We dwell collectively in cities, so it's only natural that we would come to think of a place like downtown Vancouver as one big home. Conceived this way, our downtown peninsula makes for a very strange dwelling indeed - one having a huge backyard (Stanley Park and Burrard Inlet), lots of tiny bedrooms (all those condos), but precious little living room (urban public open space.) By a long shot, downtown Vancouver's largest and best-loved "living room" is Robson Square. It is a welcome oasis of light and greenery for the residents of our ever-denser core, a healthy outlet for our city's political life as favoured locale for protests, and home to the Arthur Erickson buildings that put Vancouver on the world's architectural map. Coming on the heels of the destruction of the Erickson-designed Graham House last month, a howl of protest has erupted recently over provincial government plans that would radically alter the multi-levelled public square and lush gardens. Robson Square "revitalization" plans estimated to cost $87-million are advanced enough to fill three binders full of technical and design particulars - now awaiting approval in the office of the scheme's principal sponsor, Premier Gordon Campbell.
