Once a plaza is designed and built, there’s a need to plan for how this space will be cared for on an on-going basis. Plaza stewardship describes the decision-making and administration around maintenance, programming, and other areas of the day-to-day function of a plaza or public space.
Plaza stewardship strives to:
- Clean and maintain the plaza so that they are enjoyable and available for ongoing use
- Manage and coordinate different user groups and interests to ensure the plaza is used and cared for under the community's guidance
- Strike a balance between quieter activities such as people watching, and more lively activities such as community or cultural events
What's Happening
Share a Square Pilot Program
Interested in putting on a small-scale activity in one of our plazas or temporary public spaces? Here’s how to do it:
- Ensure your proposed activity meets current public health guidelines
- Choose a location
- A public plaza or pop-up plaza (excluding 800 Robson & šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Square)
- Review a map of plazas External website, opens in new tab
- Download the application below. Review the guidelines on applicable activities, and submit your application to plazas@vancouver.ca.
Download the application form PDF file (76 KB)
Eligible activities for the Share a Square program will not have to pay any fees or insurance costs.
The Share a Square program is intended to remove barriers for small-scale neighbourhood-based activities that build social and community connections. If your proposed event is larger, for instance may need sound amplification or cooking of food, apply for a special event permit.
Plaza stewardship strategy
We rely on partnerships with community organizations, businesses, and Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) to share the responsibility for plaza stewardship and management.
In response to increased demand for the use of existing public spaces, and for new plazas, we're working on processes to facilitate more community and partner-based plaza stewardship.
One of the central aspects of this work is to develop a plaza stewardship strategy to provide guidance for how to effectively plan for and support the stewardship of new and existing plaza spaces.
