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Wednesday, Feb. 12, marks 10 years since the start of the 2010 Winter Games. The $6–billion mega-event fast–tracked road and rail projects, sports centres and housing development, dramatically altering the landscape of the region. The satellite images below show Olympic sites before construction began and how they appear now — a legacy seen from space.

False Creek

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The Games spurred extensive development at the east end of False Creek on a polluted, vacant block of industrial land. Initial plans to include about 700 units of social housing failed to fully materialize. Today, there are only 126 units amidst market condos and waterfront parks. The land around the village, worth $198 million in 2006, was assessed in 2020 at $2 billion.

Canada Line

Ridership on the $2–billion rapid-transit line hit 100,000 daily riders within a year of opening — three years ahead of plan. 2018 saw 48 million boardings on the line, another record. The line also drove a wave of development and speculation along the route that critics say contributed to gentrification, displacement of lower–income residents, and the loss of local small businesses that could have been managed with better planning and zoning by the city.