Article

Larry Beasley

Published Online March 24, 2008

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Starting as a Vancouver neighbourhood planner in the 1970s, Beasley became co-director of city planning in the early 1990s. He helped foster partnerships between government, the private sector and community groups, making Vancouver the fastest-growing residential downtown in North America.

Beasley, Larry

 Larry Beasley, urban planner (b at Sandersville, Ga, 12 May 1948). Larry Beasley studied architecture in the US before immigrating to Canada in 1971, when he commenced studies in geography and political science at Simon Fraser University and earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1973. He studied community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia and got his master's degree in 1976.

Starting as a Vancouver neighbourhood planner in the 1970s, Beasley became co-director of city planning in the early 1990s. He helped foster partnerships between government, the private sector and community groups, making Vancouver the fastest-growing residential downtown in North America. He played a leading role in transforming the city's downtown core into a vibrant, livable urban community. In so doing, he developed a participatory and socially responsible approach to zoning, planning and design that has become known internationally as the "Vancouver Model." Beasley remains director of current planning for the City of Vancouver.

Beasley is recognized as an authority on urban development and urban issues. His advice on reinvigorating the urban environment has been sought by municipalities and urban organizations across Canada and by cities in the US, China, Australia and New Zealand. He has long been involved with the urban design committee of the National Capital Commission as a member and chair.

In 1996, the United Nations honoured his work as one of the "World's 100 best planning practices," and in 2003 the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada conferred on him its Medal of Excellence as an Advocate for Architecture. In 2004 Beasley was awarded the ORDER OF CANADA.