3658-466: Is still left underground. Therefore, the focus of ecological footprint accounting is human competition for regenerative resources. The amount of the planet's regeneration, including how many resources are renewed and how much waste it the planet can absorb, is dubbed biocapacity . Ecological footprints therefore track how much biocapacity is needed to provide for all the inputs that human activities demand. It can be calculated at any scale: for an activity,

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3776-665: Is the Paradox Hotel Vancouver at 188 m (617 ft), followed by the Private Residences at Hotel Georgia , at 156 m (512 ft). The fourth-tallest is One Wall Centre at 150 m (490 ft) and 48 storeys, followed closely by the Shaw Tower at 149 m (489 ft). In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada , Vancouver had a population of 662,248 living in 305,336 of its 328,347 total private dwellings,

3894-529: Is the inevitable outcome of humanity's natural expansionist tendencies reinforced by ecologically vacuous growth-oriented 'neoliberal' economic theory. Rees now believes that economic and demographic degrowth are necessary to create societies with small enough ecological footprints to remain sustainable and avoid civilizational collapse. The world-average ecological footprint in 2013 was 2.8 global hectares per person. The average per country ranges from 14.3 (Qatar) to 0.5 (Yemen) global hectares per person. There

4012-402: Is the largest city in the region with an increasing population in the metropolitan area. Apart from the highly densified central business district (CBD), more efficient land use strategy was needed in less dense suburban neighbourhoods. The urban development in Vancouver started in the 19th century mainly shaped by automobile-based infrastructural development. As a result, urban sprawl has led to

4130-413: Is the origin of the name that eventually became "Vancouver". The indigenous Squamish people who reside in a region that encompasses southwestern British Columbia including this city gave the name K'emk'emeláy̓ which means "place of many maple trees"; this was originally the name of a village inhabited by said people where a sawmill was established by Edward Stamp as part of the foundations to

4248-611: The 1986 World Exposition , which includes part of the Convention Centre , the Pan-Pacific Hotel , and a cruise ship terminal. Two modern buildings that define the southern skyline away from the downtown area are City Hall and the Centennial Pavilion of Vancouver General Hospital , both designed by Townley and Matheson in 1936 and 1958, respectively. A collection of Edwardian buildings in

4366-454: The 2021 census Vancouver has been called a "city of neighbourhoods." Each neighbourhood in Vancouver has a distinct character and ethnic mix. People of English, Scottish, and Irish origins were historically the largest ethnic groups in the city, and elements of British society and culture are still visible in some areas, particularly South Granville and Kerrisdale . Germans are the next-largest European ethnic group in Vancouver and were

4484-632: The British Columbia Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel in Victoria, and the lavishly decorated second Hotel Vancouver. The 556-room Hotel Vancouver , opened in 1939 and the third by that name, is across the street with its copper roof. The Gothic-style Christ Church Cathedral , across from the hotel, opened in 1894 and was declared a heritage building in 1976. There are several modern buildings in

4602-587: The Canada Line rapid transit line, part of the SkyTrain system. In 2012, Sydney and other Australian cities adopted EcoDensity principles into their urban planning program. Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada , located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia . As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in

4720-563: The Canadian Pacific Railway . The Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway was extended to the city by 1887. The city's large natural seaport on the Pacific Ocean became a vital link in the trade between Asia-Pacific , East Asia , Europe , and Eastern Canada . Vancouver has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 1954 Commonwealth Games , UN Habitat I , Expo 86 , APEC Canada 1997 ,

4838-475: The Cumberland coal mines on Vancouver Island . Following a lull in the 1920s, the strike wave peaked in 1935 when unemployed men flooded the city to protest conditions in the relief camps run by the military in remote areas throughout the province. After two tense months of daily and disruptive protesting, the relief camp strikers decided to take their grievances to the federal government and embarked on

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4956-498: The Kitsilano area. Vancouver also has a significant aboriginal community of about 15,000 people. Ecological footprint The metric is promoted by the Global Footprint Network which has developed standards to make results comparable. FoDaFo, supported by Global Footprint Network and York University are now providing the national assessments of Footprints and biocapacity. Footprint and biocapacity can be compared at

