Why Vancouver owns Seattle

[ErikJ]

12. Inner city freeways leads to suburban sprawl and inner city decay

Last edited Fri Jul 6, 2012, 07:18 PM - Edit history (3)

That may be the biggest reason for the downfall of American cities. The freeways pierce the downtowns which make it too easy to commute out to the burbs which caused uncontrolled sprawl and the deterioration of their downtowns.

That never happened in Vancouver which encouraged more people to live downtown or closer in keeping the inner core vibrant. You'll see the sidewalks of downtown crammed with people and shoppers until 11 pm. People can easily walk to work or take a short bus ride.

Then they have their lightrail Skytrain to the suburbs and every station has several highrise condos or apts clustered around it making it very convenient to get to work without driving.

Vancouver consistently ranks #1 or 2 of the most livable cities in the world. I dont think there is any American city in the top 20.