What's missing from your city?

[saffronleaf]

Toronto - any consideration at all for making things look beautiful. Love living here but a bit more care and concern for beauty would be welcome.

[Luisito]

Winnipeg could use and improved and modern transportation system. The city is about 800,000 and will reach a population of 1 million in the next 10-15 years. Yet the transportation system is more like something you would find in Regina or Sudbury.

[canucklehead2]

Edmonton? A massive investment in affordable housing...

[Denscity]

Castlegar: Just about everything lol.

[misher]

Richmond: Homeless people. Drive across the bridge to Vancouver and they are everywhere. I'm so surprised when I stop at an intersection and no one is holding a sign. Its such a massive difference considering its just one bridge.

Richmond's also special because Surrey to the East and Delta to the South have them as well. I have no idea why Richmond doesn't have them. You sometimes see 1 but they disappear. I strongly suspect that the city secretly ships them to Vancouver at night. I've heard that they don't come here because immigrants don't give money to homeless (they think their lazy) but who knows if that's true. Maybe its just because almost all the drugs and social services are in Vancouver.




We had a large crowd of mixed ethnicity against one of the modular homeless complex's proposed in Richmond. I suspect certain city Councillor's won't be re-elected.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by saffronleaf

Toronto - any consideration at all for making things look beautiful. Love living here but a bit more care and concern for beauty would be welcome.

Agree. Toronto has transformed into a cosmopolitan white collar city but it's roots are blue collar industrial. Toronto may have changed but the culture will take a lot longer to do the same. Strict adherence to pragmatism, modesty, and bare bones is still the norm. We're slowly seeing more focus on design, beauty, and even luxury but it's always met with an eye roll/disapproval by a huge swath of the population.

Just look at the backlash when those new subway stations opened on the Yonge/University Line. Many Torontonians argued that it was a colossal waste of money and ridiculed the design. They're still uncomfortable with anything that's refined or cosmopolitan. It also bears mentioning that many a time when Toronto does invest in frills it's plain as day we don't know what we're doing. The public 'art' component of many new developments end up being more embarrassingly crude than anything else.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Just look at the backlash when those new subway stations opened on the Yonge/University Line. Many Torontonians argued that it was a colossal waste of money and ridiculed the design. They're still uncomfortable with anything that's refined or cosmopolitan. It also bears mentioning that many a time when Toronto does invest in frills it's plain as day we don't know what we're doing. The public 'art' component of many new developments end up being more embarrassingly crude than anything else.

But, those stations are extravagant. York University's ridership is the only one that might justify the size and cost. There is a middle ground between the bare-bones 1950s downtown stations and the over-the-top Vaughn extension.

[Nouvellecosse]

The Vaughn stations are excessive only due to the context. I'm still skeptical that prioritizing this extension over other projects was a good decision at all. But if paired with a good, worthwhile project then stations of that extravagance level would be great. Perhaps they should have built really simple, Canada line-type stations (preferably elevated) on the extension and used the savings to renovate an upgrade busier stations in central parts of the system.

[Gravity Wins]

I recently moved to Montreal. What's missing is good pizza-by-the-slice and "wing night".

Other than that, not many complaints. It's a beautiful city with a wonderful metro system. As well as a very reasonable cost of living. I think the French language is the main reason more people don't move here from over-priced cities like Toronto or Vancouver. MTL is the best kept secret in Canada

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by misher

Richmond: Homeless people. Drive across the bridge to Vancouver and they are everywhere. I'm so surprised when I stop at an intersection and no one is holding a sign. Its such a massive difference considering its just one bridge.

Richmond's also special because Surrey to the East and Delta to the South have them as well. I have no idea why Richmond doesn't have them. You sometimes see 1 but they disappear. I strongly suspect that the city secretly ships them to Vancouver at night. I've heard that they don't come here because immigrants don't give money to homeless (they think their lazy) but who knows if that's true. Maybe its just because almost all the drugs and social services are in Vancouver.




We had a large crowd of mixed ethnicity against one of the modular homeless complex's proposed in Richmond. I suspect certain city Councillor's won't be re-elected.

So don't build them housing but also "stay out of our sight"? What beautiful, humane logic...

