Sea2City: Reimagining Reconciliation in Design and Policy

Honor Award

Analysis and Planning

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Mithun
ONE , and PWL Partnership
Client: City of Vancouver Real Estate and Environmental Services Department

Two Teams, Five Sites, One Collaborative Challenge

Positioned as collaborators rather than competitors, each team focused on two sites and came together for a charrette on a city-owned property.

Image Credit: Image by Mithun
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100-Year Vision for South False Creek

Prioritizing mutual benefits with Host Nations reframes the value of the historic shoreline, catalyzing design, practice, and policy change.

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Inclusive Adaptation Pathways

Adaptation pathways shift from complex techno-scientific solutions to Host Nation ecological science combined with western science.

Image Credit: Image by PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc. / North Creek Collective
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Decolonizing the Design Process

Intentional strategies shift practice toward inclusive, equitable work — including adaptation language developed with Host Nation cultural advisors.

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Integrated Flood Management Strategies

Adaptation strategies were explored across multiple ecosystems—subtidal, intertidal, backshore and upland—to achieve multiple benefits.

Image Credit: PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc. / North Creek Collective
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Host Nations Corridor’s

The blue green street located along the historic shoreline include cultural signifiers and direct financial benefits for Host Nations.

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A Phased Upland Transition

As older buildings age out over time, relocating local businesses and residents upland is a policy priority as the shoreline shifts.

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Phased Adaptation at Coopers Park

Phased adaptation strategy over 80 years starts with protection and makes room for nature-based solutions as adaptation becomes more familiar.

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Multiple Benefits at “Between the Bridges”

Floating public infrastructure, repurposed buildings and foreshore naturalization are some of the benefits of adapting urban conditions.

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2100 Vision for Between Bridges

This future vision is where urban and aquatic life overlap and thrive – a community with green-blue connections to the rest of the city.

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Pilot Project Interventions to Adapt to Rising Seas

Nature-based pilot projects “buy time” to practice adaptation – rezone uplands, upgrade resilient infrastructure and adopt policies.

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Habitat Bench: A Long-Term Adaptation Strategy

The creek is protected so habitat benches are viable protection that resonate culturally and can be relocated and repurposed over time.

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100-year Vision for Stamps Landing and Heather Creek Outfall

The need to update aging infrastructure catalyzes restoration areas and an alternative “seawall promenade” experience, co-managed with Host Nations.

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100-year Vision for Established/Mature Forest Berm

The forest berm initiates the practice of adaptation as a “plug” to rising water and later as mediator between channel and estuary restoration.

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Forest Berm Successional Forest Establishment

A forest berm addresses the point of inundation and supports future estuary restoration and shared urban forestry stewardship with Host Nations.

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Flood Adaptive Public Space at Coopers Park

The funded pilot project at Coopers Park tests floating public infrastructure and transforming a major urban park into a flood adaptive public space.

Image Credit: MVRDV/ North Creek Collective
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“

A very collaborative project with a refreshing approach, combining sound planning principles. A plan that seeks to address the harsh realities of sea level rise by working together with host nations to arrive at mutually beneficial long term green solutions.

”

- 2025 Awards Jury

Project Credits

Deb Guenther, FASLA, Mithun

Laura Durgerian, ASLA, Mithun

Shannon Lee, Mithun

Zoe Kasperyzyk, Mithun

Derek Lee, PWL Partnership

D'Arcy Hutton, PWL + North False Creek Collective

Meredith Wilson, PWL + North False Creek Collective

Beau Wuthrich, PWL + North False Creek Collective

Moffatt & Nichol, Civil and Waterfront Engineering, Mithun + One Architecture Team / South Creek

Younes Nouri, Moffatt & Nichol

Herrera Environmental Consultants, Blue Green Systems and Coastal Ecosystem Adaptation, Mithun + One Architecture Team / South Creek

Chuck McDowell, Herrera (formerly with Mithun)

