Amended Land Use Plan Adopted

The Province of BC has adopted an amended Land Use Plan for the UBC Vancouver campus, enabling the university to begin implementing the ideas, policies and strategies developed with the community through the Campus Vision 2050 process.

Campus Vision 2050 was a two-year planning and engagement process to develop a long-term vision for change and growth on campus. The process resulted in the Vision itself, the amended Land Use Plan, as well as an updated Housing Action Plan, UBC's policy to improve housing choice and affordability for the university community.
 

Developing the Vision

Campus Vision 2050 involved input from thousands of students, faculty, residents, staff and alumni, Musqueam and Indigenous community members, the University Neighbourhoods Association, AMS as well as internal and external experts.

The core challenge was to strike a balance between preserving and enhancing what the university campus already has—character, livability, green and open space, ecological assets— while enabling what it needs more of—academic space, affordable housing, amenities, infrastructure, and the financial resources to fund priorities.

Together, the Vision, Housing Action Plan and Land Use Plan will guide significant growth and change on campus over the next 30 years. Some of the biggest moves include: 

• at least 20 percent more capacity for academic space for teaching, learning, research, innovation and partnerships, while being dynamic to the changing nature of teaching and research;
• a doubling of the residential campus population by 2050, with half of the residents living in below market accommodations (e.g., student and subsidized faculty/staff rental housing);
• a strong Musqueam presence through landscapes, plantings and other prominent campus features that embody Musqueam values and create a sense of welcome to Musqueam territory; 
• enhancing green spaces and local biodiversity to create an ecologically rich campus connected to its unique natural setting guided by new tree canopy, open space and green infrastructure commitments; 
• a comprehensive suite of amenities and services delivered in coordination with service providers to meet the needs of the growing population; and
• accommodating the arrival of Skytrain.

Implementing the Vision

Over the coming months and years, UBC will engage the community, UNA, Musqueam, faculty experts and others on the development of detailed implementation plans. Upcoming community engagement opportunities include: 

• Neighbourhood Climate Action Plan (NCAP): Over two phases of engagement, community feedback played an essential role in developing the NCAP, which was approved by the UBC Board of Governors in June. NCAP sets a pathway to a net-zero and climate resilient community and includes a commitment to define an approach to achieving net-zero operational emissions in new neighbourhood buildings no later than 2030. It will guide future Neighbourhood Plans, shaping how UBC’s Land Use Plan is implemented, as well as other neighbourhood initiatives like residential building policies and programs, ecology, climate emergency preparedness, transportation and zero waste planning.
• Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood Plan amendment: UBC will be engaging the community this fall in a process to amend the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood Plan to bring the plan in line with the principles and policies established through Campus Vision 2050 as well as NCAP. Amending the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood Plan will result in significantly more housing and help address current and future residents’ needs, including amenities, open spaces, childcare and transportation improvements.
• Student housing expansion: UBC is planning to increase the amount of on campus student housing to 17,300 beds by adding 3,300 new and 1,000 replacement beds through several student housing projects identified in Campus Vision 2050. Detailed plans for these projects will be shaped by community input as financing and funding becomes available. 
• Transportation improvements: Planning for improvements to Wesbrook Mall and 16th Ave will be explored through the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood Plan update while UBC continues to work with the Province on the Business Plan and advocate funding for the completion of SkyTrain to campus.  
• Enhancing community amenities and services: Guided by community feedback, a new Community Amenities Strategy, that includes an updated Child Care Expansion Plan, will deliver, in partnership with external providers, expanded health, school, safety and other services on campus in the shorter term.