Mac Rating: 0.00 | Votes: | Date:

False Creek is a narrow inlet of the sea that reaches into the centre of Vancouver, separating the downtown peninsula from the neighbourhoods to the south and forming one of the defining features of the city's geography, its sheltered waters ringed by a near-continuous seawall walkway that has become a favourite route for walking, running and cycling. The name was given by a naval captain who, exploring the coast in the nineteenth century, found that the waterway he had hoped was a true creek came to a dead end, and the inlet was once far larger and shallower before parts of it were filled in for railways and industry. For much of the twentieth century its shores were lined with sawmills, factories and rail yards, but in the decades since they have been transformed into one of the most successful examples of urban renewal in the country, with the former industrial lands redeveloped into dense residential neighbourhoods, parks and public spaces. The eastern end was the site of the 1986 world exposition and later of the athletes village built for the 2010 Winter Olympics, while the popular Granville Island sits on its southern shore. Today the inlet is busy with kayaks, paddleboards, pleasure craft and the small passenger ferries that scuttle across it, its seawall connecting a string of parks and marinas, and its waters reflecting the glass towers that crowd around it. False Creek stands as a vivid illustration of how the city reclaimed its waterfront for people. The story of False Creek mirrors the city's changing relationship with its waterfront, for what began as a tidal flat became, after the railway arrived, a corridor of heavy industry whose mills cut the public off from the shore. Its reclamation unfolded around a series of landmark events: the 1986 world exposition on its northern bank spurred the redevelopment of the rail lands into housing, and the athletes village built for the 2010 Winter Olympics added another new neighbourhood. Today a near-continuous seawall encircles the inlet, busy with walkers, runners and cyclists, and the small rounded foot-passenger ferries that dart across the water have become a charming feature of the city, linking Granville Island, the downtown and the residential shores. Marinas, parks and plazas line the banks beneath the glass towers, and the inlet stands widely admired as a place where a city turned an industrial backwater into a vibrant, people-centred heart.