5074-525: The On-to-Ottawa Trek , but their protest was put down by force. The workers were arrested near Mission and interned in work camps for the duration of the Depression. Other social movements, such as the first-wave feminist , moral reform, and temperance movements , were also instrumental in Vancouver's development. Mary Ellen Smith , a Vancouver suffragist and prohibitionist , became

5192-705: The Pacific Maritime Ecozone . Until the city's naming in 1885, "Vancouver" referred to Vancouver Island, and it remains a common misconception that the city is located on the island. The island and the city are both named after Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver (as is the city of Vancouver, Washington , in the United States). Vancouver has one of the largest urban parks in North America, Stanley Park , which covers 404.9 ha (1,001 acres). The North Shore Mountains dominate

5310-550: The Port of Vancouver is the fourth-largest port by tonnage in the Americas, the busiest and largest in Canada, and the most diversified port in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, making tourism its second-largest industry. Major film production studios in Vancouver and nearby Burnaby have turned Greater Vancouver and nearby areas into one of

5428-575: The World Police and Fire Games in 1989 and 2009; several matches of 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup including the finals at BC Place in Downtown Vancouver , and the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics which were held in Vancouver and Whistler , a resort community 125 km (78 mi) north of the city. In 1969, Greenpeace was founded in Vancouver. The city became the permanent home to TED conferences in 2014. As of 2016 ,

5546-445: The census metropolitan area (CMA) level in the 2021 census, the metropolitan area referred to as Greater Vancouver had a population of 2,642,825 living in 1,043,319 of its 1,104,532 total private dwellings, a change of 7.3% from its 2016 population of 2,463,431, the third-most populous metropolitan area in the country and the most populous in Western Canada . With a land area of 2,878.93 km (1,111.56 sq mi), it had

5664-550: The colonial government surveyed the settlement and laid out a townsite , renamed " Granville " in honour of the then–British Secretary of State for the Colonies , Lord Granville . This site, with its natural harbour, was selected in 1884 as the terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway, to the disappointment of Port Moody , New Westminster and Victoria , all of which had vied to be the railhead. A railway

5782-466: The most livable cities in Canada and in the world. In terms of housing affordability , Vancouver is also one of the most expensive cities in Canada and in the world . Vancouverism is the city's urban planning design philosophy. Indigenous settlement of Vancouver began more than 10,000 years ago and included the Squamish , Musqueam , and Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard) peoples. The beginnings of

5900-497: The 1930s onward by the government of Japan. These flower for several weeks in early spring each year, an occasion celebrated by the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival . Other streets are lined with flowering chestnut, horse chestnut and other decorative shade trees. Vancouver's climate, one of the mildest and most temperate climates in Canada, is classified as oceanic ( Köppen: Cfb ) bordering on

6018-516: The 1980s and 1990s, recent immigration has been comparatively low. However, growth in the Latino population – which largely consists of Mexicans and Salvadorans  – rose in the late 2010s and early 2020s. African immigration has been similarly stagnant (3.6% and 3.3% of total immigrant population, respectively). The black population of Vancouver is small in comparison to other Canadian major cities, making up 1.3 percent of

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6136-599: The 1980s, immigration increased substantially, making the city more ethnically and linguistically diverse; 49 percent of Vancouver's residents do not speak English as their first language. Over 25 percent of the city's inhabitants are of Chinese heritage. In the 1980s, an influx of immigrants from Hong Kong in anticipation of the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China, combined with an increase in immigrants from mainland China and previous immigrants from Taiwan , established in Vancouver one of

6254-531: The 6 billion people on Earth at that time was about 1.3 hectares per person, which is smaller than the 1.6 global hectares published for 2024, because the initial studies neither used global hectares nor included bioproductive marine areas. According to the 2018 edition of the National footprint accounts , humanity's total ecological footprint has exhibited an increasing trend since 1961, growing an average of 2.1% per year (SD= 1.9). Humanity's ecological footprint

