As part of a series of surveys spanning almost 4 decades, the Urban Futures Survey is probing Metro Vancouver households in an effort to learn what peoples opinions are on a range of topics from growth and governance to environment and economy. The goal is to help inform decision makers on what our priorities are for the region in an attempt to increase cooperation between governments and increase the efficiency in which decisions are made.
The first survey, conducted in 1973 by the late Dr. Walter Hardwick, was used to inform the creation of the Livable Region Program, while the second survey, conducted in 1990, also by Dr. Hardwick, was prepared for the GVRD “Choosing our Future” program. These two previous surveys were mainly executed in person or by phone with roughly 1300-1500 residents participating each time.
This time, the 2012 Urban Futures Survey is being conducted online utilizing the website PlaceSpeak, a location-based public consultation platform developed by Dr. Hardwick’s daughter, Coleen. This enables a much larger sample size of household respondents as well as lower costs to conduct the survey.
Areas including Vancouver, New Westminster, the District of North Vancouver and Bowen Island have already been active in taking the survey, but Surrey, Burnaby, and Langley are still underrepresented. I encourage all our readers to participate in shaping the region in which we live.
The 2012 survey is meant to take roughly 22 minutes to complete.