[Nathan2280]

Saint John : please come and stay we need more friendly people. Jobs are here as most are retiring .
Soccer stadiums and basketball arenas are missing here.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

But, those stations are extravagant. York University's ridership is the only one that might justify the size and cost. There is a middle ground between the bare-bones 1950s downtown stations and the over-the-top Vaughn extension.

Your comment says more about how used to bare bones, stripped down, low brow builds you are. There is a middle ground and the Vaughan extension subway stations are it. If you want extravagant, go look what they build in other countries. This said, you're making my point for me. Your Canadian sense of what is luxe speaks volumes about our domestic culture. Granted, this below is in a downtown and much bigger scale but it's a good example of what top end looks like.

We're at the beginning of a 50-100 year build out of Canada's first true global metropolis. What we build needs to reflect that. This is a point that seems to get lost on many locals. The mindset still seems to be that we're building a giant Winnipeg. We are not.

This is what extravagant looks like


Courtesy of archdaily.com


Courtesy of Hufton + Crow

[Nouvellecosse]

I think it's actually you who makes his point for him. Not only are most stations even in the central part of major global cities not as elaborate as that, many aren't even as elaborate as the Toronto examples. And if you actually look at the stations 20km out in fringe areas they have designs that reflect the status of the whistle stops that they are. It would be like if the new stations on the Richmond Hill GO extension were the size and scale of Summer Hill station, and when someone said it was too elaborate, you responding by stating that Grand Central in NYC was elaborate, while Summer Hill is just the middle ground. Obviously central stations with the highest traffic will have different standards. Context matters.

[Djeffery]

That example is over the top only because of where it is and what it represents. It's also not just a subway station, but a major transportation hub with multiple regional rail lines and subway lines, a 125 store mall as well as the 9-11 Memorial.

[urbandreamer]

Montreal is Canada's true global metropolis. Toronto is just a suburb of the third world.

[DizzyEdge]

This is maybe less 'city' but in Calgary the only thing I feel is missing is being part of a regional transit system. In the fall I was in Toronto and Hamilton briefly and the transit experience was amazing. I purchased a Presto card at Pearson and then used it on:
- UP train to Toronto
- TTC for 2 days
- Go train to Hamilton
- Hamilton transit
- Go bus to Pearson

Now admittedly there are less 'destination' type places around Calgary other than the Banff area. But a unified transit system servicing Edmonton/Red Deer/Lethbridge/Canmore&Banff would be great.

[megadude]

I was posting in another thread and the topic of outdoor skating rinks came to mind. In the last ten years or so it seems more and more cities are coming up with an outdoor skating rink attraction complete with nice backdrop and lit up at night. I thought every major city would have that by now. However, Hamilton is not one of them from what I can tell.

Smaller cities like Kingston (City Hall), Peterborough (Canal), Windsor, London, Kitchener etc. have something interesting so I found it surprising that Hamilton does not.

They do have 26 outdoor rinks, including Pier 8 by the water and Dundas Driving Park (with Esscarpment backdrop), which is not, you know, Hamilton, Hamilton, but maybe they should invest in something in the heart of the city.

Dundas Rink

http://www.pmalarch.ca/projects/play...-driving-park/

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by isaidso

We're at the beginning of a 50-100 year build out of Canada's first true global metropolis. What we build needs to reflect that. This is a point that seems to get lost on many locals. The mindset still seems to be that we're building a giant Winnipeg. We are not.

This is kinda why Montreal looks better than Toronto. They were Canada's pre-eminent city till the late 70s.

[Truenorth00]

Ottawa. Not enough pedestrian districts. Why are cars allowed in the Byward Market? They could make it Ottawa's Distillery District. But they go out of their way not to.

The other missing element is midrise development. The city becomes pretty outside of 3-5 km from Parliament Hill pretty quickly. And it's only becoming more a sprawling mess as it grows

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Ottawa. Not enough pedestrian districts. Why are cars allowed in the Byward Market? They could make it Ottawa's Distillery District. But they go out of their way not to.

The other missing element is midrise development. The city becomes pretty outside of 3-5 km from Parliament Hill pretty quickly. And it's only becoming more a sprawling mess as it grows

You've not seen the plans?