CASE STUDY

Research by: Nicole Brekelmans 

Edited by: Samantha Miller 

Case study compiled in 2019

 

 

Project: Surrey Bend Regional Park 

Type of Urban Strategy: Ecological Infrastructure, Indigenous 

Type of Project: Park and Habitat Rehabilitation 

Location: Surrey, British Columbia

Date Designed/Planned: 2010

Construction Completed:  2016

Designer: Metro Vancouver, City of Surrey, Space2Place, Matcon Civil

 

 

After 20 years of land acquisitions and abandonment, a joint effort between Metro Vancouver and The City of Surrey began to renew an ecologically significant area and create the 23rd regional park for British Columbia. Surrey Bend Regional Park is situated on an undiked section of the Fraser River floodplain and includes a wide range of ecosystem types providing a space for wildlife diversity and habitats. The initial condition of the park required renewal and rehabilitation in multiple regions due to the abandonment of industrial sites and the degrading of the river banks. Although each region required different designs or strategic approaches to solve the issue in question, each project led the park towards its overall goal of enhancing and protecting natural areas while also expanding the opportunities for economic and social development within the park, each playing an integral part in sustainable urbanism (Metro Vancouver & City of Surrey, 2010). 

 

“Surrey Bend Regional Park offers a tremendous opportunity to protect a unique ecosystem, allowing residents to experience and understand the historic landscape of the Fraser River floodplain” (CSLA, n.d.). 

 

Surrey Bend Regional Park is an excellent example of Ecological Infrastructure through the implementation of conservation, habitat enhancement, and environmental site renewal. Surrey Bend is a space for the community, used for passive and active recreation as well as educational purposes, however, the top priority of the park is to protect the sensitive ecosystems and habitats to allow them to thrive and therefore provide necessary ecological services