The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! - Page 59

Beedok · #**1161** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 1:09 AM**

I have to wonder if North York will ever connect to the rest of the Yonge tower spine.

caltrane74 · #**1162** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 1:16 AM**

I doubt it. Really rich area between York Mills and Lawrence.

Delirium · #**1163** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 1:44 AM**

Photo by Jadennyberg https://www.flickr.com/photos/jadennyberg/15210283719/sizes/h/

Photo by Mindfuel https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindfuel/14454485500/sizes/o/

MTLskyline · #**1164** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 2:51 AM**

http://affaires.lapresse.ca/portfolio/re...71-montreal-a-la-croisee-des-chemins.php

BretttheRiderFan · #**1165** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 3:00 AM**

Beautiful shots of Vancouver there! I absolutely love the density and look of downtown. When rent or condos become affordable, I'll make it there.

SaskScraper · #**1166** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 4:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trans Canada

Looking only at the downtown core I could picture Vancouver 2nd, Calgary 3rd, Montreal 4th, just based on towers. But if you get any perspective you see that Calgary's towers are surrounded by nothing, and Montreal has miles and miles of density. If you see what is surrounding the central area, Calgary looks like a city in a field whereas Montreal looks like a huge urban area reminiscent of New York.

I find this photo impressive not for the towers but for everything in front of them

As an outsider throwing my two cents in and having spent time in all the following cities multiple times & no vested interest in any city, as far as skylines go, building per building, block per block in comparison, Toronto anchored by iconic CN tower has the most impressive built up skyline, followed by Calgary & closely by Vancouver & Montreal.

As far as visually pleasing city skyline, where would I want to have my living room window pointed? Vancouver hands down because of its density, beauty and mountain/ocean setting, Hard to find a bad angle in Vancouver. Calgary with mountains, especially with whitecaps, even as can be seen from airport always impresses me everytime I land there & Toronto with lake as can be seen from TO island or Ryerson Neill-Wycik roof top or at U of T or something is amazing for 2rd & 3th favourite views. Montreal from Mont Royal or looking in other direction from St Lawrence looks great as my 4th fav.

As far as pedestrian level cityscape, Montreal followed by Toronto is how I rank them with Vancouver close by at 3rd and Calgary an improving 4th position.

Edmonton and Winnipeg are my 5th & 6th picks among top cities.

isaidso · #**1167** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 6:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

As an outsider throwing my two cents in and having spent time in all the following cities multiple times & no vested interest in any city, as far as skylines go, building per building, block per block in comparison, Toronto anchored by iconic CN tower has the most impressive built up skyline, followed by Calgary & closely by Vancouver & Montreal.

As far as visually pleasing city skyline, where would I want to have my living room window pointed? Vancouver hands down because of its density, beauty and mountain/ocean setting, Hard to find a bad angle in Vancouver. Calgary with mountains, especially with whitecaps, even as can be seen from airport always impresses me everytime I land there & Toronto with lake as can be seen from TO island or Ryerson Neill-Wycik roof top or at U of T or something is amazing for 2rd & 3th favourite views. Montreal from Mont Royal or looking in other direction from St Lawrence looks great as my 4th fav.

As far as pedestrian level cityscape, Montreal followed by Toronto is how I rank them with Vancouver close by at 3rd and Calgary an improving 4th position.

I agree with you on every single point except one, including the order in which you put them. I see things differently when it comes to pedestrian level cityscape. I'd put Montreal 1st followed by Toronto as well. I haven't been to Vancouver, but it's almost surely 3rd. Calgary isn't 4th imo. Both Ottawa and Halifax are as good if not better in that department. I'm not familiar enough with QC or Victoria to comment.

isaidso · #**1168** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 6:21 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

What will be interesting is when the city of Toronto reaches 3 million around 2019.. Although it really is an arbitrary boundary, it will be interesting to see how 400,000 people fit into a fully built out city over the course of 15 years. We are already half way there.

The City of Toronto is nowhere close to being built out though. We were at 2,791,000 in 2012 and based on the recent estimate that it adds 38,000 annually we're closing in on 2,900,000 today. We could see that more than double to 6 million and still have myriad places to intensify without touching old established residential neighbourhoods.