6372-567: The British settlement later becoming part of Vancouver. In hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (the Downriver dialect of Halkomelem) spoken by the Musqueam , there is no specific term for Vancouver. Rather there existed names for specific villages and landscape features that the people knew intimately in the area Vancouver exists in currently, as opposed to larger geographic features. The region where Vancouver

6490-498: The Council. Yet due to inadequate management and planning, surrounding municipalities are growing faster than Vancouver. Indeed, ignoring community concerns, failing to effectively increase density and being governed by pro-developer and ideological perspectives, eventually eco-density has become a cautionary narrative that cities should avoid and can learn from. Vancouver's EcoDensity Initiative combined density, design and land use as

6608-450: The EU's Resource Strategy. They also recommended further improvements in data quality, methodologies and assumptions. Blomqvist et al. . published a critical paper in 2013. It led to a reply from Rees and Wackernagel (2013), and a rejoinder by Blomqvist et al. (2013). An additional strand of critique is from Giampietro and Saltelli (2014), with a reply from Goldfinger et al., 2014, and

6726-556: The Empire's tallest commercial building by the elaborate Art Deco Marine Building in the 1920s. The Marine Building is known for its elaborate ceramic tile facings and brass-gilt doors and elevators, which make it a favourite location for movie shoots. Topping the list of tallest buildings in Vancouver is Living Shangri-La , the tallest building in BC at 201 m (659 ft) and 62 storeys. The second-tallest building in Vancouver

6844-488: The Environment Report included an Ecological Footprint measure for the average Western Australian seven times the average footprint per person on the planet in 2007, a total of about 15 hectares. The figure (right) examines sustainability at the scale of individual countries by contrasting their Ecological Footprint with their UN Human Development Index (a measure of standard of living ). The graph shows what

6962-607: The Fraser River, on their way to the Fraser Canyon , bypassing what would become Vancouver. Vancouver is among British Columbia's youngest cities; the first European settlement in what is now Vancouver was not until 1862 at McCleery's Farm on the Fraser River, just east of the ancient village of Musqueam in what is now Marpole . A sawmill was established at Moodyville (now the City of North Vancouver ) in 1863, beginning

7080-719: The Georgia Straight and the Coast Mountains, which invokes a strong sense of environmental consciousness and environmental protection. Since the 1960s, Vancouver's strong community spirit manifested through citizen activism and traditional planning culture resulted in a strong trust between communities and the Council. The proclaimed aim of the EcoDensity Initiative was to increase density in low and medium dense urban areas along transport corridors. Well-designed, mixed-use attractive neighbourhoods have

7198-538: The Global Footprint Network's calculations, currently people use Earth's resources at approximately 171% of capacity. This implies that humanity is well over Earth's human carrying capacity at current levels of affluence. According to the GFN: In 2023, Earth Overshoot Day fell on August 2nd. Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has exhausted nature's budget for the year. For the rest of

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7316-598: The Pacific. Examples include the monkey puzzle tree , the Japanese maple and various flowering exotics, such as magnolias , azaleas and rhododendrons . Some species imported from harsher climates in Eastern Canada or Europe have grown to immense sizes. The native Douglas maple can also attain a tremendous size. Many of the city's streets are lined with flowering varieties of Japanese cherry trees donated from

7434-836: The Philippines. Finally, many countries run an ecological deficit because of both high per capita resource use and large populations; such countries tend to be way over their national available biocapacities. Examples include Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. According to William Rees, writing in 2011, "the average world citizen has an eco-footprint of about 2.7 global average hectares while there are only 2.1 global hectare of bioproductive land and water per capita on earth. This means that humanity has already overshot global biocapacity by 30% and now lives unsustainabily by depleting stocks of 'natural capital'." Since then, due to population growth and further refinements in

7552-550: The Vancouver area from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Squamish , Musqueam , and Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard) peoples of the Coast Salish group had villages in various parts of present-day Vancouver, such as Stanley Park , False Creek , Kitsilano , Point Grey and near the mouth of the Fraser River . Europeans became acquainted with the area of the future Vancouver when José María Narváez of Spain explored

