Quote:
Originally Posted by softee
I'd be interested in seeing some of these dozens of high density urban neighbourhood nodes 10 miles from the city centre in those other cities (I know Chicago has some stretching for miles North along the lakefront, but what about going inland?)
Weston originally was a village that later became part of the borough of York and the City of Toronto. North York Centre is another huge hi-rise and commercial node 10 miles North of the city centre along Yonge Street in what was at one time the village of Willowdale, so like Weston it tends to peter out to more typical low density post-war suburbia pretty quickly once you leave the main commercial street.
I'm just saying that Toronto tends to have these sudden outcroppings of tall, urban looking high density areas in the middle of other wise low to medium density areas that look and feel like fairly major downtowns (Yonge and Eglinton in the old city is another such area) that you don't really find in American cities other than NYC.
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Many intersections far far away from Chicago's downtown have high-density commercial corridors. The two examples I posted fit the bill. They don't look as visually impressive in terms of highrises, but the number of walkup businesses fits the urban definition, especially when you see them in action. There's always people on corners nearly everywhere you go in Chicago. They don't have high rises, but with plenty of walk up businesses, high rises or even mid rises aren't needed.
https://goo.gl/maps/6iKn454W1ZdbzbLF9
Even in the hood, where things have decayed badly, the walk up businesses that are still intact attract people who, well, walk up and do business.
https://goo.gl/maps/AD1eETC9HP7BwKPP8
Compare it to a street like this, what's the incentive for a pedestrian to walk here:
https://goo.gl/maps/2Q52eXpYfHKVP9rr8
Chicago seems to encourage continous pedestrian use over a larger area. It was always built that way. There's far more of this
https://goo.gl/maps/UubKimkApn3W5nMT6 in Chicago, simply because it was a much larger city before the automobile and in the streetcar era.