Spatial exclusion on public land: Fragmented governance and Vancouver's golf courses

Abstract

Cities face growing pressure to justify how scarce urban land is allocated and whose needs it serves. This article analyzes spatial exclusion in Vancouver, British Columbia, a Canadian city under housing and land-use pressure. The analysis centers on municipal golf courses as an understudied site of urban governance: they occupy extensive public land while limiting everyday use through pricing, design, and activity-specific requirements. I use a mixed-methods design that combines distributional spatial analysis of golf courses across Vancouver, including inequality metrics and tract-level models, with qualitative analysis of governance processes. The spatial component examines the concentration and socio-demographic patterning of proximity to golf-course land. I examine Langara Golf Course as a focal, revelatory governance case through which actors contest yet ultimately stabilize these broader land-allocation patterns. The qualitative analysis draws on interviews with former mayors, councillors, and Park Board commissioners, alongside planning documents and deliberations. The analysis identifies three governance pathways associated with the persistence of access-limiting public land use: fragmented authority across governing bodies; legacy zoning and long-term recreational designations that constrain reconsideration; and arm's-length administrative arrangements that diffuse accountability while preserving exclusive uses of public land. The article closes by advancing three policy takeaways to enhance spatial inclusion: the need to clarify authority and accountability across overlapping municipal institutions; the importance of revisiting legacy zoning and long-term recreational designations on public land; and the value of redesigning participatory processes to ensure redistributive and access-oriented claims are incorporated into land-use decision-making. • Vancouver golf courses occupy vast public land while restricting everyday access. • Golf courses are ~1% of park sites but ~13–19% of total park area in Vancouver today. • Mixed-methods design links spatial exclusion patterns to urban governance structure. • Exclusion persists via fragmented authority and legacy land-use designations rules. • Policy reforms clarify authority and redesign participation toward access outcomes.