7670-521: The airport was 34.4 °C (93.9 °F) set on July 30, 2009, and the highest temperature ever recorded within the city of Vancouver was 35.0 °C (95.0 °F) occurring first on July 31, 1965, again on August 8, 1981, and also on May 29, 1983. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was −17.8 °C (0.0 °F) on January 14, 1950 and again on December 29, 1968. On average, snow falls nine days per year, with three days receiving 5 cm (2.0 in) or more. Average yearly snowfall

7788-495: The building of high-rise residential towers in Vancouver's West End , subject to strict requirements for setbacks and open space to protect sight lines and preserve green space. The success of these dense but livable neighbourhoods led to the redevelopment of urban industrial sites, such as North False Creek and Coal Harbour, beginning in the mid-1980s. The result is a compact urban core that has gained international recognition for its "high amenity and 'livable' development". In 2006,

7906-399: The calculations, available biocapacity per person has decreased to <1.7 hectares per person globally. More recently, Rees has written: The human enterprise is in potentially disastrous 'overshoot', exploiting the ecosphere beyond ecosystems' regenerative capacity and filling natural waste sinks to overflowing. Economic behavior that was once 'rational' has become maladaptive. This situation

8024-552: The city its name in honour of George Vancouver . The Great Vancouver Fire on June 13, 1886, razed the entire city. The Vancouver Fire Department was established that year and the city quickly rebuilt. Vancouver's population grew from a settlement of 1,000 people in 1881 to over 20,000 by the turn of the century and 100,000 by 1911. Vancouver merchants outfitted prospectors bound for the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. One of those merchants, Charles Woodward, had opened

8142-409: The city launched a planning initiative entitled EcoDensity , with the stated goal of exploring ways in which "density, design, and land use can contribute to environmental sustainability, affordability, and livability". The Vancouver Art Gallery is housed downtown in the neoclassical former courthouse built in 1906. The courthouse building was designed by Francis Rattenbury , who also designed

8260-481: The city population belonged to a visible minority group; at the same time, this proportion was roughly 14 percent for the entire metropolitan area . By 2016, the proportion in the city had grown to 52 percent. Prior to the Hong Kong diaspora of the 1990s, the largest non-British ethnic groups in the city were Irish and German , followed by Scandinavian , Italian , Ukrainian , Chinese, and Punjabi . From

8378-601: The city's long relationship with logging. It was quickly followed by mills owned by Captain Edward Stamp on the south shore of the inlet. Stamp, who had begun logging in the Port Alberni area, first attempted to run a mill at Brockton Point , but difficult currents and reefs forced the relocation of the operation in 1867 to a point near the foot of Dunlevy Street. This mill, known as the Hastings Mill , became

8496-670: The city's old downtown core were, in their day, the tallest commercial buildings in the British Empire . These were, in succession, the Carter-Cotton Building (former home of The Province newspaper), the Dominion Building (1907) and the Sun Tower (1911), the former two at Cambie and Hastings Streets and the latter at Beatty and Pender Streets. The Sun Tower's cupola was finally exceeded as

8614-558: The city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Metro Vancouver area had a population of 2.6   million in 2021, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada . Greater Vancouver, along with the Fraser Valley , comprises the Lower Mainland with a regional population of over 3   million. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada, with over 5,700 inhabitants per square kilometre (15,000/sq mi), and

8732-452: The city. Hogan's Alley , a small area adjacent to Chinatown, just off Main Street at Prior, was once home to a significant black community. The Black population consists of Somalis , Jamaicans/Caribbeans, and other groups, including those who descended from African Americans. The neighbourhood of Strathcona was the core of the city's Jewish community. In 1981, approximately 24 percent of

8850-576: The city. While some manufacturing did develop, including the establishment of the British Columbia Sugar Refinery by Benjamin Tingley Rogers in 1890, natural resources became the basis for Vancouver's economy. The resource sector was initially based on logging and later on exports moving through the seaport, where commercial traffic constituted the largest economic sector in Vancouver by the 1930s. The dominance of

