alps: Thanks!
Keith:
It's not hard to imagine the positive aspects of the viewplanes as Halifax is one of the few cities with a Citadel. As an historic city, it was envisioned as an asset that would bolster tourism, and given that some significant restoration had happened around that time, made sense that they would try to support it by maintaining the viewplanes to the harbour. Unfortunately it came at the expense of tall development in some prime areas, but I still find myself questioning whether there was severe negative impact to Halifax from those viewplanes.
Of course one would expect a negative reaction on a skyscraper enthusiast forum, but really, other than the organic growth of the downtown as a business area I have to question whether that is the best location for growth of a business district, given that it's surrounded by water on one side, the Citadel on the other, and the south end is blocked off by the container pier, Point Pleasant and the south end residential district. To my way of thinking, the north end would be more suitable for a skyscraper/business growth area (like that area used up currently by car dealerships) as it is better situated for transportation potential.
It's just a thought process, because it is what it is, but it's interesting to imagine what the city would be like now if the downtown had been preserved more as an historical district (along the lines of Quebec City or Montreal, but of course at a much smaller scale), and other areas of the city had been targeted for business/high density residential growth with no limits on building height.
