“New urbanism in many ways is a tame, very American version of what we’re doing here – limiting height to two or three storeys and a scaled-down version of mixed use,” he says.
Instead, Mr. Cheng says he’s pursuing a kind of “old urbanism.”
“Just look at ancient Rome, or even Pompeii,” he says in the afternoon sun as tugboats and log booms float past the embryonic new community. “They had residential quarters with retail spaces in front – selling wine, or cheese or textiles.”
East Fraserlands will have high-rise buildings – some as tall as 24 storeys – integrated with other housing types. Make no mistake: the pastoral riverfront scenes aside, this will be a high-density community.
During the consultation process, says Mr. Cheng, residents realized their need for community centres, shops, cafes, restaurants and recreational facilities – the kind of urban amenities that require “critical mass.”
“That’s the high-density trade-off,” Mr. Cheng says with a grin as he surveys the hundred or so people who have flocked to the newly opened Roma Burger Bar – designed with riverine industrial references by HCMA.
Next door is their “discovery centre,” conceived as a kind of urban longhouse, which has already become an interim de facto community centre (an actual one will soon be built). A grandfather sits at a large table watching his grandchildren colour in cartoon characters. Outside, kids play in a sandbox and on a brand new carved wooden jungle gym as their parents look on. Residents from the surrounding areas have come here to bicycle, walk their dogs or even fish for smelt in the river, as eagles and ducks and songbirds glide by.
Build it and they will come is the operative phrase here, as even the beginnings of the project have filled an obvious need in the community. But the high-density nature of the project is mitigated by the large eco-corridors that border the development on the west – offering a substantial songbird habitat – and on the east with acres of forest acting as a buffer zone with the nearby industrial park. Of the 130 acres that comprise the entire East Fraserlands development, 25 will be preserved in their natural state.
It’s been 30 years since the development of False Creek, a much lower density development. But, says Mr. Cheng, “we’ve learned a lot from the successes of places like Granville Island.”
“We learned that industrial and residential and commercial could all co-exist in a harmonious and mutually beneficial way. East Fraserlands is taking that concept to the next level.”
Special to The Globe and Mail
