1886 – Decision to move CPR to Burrard Inlet (instead of New Westminster)
1886 – Vancouver's first City Council made a momentous decision by petitioning the Federal Government to lease 1,000 acres of a largely logged peninsula for park and recreation purposes.
September 27, 1888 – Stanley Park was officially opened establishing the fledgling city's first official "greenspace". Council decided to set up an autonomous and separately elected committee to govern all park and recreation matters in Vancouver. And so the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation was born, the only elected body of its kind in Canada. The system now includes more than 200 parks (over 1300 hectares) but its heart remains in the cool, lush, evergreen oasis of Stanley Park, named for Lord Stanley, Governor General of Canada in 1888 when the park was officially opened.[1]
1890 – Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Co. oversees the launch of Vancouver's first electric street car service[2]
1918 – The Vancouver Natural History Society (Nature Vancouver) is founded[3]
1921, January – BC Electric discontinues the 15-year-old practice of exchanging burned-out carbon filament lamps for free new ones. Tungsten and nitrogen are used instead.[4]
1928 – Harland Bartholomew, a scientific city planner, presents his comprehensive plan to the City
1929 – Jan. 1st, amalgamation of the Vancouver, South Vancouver and Point Grey districts
1930s – West Coast modernism emerges (concrete highrises, freeways) – the labour force only knows how to build in the modernist tradition;
1935–1936 – City Hall is built
1936 – Non-Partisan Association (NPA) established to maintain political local non-interference in local development politics and to reduce NIMBY political responses
1942 – Traffic Planning Manual – the consolidation of engineering know how on transportation in a manual with codes, standards and instructions – marks the shift in city planning to focus on accommodating cars and motor ways
Post War II – Italian and Greeks build the water and sewage infrastructure for the city
Women's movement, blacks, gay-lesbian; popular culture rises; federal government providing funding for public participation, social housing, infrastructure, post-war development
1961 to 1962 – BC Electric becomes a Crown Corporation - BC Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro)[7]
1962 to 1972 – development of the West End, displacement of homes for block highrises; in response to rapid development, neighbourhood movements form
1964 – Chance and Challenge"
1966 – Official Regional Plan" and "A Regional Parks Plan"
1967 – The project to build a large interurban freeway is rejected; Vancouver would become the only North American major metropolitan area without an inner-city highway[8]
1968 – Expo
1968 – December, Scientific Pollution and Environmental Control Society (SPECS) founded
1969 – LMRPB dissolved by W.A.C. Bennett
1969 – September 2, 'Don't Make a Wave' protest against US nuclear testing at Amchitka Island in October
1969 – A small group of BC environmental activists becomes affiliated with the Sierra Club
1969 – The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) is founded
1994 – VanCity Credit Union sponsors Vancouver's first "Greening our Cities" Conference (with the Social Planning and Research Council (SPARC) of B.C., in association with the David Suzuki Foundation) at the Maritime Labour Centre near the Port of Vancouver
2002 – Confederation of Progressive Electors resides over city council
2002 – BEST receives the first Vancity grant award of 1 million dollars, used to help launch the Central Valley Greenway project[28]
2002–2003 – In a competition involving 9 cities all over the world, the Canadian team develops a 100-year, urban-sustainable plan for Greater Vancouver and wins the Grand Prize; the entry is named cityPLUS, referring to Cities Planning for Long-term Urban Sustainability[29]
2003 – The Canada Green Building Council is officially launched in Vancouver
A coalition of public and private sector partners in the building industry, aims to accelerate the advancement of environmentally sustainable buildings
2007 – "BC Energy Plan: A Vision for Clean Energy Leadership"[34]
2007 – The very first Jane's Walk, promoting walkable neighbourhoods and which would later spread in many cities all over the world, including Vancouver, happens in Toronto[35]
2009 – Canada Line, linking downtown Vancouver to the airport, opens to the public[31]
2009 – May 19,Contribution to help fund aboriginal involvement in renewable energy hydro-projects in B.C.
2009 – July 17, B.C. First Nation unveils solar power project in the Tsouke Nation.
2010 – The Olympic and Paralympic winter games take place
17 days of Olympic Games events, 2566 athletes, 82 participating countries, 10,000 media representatives and 3 billion television viewers worldwide.[37]
2011 – April 5, Premier Christy Clark announced that First Nations that were interested in pursuing clean energy business can now access a unique provincial government fund.
2011 – July 20, People in 16 aboriginal communities benefited from the first round of funding from the First Nations Clean Energy Business Fund.
2011 – The Greenest City action plan (GCAP) is a City of Vancouver urban sustainability initiative which was approved by Vancouver city council in July 2011.
