Quote:
Originally Posted by biguc
I remember Archiseek refering to St. B as the French City, rather than the French quarter. It was a valid delineation, as we've discussed recently, even if the parochial characteristics of St. B are consistent with every Winnipeg suburb. People in Charleshood or Trashcona live and die by their shitty boroughs, and it's all they can do to move to St. James or East K, and they think going to a decent restaurant like the Peasant Cookery is transgressive when you could go to a dump like Sorrentos or the Royal Fork.
The upshot, though, is that St. B has a small-city development pattern. I actually like how its lack of zoning is reaping development benefits, in spite of Winnipeg's bureaucratic underpinnings--all those junk yards in the middle of residential areas can't do anything but upzone.
I've railed on idiots from Toronto in the Canada section for their delusional opinions on what "taste" can accomplish with shitty materials in shitty climates with shitty soil conditions. But Torontonians are delusional idiots, without exception, and EIFs can look ok. There are some solid examples throughout northern Europe. Some people like to think Winnipeg is comparable only to Siberia and that anything that isn't built by gulag workers is impossible, but I think we both know that isn't the case. There are shining examples of what Winnipeg can accomplish in places like Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Sapporo. What Winnipeg can't reasonably accomplish is what happens in Houston, Carmel, or even Vancouver.
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We can accomplish these things as long as people are willing to settle for less space. That's always been the issue. If you can pack 40% more suites into a building because everybody is willing to settle in at 480 sq ft instead 680 then you'd be able to make more expensive finishing decisions. Of course, you'd still have to pay the same for the unit, you'd just pay more on a per-square-foot basis and that's where markets become difficult. The first thing most people consider is what value they're receiving in exchange and the vast majority of Winnipeggers value space.
That's always been the uphill battle with new housing in the suburbs. It's easy for a realtor to convince somebody of everything they're getting in a larger new home than they would in a resale home if you ignore the myriad other variables associated with living in the far flung suburbs.
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