Third Places and Placemaking on Urban Industrial Lands. Vancouver Case Studies

Like many other global cities, the Canadian city of Vancouver's industrial lands are home to a broad range of essential functions. These add value and support the fundamental operations serving ongoing and sometimes dramatic development of our cities. Equally important are the bustling communities of work on these lands; they generate livelihoods for a broad and diverse range of peoples. Yet, these lands are increasingly threatened or displaced by developmental pressures, despite the contributions of these lands and the work they support. Most current and responding concerns are for improving designs of the built form — the physical scenes of industrious labour. What this typically overlooks are the concerns of the unflagging protagonists who work (some around the clock) in productive settings. These individuals have distinctive needs for space and universally shared desires for connection, well-being, and sustainable futures. We cannot forget them behind the tall walls, din, and fumes of machines enabling their production, manufacturing, or repair work. Through our contribution, we give audience to their valuable but unnoticed routines, and find design interventions supporting the public who work and live on or near industrial lands.