Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
I have a positive impression of Calgary and it has improved a lot over the years, but it doesn't really have a great depth of character and vibrancy in its medium or higher density urban parts. Aerial photos and even street view do not capture this very well. To me it feels like a medium-sized city with an unusually large core of office towers built for the oil and gas industry, and better transit than the US but worse than Europe.
One impressive Calgary thing is that the infrastructure still works relatively well even though it has grown so quickly.
|
An unusually large core of office buildings been the personality of Calgary's CBD over the years, but it's changing almost monthly these days with all the office conversions. There are 30 buildings either converted or in the process of being converted. 26 are getting converted to residential (4,000 units), 3 converted to hotels, and one to a university off campus site.
On top of that, there are close to 1,000 new residential builds in the CBD. The feel of the downtown business core is changing rapidly. I've noticed a big difference even in the past year.
As for the vibrancy or character of the medium or high density parts, it's subjective and I would disagree, I don't think they lack depth or vibrancy. They might have in past years, but areas like the Beltline or the medium density neighborhoods surrounding downtown are also changing rapidly. What they might have looked like even two or three years ago is significantly different today.
Threaded Mode