Phase 1: Listen & Learn - Council Update

On March 13, 2020 the Vancouver Plan team reported back to Vancouver City Council with it's first update on their early listening phase, Phase 1: Listen & Learn of the engagement process.

The update provided an overview of major themes drawn from approximately 9,800 survey responses, 1,000 interviews, and over 80 community meetings. The initial survey was available in English, in addition to translations in traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Punjabi and Tagalog.

The survey asked what were the hopes and fears for people living and working in Vancouver and what they felt are the city's most urgent issues to address are, as well as future priorities. Some of the major themes that emerged were:

• Over half of respondents felt their life in Vancouver was getting worse (this survey was pre-COVID-19).
• Some of the most urgent priorities for people were housing affordability, the visibility of people struggling, homelessness, climate change and transportation.
• The greatest fears for future generations emerged as climate change, housing affordability and cost of living.
• The things that brought the most joy were nature and beauty, accessible amenities, and social connections.

Staff also presented on the planned future engagement, including the host-your-own Conversation Kits (release currently postponed), the Future We Want May summit (currently postponed), and the reference documents: Vancouver Today: Reference Guide, and Vancouver Today: The City At A Glance.

The presentation can be found here, and is also listed under the Documents section on our homepage.