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On a wide red-brick sidewalk that wends through UBC’s Wesbrook Village, kids on bicycles bomb past Robert Lee, the 85-year-old visionary whose plan to turn a commuter campus into a bustling network of family neighbourhoods has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

Lee, who recently had a knee replacement, doesn’t wobble as the kids whiz past him. He’s determined to find a small, artificial lake nestled among the sculpted gardens, playgrounds and burbling water features of the development.

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“You know, the waterways come from a natural underground river,” says Lee, with obvious delight.

The charm of Wesbrook Village, with its beautifully landscaped, walkable clusters of town homes, condos, rentals and faculty housing, wasn’t just a great design choice. It was a necessity, explains Lee.

“We had to give people a reason to want to live here.”

Lee, who wears the small pins on his lapel representing his memberships in the Order of Canada and the Order of B.C., recently stepped down as chairman of the UBC Properties Trust, which he founded in 1988. But his vision of turning a sleepy commuter campus into a vibrant community is moving full steam ahead.