On Saturday, March 1st, Strong Towns Vancouver with support from Vision Zero Vancouver and local community stewards took over a bridge. The bridge sits across the Grandview Cut on Woodland Drive bridging an otherwise disconnected part of the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood in Vancouver. The existing condition was a beautiful bridge, large paved surface, only used by bikes, emergency vehicles, and the occasional intruding car. The communities turned this empty space into a place, a destination for neighbours of all ages and abilities to sit, chat and play.
From Vision To Reality
Our community came together with handmade wooden benches from repurposed wooden pallets, gifted outdoor children’s toys, a picnic table, and some barriers to help make this overbuilt bridge used mainly by pedestrians and cyclists into a nice place for the neighbourhood to enjoy. Our takeover and setup came together that Saturday. It was a busy few weeks of listening to the community, learning about placemaking, guerrilla urbanism, drawing up plans and sourcing materials before the setup day on March 1st.
On opening day, we held a ribbon-cutting ceremony complete with sweet treats, games, benches, children's toys, and outdoor chalk—all sourced by the community. While this setup couldn't match the investment level of the city's permanent neighbourhood plazas, it was heartwarming to see locals from near and far coming together to contribute their time and treasured items to this project.
Navigating Obstacles
Shortly after the setup on March 1, some fixtures began disappearing one-by-one. Based on some chatter in the neighbourhood it appeared that Vancouver 311 reports resulted in cleanup crews removing some of these items sourced, fundraised and gifted by the community. It would have been easy to lose sight of hope for this project, but the continued community and neighbourhood support kept it going.
Bridging The Community
The community saw an outpouring of support from all across the neighbourhood and beyond. People were sitting on the bridge and passing by describing how the bridge space is now better used, feels safer for people, and also how this is considered normal in many more advanced cities, like Barcelona. We heard this from the neighbourhood stewards and from surveys as well. Here in Vancouver, creating a place for community feels radical. City planning professionals, and municipal government leaders are often in support of projects like this. It takes both imagination and courage to try it out, and it takes both imagination and courage to support it politically.
Looking Across The Bridge
A member of the community, Dawson Church, had been in touch with the City of Vancouver making the case for this bridge to be adopted by the City of Vancouver’s Neighbourhood Plazas program. With Strong Towns Vancouver, coordinating the future of the Woodland BikeBridge through the Plazas program, and putting together a grant proposal for the Community Placemaking Program offered by the City of Vancouver which provides local organizations up to $3,000 for placemaking or activations during the summer months.
It is thrilling to see that the efforts and losses along the way paid off by paving a path for an even better version of the Woodland BikeBridge with the support and backing of the City of Vancouver. More soon!
