I live in downtown. It is the heart of the Vancouver. It's always busy and there are a lot of people on the streets most of the time. I believe that in my area everywhere you look you can see elements that identify that this is urban and is a part of Vancouver. The most obvious elements in downtown is of course would the high buildings. These are mostly the offices of the companies that may base in British Columbia, but also outside the British Columbia's boundaries. These building are usually tall building, some of them have the logo...
really hard to find a parking spot in downtown. There is not even a lot of underground parking, A lot of people just take the chance and leave the car where they think no one will tow it away. But "Buster's" aren't stupid and you can see a lot of cars being towed away. I think that downtown is their biggest and probably most profitable area of the city.

I think that downtown makes Vancouver's "spin with the rest of the earth". I don't think there is another place in Vancouver that can be more urban then downtown.