Paul Hillsdon’s

Vision for Downtown Surrey

!e year is 2020. Surrey is now the largest city, by population, in British

Columbia. !anks to its new designation, the city receives an equal amount of media a"ention and investment from senior governments as Vancouver does.

Downtown Surrey is a hub of commerce, transportation, community, and culture for both Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

!e Downtown core is recognized around the world for it's sustainable development practices and innovations.

!e area is a gem for diversity in Canada, featuring people of all ages, races, incomes, and capabilities, living together harmoniously and productively.

Surrey is one of the many cities around the world that took the initiative in the early Millennium to redesign our urban environments around sustainability and quality of life - in doing so, it helped stop and reverse climate change, and has created one of the best urban areas anywhere with the Downtown core.  

!e JewelNamed to be the centrepiece and heart of Downtown Surrey, the Jewel is a six and a half

block public space in the centre of the Downtown core. 1/3 of the space is an urban square, featuring the transit exchange, water fountains, an open theatre, public art, a café, and a public market. To the west of King George Boulevard, the park space of the Jewel will feature a large manmade lake with boat rentals and a small untouched island for wetland animals, an off leash dog run, a mini golf course, a bocce court, community garden space, a restaurant overlooking the lake, a “Global garden” featuring plants and %owers from Surrey’s sister and friendship cities, and a botanical garden for weddings and other receptions.

!e Jewel is a small, shared public space designed to feature a wide variety of clients throughout all hours of the day - this is the single, best way to avoid undesirable use of the space.

By incorporating both a square and a park, the Jewel features a very urban, modern look, while still providing relaxing, get-away-from-it-all green space in the centre of Downtown.

!e Jewel is designed a&er best practices from some of the best parks and public spaces in the world, such as Central Park in New York, Bryant Park in New York, Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Discovery Green in Houston, Millennium Park in Chicago, Rockefeller Plaza in New York, Trafalgar Square in London, Federation Square in Melbourne, and Washington Square in New York.

Recent experiences with Discovery Green in Houston and Campus Martius in Detroit have taught us several things about urban parks in the 21st century:

1. Great parks can be economic vitalizers. Both of these urban parks, in two of America’s most troublesome cities, have proven to be not only wonderful community additions, but have brought renewed interest and investment in their Downtowns, and the area surrounding the park. If anything, a popular well designed park can provide far more long term bene'ts to a city, including economic investment, than a convention centre or a stadium. 2. Design is of u!er importance. Both of these parks feature very intricate design of the space to discourage undesirable usage. !e design also follows the best known way to create a vibrant public space - a variety of users throughout the day. !is means the surrounding area of the park should not rely on just one source of users, such

as a convention centre, but multiple sources, such as a transit exchange, university, retail shops, etc. !e park should also be desirable enough to a"ract users for not just lunchtime on weekdays, but for speci'c activities during the weekend, such as a jog, a picnic, kite %ying, etc. Festivals or markets also a"ract users to parks and squares, but the space should not be designed to rely on their existence to bring in patrons. !e high quality of these two parks design must also be noted, as it brings a sense of importance and modernity to the public space.

3. Pursue partnerships and sponsorships. Both of these projects were quite expensive, and far too costly for the municipality to proceed with on their own. Both featured sponsorships from corporations and wealthy citizens. While sponsorship of public space is questionable depending on the case, it is a venue for money. !ere are other examples of the innovative raising of money in

Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, where citizens could each purchase an individual brick with their name engraved - the bricks made up the ground of the square. Surrey itself featured an innovative fundraising scheme earlier this year with the Tulips for Tomorrow program to raise money for Surrey Memorial Hospital.

4. Parks and squares can de"ne a city. When you think of what de'nes a city, there are many factors, such as the design of its buildings, its major a"ractions, its urban form, the intricacies of its people, and more. London is very much de'ned by Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Gardens, and Leicester Square, just as much as it is by the Tube, its double decker red buses, the River !ames, the British Parliament building, the London Eye, and English traditions and culture as a whole. !e same can be said for New York - Central Park is a de'ning feature of the city, but also helped shape Manha"an, just as much as Times Square, the New York Subway, Broadway, Greenwich Village do. As Surrey a"empts to de'ne what makes the city special, the Jewel presents a wondrous opportunity to not only de'ne its Downtown, but also present a civic hub to the community and a potentially world renowned public space.

