The majority of the land is low-density, but there are condo forests that have popped up over the last twenty years at ~every SkyTrain station, both in the city proper, and in its suburbs.

Each of those condo forests house more people than the mile of suburban housing surrounding them.

Ya, I've been to a few residential areas in Vancouver, the same is true in most cities (definitely Seattle). I get focusing towers in areas where the density can be supported, but at the same time we need to incrementally allocate more area for tower construction.