-
Role
Prime Consultant
Landscape Architect
Services
Landscape Architecture
Visioning
Client
City of Coquitlam
Collaborators
JIM Architecture
KWL
O’M Engineering
Led by space2place, collaborating with KWL, the Still Creek Watershed Enhancement Opportunities Study (2023) updates Vancouver's 2002 vision for this vital urban waterway. Responding to increased urbanization, climate change impacts like flooding, and new policies (Rain City Strategy, Vancouver Plan), the study identifies key enhancement strategies. Major proposals include daylighting buried creek sections between Renfrew Street and Boundary Road to create a naturalized corridor, improving habitat and flood conveyance. It also details Green Rainwater Infrastructure (GRI) opportunities across the watershed to treat runoff and restore natural processes. The study aims to improve ecological health, integrate cultural values, and enhance community connection, informing parallel land use planning.
Still Creek is part of the larger Still Creek – Brunette River basin that drains an area of 73 square kilometres and flows through Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam and New Westminster. The Vancouver portion of the Still Creek watershed is located within the traditional, unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam Indian Band), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) and Stó:lō Nation.
The hyporheic zone (HZ), where stream and groundwater interact below/beside the channel, is crucial for water quality and habitat but often overlooked in restoration. In Still Creek, past alterations and a 'paved' streambed likely impair HZ function, blocking water exchange and reducing ecosystem services. HZ restoration is beneficial for such impacted urban streams.
This concept plan aims to enhance the Still Creek corridor between Renfrew St and Boundary Rd by daylighting the creek and creating a naturalized floodplain. Key goals include reducing flood risk, improving ecological health (habitat, water quality, hyporheic zone), adapting to climate change, and increasing public access and amenities, especially in this canopy-deficient area.
The overall vision for the Still Creek Watershed is nested within the lenses of ecology, water, and community, all of which are managed in an integrated way through a watershed-based process and approach.
