As part of its 1992 CityPlan, Vancouver began directing new residential growth into neighborhood commercial corridors. This approach makes eminent sense: many commercial corridors have been in decline since the streetcar lines disappeared, and all those new residents have to go somewhere.

C-2 is the standard commercial zoning in Vancouver neighborhoods; it was changed to allow for 50′ tall, four story buildings with ground floor retail. After the first few dozen C-2 mixed-use buildings were completed, neighbors, especially in single-family neighborhoods, began complaining — principally about shadows, but also about noise and other issues common where the transition in neighborhood scale is poorly handled.

In 2002, the city reviewed C-2 zoning’s urban design and released a series of recommendations, many affecting how the buildings should step down in the back, to avoid towering over neighbors on the other side of the alley.

These recommendations are broadly applicable elsewhere — especially for B-2/C-2 or B-3/C-3 zoning here in Chicago, which broadly speaking permit almost identical buildings. Although Chicago is a more challenging environment for underground parking, our parking ratios are generally not as high as those in Vancouver.

Vancouver’s best known in urban design circles for the glassy highrise-and-townhouse combos set amidst parks ringing its downtown. Four-story buildings may be nowhere near as flashy, but ultimately provide another housing option at a more human scale. Four stories is a sweet height for commercial corridors: tall enough to provide substantial density and streetwall definition, but short enough to duck under the high-cost world of steel frames and elevators.