I don't think people realize quite how much space we have. A drive through Scarborough hammers home how empty huge swaths of the city still is.

Boris2k7 · #**1169** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 7:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaidso

I agree with you on every single point except one, including the order in which you put them. I see things differently when it comes to pedestrian level cityscape. I'd put Montreal 1st followed by Toronto as well. I haven't been to Vancouver, but it's almost surely 3rd. Calgary isn't 4th imo. Both Ottawa and Halifax are as good if not better in that department. I'm not familiar enough with QC or Victoria to comment.

Having been to all the cities you listed, my ranking for cityscape would be (in order): Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Vancouver, Ottawa, Victoria, Calgary, Halifax.

Metro-One · #**1170** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 8:24 AM**

For city scape:

1. Tie between Montreal and Vancouver. Montreal for its older charms / east coast city appeal and Vancouver for its generally clean, lush look and countless water features that run year round. Also vegetation and street quality tends to be better in Vancouver than most areas of Canada due to the lack of severe freeze / thaw cycles and use of sand / salt on the road.

2. Another tie between Quebec city and Victoria. They run a similar theme as the two above on a smaller scale yet with more intensity. Quebec city has the best old bones of any city in Canada IMO and Victoria's lush gardens are amazing. (and again, general street quality is great due to the climate).

3. Calgary. It is super clean but a little sterile feeling for my taste. If using the clean approach it needs more of a Japanese style urbanity (more use of lights, signs, etc...). I know gardening is much more difficult here so I find most vegetation a little stunted in Calgary. St. John's will also be a third ranking for me. It has great topography and a very unique look, but the roads and other public features are a little rough for my liking.

4. There are many, such as Halifax, Kelowna (yes, I said Kelowna, its sunbelt feel is very unique in Canada and the downtown has improved by leaps and bounds), St. John's, and Toronto. I don't mean to knock Toronto, but when I was there last I was surprised how terribly many of the new major towers met the streets. Very little gardening / landscaping compared to the cities above IMO. I do love the entertainment district though. I feel many people here are confusing skyline with city scape hence ranking Toronto so high.

5. The rest, I know there are many smaller urban hidden gems out there, but this is my feeling for the big boys from where i have been (and what I have seen regarding St. John's).

MolsonExport · #**1171** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 12:21 PM**

I just love this one. Makes me pine for my West Coast years:

Quote:

Beedok · #**1172** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 12:45 PM**

I'm somewhat disappointed Hamilton is no where to be seen on people's walkability scores. I'll admit some streets go a bit fast and have thin sidewalks, but I'd still argue Hamilton is one of the more walkable cities I've lived in. Why? Sidewalks almost everywhere. In cities like Thundery Bay and Ottawa you have major corridors where sidewalks just vanish. Ottawa also has all it's 8-10 lane parkways slicing through pretty well anywhere outside the core and extremely twisty side roads. Toronto I haven't walked around nearly enough and it clearly dwarfs the cities I have explored fairly well, but it still seems to have a fair number of streets where pedestrians were a distant afterthought. So this is another time where I say downtown Hamilton seriously under preforms compared to other downtowns, but the rest of the city pulls it up.

Martin Mtl · #**1173** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 12:55 PM**

Montréal by Jean-Michel Boivin-Desch on Flickr

Ashok · #**1174** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 2:00 PM**

^ Nice, I am really impressed by the presence CHUM is having on the skyline.

MonkeyRonin · #**1175** Posted **Sep 30, 2014, 2:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metro-One

I feel many people here are confusing skyline with city scape hence ranking Toronto so high.

Or it's that people here tend to place a greater value on things like traditional urbanity, density, vibrancy, history, and eclecticism than they do cleanliness and orderly landscaping.

Having "landscaping" around a building usually isn't a good thing anyway - it means they are being set back from the street & neighbouring properties. In an urban environment, a building should be built to the sidewalk and its property lines (still, there are definitely a lot of lousy condo podiums of that sort too).