If you’ve ever walked through Vancouver’s colourful Alley Oop, Ackery’s or Snekwem Alley, you know that Vancouver already has some pretty awesome alleyways. But there’s more coming with the announcement of the “Vancouver’s Awesome Alleys” project, a five-year strategy to create an interconnected network with some of the city’s 240 laneways.
The project is a partnership between business improvement association Downtown Van and hcma architecture + design, who over the next five years, will transform and activate up to three more alleyways into spaces for “wonder and play.”
“When COVID-19 hit, we recognized there was a need for an economic boost and to increase revenue for downtown businesses, bringing locals and tourists downtown. This ignited our passion to revive laneway transformations and inspired our mission to develop this five-year strategy,” says Clare Warner, manager of public spaces and placemaking for Downtown Van.
Public feedback about what locals wanted the city to look like by 2040, collected as part of the Reimagine Downtown program, also helped push the Vancouver’s Awesome Alleys project forward.
The project builds on the success of the team’s first three alleyways, with transformations starting in 2015. Alley Oop, which is adorned in pops of pink and yellow paint and fitted with basketball hoops, was dubbed the “most Instagrammable place in the city,” by Destination Vancouver and has nearly tripled foot traffic in the area. “Fifty percent of Alley Oop users are female because of the inviting nature. It’s perceived as being safe,” says Warner.
Since its transformation, Alley Oop has become the backdrop of choice for film crews, music videos and fundraisers, including the Barbie Dream Gap campaign and a Just for Laughs comedy event, setting a strong precedent for future laneway transformations.
Vibrant alleyways increase the amount of time spent in an area, which has proven to boost local business. Downtown Van expects Vancouver’s Awesome Alleys will increase time spent in the area by cruise ship passengers from 10 minutes to around two hours. Revitalized alleyways have also been shown to deter undesirable activities like smoking and urination, says Warner.
In developing the concept for the five-year project, Downtown Van and hcma have looked to other cities for inspiration. “In Melbourne, alleyways are well-established, and there’s business stemming off of them,” explains Warner. Montreal, New York and Tokyo have also adopted the strategy to revitalize specific areas. “We’re trying to find the right ingredients [from those projects] and then asking how we can apply it in Vancouver,” she continues.
When it comes to deciding on the design and palette for each laneway transformation, hcma has established specific design strategies, such as always using eye-catching, high impact colour and providing an all-age playful element and interactive experience. Ackery’s Alley, for instance, features a kaleidoscope of colourful light displays that offers an immersive, interactive experience that playson the surrounding theatre district. “The goal is for each alley to mirror and reflect its surroundings in a new light. We want visitors to the alleys to feel like Alice in Wonderland through the looking glass,” says Kim Winston, director of community projects at hcma.
Over the next two to three years, the plan is to develop laneway transformations in the same vein as Alley Oop; spaces that are “immersive and interactive, social hubs and destinations, and places that evoke joy,” Warner says.
“If we’re successful there will be an increase in public space that’s accessible to folks. More places for fun, more places for people.”
For more information, visit www.dtvan.ca/projects/lanewaystrategy