Deltares, Civil Engineering, PWL Partnership + MVRDV Team / North Creek

Happy Cities, Social Planning, PWL Partnership + MVRDV Team / North Creek

Westmar Advisors, Shoreline Engineering, PWL Partnership + MVRDV Team / North Creek

GW Williams Associates, Ltd, Environment, PWL Partnership + MVRDV Team / North Creek

Goudappel, Mobility, PWL Partnership + MVRDV Team / North Creek

Modus, Policy Planning, PWL Partnership + MVRDV Team / North Creek

Corey Douglas, Modern Formline, Cultural Advisor, Squamish Nation (Both Teams)

Charlene Aleck, Knowledge Keeper, Tsleil Waututh Nation (Both Teams)

Sophie MacNeill, City of Vancouver Parks (formerly with PWL)

Project Statement

Grounded in the city of Vancouver B.C.’s commitment to truth and reconciliation, this nature-based climate adaptation approach envisions a return to the historic False Creek shoreline. A precedent-setting process prompted ongoing, continuous learning between city and province agencies, a youth adaptation lab, cultural artists, designers, the public, and Host Nation cultural advisors. With reconciliation and reciprocity as the foundation, design outcomes represent a future in which Host Nations are active, celebrated partners in the strategic transformation of an ever-changing shoreline over generations. Both visionary and technically informed, this work inspires the practice of adaptation and charts a course for meaningful reconciliation.

Project Narrative

RECIPROCITY AND EXCHANGE Vancouver is situated on the unceded traditional homelands of the xwməθkwəy’əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Host Nations. The area currently known as False Creek has significant meaning to Host Nations who have stewarded the land since time immemorial. Today, the shoreline is a major destination for residents and visitors, and vulnerable to flooding as sea level rises to one meter and beyond in the coming century. The Sea2City Design Challenge was a 12-month initiative to reimagine Vancouver's False Creek shoreline in the context of reconciliation between Host Nations, the City, the province and wider community. Embodying values of reciprocity and exchange, this challenge positioned teams as collaborators rather than competitors, with shared cultural advisors and “collaboratorium” workshops with the city and both teams. The design outcomes inform a framework and vision that prioritizes reconciliation with Host Nations to guide City and regional Coastal Adaptation Plans.

DESIGN OUTCOMES The design of Sea2City achieved three significant outcomes. Firstly, it disrupted the language of coastal planning by recognizing the inseparable connection between land and water. Secondly, it created a forward-looking and positive vision for the False Creek shoreline, where Indigenous voices, values, and aspirations were integrated with community needs. Finally, it resulted in implementable site concepts and pilot projects, refined through public input, introducing novel, decolonized ideas unprecedented in Canadian urban contexts.

ANALYSIS INFORMED BY “WAYS OF SEEING” Stories, oral histories, knowledge, and values were heard directly from Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. An Indigenous Knowledge Keeper emphasized the profound impact of conventional adaptation terminology. By reframing language to align with Indigenous values of reciprocity, a paradigm shift fundamentally transformed the meaning behind returning to the historic shoreline and how that was communicated with the city teams and broader public.

COMPREHENDING THE CLIMATE CRISIS The adaptive design responses illustrated short-term and long-term design opportunities to protect and adapt the promenade and surrounding land and water scapes. Responding to the urgent need for shared comprehension of the climate crisis, curated cultural events specific to climate adaptation supported collective learning and capacity building. This work was recognized by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), with the Canada Indigenous Engagement Award and the International Project of the Year Award. 

IMMEDIATE IMPACT OF RECONCILIATION AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING This work is being consistently integrated into regional agency and city department work. It has inspired the city to change direction on existing land use decisions and informs the City’s overarching Coastal Adaptation Plan. Implementation is well funded, including the floating walkways pilot project which is under construction. This work set a precedent for future planning methods and created foundations for meaningful reconciliation. In 2024 the Canada Society of Landscape Architects recognized the project with a National Award of Excellence in Communication and the top Jury's Award of Excellence, given to one project annually that best demonstrates the CSLA's vision of advancing the art, science, and practice of landscape architecture.