The Globe and Mail

A San Diego housing project designed and developed by Vancouverites demonstrates both this city's place in the world, and the place of the world in this city. Let me explain. Nat Bosa of Bosa Development Corp. was amongst the first to take Vancouver-generated housing ideas and build them in other cities. Bosa's export of what American city planners now call "Vancouverism" started long before the massive Dubai Marina project, where a version of False Creek ringed by a seawall was built on the Persian Gulf in the United Arab Emirates, then dozens of Vancouver-style condo towers on townhouse bases were built around this simulation of our most famous bay. After 20 years of experience developing increasingly large Vancouver-area housing projects, Bosa Development looked to the United States in the early 1990s for new opportunities to apply their expertise. They first tried Washington State as a new home for Vancouver-style tower/townhouse combos, but their breakthrough was in San Diego, where the company has since become a key player in the transformation of the city's downtown and marina districts.