Greenways are linear open spaces, sometimes called "Green Links" which connect parks,
Nature preserves, cultural features, historic sites, neighbourhoods, schools and shopping
areas. They are often located along either natural corridors like ocean fronts, rivers,
stream valleys, ridgelines, or built landscapes such as rail rights-of-way converted to
recreational use, canals, trails, scenic roads, lanes or dedicated or shared streets. In the
city of Vancouver there is a great opportunity to establish a link between Trout Lake,
located in East Vancouver, and False Creek, located in the heart of Vancouver. The
mission for this thesis project is to design a greenway connecting Trout Lake to False
Creek with special focus on ecological enhancement and stormwater management.
The Route itself has already received citywide support in City Plan approved in 1995.
The Greenway, as indicated in the report, will connect Trout Lake to False Creek via the
Grandview Cut. With city policy supporting the greenway, the bulk of the thesis is
incorporating ecological enhancement and stormwater management into the design.
Stormwater from the Trout Lake watershed will be brought to the surface, cleaned
through biofiltration by wetlands, and used to sustain a stream, which flows year round to
False Creek. By design the stream will be able to support a number of fish habitat, such
as Coastal Cutthroat, Coho Salmon, and the endangered Salish Sucker, to name a few.
As the Greenway reaches False Creek Flats there is an opportunity to daylight (bring to
the surface) two of Vancouver's historic lost streams: China Creek, and Brewery Creek.
The study begins with a series of large-scale context analyses, looking at how the
proposed Grandview Greenway fits into the city of Vancouver as a whole. The analyses
include topography, hydrology, watershed boundaries, utilities, openspace, circulation,
structures, zoning, and how cultural views and perceptions of the environment have
changed over the past 50 years.
Trout lake watershed in its built form is the next area of focus. Starting at the individual
lot, an analysis of the current condition is identified as it relates to stormwater
management. Suggestions are made to increase the amount of groundwater infiltration,
while reducing the amount of surface runoff collected in the watershed. Runoff
calculations for the watershed illustrate the limits to the proposed system ie. the
maximum size of wetland needed to store and treat all stormwater runoff before it enters
Trout Lake, and the minimum flow the creek will require during summer dry periods.
All calculations support the feasibility of the proposed greenway in its entirety.
Route options are explored to connect the stream to the Grandview Cut, followed by the
detailed design of the Grandview Cut to accommodate the stream, pedestrians, cyclists,
the existing rail line, and wildlife. Once in the False Creek Flats, route options are once
again explored to link the stream to False Creek. Now in the industrial section of the
greenway route, the form of the stream changes from a model of a natural system to that
of an urban canal. This allows the system to accommodate more water, while using less
total land area.
China Creek Park is the next detailed design focus. The goal is to daylight China Creek
through the park and connect it to the Grandview Greenway system. It is proposed that
for this section of the greenway, the initiative be entirely derived through community
groups as well as special interest groups, rather than by the City of Vancouver. What is
proposed is at a smaller scale with less intervention to the Landscape.
The final stage of the proposed greenway is the estuary as it enters False Creek near
Science World. Detailed design shows how the canal enters False Creek and how it
relates to Science World, the Sea Wall, and to the proposed Sustainable Community of
Southeast False Creek.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/7940 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Stewart, Greg |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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