Shadowing Practice: Why is Metro Vancouver Creating a New Downtown? - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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When I say let's go downtown,
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When I say let's go downtown,
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you probably think of this, Vancouver's downtown.
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But increasingly, it is not the only downtown.
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If you take a look across the Metro Vancouver region,
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you'll see clusters of high-rises rising up to create mini skylines everywhere.
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There's Brentwood Town Center, Metrotown,
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Lougheed Town Center, New Westminster,
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and of course, the subject of our video today, this area right here.
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Because many believe that this is going to be the next major downtown.
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Surrey.
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I'm Siri.
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Shush.
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God.
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That's right.
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Surrey.
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The city's been growing fast,
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and its population is eventually expected to exceed that of Vancouver's to become the largest city in Metro Vancouver.
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But people have actually been talking about Surrey being a new downtown from Metro Vancouver for decades.
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In fact, there's a story here a plan to create a new regional center that goes back to the 1970s.
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And I think there's something really interesting about this story,
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because it speaks to a much larger idea and,
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frankly, a debate within urban planning about how cities should grow.
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Should they grow towards one center or multiple?
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Our story starts in 1976.
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Trudeau is Prime Minister.
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No, not that Trudeau.
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Canada is still winning Stanley Cups.
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No, not those Stanley Cups.
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And the 21 different cities across Metro Vancouver have come together to address a concerning issue.
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Growth.
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The population was growing quickly
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and local governments across the region felt it was important to coordinate their efforts to manage that growth.
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What they came up with was the livable region.
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In the first page, they write that this plan is to manage population growth
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and still keep the region a good place to live.
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A core part of their plan was to spread out growth into four different centers across Metro Vancouver
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and connect them via rapid transit.
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One of those centers, this little area on the northwest side of Surrey.
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Now, at the time, Surrey had about a quarter of the population of Vancouver.
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It was a quiet bedroom community surrounded by vast stretches of forest and farmland.
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That area that was supposed to become Surrey's new centre looked like this.
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A mall and a giant parking lot.
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But in the following decades, Surrey exploded in population.
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All those undeveloped lands filled with homes,
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and the city became a hub for Canada's growing South Asian community.
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Surrey soon blew past every other city to become the second most populous in the region,
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and many predicted that it would one day grow even larger than Vancouver.
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In the midst of all this growth,
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Surrey's downtown gradually started to take shape as well.
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The SkyTrain arrived in the 90s,
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SFU's third campus in 2006,
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a new central library in 2011,
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a new city hall in 2014,
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and of course, dozens and dozens of condo towers.
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So this plan clearly worked,
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and we can soon expect Surrey to become,
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well, it would be a mistake to attribute all of this growth to a single plan.
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There were other factors at play here.
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Surrey already had much more open land than other cities,
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which meant it had more room to grow,
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and its central location between several other cities made it a natural hub for development.
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So much of this growth could have happened anyways,
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and the actual impact of this plan is totally up for debate.
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Okay, fair, but what's undeniable is that Surrey is becoming a new center in Metro Vancouver today,
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and whether you think that growth is happening organically or through planning,
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it is interesting that we did in fact make a plan for that growth to happen here.
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So this feels like a good place to ask a question.
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Why?
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Why make a plan to distribute growth to places like Surrey in the first place?
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I think the first thing you should know is that Metro Vancouver is not alone.
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Cities all over the world are increasingly creating plans to establish new downtowns.
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Portland, plans have been underway here since the 1990s to spread growth into regional centers around the cities downtown,
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such as Beaverton and Gateway.
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Sydney recently announced plans to establish a second commercial business district in Parramatta.
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And Madrid, about to redevelop a northern train station and its surrounding neighborhoods,
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into Nuevo Norte, a new city center with hundreds of new office buildings and thousands of apartment units.
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This approach to growth goes by different names,
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like decentralization, or polycentric city planning, or John.
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But here's the gist.
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Instead of focusing development into one dominant center,
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you spread out that growth into multiple.
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So why do this?
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Well, I think Metro Vancouver's original plan from 1976 actually gives a pretty good overview.
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The preservation of open space and recreation areas,
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minimizing travel time and inconvenience,
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and minimizing disruption to existing communities.
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So let's break these down.
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First, preserve open space and recreation areas.
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The more a city grows,
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the more pressure it faces to develop over open spaces such as farmland and wilderness.
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The theory is that distributing and concentrating that growth into other centers can take pressure off of developing those spaces.
