5 Inspiring Urban Planning Lessons Nashville Can Learn from Vancouver, British Columbia
Like many large cities in the United States, Nashville is at a crossroads.
There’s a lot to love about our city, but the urban planning struggles here are real. Since very little in life solves itself, we’re going to have to consciously work at it to get it right.
I’ve been thinking about urban planning and how it will continue to be applied to Nashville, whether you or I take part in it or not … but this video by City Beautiful got me thinking about it again recently.
In it, he discusses the planning outcomes that have taken place in gorgeous Vancouver, B.C., from the 1980s until now. I couldn’t help but see a few parallels, as well as a few important lessons I think Nashvillians can learn from our neighbor in the Great Northwest.
We need to make a decision – right now – about what kind of city we want to be in the next 100 years, or those decisions will be made for us.
So, what can we learn about urban planning from Vancouver? Here are five that I came up with …
1. Make a Decision!
First, nothing happens until and unless we – the citizens of this city – make a committed decision to do sustainable, functional, affordable, and beautiful urban planning.
This might seem a bit philosophical in terms of taking action, but decision is the soul of action.
We can sit around for the next decade or two and talk about how things should be, or we can decide that we’re going to take direct responsibility for our city and then do something about it.
What can be done? Glad you asked …
We can run for City Council (or any number of local positions)
We can educate our children about the importance of good urban planning
We can persuade city managers, developers, and building owners to come along with us
We can invest in good projects and/or promote ones already in motion
We can offer incentives for the development livable and attainable structures and spaces
That’s just a few ideas off the top of my head, but there are many, many, more!
But the point is, none of it will mean anything unless we decide to do excellent urban planning for Nashville and then carry it out long-term.
In the 1980s, except for its extraordinary surrounding natural beauty, Vancouver, B.C. was a reasonably typical, maybe even unremarkable, city.
It didn’t offer anything to attract new business or new population groups to come and make a life and a living there.
But a few people insisted that Vancouver could be great someday, so they made a decision and started the slow, decades-long process of transforming Vancouver into one of the greatest and most beautiful cities in the world.
I believe we can accomplish the same with Nashville.
We first have to decide to do so.
2. Revitalize Downtown for Walking and Biking
Germantown. The Gulch. Five Points. 12 South.
What do these urban neighborhoods of Nashville have in common?
They’re congested and difficult to park in, which certainly seems to be a common complaint for the typical Nashvillian.
But they’re also some of the most walkable districts in Nashville and, as such, have well-above-average property values compared to other urban neighborhoods.
In a city built around cars, these neighborhoods prove that a lack of parking, an abundance of sidewalks and bike lanes, and lower speed limits are the keys to a more prosperous Nashville.
It was similar in Vancouver until they began widening downtown streets and creating extensive walking and biking lanes throughout the urban core.
And like Vancouver, there should be no argument against building our city around people.
The more walkable Nashville’s urban core becomes, the more inviting it will be to everyone, from those who live there to those that choose to open up a business to serve that community.
It’s time we became intentional about serving ourselves instead of our vehicles when it comes to urban planning and creating a Nashville that will continue to thrive for many decades forward.
3. Hyper-Conscious Building Design
One of the first things you'll notice about downtown Vancouver is the incredible "condo towers" that house tens of thousands of residents, but that also makes room for hundreds of integrated retail spaces!
They worked on developing a specific design that has become a signature of the Vancouver lifestyle.
These condos are built and regulated to maximize beautiful views, keep and continue to create an attractive skyline, force parking underground, and offer a supremely livable downtown experience.
These condo towers are just one stunning example of how the once-stagnant city convinced suburbanites to move back and live in the urban core.
It also created a built-in base of customers for the burgeoning retail sector … win-win!
However, like many major cities, Vancouver continues to struggle with attainable housing downtown. The success of the city's design over several decades has left many unable to move in.
Like Vancouver, we need to be conscious of and promote attainable housing within our city's urban core.
Nashville has traditionally been against higher-density developments.