8968-542: The cityscape, and on a clear day, scenic vistas include the snow-capped volcano Mount Baker in the state of Washington to the southeast, Vancouver Island across the Strait of Georgia to the west and southwest, and Bowen Island to the northwest. The vegetation in the Vancouver area was originally temperate rainforest , consisting of conifers with scattered pockets of maple and alder and large areas of swampland (even in upland areas, due to poor drainage). The conifers were

9086-554: The coast of present-day Point Grey and parts of Burrard Inlet in 1791—although one author contends that Francis Drake may have visited the area in 1579 . The explorer and North West Company trader Simon Fraser and his crew became the first-known Europeans to set foot on the site of the present-day city. In 1808, they travelled from the east down the Fraser River, perhaps as far as Point Grey. The Fraser Gold Rush of 1858 brought over 25,000 men, mainly from California , to nearby New Westminster (founded February 14, 1859) on

9204-404: The dominance of single family homes in suburbia and high-density residential development in the downtown core. Since the early 1990s, an urban sustainability approach has significantly shaped the way Vancouver has responded to its growing problem, thus it has become a globally recognized eco-city. "Vancouverism" is a new kind of city living that incorporates deep respect for nature. As such, it

9322-546: The downtown area and 2,044 mm (80.5 in) in North Vancouver. The daily maximum averages 22 °C (72 °F) in July and August, with highs rarely reaching 30 °C (86 °F). The summer months are typically dry, with only one in five days receiving precipitation during July and August. In contrast, most days from November through March record some precipitation. The highest temperature ever recorded at

9440-825: The downtown area, including the Harbour Centre , the Vancouver Law Courts and surrounding plaza known as Robson Square (designed by Arthur Erickson ) and the Vancouver Library Square (designed by Moshe Safdie and DA Architects ), reminiscent of the Colosseum in Rome, and the recently completed Woodward's building Redevelopment (designed by Henriquez Partners Architects ). The original BC Hydro headquarters building (designed by Ron Thom and Ned Pratt) at Nelson and Burrard Streets

9558-560: The economy by big business was accompanied by an often militant labour movement . The first major sympathy strike was in 1903 when railway employees struck against the CPR for union recognition. Labour leader Frank Rogers was killed by CPR police while picketing at the docks, becoming the movement's first martyr in British Columbia. The rise of industrial tensions throughout the province led to Canada's first general strike in 1918, at

9676-485: The first Woodward's store at Abbott and Cordova Streets in 1892 and, along with Spencer's and the Hudson's Bay department stores, formed the core of the city's retail sector for decades. The economy of early Vancouver was dominated by large companies such as the CPR, which fuelled economic activity and led to the rapid development of the new city; in fact, the CPR was the main real estate owner and housing developer in

9794-483: The first woman elected to a provincial legislature in Canada in 1918. Alcohol prohibition began in the First World War and lasted until 1921 when the provincial government established control over alcohol sales, a practice still in place today. Canada's first drug law came about following an inquiry conducted by the federal minister of Labour and future prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King . King

9912-475: The fourth highest in North America (after New York City , San Francisco , and Mexico City ). Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada: 49.3 percent of its residents are not native English speakers, 47.8 percent are native speakers of neither English nor French, and 54.5 percent of residents belong to visible minority groups. It has been consistently ranked one of

10030-499: The fourth-most expensive real estate market in the world in 2019. Vancouver has also been ranked among Canada's most expensive cities to live in. Sales in February 2016 were 56.3 percent higher than the 10-year average for the month. Forbes also ranked Vancouver as the tenth-cleanest city in the world in 2007. Vancouver's characteristic approach to urban planning originated in the late 1950s, when city planners began to encourage

10148-480: The hectares of bioproductive land available on average globally (this was estimated at <1.7 hectares per person in 2019). Examples include France, Germany and Saudi Arabia. In other cases, per capita resource use may be lower than the global available average, but countries are running an ecological deficit because their populations are high enough that they still use more bioproductive land than they have within their national borders. Examples include China, India and

