I don’t know if UBC has won any awards for its Public Realm Plan – and, more importantly, the actual results – but it sure deserves some recognition.
For most of the campus’s existence at the end of Point Grey, its public rights-of-way have been an embarrassment: essentially, asphalt paths, if not mud tracks through the grass fields and boulevards. For one of our country’s most important institutions, with its roots in the City Beautiful era, you’d think they’d have devoted a few more dollars to a presentable public realm.
And now they have. And what a difference.
This is more than just an aesthetic improvement; this says that UBC is now a campus that gives priority to the pedestrian – something not possible when either side of Main Mall were essentially service roads and UBC Boulevard turned over much of its space to parking.
The pictures tell the story.
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Memorial Road before:
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And after:
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Main Mall before:
And after:
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UBC Boulevard before:
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And after:
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The project budget was $46 million, most of which came from ‘Infrastructure Impact Charges’ – a UBC future growth levy on new development. So kudos, UBC, you deserve the recognition for an improvement long overdue but one that will last generations.
Now, UBC needs to get on with a bikeshare system: it’ll be more successful (and more needed) than the one downtown.
It looks great and certainly is more pedestrian friendly, in nice weather. I was rather surprised by the totally lack of weather protection. In general, in the region, much better all weather designs are needed to help keep people dry while walking.
Everyone at UBC carries an umbrella.
These are institutional buildings isolated from sidewalks – so awnings are not viable.
Besides, can you expect the between-class surges of 50,000 to all huddle under awnings?
Very impressive changes.
I remember when most of the roads were open to traffic and the southern campus dominated by parking lots as far as the eye could see. The Before pictures that were chosen for this article take me back to those days.
University Blvd. to the book store was crazy and the buses were often impeded. From there to the parking lots East Mall was also crazy, but to the north people respected the “service vehicles only” signs. West Mall had a parking lot (later two of them) so it was busy on the two ends, but quiet in between. Even parts of Main Mall were open and a lot of people were picked up and dropped off in the loop from Crescent Road up to Sedgwick Library. At the other end you could drive all the way to MacLeod, but hardly anyone ever did. We got used to the fact that parts of campus were dominated by human power and parts were ruled by motor vehicles. I rode a bicycle and never had any issue sharing with the cars and pedestrians on campus. Getting to campus I had some near misses on Chancellor Blvd. between Acadia and Crescent Road so I only used that route when my first class was north of the libraries and I had no time to go the long way.
Sure looks pretty in a brochure, but a few things:
Cobbles… these are not fun to ride a bike or skateboard on, they are already getting fairly uneven, I’ve seen one skateboarder catch something and go flying already. Wonder what these will be like in a few years? Can’t imagine they will deal well with the plows used for snow removal, and they might be a bit of a hazard for those walking and texting. Some of the new sidewalks are too small, so now those mud tracks will just have sidewalks in the middle…same issue with all the corners those pedestrians will be cutting. All those cobbles are already sprouting quite a few weeds… “Generations” might be pushing it.
Forget skateboard/bike as modes of travel between class anyway, it is more or less impossible to get anywhere now in the core of campus on a bike now between classes.
On that note, what would a bikeshare system be for? Summer tourists? There is technically already one for students.
I don’t miss the ‘welcome to UBC’ parking lot, but I never had a problem with the ‘service roads’ as a pedestrian or cyclist. They were nearly ‘pedestrian only’ between class anyway.
Yes, it looks nice, but there are certainly more than a few functional issues.