http://tags.library.upenn.edu/tag/transportation_policy+atlanta PennTags Feed http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/16783 http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/16783 In Vancouver, civic leaders see a livable city<br />By MARIA SAPORTA<br />The Atlanta Journal-Constitution<br />Published on: 05/28/07<p>Vancouver, British Columbia - To metro Atlantans, congestion is a dirty word.</p><p>But when a delegation of 117 regional leaders recently visited this Canadian city, they were introduced to a whole new concept.</p><p>&quot;Congestion is our friend,&quot; said Larry Beasley, former city planning director for Vancouver, who has been recognized worldwide as helping create a new urban model. &quot;Density is good.&quot;</p><p>Metro leaders were exposed to a vastly different approach to growth and development during the 11th annual LINK trip, organized by the Atlanta Regional Commission, short for &quot;Leadership, Innovation, Networking, Knowledge.&quot;</p><p>Vancouver's strategy of density and transit is a stark contrast to the Atlanta region's road-oriented sprawl.</p><p>In the 1970s, Vancouver residents waged a 10-year battle to keep freeways from its urban core. They successfully defeated a plan that would have run a highway through its Chinatown and run along its downtown waterfront.</p><p>Now a traffic light at the edge of city limits signals that the interstate from Tijuana to Canada has come to a stop and is now a city street.</p><br />