Nanaimo’s downtown is our front door. We’re a harbour town, a deep sea port with winding streets and a street grid that fans out from the harbour to the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Downtown is home to a concentrated mix of activities, public and private. A dynamic mix of retail shops and cafés, professional and industrial services, culture and the arts and is home to thousands.
At the time of the 2016 Census its population was about 5,ooo people. Hundreds of new homes have been added since then. The 2016 Census also told us downtown was more densely populated than any other area of the city; the population a little older, with somewhat higher levels of education and, as with other Census areas in the city centre, a little poorer.
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In Europe it might be called the High Street, in North America, Main Street. In Nanaimo it's Commercial Street, our best street, with a great mix of shops and offices, public and private art galleries, museum, conference centre with direct access to the City Council chamber.
Another thing our downtown has going for it: good bones. You hear this term often when towns and cities consider revitalization. It’s in the street grid, the geography, the topography, the good mix of building ages and types. That sort of thing. Nanaimo’s downtown has an abundance of very good bones.
Cities across Canada are searching for ways to “build back better” as they emerge from the crises still being caused by the COVID pandemic. Our downtown is ready to emerge as the livable and lovable 21st Century urban centre we know it can be.
It’s time we took what is now a highway that runs through our downtown and transformed it into a modern city boulevard. Traffic-calmed and made safe and inviting for all citizens, it can be woven into the fabric of downtown life where now it forms a hostile barrier.
Another thing our downtown has going for it: good bones. You hear this term often when towns and cities consider revitalization. It’s in the street grid, the geography, the topography, the good mix of building ages and types. That sort of thing. Nanaimo’s downtown has an abundance of very good bones.
Cities across Canada are searching for ways to “build back better” as they emerge from the crises still being caused by the COVID pandemic. Our downtown is ready to emerge as the livable and lovable 21st Century urban centre we know it can be.
It’s time we took what is now a highway that runs through our downtown and transformed it into a modern city boulevard. Traffic-calmed and made safe and inviting for all citizens, it can be woven into the fabric of downtown life where now it forms a hostile barrier.
Thanx to the City’s foresight securing this property we’re in the driver’s seat to establish urban design standards + specifications—building setback, build-to line, sidewalk width, street wall, street trees—laid out in the Downtown Urban Design Plan+Guidelines for this corridor. pic.twitter.com/zg807JHzjq
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) September 13, 2021
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