But high-density development not only leads to more affordable housing – especially if the developers are working alongside Metro for incentives – but also to creating walkable districts.
The amenities of The Gulch should be accessible for all Nashvillians, not just those that can afford to pay among the highest prices in the city.
So how can we make housing attainable within Nashville's urban core?
By working with Metro to increase development incentives and permitted density in the urban core and adjacent urban core.
And I say "increase" because there are currently incentives in place, but they're difficult to navigate and, due to budget cuts, there aren't always available funds.
Many developers that I know, personally, would enthusiastically devote their attention full-time to attainable and affordable housing. Still, it's challenging to bring units to market at below-market rates when you have to pay the market price for the land, the market price for development, and the market price for construction.
These incentives will help alleviate the estimated need of over 30,000 attainable units in Nashville over the next decade.
If Vancouver accomplished this incredible feat, Nashville certainly can, too, and with style.
4. Incentivize the Development of Beautiful Urban Parks and Public Spaces
One of the first things you’ll notice about Vancouver, B.C. are the gorgeous open public spaces.
Parks, fountains, strolling spaces, et cetera.
Right now, Nashville has too much real estate dedicated to the movement of vehicles.
Those extra drive lanes should be recaptured for public use, such as outdoor cafe seating at restaurants and bars, bike lanes and on-street parking, and mini-public parks.
Think about it - what if Broadway was shut down to pedestrian-use only (with deliveries permitted during business hours) from Bridgestone Arena to the Riverfront?
That’s a move that would benefit the tourists and businesses alike.
Nashville could also use more green space.
Sure, massive parks like Centennial Park off West End are great and become the heart and soul of a district, but we also need smaller parks scattered throughout the city.
Places where kids can play, residents can walk their dogs, and that brings back a little bit of nature to the urban environment.
Even to me, a commercial real estate developer, this makes sense. It makes sense for the good of the people of our city, and it makes sense for the growth of businesses in our city.
Livability is one of the core tenets of Vancouverism, and I think it should be the same right here in our beloved Nashville.
5. Transportation, Transportation, Transportation
Vancouver got serious about its urban transportation dreams and, in the end, made them all come true.
What about our city? What can we improve on, and where can we go from here?
For one thing, parking in downtown Nashville is too cheap.
Yep - you read that right.
The wide availability of parking options within the downtown core makes it easy for individuals to justify driving downtown and parking their vehicles there.
Parking lots are not the highest and best use for our land in the urban core.
Imagine how much of the city could be recaptured if we did away with parking requirements and structures, implementing better transit and walkable options instead.
Fortunately, Nashville already has little to no parking requirements for developments within the Downtown Code (DTC), but the lack of transit to get workers from point A to point B (or point B to point C) gives them no other option but to drive.
Let’s transform those parking garages into affordable apartment units, where residents aren’t car-dependent and can walk, bike, or travel by transit for all of their needs.
For too long, we’ve allowed cars to dominate the roads.
If all people are created equal, and a car carries two passengers while a bus carries 100, shouldn’t the bus have 50x the space on the road?
Yet, we’ve made much of our transit decisions around how buses inconvenience cars instead of how cars inconvenience buses. And pedestrians. And cyclists. And every other mode of transit.
So, in addition to buses, our roads need to be welcoming to:
Pedestrians
Bicycles
Scooters
Light Rail Systems
And other forms of mass transit.
Nashville has needed a mass transit program for over a decade now.
And it makes sense as to why we don’t have one - when your city is so sprawled and car-dependent that transit wouldn’t be very effective, you don’t implement a transit program!
But Nashville now has a burgeoning downtown core and core adjacent, full of residents, businesses, and tourism.
We cannot rely on ridesharing, or the “autonomous vehicles are coming soon” arguments to alleviate our issues. Sure, they may decrease our parking strain, but they can (and will) significantly increase our congestion.
So what’s the answer to our transportation problems? Put simply, fewer cars and more mass transit.
It worked in Vancouver, and it can (and will) work in Nashville!
YOU Can Play a Significant Role in Building The Future of Nashville in the Next Decade …
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