Urban Smarty

Gordon Price, Director

SFU City Program, www.sfu.ca/city

photo by Jaime Kowal

Gordon Price, who served on Vancouver City Council for five terms (from 1986 to 2002), is perhaps best known for his contribution to alternative transportation in Vancouver. But his love for this growing urban centre, affectionately named “the city of glass” by author Douglas Coupland, spans a much wider scope.

“My main interest is trying to understand the environment we live in,” says Price. “I grew up in the ’70s, kayaking, hiking, and trying to understand how the natural environment works. Now I do the same with cities.”

Price currently directs the SFU City Program, which offers continuing education to planning professionals. A frequent traveller to cities around the world to collect information for his online magazine, pricetags.ca, he also teaches at the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning. Last month he was recognized with a 2007 Smarty Award from Smart Growth BC.

Price is as passionate about offering tours of the city as he is about urban planning. “I like to explore issues with people,” he says. “Literally walking them around and talking about the city is far more useful than writing a book.” Not unlike Al Gore, Price also speaks easily and confidently about climate change, calling it “a tough issue” because of the physical and emotional attachment our society has to the car. “The main question is: how can you live in a comfortable, healthy, happy way without being deprived? Well, there’s good news: it’s quite possible and Vancouver is a good example of that. It’s possible to give people choices that turn out to be pretty good. The half of the glass is full and getting fuller, I like to say.”