10266-450: The highest concentrations of ethnic Chinese residents in North America. Another significant Asian ethnic group in Vancouver includes South Asians , forming approximately 7 percent of the city's inhabitants; while a small community had existed in the city since 1897, larger waves of migration began in the 1950s and 1960s, prompting new Punjabi immigrants to establish a Little India (known as Punjabi Market ) and preside over much of

10384-569: The individual, regional, national or global scale. Both footprint and demands on biocapacity change every year with number of people, per person consumption, efficiency of production, and productivity of ecosystems. At a global scale, footprint assessments show how big humanity's demand is compared to what Earth can renew. Global Footprint Network estimates that, as of 2022, humanity has been using natural capital 71% faster than Earth can renew it, which they describe as meaning humanity's ecological footprint corresponds to 1.71 planet Earths. This overuse

10502-562: The larger Metro Vancouver region, it is influenced by the policy direction of livability as illustrated in Metro Vancouver's Regional Growth Strategy. Vancouver ranked high on the Global Liveability Ranking and stood at number 1 on the list for several years until 2011. In recent years, it has dropped, ranking as low as 16 in 2021. As of 2022 , Vancouver was ranked as having the fifth-highest quality of living of any city on Earth. According to Forbes , Vancouver had

10620-510: The largest film production centres in North America, earning it the nickname " Hollywood North ". The city takes its name from George Vancouver , who explored the inner harbour of Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave various places British names. The family name "Vancouver" itself originates from the Dutch "van Coevorden", denoting somebody from the city of Coevorden , Netherlands. The explorer's ancestors came to England "from Coevorden", which

10738-701: The mass construction of the Vancouver Special across the southeastern quadrant of the city, notably within the Sunset neighbourhood prior to the suburbanization of the community to outer suburbs such as Surrey or Delta. Other Asian-origin groups that reside in Vancouver include Filipinos (5.9%), Japanese (1.7%), Korean (1.7%), West Asians (1.9%), as well as sizable communities of Vietnamese , Indonesians , and Cambodians . Despite increases in Latin American immigration to Vancouver in

10856-468: The mid-1950s until the 1980s, many Portuguese immigrants came to Vancouver, and the city had the third-largest Portuguese population in Canada in 2001. Eastern Europeans, including Russians , Czechs , Poles , Romanians and Hungarians began immigrating after the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe after World War II . Greek immigration increased in the late 1960s and early '70s, with most settling in

10974-403: The modern city, which was originally named Gastown , grew around the site of a makeshift tavern on the western edges of Hastings Mill that was built on July 1, 1867, and owned by proprietor Gassy Jack . The Gastown steam clock marks the original site. Gastown then formally registered as a townsite dubbed Granville , Burrard Inlet . The city was renamed "Vancouver" in 1886 through a deal with

11092-499: The nucleus around which Vancouver formed. The mill's central role in the city waned after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the 1880s. It nevertheless remained important to the local economy until it closed in the 1920s. The settlement, which came to be called Gastown , proliferated around the original makeshift tavern established by Gassy Jack in 1867 on the edge of the Hastings Mill property. In 1870,

11210-475: The perception of these populations as "parasitic". But in reality, ecological footprints just document the resource dependence of cities on rural hinterlands . Critics argue that this is a dubious characterization, since farmers in developed nations may easily consume more resources than urban inhabitants, due to transportation requirements and the unavailability of economies of scale . Furthermore, such moral conclusions seem to be an argument for autarky . But this

11328-421: The planet's ecosystems renewed. If this rate of resource use is not reduced, persistent overshoot would suggest the occurrence of continued ecological deterioration and a potentially permanent decrease in Earth's human carrying capacity.     In 2022, the average biologically productive area per person worldwide was approximately 1.6 global hectares (gha) per capita. The U.S. footprint per person

