Northward bound

Vancouver, B.C.: dense, diverse, and highly urban. Photo from Dan Haneckow’s Flickr stream.

Just a quick heads up that this week I will be in Vancouver, British Columbia. My goal is to see a little bit of this city, which as has been noted elsewhere is not entirely dissimilar from the Portland metropolitan region. In addition to some population similarities, both cities have ambitions to be “world class,” and both serve as poster children of progressive urban planning.

Among my goals? To check out the new Canada Line, to sample the new Chinatown of Richmond as well as the old one in Vancouver proper, and to generally soak up the atmosphere of the city. Another goal is to ride each of the rail transit systems that opened in the northwest this year: WES and the MAX Green Line in Portland (Monday), the aforementioned Canada Line in Vancouver (Tuesday or Wednesday), and Sound Transit’s Central Link on Friday in Seattle.

I will be toting along my iBook and my G9, so as the week progresses expect to see Sky Train, dim sum, and skyscrapers as I report back from my visit. For now, I must dash off to the train north.