Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
The last few years we've been seeing a lot of project-specific threads coming out of Halifax but with these aerials it's nice to see the bigger picture, so to speak. All of those projects are adding up to some serious skyline growth.
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I haven't been back in over two years now but the city seems to be getting a lot more interesting, and the changes are accelerating. The prominent parts of downtown that used to have low-end mom and pop type stores with parking lots in behind them are now getting higher-end shops and the side streets are filling in with buildings. The amount of surface parking downtown is really dwindling, which is probably essential for the area to be really successful. Neighbourhoods that had declined to the point of basically being suburban bedroom communities by the 90's are now quickly regaining foot traffic and commercial activity. There are now 4 or 5 busy neighbourhoods with interesting shops, etc. worth exploring as a visitor whereas around 2000 or so there were only really 2 good ones plus a few others that had interesting architecture but not a whole lot going on.
Halifax has a lot of potential as an older city with a large urban core. There are hundreds of lots in areas like the North End where infill buildings can be built without really disturbing anything, and those neighbourhoods have inherited good "bones" in the form of small blocks, narrow streets, mixed uses/zoning, and plentiful public spaces. Not many North American cities seem to have had much success in replicating those things in completely new neighbourhoods.
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