By Helena Grdadolnik

TheTyee.ca Not one member of the public came to speak when the Woodward’s project team had two final details to bring to a public hearing before city council on March 21.

Normally, this would be a sign of apathy for a planning project. But the Woodward’s redevelopment has demonstrated how political pressure and community activism can empower the public to shape their own neighbourhood. And this time, the quiet response may mean that consensus has at last been formed and the development will finally go ahead after a decade of the building lying dormant.

After a quick look at the design, (a couple of towers and some lower-lying buildings) one can be forgiven for assuming that the development doesn’t differ much from others in the city, but the final form is the result of a unique process that was driven equally by politics and community pressure on one side and the realities of local development and economics on the other.