Quayside Village, Canada
Quayside Village, Canada
Quayside Village, Canada
ABSTRACT
Historically, humans have often lived in small communities that share resources and
live in harmony with nature. The current era of housing has unfortunately prioritized
the individual by creating single-family residences that are consuming viable land.
(Scotthanson & Scotthanson, 2005). This type of housing creates isolation for its
occupants and decreases the social interactions that come with sharing resources
and engaging in community activities (Scotthanson et al., 2005). With social,
economic and environmental concerns brought forth by today’s housing landscape, a
new concept of housing has emerged known as cohousing. Cohousing is a relatively
new approach to sustainable living that draws upon characteristics of early human
settlement to create a socially engaging and economically responsible community.
This case study explores Quayside Village, a cohousing development in North
Vancouver that has achieved several outcomes in creating a sustainable community.
1.0
WHAT IS
COHOUSING?
Cohousing is a clustering of homes, or units in a
building, where residents share common spaces and
resources. Units are privately owned, however some
cohouses have rental units. Cohousing originated in
Denmark in the 1960’s when a group of families started
living together to share evening meals and childcare
(Scotthanson et al., 2005). Cohousing then became
very popular and communities started to form in North
America during the 1980’s.
2.0
groups most often register a new development as a
condominium legally, as obtaining financing is easier.
Sharing resources in cohousing is similar to cooperative QUAYSIDE VILLAGE
developments, however there is no shared income
between residents of a cohousing development BACKGROUND
(Scotthanson et al., 2005).
Quayside Village was one of the first cohousing
The Cohousing Model
developments in Canada, taking 2 years to complete
Cohousing aims to achieve a sustainable community
(1996-1998) (Canadian Cohousing Network, 2016).
that creates social, economic and environmental
Quayside is located at 510 Chesterfield Avenue, at
outcomes. As these outcomes vary between projects,
the corner of Chesterfield Avenue and 5th Street, in
all groups interested in cohousing come together to
the Lower Lonsdale area of North Vancouver, B.C.
plan a vision for a community that they desire. This
(Cohousing Development Consulting, 2017). Residents
planning is conducted through a consensus decision-
are within walking distance to various local amenities
making process that imposes a fair system for resident
and within a short commute to Downtown Vancouver.
input. After move in, communities are operated by the
Quayside contains 19 residential units total; 1 is a rental
residents in a non-hierarchical structure comprised of
unit and 5 are affordable units (CDC, 2017). Units vary
several committees (Scotthanson et al., 2005).
in size and type including bachelor, 1 or 2 bedroom
and townhouses (CDC, 2017). All units have their
own kitchen and fireplace and access to the common
courtyard through a covered yard, deck, or balcony (CDC,
2017). The common space is 2,500 square foot which
includes a courtyard, reading rooms, and a common
dining area, and a 650 square foot commercial space is
located on site (CCN, 2016).
2 Case-in-Point 2017
3.0
QUAYSIDE
OUTCOMES
Quayside prides itself on being a safe and sustainable
community with a mix of ages, ethnicities and family
types (Meltzer, 2005). Through the development
process, the group was able to create such a community
that produced social, economic, and environmental
FIGURE 3 | Quayside Village Courtyard
outcomes that benefit all residents.
3 Case-in-Point 2017
4.0
HOW QUAYSIDE ACHIEVED
IT’S VISION: THE DEVELOPMENT
PROCESS
5.0
LESSONS LEARNED
Several valuable lessons were learned from Quayside’s FIGURE 7 | View of Vancouver
5 Case-in-Point 2017
FIGURES
RESOURCES
Figure 1 | Canadian Choosing Network (2016) Quayside
Village [Photograph], Retireved from http://cohousing.ca/
Cohousing Development Consulting (CDC) (2017) “Quayside wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11144_QuaysideMain.jpg
Village, Project Description”. Retrieved from http://www.
cohousingconsulting.ca/proj%20Qv.html Figure 2 | PDX Commons Cohousing (2013) The Sunriv-
er look [Drawing], Retrieved from https://pdxcommons.
Canadian Cohousing Network (2016) “Quayside Village”. com/2013/07/31/the-many-faces-of-cohousing/
Retrieved from http://cohousing.ca/places/canada/british-
columbia/north-vancouver/bc_cohousing/quayside-village/ Figure 3 | Cohousing Development Consulting (n.d.) Quay-
side Village Courtyard [Photograph], Retrieved from http://
Green Building Audio Tours (GBAT) (n.d.) “Quayside Village www.cohousingconsulting.ca/proj%20Qv.html
Cohousing”. Retrieved from http://gbat.me/buildings/
quayside_village_cohousing Figure 4 | Elizabeth Mackenzie (Photographed plan drawing)
(n.d.) Quayside Village Area Plan [Plan drawing], Retrieved
McCamant, K. & Durrett, C. (1994) Cohousing: a from http://gbat.me/buildings/quayside_village_cohousing
Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. Ten Speed
Press: Berkeley, California Figure 5 | [Photograph, Group of Residents]. Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/site/quaysidevillage/commonspace
Meltzer, G. (2005) “Quayside Village: Creating an
environmentally sustainable lifestyle”. Natural Life Figure 6 | B.C.’s Best Buildings (2017) 398: Quayside Village
Magazine; Canadian Business and Current Affairs Database, [Photograph], Retrieved from http://www.architecturefounda-
pp.28-34. tionbc.ca/best-buildings-entries-for-voting/
Nutt, R. (2002) “Private dwellings in a communal Figure 7 | Quayside Village (flickr). (n.d.) View of Vancouver
environment: Quayside Villagers helped design their (Quayside Village) [Photograph], Retrieved from https://
multigenerational cohousing blend” Edmonton Journal, hiveminer.com/User/Quayside%20Village
pages K5.
6 Case-in-Point 2017