Woodward's: Urban Design and Public Space-- Measuring a Sense of Place

Abstract

Woodward’s opened its doors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 2010 and has provided socially mixed housing, indoor and outdoor public spaces, and various amenities in the area (Enright, 2010). As the Downtown Eastside progressively changes, the Woodward’s development has had a large impact in the area’s revitalization (Urban Land Institute, 2014). Both the indoor atrium and outdoor urban park and public plaza have provided the surrounding community with new areas for engagement and socialization. These spaces have now been in place for five years. In order to comprehensively evaluate how these spaces are currently functioning, this research project used the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) Successful Place Criteria to observe and assess the public areas. The main research question that was addressed in this report is:

How are the urban design features of the public spaces in the Woodward’s development creating a sense of place?

To adequately answer this question, the research method used three different types of data collection, which allowed for a thorough analysis and also ensured strong construct validity. The three methods consisted of a brief review of the relevant literature, an observational survey, and interviews for validation purposes. The survey used a likert scale to evaluate the areas based on the PPS (2015) Successful Place Criteria. Jan Gelh’s (2010) Criteria for Evaluating Public Spaces was then used to provide a comparative analysis. The report concludes by providing a series of ten recommendations to enhance the public spaces.