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TANYA GOEHRING innovation-led sector. That part of our economy needs to grow if we are to have robust employment.I think Vancou- ver is wellpositioned for that innovation-led growth. Part of my work as the chief planner is to help foster a deeper and more inclusive economy here. What is the planning depart- ment's role in creating a positive environment for business? Paying attention to the structural needs of the future economy here is a big one. This year we're doingan employ- ment lands needs study to inform our planninge•orts. Most of the employment in Vancouver, and about half of the region's total employment, is onabout •ve per cent of the city's land. We need to be smart about savingenough land and creating enough space for adiverse set ofemployment types,includingo•ce,creative industries,traditional light manufacturing, food produc- tion, as well as arts andcrafts, perhaps in an increasingly mixed format. One success we had in that regard was 10 years ago reserving the central business district within downtown for o•ce, retail, hotel and exclud- ing residential.The new o•ce buildings that are attract- ing the Microsofts and other high-tech companies now wouldn't have been there because they would have been built as residential buildings. FUN FACT Gil Kelley is writing a book—The Intentional City—about successes and challenges in contemporary city-building B orn in San Francisco and raised in Portland, self- described urbanist and West Coaster Gil Kelley became Vancouver's new general man- ager of planning, urban design and sustainability in September. Kelley was previously director of planning and development for Berkeley, California; direc- tor of planning for Portland; and, most recently, director of citywide planning for San Francisco, which, he says, has a worse housing crisis than Vancouver but less political will to address it. There seems to be an openness on the part of the city's politicians to give things a try, he observes. Vancouver has one of the most compelling physical set- tings on Earth for any city, and it has a diverse, international population, Kelley says. "Those are extremely good building blocks for the future of Vancou- ver, as is the sense that there's a real civic investment here in making a better city." How is urban planning important to residents and businesses? Oneof the primary issues which I think the planning function here can really help withisimproving what is nowa relatively shallow economy in the metropolitan region.We have a healthy tourist economy; we know how to build con- dominiums, particularly for foreign investors; we have a growing port; but only arela- tively modest technoloŽy/ Gil Kelley Vancouver's new head of planning, urban design and sustainability is keeping his eye on ways to foster a better economy by Felicity Stone THE CONVERSATION We're also doing a retail health study across the city to assess what's missing as neighbour- hoodschange and the nature of retailitself changes. What steps are you taking to create affordable housing for millennials and young families in Vancouver? The recent housing reset that the city is engaged in has made clear that there are several bands of household incomes that are not being ade- quately addressed. We've actually produced a lot of housing units. The problem is that that supply is really skewed to the top JUNE 2017 BCBUSINESS 21 Purpose-built rental apartments and rowhouse units in the City of Vancouver Oct. 1996 56,192 Oct. 2016 57,343

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