An Unlikely Urban Symbiosis: Urban Intensification and Neighbourhood Character in Collingwood, Vancouver

Urban intensification is a key planning strategy for all major Australian cities, but proposals for higher density buildings in established neighbourhoods are frequently opposed by local residents on the basis that they would be ‘out of character’. In this article, the opportunities for urban intensification to reinforce and enhance the existing character of a place are explored through a case study of a Vancouver neighbourhood where a proposed high-rise project was initially resisted by community members, but has subsequently been embraced by them. It is argued that in this case, through a participatory and debate-centred planning process, urban intensification and neighbourhood character became mutually dependent in an unlikely form of urban symbiosis.