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An often cited case study is the Randstad region in the Netherlands,
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where the four cities of Amsterdam,
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Utrecht, The Hague, and Rotterdam accommodate much of the region's population growth,
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allowing for plenty of protected green space and farmland in between them.
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About 60% of the land area here is still used for agriculture.
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Second, minimize travel time and inconvenience.
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As cities grow, they often sprawl outwards,
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which can then result in people commuting further and further downtown.
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The theory is that by developing new economic centers in suburban communities,
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residents won't have to work downtown,
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reducing commutes and traffic congestion.
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I think the Puget Sound region is a noteworthy example.
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It ranks second lowest in vehicle miles traveled among the 100 largest US metros partially
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because jobs here are distributed across a number of different centers in Bellevue and Tacoma,
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not just Seattle.
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People living in those communities don't have to travel all the way downtown for work.
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Third, minimize disruption to existing communities.
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As cities grow, its older neighborhoods often experience a lot of pressure to redevelop,
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which can be difficult and controversial.
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It means neighborhood opposition, replacing pipes and other infrastructure.
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This ends up being another key motivator behind spreading out growth.
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The thinking is that instead of drastically changing old neighborhoods,
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you can build new homes and businesses outside the city and create the infrastructure to support it there.
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A fascinating example of this is Paris.
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It's an iconic city that's incredibly sensitive about changing its looks too much,
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so the government here decided to create this.
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La Défense.
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Once the cyberbombed the outskirts of Paris,
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it's now one of Europe's largest global business centers.
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So those are the main benefits driving cities towards creating new downtowns.
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But there is one more benefit I want to mention that's actually not really brought up in these sorts of plans.
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One that's really more of a positive side effect.
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Competition.
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Developing a new centre puts it in competition with the old centre for businesses,
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residents and investment, which can create a healthy rivalry between both.
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Take London, for example.
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In the 1980s,
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the UK government made plans to develop the former portlands of
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Canary Wharf into a new financial centre away from the old downtown.
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It gradually became home to some of London's first skyscrapers,
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which attracted the head offices of major companies.
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Because of that, the old city of London felt the pressure to adapt.
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Canary Wharf, a gigantic American-style office complex,
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was seen as a direct challenge to the city's preeminence.
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It began relaxing its strict building regulations,
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paving the way for new office towers like the Gherkin and the Cheese Grater.
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In London's case, establishing a second economic center has pushed both centers to innovate and prevent themselves from stagnating.
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So I hope that gives you a good overview about why cities might create plans to build new downtowns.
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But here's the thing about plans.
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Things don't always go to plan.
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Today, it's clear that Metro Vancouver has been great at spreading out growth in some ways.
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New towers have clustered around SkyTrain stations,
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protected farmlands still exist near urban areas,
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and for better or for worse,
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many old single-family neighborhoods remain largely unchanged near the downtown core.
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But there's one goal that has taken much longer to pan out.
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Spreading out jobs.
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Data from 2021 shows that the city of Vancouver houses 26% of the population and 33% of the jobs,
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while Surrey and Langley combined house 28% of the population and just 21% of the jobs.
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When you look at the head offices of the 100 largest organizations by revenue in British Columbia,
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only one of them is headquartered in Surrey city center
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and just four others are located in the rest of the city of Surrey.
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66 are located in the city of Vancouver.
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You can really see this imbalance in what gets built in Metro Vancouver's centers.
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Residential high-rises.
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These are people's homes, but they aren't destinations in themselves.
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People might live in these towers,
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but they often take transit elsewhere for work and other activities.
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Vancouver still holds the overwhelming majority of office space in the region,
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at over 60% of the total square footage.
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Burnaby is a distant second,
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while Surrey is third at just under 9%.
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Now, offices aren't the only thing that matter for cities,
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but because of factors like these,
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commuting traffic in Metro Vancouver continues to be an issue.
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Cities like Coquitlam, North Vancouver,
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and New Westminster each have distinct city centers,
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But the vast majority of their residents commute outside of their city for work.
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Surrey presents a more complex picture.
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About half the residents here still work within the city.
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But there's a difference when you look at Surrey's city center.
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The majority of residents here still commute outside of Surrey for work.
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A striking difference compared to Vancouver's downtown.
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There are many theories for why it's been difficult to establish a new city center in Surrey.
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A lack of coordination between Metro Vancouver's local governments a lack of transit connections within Surrey itself,
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stigma about Surrey, and competition from other city centres in Richmond and Burnaby.
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I could honestly spend a lot of time talking about each one of these topics.
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But there is one challenge that pretty much any new city centre faces, the agglomeration effect.
