Coquitlam sits at the base of Burke Mountain at the eastern edge of Metro Vancouver, bordered by Port Coquitlam to the east, Port Moody to the northwest, Burnaby to the west, and New Westminster to the south. It is the third-largest city by area in the Lower Mainland and has grown substantially over the past two decades, particularly around the Town Centre and Burke Mountain areas following the opening of the Evergreen SkyTrain extension in 2016.
Town Centre and Transit
The city centre is anchored by the Coquitlam Centre shopping mall and the Lincoln SkyTrain station, with medium and high-density residential development spreading out from the transit hub. The area around Lafarge Lake, a reclaimed gravel pit converted into a public park, serves as the civic heart, with city hall, the library, a recreation centre, and an outdoor performance area used through the summer. Burke Mountain in the northeast is a large residential development on a forested hillside, with newer detached homes and townhouses that transition above the subdivision into Pinecone Burke Provincial Park and backcountry trails.
Neighbourhoods and Parks
Mundy Park, a large urban forest near the centre of the city, has walking trails, two small lakes, and is used heavily year-round. The older, established parts of Coquitlam in Austin Heights and Ranch Park have a quieter post-war suburban character with older bungalows and neighbourhood commercial strips. The Riverview Heritage Lands along the Coquitlam River, a former psychiatric hospital property, is being redeveloped with mixed housing and open space while retaining many of the original mature trees and heritage buildings from the hospital years.