Finding a place to sit on Robson Street can be tricky, especially when the sidewalks are overflowing with people. With the lines of buildings fixed, it can be a challenge to find space for public seating. Yet just off to the side is underutilized space waiting to be recognised as an opportunity for community design. People enjoy walking along Robson to be seen while out for a stroll, some never knowing that one block down Bute is a quiet park block tucked into the West End's network of traffic calming. The West End mini-parks are paved traffic calmers, often with plantings, serving as meeting or resting hubs.

[caption id="attachment_1812" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Norquay Park's rain garden - a wonderful and engaging part of the innovative water management strategy used in the area. Photo courtesy of the City of Vancouver."][/caption] What makes a public park successful? Perhaps we can glimpse and answer this difficult question through looking closely at Norquay Park - one of the few Vancouver parks, along with McAuley Park and Robson Park near Fraser St., abutting the heavily trafficked Kingsway and bordered by Wales Street and Rhodes Street. This parks presents a unique local case where a once neglected piece of green has become a beacon of community engagement and resident-driven design. On July 20, 2011, the transformed park was officially opened with speeches by Lynne Yelich, Minister of Statefor Western Economic Diversification, Vancouver Deputy Mayor Heather Deal, and Park Board Chair Aaron Jasper.  Cake and blue-grass music accompanied a diverse group of neighbourhood residents while government officials championed the success of the park.  Children played near the new clubhouse, pop and hot dogs were sold and seniors gathered together with a common understanding that Norquay Park has become a community node instead of a passive green space with little to offer.  Its success has brought residents travel from as far as Burnaby to use the park following the revitalization.