2012 Metro Vancouver Urban Futures Survey
Help shape the future of Metro Vancouver
In 1973, approximately 1,500 residents of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) were surveyed about their attitudes toward a range of economic, social, mobility and lifestyle issues. Their responses informed the creation of the Livable Region Program.
Seventeen years later, a team of researchers led for the second time by UBC professor, Dr. Walter G. Hardwick, revisited the Urban Futures Project and conducted a new survey. The 1990 Urban Futures Survey was prepared for the GVRD “Choosing our Future†program and involved 1,053 face-to-face and 238 telephone interviews.
Twenty-one years later, the 2012 Urban Futures Survey is the third iteration of this program. While the previous surveys were conducted in person and via telephone, the 2012 survey is being conducted online, utilizing PlaceSpeak, a location-based public consultation platform developed by the late Dr. Hardwick’s daughter, Colleen. This innovation enables access to a much larger sample size of spatially stratified household respondents, with greater speed and at a lower cost.
The Urban Futures Opinion Survey was designed to determine long term trends in the relative importance of a number of community and regional issues. The survey helps to identify areas of public concern where greater attention is required, as well as those areas where the public feels issues are being adequately handled. It also helps to identify what kinds of actions the public would support to address critical issues.
The 2012 survey is organized under the major headings developed in the Choosing our Future Process with an update to reflect the recent Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy.
- Environment – protecting the environment and responding to climate change impacts
- Community Life – developing complete communities
- Mobility – supporting sustainable transportation choices
- Built Environment
- Managing Growth – creating a compact urban area
- Governance
- Economy – supporting a sustainable economy
The 2012 survey will extend information on gender differences, on geographic variability, and on the implications of age an education in responses through its longitudinal dataset. The unique mapping capability of PlaceSpeak presents the variations in response across the Region. The 2012 Iteration will include 27 control questions from each of these areas, as well as 54 updates, and the addition of brand new questions related to the economy and technology. It takes 22 minutes. These questions are in the form of order ranking and 5-point Likert scale as well as providing for open-ended answers.
The 1990 Survey, as part of the larger “Choosing our Future†program, helped to bring about many changes to policy including the establishment of a municipal hazardous waste disposal programs and the creation of the local “Green Zoneâ€. It is intended that this new research inform our understanding of the future needs of the Vancouver Metropolitan Region.
The 2012 Urban Futures Survey is being conducted under the aegis of Lambda Alpha International, the Society of Urban Land Economists, with the support of the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, the City of Surrey and the City of North Vancouver, Translink and Vancity.
Take the 2012 Urban Futures Survey at www.placespeak.com/
Photo: Frappuccino..(大大懒人)
