Welcome to Curbed Cup, the first edition of Vancouver's search for the neighborhood of the year. We're kicking off 8 'hoods vying for the ultimate grand prize: the amazing JPEG trophy on the right, lovingly engraved in Photoshop with their name. Voting opens now and ends very very early tomorrow morning. Now, let's begin!
Today our competition commences with mega-neighbourhood West End attempting to beat out newly created neighbourhood in the Cambie Corridor.
First up: The West End. A no brainer to be included in the elite eight for Curbed Cup 2013 as the West End has been privy to lots of chatter over the last year. Anti-density folks tirelessly attempted to reject the West End Community Plan, which eventually got retracted and reintroduced with some delightfully colourful ideas for the future. And while everyone was ooh'ing and ahh'ing over the rainbow crosswalks and pretty red lanterns suspended above Davie Village, city council also approved future development in the West End. Residents can prepare for taller towers and roughly 30,000 additional people over the next decade.
The most talked about development that has been approved on the edge of the West End is none other than the twisting tower designed by starchitect Bjarke Ingels. Despite its initial controversy, most residents seem pretty happy about such a unique tower being added to the downtown skyline and to transform an otherwise dead zone area. The West End as most residents know it today hopes to remain the same with its quirky character buildings and tree lined streets, but with major developments already in the works, we're betting this once quiet and tucked away downtown neighbourhood will look a lot different over the next several years, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Home to some of the most passionate pro-neighbourhood folks around, we've included the West End as the top pick for neighbourhood of the year.
Onwards to the challenger: With the semi-recent addition of the Canada Line in the heart of the Cambie Corridor, development has bursted and transformed this once off the radar neighbourhood into a commercial and residential hub. With enviable views of the city, the Cambie Corridor neighbourhood has become a hot spot for young professionals looking to make a living transition across the bridge from the busy downtown vibes to a more neighbourhood vibe close to Kits and great transit options. A few blocks down (ok, a few as in forty), there happens to be the Oakridge megadevelopment that hopes to bring a ton of new residential buildings to the area. It appears the development is spreading outwards from the city and certain areas are being re-looked at by developers in order to determine the best land use.
Who's moving on to the final four, dear readers?