A 'ne, urban street gridPlanners continue to this day to a"empt to design the perfect streets. With many suburban

communities, a street grid was ditched for the more experimental cul-de-sacs, and short roads for walled garden communities. However, if we study the Downtown areas from cities across the world, you will begin to see that, at least, some form of a much more intricate network of streets is vital to a dense community. While not all major Downtowns feature a street grid, there are many reasons why it should be adopted for Surrey.

Blue lines are streets, grey lines are laneways

1. A grid is good for way"nding. More than any other reason, a grid makes it very easy for residents, and tourists to 'nd their way around the city. It’s quite simple not only to 'gure out the North, South, East, or West directions, but also determine how far a destination is by a standard block distance. Some of the biggest cities around the world that do not feature a grid will always face the problem of way'nding.

2. A grid is good for pedestrians. Shorter blocks are much more approachable for pedestrians, as it feels like they are making progress. For example, if a destination is 500m, and there is only two streets along the way, it may feel like it is taking longer to reach the destination than it actually is. However, if that 500m features a road every 50m, than the pedestrian will hit 10 blocks along the way, which, at least mentally, will feel like they are making progress, much in the same way people tend to set traditional goals. A consistent grid makes it much easier, not just for way'nding, but actually for ge"ing around on foot, as one doesn’t necessarily have to walk across a parking lot or hop a bridge to reach a destination (such is the way in suburban strip malls) as one knows another road will be only another 50 - 100m. A 'ne street grid also improves the safety for pedestrians and other forms of transportation as it provides much more opportunity more pedestrians to safely cross the street, rather than risk jaywalking as a shortcut. In a 'ne street grid, cars can rarely speed down a stretch of road, which also increases not just the safety for pedestrians, but also reduces noise pollution in a Downtown area.

3. A grid is good for traffic. While cars tend to have to slow down in a 'ne street grid, we must realize that in such an urban environment, we must design 'rst and for most for pedestrians, then cyclists, then transit, and 'nally for cars. We cannot make a vibrant, people-'rst environment if we design it primarily for cars. However, a 'ne street grid can improve one aspect of driving, and that is traffic. In a suburban type street network, planners will design quite speci'cally narrow roads, local streets, arterials, and then wider freeways. Such planning only works if everything goes according to plan - of course, if more people actually live in the space then initially designed for, you have a problem. Or, if, ten years from now, this space starts densifying, and there’s no capacity to expand a lane into a road, then you again have a problem. In any case, with a consistent street grid, as a city grows and changes, these demands on the road network can be spread evenly along the grid - instead of all on what has been designated as a main arterial. If, for example, a major accident happens on the “designated main arterial”, and the planners didn’t happen to take these occasions into consideration, you’ll have a major traffic problem for hours. However, with a street grid, if one road becomes backed up due to an accident, the traffic will just, again, spread, to the rest of the network. !is effect can be seen quite strikingly in Downtown Vancouver, when, one of the three main Burrard Peninsula bridges is blocked up or faces construction, such as Cambie currently does, Vancouver does not face gridlock - the traffic relocates to other options along the Granville or Burrard bridges.

4. A grid is good for densi"cation. With a consistent grid, land can be evenly designated and dispersed. For example, if you have each block as 80m2 and lanes that split that block north

and west, then you’ve effectively created four pieces of land, each about 40m2. !is has been one of the reasons Downtown Vancouver has been able to densify so effectively - because the street grid allows it to. !ere’s li"le need to consolidate pieces of land for development. Currently, in the Downtown Surrey area, pieces of land are of all shapes and sizes, and developers will either have to consolidate areas for development, or densi'cation just won’t happen at all. !is is a major barrier to ultimately seeing a denser Downtown in Surrey.

Developing this street grid could be as simple as requiring it to be built as properties are redeveloped, or as complex as developing a mass scale property redistribution effort in conjunction with senior governments that could set a precedent in North America for the transition of suburban communities into true urban cities.

