Douglas Todd: The beleaguered balcony is wide open to a rethink

It’s hard to find anyone who believes Metro Vancouverites take full advantage of their balconies.

Architects, developers, planners and ordinary residents tend to agree that, with notable exceptions, the balconies of most apartment buildings end up as weather-beaten places to store a bicycle or stick a struggling plant.

Still, most householders hold on to fantasies of stepping out onto their own private outdoor space.

That feeling was boosted during the pandemic, when government restrictions isolated people more than usual. Some took to balconies to taste the wider world, as well as to bang pots for health-care workers.

Despite hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of balconies existing across this country, it’s virtually impossible to find a statistical study of how much time people spend on them.