The development of automated light rapid transit in Vancouver : the potential for significant community change
Creators: name: Winter, Wayne Francis Alden
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: The development of the Automated Light Rapid Transit (ALRT) system in Vancouver, first proposed in the 1970's, has been touted as a solution to the contemporary urban problems of increasing traffic congestion, access to the downtown core, and limited affordable housing near the city centre. Recent concerns have been expressed that the development of the ALRT will be accompanied by significant change in the neighbourhoods along the route. This thesis aims to assess the potential for significant change occurring in the suburban Vancouver City neighbourhoods along the ALRT route after the construction is completed. The increased accessibility to the city centre anticipated as an outcome of the development of the ALRT is regarded as the factor most likely to produce significant change in neighbourhoods along the route. This expectation arises from the understanding provided by literature from the fields of urban economics and urban ecology. Discussions of the bid-price curve in the work of Alonso and other urban economic writers attributes much of the market value of land, and by inference the residential density of land, to the effect of accessibility to the city centre. Further discussions in the urban ecology literature, including the work of the factorial ecology school, outline the relationship between accessibility to the city centre and the distribution in urban areas of social rank and of household types. From the relationships indicated in the literature, it is expected that the improved accessibility which will result from the construction of the ALRT could significantly change neighbourhoods along the route. Using Census data, the thesis explores the strength of the existing relationships between accessibility to the city centre and each of the social characteristics identified in the literature. The strength of each relationship was determined using a rank-order correlation between relative accessibility to the city centre and z-scores associated with indicators for each of the social characteristics. The relationship between accessibility to the city centre and social rank was examined using the highest level of education attained by the over 15 year old population as a proxy for social rank. The proportions of the various household types, including family and non-family households, single-person and multiple-person non-family households, were used to provide insights into variations in this aspect of urban life which is affected by accessibility to the city centre. Finally, the relationship between accessibility to the city centre and the distribution of dwelling types was examined by looking at variations in the distributions of single-detached, multiple-dwelling, and apartment units along the ALRT route. Social rank was found to be not strongly correlated with the level of accessibility to the city centre. Instead, the distribution of social rank was seen to have been more strongly influenced by other factors, such as the historic pattern of development. The distribution of dwelling types and of the various household types were demonstrated to be related to accessibility to the city centre. As the level of accessibility to the city centre increased, the proportion of apartment units in an area and the proportion of non-family households were seen to increase. The development of the ALRT was not expected to significantly affect the distribution of social rank along the route. Expectations that significant change would follow the development of the ALRT was supported for both the spatial pattern of the various dwelling types and the spatial pattern of the household types. The spatial distribution of both of these social indicators would be expected to change significantly following the completion of the ALRT.