Think Surrey and Langley and you might picture big houses on large lots, ten minutes by car from the nearest place to buy milk. Or industrial and office parks in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by parking lots... old-school development.
But a new development mantra has taken over, based on the idea that if you want to reduce the need for cars you have to put jobs near housing and connect them with frequent transit. And it's a game changer.
The cities south of the Fraser are growing fast, in part because of affordable housing. Surrey is already BC's second-largest city, and it's been named Best Place to Invest in Western Canada. The city's been putting major energy into attracting jobs and creating walkable, cosmopolitan city centres, as well as improving transit within its borders.
The objective is people living near their jobs and using transit to get around.
In this interview with Translink's Buzzer blog, Christina deMarco, the Manager of Regional Development for Metro Vancouver expands on the plan and how regional government, developers and businesses are working together to achieve it.
Read the interview here.
