Geography – Urban Systems
Introduction
The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) contains a lovely harbor city on the east coast of central Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Nanaimo is the sixth largest city in British Columbia and is popular for its beauty, large variety of recreational opportunities, and shopping centres. It is the second largest urban city on the Island.
In 1891the main part of Nanaimo is what is now considered to be the northern part of the City of Nanaimo (Map 1). In the 1890s north ward was the center for retail, industry At that time the population was approximately 1300. (VIU, 2011)
In the modern world it sometimes seems that all roads in Vancouver Island lead to northern Nanaimo. The northern part of the City of Nanaimo has the most retail and service commercial development than any other part.
Woodgrove Centre, a megamall is located there. It is the largest shopping mall on central Vancouver Island.
Discussion
Town Centres. The northern area has many of the big box retail stores in contrast to the harbor portion of the city which has more boutiques and cafes. In the future the Official Community Plan has proposed three “equal Town Centres” under the plan of a “hierarchy of growth centres: Town Centre and Neighborhood Villages.” (See Figure 1.) (Final Report Policy, 2006)
The northern part of the city accounted for 80% of new retail growth from 1996 to 2001. The proposed consolidation of Woodgrove and Rutherford has been suggested in order to accept
Figure 1. Location and Names of the Northern Town Centres
the “existing development patterns.” Then Woodgrove would be considered one of three regional Centres. The others would be
Hospital Centre and the Downtown Centre. In order to plan for the large influx of population consultants suggested that instead of six regional centres these three should be the main focus. The purpose of the plan is to make it easier to balance the three centres in terms of population, retail opportunities and health services. With Woodgrove town Centre offering so many more services and retail opportunities; the rest of the centres are losing out. It’s better to have the Town Centres balanced and not just Woodgrove getting all the business. (Economic Growth Development Plan, 2011)
The most famous and popular is the megamall Woodgrove Shopping Woodgrove sits where Nanaimo Parkway (#19) and the Island Highway (#19A) merge. The northern portion of Nanaimo has been the largest draw for retail and commercial investments. Because of this the central and southern parts have not been able to keep up with the competition for new stores and businesses. Some businesses and boutiques have moved north.
This trend has also impacted times of migration of young working age people to the northern part of town to fill of jobs in retail and construction.
Population. Migrations within Nanaimo are not equal. There are more people moving to the north when there is economic growth. For example, this happened between the years from 1987 to 2001. The migration into the area peaked in the early 90s then declined when a smaller peak happened in 1997 and then, again a decline (Community Economic Development, 2010).
Table 1a shows the residential densities per hectare in the town centres. Graph 1a shows bar graph comparing the residential densities in 1996 and 2006. The Community Profile from the Economic Development Office of Nanaimo (2010) noted that the dominant age group in the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) is 55 to 59 years while for the city it 45 to 49 years. This is an indication that the northern portion of the RDN will need more single family dwellings in the future. The prices for homes are higher in the north than in the south that is they have a “higher average selling price (EDO, 2010). The EDO assumes this is because most of the recent home construction has been in the north.
In terms of income the median income of residents of northern Nanaimo is higher than the provincial medium. The EDO explains, “In the V9V (north) the median income is 25% above the British Columbia (BC) (medium income) compared to the south which is about 8% above the BC.” (EDO, 2010)
In order to plan ahead for the management of enough residential homes in northern Nanaimo part of the future economic development plan establishes “Urban Containment Boundaries.” The Boundaries are drawn in such a way that development goals are shown to be reached on a timeline. As you see from the map due to the influx of new residents to northern Nanaimo, a large area has been reserved for residences. This can fluctuate as time brings other needs but the basic plan is set so that the retail and commercial areas of northern
Nanaimo does not encroach on all the land in that way competing with the real estate needed for homes.
Conclusion. The economy has moved into a “service-based knowledge economy.” This means that the economy depends upon the “skills and innovation of the local workforce (EDO, 2010). From the above discussion on housing then it should be no surprise that Construction is one of the skills which is in high demand. Construction licenses make up 20.9% of all the licenses for businesses in Nanaimo with Retail and Trade licenses coming in second with 14.4% in March 2010. (EDO, 2010)
The Growth Centre Assessment of Nanaimo discusses the steps to implanting a useful plan as 1) Status Quo, 2) Refocused “Growth Centres” and 3) Major Policy Shift. Within their assessment Woodgrove is an essential part of the plan. The thought is to reconsider the (status quo) designation for the urban containment boundaries and change it to a vision of neighborhoods. Number 2 recognizes that Woodgrove’s importance as a shopping and service area will continue. The plan is that by implementing good design plans for high density residential areas and for careful office development of the region; the area will become more of a balanced “Town Centre.” Combining Woodgrove and Rutherford to implement a more manageable concentration of shopping and services is a major shift in the original planning.
Nanaimo has always been a beautiful area and an attractive place for visitors to spending their holidays and vacations. With careful implementation of wise land use planning the trend should continue. Not only will people visit for a day or two they will want to reside and work in Nanaimo.
References
Community Economic Development Office of the City of Nanaimo. 2010. “Community Profile. Economic Development Office of Nanaimo. Nanaimo.” Retrieved from <http://www.nanaimo.ca/assets/Departments/Economic~Development/Why~Nanaimo/CommunityProfile.pdf>.
Vancouver Island University. “Naniamo in the 1890s.” n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. Retrieved from <http://www.viu.ca/history/nanaimo/index.htm>.
Luxton, Donald & Associates. 1998. “City of Nanaimo. Heritage Action Plan. 1998.” Retrieved from <http://www.nanaimo.ca/assets/Departments/Community~Planning/Heritage~Planning/Publications~Forms~Links/HeritageActionPlan.pdf>.
UMA Engineering Ltd. And Urban Futures Inc. 2005. “City of Nanaimo. Five-Year Official Community Plan Review. Growth Centre Concept Assessment. Policy Directions Report (including Technical Background).” Prepared for The City of Nanaimo. Retrieved from
<http://www.nanaimo.ca/assets/Departments/Community~Planning/Offical~Community~Plan~~10~Year~Review/Background~Information/FinalReportPolicyDirections070202.pdf>.Urban Containment Boundaries through Time.1996.
Super, Natural British Columbia Canada. “Nanaimo” n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. Retrieved from <http://www.hellobc.com/en-CA/RegionsCities/Nanaimo.htm>.
Official Community Planning (OCP) Background Information. 1996. Plan Nanaimo 1996 Implementation. n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. Retrieved from <http://www.nanaimo.ca/assets/Departments/Community~Planning/Offical~Community~Plan~-~10~Year~Review/Background~Information/UCBthroughTime.pdf>.
Woodgrove Centre. Information, logo map and photos for Woodgrove Centre shopping mall retrived from <http://www.woodgrovecentre.com/>.