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When businesses and people cluster together,
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they create a bit of a feedback loop.
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More people move to that area to be closer to jobs and amenities,
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and then more jobs and amenities move to that area to be near those people.
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And then more people move to that area to be closer to jobs and amenities and then more jobs and amenities.
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This has a significant impact on what gets built.
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According to a study on office development commissioned by the city of Surrey,
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agglomeration economics reduce the risk for office developers,
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as there is more certainty that space can be filled within a building if a major tenant vacates.
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to establish a new economic hub away from the original one can often feel like swimming against the current.
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We might want to spread out growth,
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but at the same time,
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there is a ton of momentum for it to stay within the original center,
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where all the action is.
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Now this is not to say that making plans to create new downtowns or spread out growth is a futile endeavor.
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Richmond, for example, has seen a ton of job growth thanks to its proximity to the Vancouver airport.
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And in Surrey, there are promising signs of momentum as well.
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For example, the Surrey Memorial Hospital has helped attract over 200 health technology companies to move into the neighborhood.
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That, in turn, has spurred investments to build new office spaces,
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a medical school for Simon Fraser University,
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and a third campus for the University of British Columbia.
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At the end of the day,
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cities are complicated, and they grow in complicated ways.
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But there's one thing that is undeniable.
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There are a lot of people who live in Surrey today.
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It's home to 680,000 people right now and an estimated 1 million by 2044.
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Encouraging more opportunities and amenities right here in Surrey for Surrey's residents is a good idea.
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One that's worth thinking about and planning for.
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And there's an opportunity right now to shape how that happens.
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I've worked with the city of Surrey to produce this video because they're currently writing an update to their official community plan,
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a policy document to guide the future growth and change in Surrey.
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At this stage, they are focusing on priority policy directions that will guide the next chapter of Surrey's growth.
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And right now, I wanna talk about transportation priorities because Surrey has a pretty serious public transit problem.
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Surrey's transit ridership is currently at 125% of pre-pandemic levels,
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the highest recovery rate in both Metro Vancouver and North America.
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In fact, 13 of the region's 20 most overcrowded bus routes are in Surrey.
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If you put wheels on a sardine can,
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this is what it might look like.
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Overcrowding on public transit is easily one of the biggest challenges to growth in Surrey right now.
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But it's also a bit of an opportunity.
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Many of those overcrowded buses like the 345,
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the 321, or the 503 are bus routes that connect Surrey's city center to other centers throughout the region.
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There's clearly a lot of people who want better connections around Surrey,
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and upgrading its public transit will no doubt benefit those commuters while improving Surrey's ability to further develop its centers.
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So that's just one piece of the puzzle.
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But I'd ultimately like to hear your thoughts.
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What matters most for Surrey's future?
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If you live in Surrey,
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or you care about the city in general,
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we'd love to hear your feedback on this plan.
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Learn more about it at surrey.ca.ocp Thank you.
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Context & Background
The video titled "Why is Metro Vancouver Creating a New Downtown?" explores the urban development strategy of Metro Vancouver, specifically focusing on the emergence of Surrey as a potential major downtown area. The speaker reflects on the long-standing plans dating back to the 1970s aimed at managing growing populations across the region. As cities like Surrey transform from quiet suburban areas into bustling urban centers, understanding the context of this urban planning narrative enriches the learning experience for English language students.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “Let's go downtown.”
- “Is this the next major downtown?”
- “The city’s been growing fast.”
- “Coordination among local governments.”
- “A hub for the community.”
Familiarizing yourself with these phrases can enhance your conversational skills in everyday scenarios. Each phrase offers insight into urban planning discussions and can serve as a model for constructing similar sentences in various contexts.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively utilize the shadowing technique for this video, follow these steps:
- Choose a Segment: Focus on a short segment of the video. It’s best to start with 5-10 seconds of audio where the speaker articulates clear and concise sentences.
- Listen Carefully: Play the chosen segment multiple times. Pay close attention to pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm. Note how the speaker emphasizes key phrases.
- Pause and Repeat: Use the shadowspeak method by pausing the video after each sentence. Try to imitate the speaker's intonation and pace as closely as possible.
- Record Yourself: After you’ve practiced a few times, record yourself speaking the same lines. Compare your pronunciation with that of the speaker to identify areas for improvement.
- Expand Further: Once comfortable, gradually increase the length of the segments you practice. Dive deeper into the content by discussing the themes, like urban growth, with your peers.
By using the shadow speech techniques in your practice, you can enhance your speaking skills while gaining insights into urban development concepts, making learning both practical and engaging.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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