!e proposed main street grid in Downtown Surrey, with Jewel Square and Park in the centre of it all!

King George Boulevard with LRT to Guildford and Newton

Two plans have existed throughout the years - to transform King George from a car oriented highway to a pedestrian friendly boulevard, and to build a street level rail rapid transit system along 104th and King George between Guildford, Surrey Central, and Newton - and this section of my vision makes them both a reality. Doing both at the same time, the boulevard and LRT, is just common sense, and, if Surrey plays its strings right, the opportunity to do so may come fairly soon.

!e Provincial Transit Plan sees SkyTrain in Surrey extended to Guildford by 2020, and to Newton and Langley by 2030. SkyTrain, however, is quite expensive, not to mention would require extreme densi'cation along the entire route to make it 'nancially viable.

LRT provides Surrey with a much cheaper, albeit slightly slower than SkyTrain, option. Still much be"er than bus rapid transit, LRT will enhance street life in the Downtown, expand the rapid transit network in Surrey, and also provide an economic incentive for new, mixed-use, mid-rise, transit oriented neighbourhoods along the route. While constructing LRT, King George will have to be redesigned to 't in the rail system, and thus opens up the chance for us to build for a more sustainable boulevard than its current highway status.

While both projects do prove to be much more important for other communities in Surrey, there are still bene'ts to the Downtown core. As mentioned before, LRT along the roads will enhance the street life, and bustling identity of the area. LRT will also provide expanded access to the Downtown core by more people from other communities in the city.

King George Boulevard will provide a much more pedestrian and bike friendly street than the current highway, especially the existing wider sections of the road in the Downtown area. !e retro't will also provide economic incentive for redevelopment of the strip malls along the roadway.

Central City Urban VillageSuburban communities across North America are facing many problems becoming cities

with a heart, or core. One of the biggest difficulties is what to do with the malls that were traditionally the gathering space and centre of these communities. Many malls are faceless and not exactly unique, and feature hundred of metres of sprawling parking lots. When densifying, it’s quite difficult to build a pleasant pedestrian environment with such urban blight around.

Central City Shopping Centre has seen a good amount of reinvestment in recent years thanks to the installation of the Office Tower and SFU. Even with a new multi-level parking lot, and roo&op parking along most of the mall, there is still large stretches of at-grade parking in front of the mall, between City Parkway and King George. !is land is in a prime location with its close vicinity to two SkyTrain stations, Central City, SFU, and Holland Park.

Owners of various malls, such as Oakridge, Lansdowne, and Semiahmoo, are looking to the future, and capitalizing on their location and their cheap land. Plans exist for these three malls to be transformed, in years, into urban villages. !ese usually incorporate new multi-storey or underground parking lots, mall expansion, new outdoor shops along “Main Streets”, and high/mid-rise housing on the old parking lots.

Working with the owners of Central City, plans need to be put in place to ensure the land that is currently a big parking lot be transformed into a vibrant shopping and living space - a brand new urban village.

Planned redevelopment of Oakridge Mall into an urban village

Civic FacilitiesBuilding major civic facilities in Downtown Surrey provides economic stimulus for

development, a"racts new users to the area, and improves quality of life for existing residents. !ere’s a number of suggested civic facilities that should be developed in the near future, categorized from soonest to latest, in terms of construction:

1. Central Library2. Convention Centre3. City Hall4. Recreation Centre5. Performing Arts Centre

All these projects should be pursued in a mixed-use design. What this means is to not just build a recreation centre, but build it as part of a complex or tower, which includes market office, commercial, or residential to offset some or all of the cost of the civic facility. All these facilities could adopt a mixed-use policy to reduce the 'nancial burden on taxpayers.

Furthermore, they should all be located closely to Surrey Central Station and !e Jewel to aid in creating a bustling heart for Downtown.

What should be avoided is sticking all facilities in one building. !is creates barriers to developing active streetlife, as a majority of people will simply travel to the building and stay inside.

!e Central Library, the Convention Centre, and the Performing Arts Centre could also seek 'nancing from senior levels of government or sponsorships with various corporations.