Creating complete communities, especially in the region’s Urban Centres, with a mix of uses and accessible services and amenities, allows residents of all ages and abilities to meet most of their daily needs by walking, cycling, or transit without leaving their neighbourhood. This supports shorter trips, more walking, healthier living, climate action, more
equitable access to the amenities that support a high quality of life, and resilient places with inclusion and connection.
Metro Vancouver promotes greater local access to affordable community services and
childcare, healthy food, and public spaces (including regional parks and greenways).
Contextual performance measure
Metro 2050 establishes the performance measure as the total and change in number of community services and amenities in Urban Centres (UCs) and Frequent Transit Development Areas (FTDAs), including, but not limited to childcare and green space.
Progress
This contextual measure is a new performance measure in Metro 2050.
In 2025, Metro Vancouver collaborated with Simon Fraser University (SFU) through an internship program focused on researching and compiling regional datasets related to community services and amenities ─ including childcare facilities, as well as municipal, regional and provincial parks, and park features such as washrooms and play structures.
In late 2026 to 2027, Metro Vancouver will further this research initiative with University of British Columbia (UBC) through an internship program. The research will consist of a literature review on comprehensive community services performance metrics, including data accessibility, update frequency, metric complexity, and feasibility for replication for the region. The findings will help inform and guide the development of a methodology for implementing this new performance measure.