This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(June 2013) |
UniverCity | |
---|---|
Urban Village | |
Coordinates: 49°16′44″N122°54′19″W / 49.2790°N 122.9054°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | British Columbia |
District | Metro Vancouver |
City | Burnaby |
Established | 2001 |
Elevation | 365 m (1,198 ft) |
Population (2015) | |
• Total | 4,000 |
Estimated | |
Website | UniverCity.ca |
UniverCity is a community located on top of Burnaby Mountain, adjacent to Simon Fraser University. It is modeled as a sustainable community. [1] UniverCity has won several awards for sustainable planning and development. [2] It is currently home to over 4000 residents.
The groundwork for UniverCity was laid in 1963, when Arthur Erickson and Geoff Massey submitted their initial plan for Simon Fraser University. Complementing their vision for the mountain-top campus, their plan saw the new university anchoring a dense residential community. It took another 30 years before the implementation of this initial plan would begin with Simon Fraser University agreeing to transfer more than 320 hectares of university-owned land to the City of Burnaby to more than double the size of the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area. In return, the city approved an Official Community Plan (OCP) in 1996, allowing SFU to begin development of a residential community, later named UniverCity. [1]
The OCP had a goal of creating a compact community surrounding the campus to ensure residential expansion that was accessible. The makeup of the neighbourhoods is two districts; with one being to the south and the other to the east of campus. The OCP original concept included provisions for community facilities such as a school, commercial core, prominent pedestrian paths and biking trails all along campus. The goal is for UniverCity to accommodate up to 10,000 residents once completed. [1]
SFU itself had varying visions regarding the development of such a residential community. It identified two specific aims of constructing UniverCity; to establish a more inclusive community on the mountain with varying options of housing and amenities, as well as to create an Endowment Fund to assist in further teaching and research for the campus. However while the land is fully under SFU ownership, there are serviced and subdivided parcels that are available to builders upon request and a 99-year lease agreement. [1]
In 2003, Simon Fraser University commenced construction on a new residential and commercial area occupying approximately 200 acres (0.81 km2) adjacent to the campus, atop Burnaby Mountain, called UniverCity. The area will contain up to 10,000 residential units in a number of neighbourhoods, along with a new town centre, schools, parks and other amenities. As of March 2015, approximately 4000 people lived in UniverCity. A new elementary school was scheduled to be opened in the fall of 2010 to accommodate families in the area, along with new child-care facilities. A number of new developments have taken place, including the construction of a new supermarket and several residential complexes. [3]
UniverCity also prides itself on a sustainability campaign that has support from the Province of British Columbia and the SFU Community Trust. SFU has partnered with Corix Utilities to develop new and improved sustainable energy systems that aim to provide eco-friendly heat and local hot water for developing housing projects within the community. Projections estimate that this will decrease greenhouse gas emission by over 80 percent with utilities all over the campus and mountain. The project is still in early stages of construction as roughly only four completed buildings have it as of 2015, but all future buildings will incorporate environmental policies and systems.
Gordon Harris, FCIP [4] is the President and CEO of SFU Community Trust, the organization that oversees development of UniverCity.
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby, Surrey, and Vancouver. The 170-hectare (420-acre) main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and comprises more than 30,000 students and 160,000 alumni. The university was created in an effort to expand higher education across Canada.
Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surrey is the province's second-largest by population after Vancouver and the third-largest by area after Abbotsford and Prince George. Seven neighbourhoods in Surrey are designated town centres: Cloverdale, Fleetwood, Guildford, Newton, South Surrey, and City Centre encompassed by Whalley.
Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard Inlet with its Indian Arm to the north, Port Moody and Coquitlam to the east, New Westminster and Surrey across the Fraser River to the southeast, and Richmond on the Lulu Island to the southwest.
The Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) is the students' union of Simon Fraser University in Metro Vancouver, Canada. It was founded after the opening of Simon Fraser University in 1967.
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CJSF-FM is a college radio station from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. The station features a wide range of genres, from spoken word politics to heavy metal music shows. Its transmitter is located atop Burnaby Mountain.
Burnaby Mountain, elev. 370 m (1,214 ft), is a low, forested mountain in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia, overlooking the upper arms of Burrard Inlet. It is the location of Simon Fraser University Burnaby Campus, the Discovery Park research community, and the System Control Tower of BC Hydro and a residential neighbourhood with retail shops development called UniverCity. In November 1995, the Province of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University reached an agreement to transfer 330 hectares of university land to the City of Burnaby for inclusion into Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area.
The R5 Hastings St is an express bus service with bus rapid transit elements in Metro Vancouver, Canada. Part of TransLink's RapidBus network, it travels along Hastings Street, a major east–west route, and connects Simon Fraser University to the SkyTrain system's Burrard station on the Expo Line in Downtown Vancouver. It replaced the 95 B-Line route on January 6, 2020.
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Gordon Harris is a Canadian urban planner and President and CEO of SFU Community Trust. In his role at the Trust he provides leadership in the development of UniverCity, an award-winning sustainable community adjacent to Simon Fraser University on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, British Columbia.
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Edward Charles Kennedy Stewart is a Canadian academic administrator and politician who served as the 40th mayor of Vancouver from 2018 to 2022. He previously was the member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Burnaby—Douglas (2011–2015) and Burnaby South (2015–2018), serving in the House of Commons as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus.
Anne Giardini,, ,, is a Canadian business executive, journalist, lawyer and writer. She is the oldest daughter of late Canadian novelist Carol Shields. Giardini is licensed to practice law in British Columbia. As a journalist, Giardini has contributed to the National Post as a columnist. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband of more than 30 years. They have three grown children. She has written two novels, The Sad Truth about Happiness (2005) and Advice for Italian Boys (2009), both published by HarperCollins. Giardini and her son, Nicholas Giardini, edited Startle and Illuminate, a book of Carol Shields' thoughts and advice on writing. Giardini served as the 11th chancellor of Simon Fraser University from 2014 to 2020.
The architecture of Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver area consists of a variety of modern architectural styles, such as the 20th-century Edwardian and the 21st-century modernist styles. Initially, the city architects embraced styles developed in Europe and the United States, with only limited local variation.
SFU Exchange is a bus terminus for TransLink located on the campus of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. It opened on September 3, 1965, and consists of 2 exchanges: the main exchange located at University Drive at East Campus Road at the eastern part of the campus and the secondary, and original, exchange located at the Transportation Centre. The exchanges primarily serve students, staff, and faculty of Simon Fraser University, as well as residents of UniverCity.
Terry J. Beech is a Canadian businessman and politician who has served as Member of Parliament for the federal electoral district of Burnaby North—Seymour in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015. Beech serves as minister for the newly created portfolio of citizen services since 2023. Prior, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to a number of Liberal cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland since 2021.
Sullivan Heights is a neighbourhood in Burnaby, just north of Lougheed highway, east of Government road and south of SFU campus. Bordering the city of Coquitlam and Port Moody, the area is served by the newly operational Millennium Line that connects the city of Coquitlam to other parts of greater Vancouver.
Kirsten Zickfeld is a German climate physicist who is now based in Canada. She is a member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and was one of the authors on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15).Zickfeld completed a Master of Science degree in physics at the Free University of Berlin in 1998, followed by a doctorate in physics at the University of Potsdam in 2004.[7]
Geoffrey Massey was a Canadian architect and urban planner noted for his modernism-inspired architectural works. He was known for his partnership with architect Arthur Erickson that produced notable designs including the Simon Fraser University, and MacMillan Bloedel Building. As an urban planner, Massey was known for his contributions toward pedestrian-friendly densification of Vancouver and development of Granville Island in the city.