Quote:
Originally Posted by Beedok
Have you seen most cities with rowhousing? It's typically whole blocks built in the same style, if not whole neighbourhoods. The same with plenty of just dense working class neighbourhoods. Vancouver style condos offers a greater variety of architecture on a street than Montreal triplexes (relative quality is obviously in large part a personal choice of course, but you can't deny there's large chunks of Montreal that look like someone used a copy-paste tool in making the area).
As for making vibrant commercial areas, of course you can make those with rowhouses or even SFH, but the question was what highrises offered, and the answer was the ability to have more of that, and to be built on the vibrant commercial streets without putting a residential hole into the commercial fabric.
On the idea of having all downtown Toronto being highrises, if you guys keep wanting to talk about 'Manhattanisation' well that's your end result. Whether it's good or bad depends on choice. Some folks want a small quirky town. Some a medium sized city. Some a large, but not gigantic city. Others want their Tokyos or Hong Kongs.
|
Vancouver has done a great job with variety, offering high-rise density along with row house style street level appeal and commercial often on the same street with high-rises set back from street level.
Richards & Davie street in Vancouver
One option Toronto has been doing with some of its more historic larger sized houses is move these houses with front yard up to street/sidewalk edge and then build high-rises in behind. It keeps some of the historical/human scale elements on the street and allows for options for more density in towers just behind and above.
Sherbourne & Shelby street in Toronto