Vancouver
It was 1968 and Chinatown was on the brink of demolition in Vancouver. Entire blocks of turn-of-the-century housing lived in by the working class had already been torn down and more along the historic Strathcona district were slated for 'slum clearance'.
The freeway in its place would have changed the city and was in keeping with the trend of improving traffic flow in downtown areas.
For long-time Strathcona resident-turned-activist Shirley Chan, then 23, the plan to run a highway through Vancouver's first neighbourhood and the residential annexe of Chinatown made no sense. Her parents would have been among those forced to leave.
The 'Great Freeway Fight' - as it became known - brought Ms Chan and a host of emerging activists together as they successfully organised opposition to the planned highway. For the first time in the city's history, public opinion was galvanised around a planning issue.
Among those who joined the battle was a young lawyer, Mike Harcourt, who later became the city's mayor and then the premier of British Columbia. The saving of Strathcona, Mr Harcourt says in a new book, was one of the nine decisions that saved Vancouver.
Mr Harcourt, along with former planner Ken Cameron, decided to write City Making in Paradise partly, he says, because the city is capable of becoming too smug with its own image. Vancouver may be ranked one of the most liveable places in the world, but Mr Harcourt believes many challenges lie ahead.