11446-622: The population of the enlarged Vancouver was 228,193. Located on the Burrard Peninsula , Vancouver lies between Burrard Inlet to the north and the Fraser River to the south. The Strait of Georgia , to the west, is shielded from the Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island . The city has an area of 115.18 km (44.47 sq mi), including both flat and hilly ground and is in the Pacific Time Zone (UTC−8) and

11564-410: The potential to increase density and stimulate active modes of travel, as well as catalyzing the development of sustainable communities . With that in mind, in denser neighbourhoods, requirement for investment in infrastructure tends to be lower. In relation to the demand and supply situations and other contextual conditions, an extra supply of housing has the potential to lower property costs and as such

11682-561: The reliability of the ecological footprint accounting method and its results. They have largely confirmed the accounts' results; those who reproduced the assessment generating near-identical results. Such reviews include those of Switzerland, Germany, France, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and the European Commission. Global Footprint Network has summarized methodological limitations and criticism in

11800-779: The same rate as the ecological footprint. The increase of biocapacity averaged at only 0.5% per year (SD = 0.7). Because of agricultural intensification , biocapacity was at 9.6 billion gha in 1961 and grew to 12.2 billion gha in 2016. However, this increased biocapacity for people came at the expense of other species. Agricultural intensification involved increased fertilizer use which led to eutrophication of streams and ponds; increased pesticide use which decimated pollinator populations; increased water withdrawals which decreased river health; and decreased land left wild or fallow which decreased wildlife populations on agricultural lands. This reminds us that ecological footprint calculations are anthropocentric, assuming that all Earth's biocapacity

11918-589: The same. Early criticism was published by van den Bergh and Verbruggen in 1999, which was updated in 2014. Their colleague Fiala published similar criticism in 2008. A comprehensive review commissioned by the Directorate-General for the Environment (European Commission) was published in June 2008. The European Commission's review found the concept unique and useful for assessing progress on

12036-465: The southern slopes of False Creek and English Bay, especially around Jericho Beach . The forest in Stanley Park was logged between the 1860s and 1880s, and evidence of old-fashioned logging techniques such as springboard notches can still be seen there. Many plants and trees growing throughout Vancouver and the Lower Mainland were imported from other parts of the continent and points across

12154-421: The term "ecological footprint", inspired by a computer technician who praised his new computer's "small footprint on the desk". In 1996, Wackernagel and Rees published the book Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth . The simplest way to define an ecological footprint is the amount of environmental resources necessary to produce the goods and services that support an individual's lifestyle,

12272-465: The top ten countries in total ecological footprint were: China (5.54 billion global hectares), United States (2.66 billion), India (1.64 billion), Russian Federation (774 million), Japan (586 million), Brazil (542 million), Indonesia (460 million), Germany (388 million), Republic of Korea (323 million) and Mexico (301 million). These were the ten nations putting the greatest strain on global ecosystem services . The Western Australian government State of

12390-523: The total population of Vancouver. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin were mainland China (63,275 persons or 23.1%), Philippines (29,930 persons or 10.9%), Hong Kong (25,480 persons or 9.3%), India (14,640 persons or 5.3%), United Kingdom (12,895 persons or 4.7%), Vietnam (12,120 persons or 4.4%), Taiwan (9,870 persons or 3.6%), United States of America (9,790 persons or 3.6%), Iran (8,775 persons or 3.2%), and South Korea (6,495 persons or 2.4%). Pan-ethnic breakdown of Vancouver from

12508-539: The trends for countries and the world have stayed consistent despite data updates. In addition, a recent study by the Swiss Ministry of Environment independently recalculated the Swiss trends and reproduced them within 1–4% for the time period that they studied (1996–2015). Since 2006, a first set of ecological footprint standards exist that detail both communication and calculation procedures. The latest version are

12626-536: The updated standards from 2009. The ecological footprint accounting method at the national level is described on the website of the Global Footprint Network or in greater detail in academic papers, including Borucke et al. The National Accounts Review Committee has published a research agenda on how to improve the accounts. For 2023 Global Footprint Network estimated humanity's ecological footprint as 1.71 planet Earths. According to their calculations this means that humanity's demands were 1.71 times more than what

12744-408: The war, these Japanese-Canadian men and women were not allowed to return to cities like Vancouver causing areas, like the aforementioned Japantown , to cease to be ethnically Japanese areas as the communities never revived. Amalgamation with Point Grey and South Vancouver gave the city its final boundaries not long before it became the third-largest metropolis in the country. As of January 1, 1929,

12862-658: The world as a whole and for over 200 nations (known as the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts). This task has now been taken over by FoDaFo and York University . The total footprint number of Earths needed to sustain the world's population at that level of consumption are also calculated. Every year the calculations are updated to the latest year with complete UN statistics. The time series are also recalculated with every update, since UN statistics sometimes correct historical data sets. Results are available on an open data platform. Lin et al. (2018) find that

12980-463: The world continue to become more populous, although a few seem to have stabilized or are even beginning to shrink. The information generated by reports at the national, regional and city scales confirm the global trend towards societies becoming less sustainable over time. The UK's average ecological footprint is 5.45 global hectares per capita (gha) with variations between regions ranging from 4.80 gha (Wales) to 5.56 gha (East England). BedZED ,

13098-551: The year, we are maintaining our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We are operating in overshoot. Currently, more than 85% of humanity lives in countries that run an ecological deficit. This means their citizens use more resources and generate more waste and pollution than can be sustained by the biocapacity found within their national boundaries. In some cases, countries are running an ecological deficit because their per capita ecological footprints are higher than

13216-431: Was 7.0 billion gha in 1961 and increased to 20.6 billion gha in 2014, a function of higher per capita resource use and population increase. The world-average ecological footprint in 2014 was 2.8 global hectares per person. The carbon footprint is the fastest growing part of the ecological footprint and accounts currently for about 60% of humanity's total ecological footprint. The Earth's biocapacity has not increased at

13334-452: Was 7.5 gha, and that of Switzerland was 3.7 gha, that of China 3.6 gha, and that of India 1.0 gha. In its Living Planet Report 2022, the WWF documents a 69% decline in the world's vertebrate populations between 1970 and the present, and links this decline to humanity greatly exceeding global biocapacity . Wackernagel and Rees originally estimated that the available biological capacity for

13452-628: Was among the inducements for British Columbia to join the Confederation in 1871, but the Pacific Scandal and arguments over the use of Chinese labour delayed construction until the 1880s. The City of Vancouver was incorporated on April 6, 1886, the same year that the first transcontinental train arrived. CPR president William Van Horne arrived in Port Moody to establish the CPR terminus recommended by Henry John Cambie and gave

13570-548: Was developed as the PhD dissertation of Mathis Wackernagel , in collaboration with his supervisor Prof. William Rees at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, from 1990 to 1994. The first academic publication about ecological footprints was written by William Rees in 1992. Originally, Wackernagel and Rees called the concept "appropriated carrying capacity". To make the idea more accessible, Rees came up with

13688-413: Was found to have a footprint of 2.4 gha, though with substantial differences in footprints among community members. In a 2012 study of consumers acting 'green' vs. 'brown' (where green people are "expected to have significantly lower ecological impact than 'brown' consumers"), "the research found no significant difference between the carbon footprints of green and brown consumers". A 2013 study concluded

13806-497: Was sent to investigate damages claims resulting from a riot when the Asiatic Exclusion League led a rampage through Chinatown and Japantown . Two of the claimants were opium manufacturers, and after further investigation, King found that white women were reportedly frequenting opium dens as well as Chinese men. A federal law banning the manufacture, sale, and importation of opium for non-medicinal purposes

13924-533: Was soon passed based on these revelations. These riots, and the formation of the Asiatic Exclusion League, also act as signs of a growing fear and mistrust towards the Japanese living in Vancouver and throughout BC. These fears were exacerbated by the attack on Pearl Harbor leading to the eventual internment or deportation of all Japanese-Canadians living in the city and the province. After

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