The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[logan5]

Originally Posted by someone123

Ottawa's core also seemed kind of small to me. Partly I think that is a result of preconceived notions from population figures and comparisons to Quebec City and Halifax. If you were to take Halifax and multiply it by 3 you would not get Ottawa.

Victoria has a nice downtown core, but it is much smaller than Quebec City. One big difference is that there are no neighbourhoods in Victoria that would be considered "old" in Eastern Canada. There are no sizeable inner city districts of rowhouses and pre-war flats, it's just a few blocks of downtown stuff and then early 1900's neighbourhoods of houses interspersed with post-war buildings. Unlike, say, Calgary, there also isn't a disproportionately large new downtown core. Victoria has almost a small town feel, and I think a lot of people who live there like it; if they wanted a big city they'd be in Vancouver.

Vancouver is kind of similar to Victoria in that there aren't a lot of interesting inner-city neighbourhoods. There's the downtown peninsula and then there are some OK areas like Broadway. If you walk east of downtown Vancouver you do not get the Plateau. East Vancouver does have a few nice old apartment buildings but it's mostly little wooden houses from the early 1900's, many of which have been given hideous reno jobs.

Curious. Which city do you live in?

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

then again, i have no experience of the west, really. i've been to vancouver once. i may be using an overly eastern-biased definition of what makes a place urban. i feel like the houses need to be attached. i grew up in halifax and montreal, though. i didn't realize that these sort of arrangements were somewhat atypical in canada until well after they had cemented themselves in my mind as prerequisites.

I love when other people are so self-aware and curious.

If this is indeed a perspective-altering problem, then I certainly share it as well - but I suspect this form of density, with the houses attached, would be near-universally recognized as feeling more urban.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by niwell

Yeah... no. Ottawa actually has a fair number of urban neighbourhoods. Centretown, Lowertown, the Glebe, Sandy Hill, Hintonburg, Vanier, New Edinburg, Old Ottawa South, Westboro. It is a really underrated place in my opinion. It's the bastard stepchild of Toronto and Montreal - in a good way.

This is what I had in mind.

[Witty Nickname]

Sepia Skyline by Witty nickname, on Flickr

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by niwell

Yeah... no. Ottawa actually has a fair number of urban neighbourhoods. Centretown, Lowertown, the Glebe, Sandy Hill, Hintonburg, Vanier, New Edinburg, Old Ottawa South, Westboro. It is a really underrated place in my opinion. It's the bastard stepchild of Toronto and Montreal - in a good way.

I'll admit I was exaggerating slightly for effect, but Old Ottawa South and the Glebe are perfect examples of what I was discussing. They both totally feel like Westdale to me, vey suburb-y.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Tell us more. I actually think Monkland and the surrounding area feel a little bit Toronto-ish, probably due to the spaces between the houses. Though they're mostly duplexes and quadraplexes, so that's different.

Is it more "English"? Or kinda kewl? Or what?

NDG is traditionally more english, although these traditions are really breaking down. architecturally, however, it is definitely more english-influenced, and its spatial norms are more like those of inner toronto rather than those of, say, the plateau.

on sherbrooke there are some larger pre-war apartment buildings that give it a boston kind of feel.

here are some photos courtesy of christopher dewolf / urbanphoto.net

[zoomer]

Outside of the Big Three, of the cities I've been too, I would rank them as follows in terms or urban downtown experience:

1. Ottawa
2. Victoria
3. Winnipeg
4. Calgary and Edmonton
5. Regina

Sorry, haven't made it to the East coast, but judging from afar St. John's and Halifax would rank above Winnipeg, just not sure how high until I actually go there!

[Delirium]

one of the best pictures i've of seen of Vancouver. check out the 89megapixel full-size panorama. the detail is incredible > http://photo5.photokaz.com/images/Vancouver%20Panorama%20Feb%202013.jpg


photo by kazinvan on flickr.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/kazinvan/8543505350/sizes/l/in/photostream/

[zoomer]

Wow, that Van pic is mind blowing! I like how the zoom effect makes city hall look like it's right downtown.

[SignalHillHiker]

VERY cool Vancouver picture!

[Tone]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I think the original post said Calgary has way more tall highrises, not more highrises in general. We are building a lot really quickly, but still have a long long way to go to match the built form and density of MTL.

Calgary is doing well but i think that its always good to keep in mind that Montreal has more than twice the amount of highrises and is building more so in reality, the gap is expanding.

[chrisallard5454]

Signal, just curious, when did you move from Winnipeg? There has been some major improvement over the last few years. Especially since the arrival of Jets 2.0. There is a new hop to everyones step.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by chrisallard5454

Signal, just curious, when did you move from Winnipeg? There has been some major improvement over the last few years. Especially since the arrival of Jets 2.0. There is a new hop to everyones step.

Only in June of last year - but I still agree with you. A lot of positive changes were beginning when I left. The new police station was probably my favourite because it involved renovating one of the downtown eyesores with beige walls and no windows. That boutique hotel across from the MTS Centre hadn't started (that I noticed) but was ready to go, and, of course, the CMHR. That was well-underway when I left. Things were definitely improving. And, really, it's not like anything in Winnipeg is getting worse. I'm comfortable saying, during the whole 6 years I spent there, everything was moving in the right direction the entire time.

Of course, by the end, I was bitter anyway - I'd long since given up trying to be happy there. And my social circle reinforced that. Most of my Winnipeg-born friends hated it, or at least complained about it. One of my friends from Nova Scotia (a composer, sounds so fancy!) described why he left Wolfville as, "I was too bitter to get a fresh start there. I had to leave." - and now that's how I describe what I felt, because it's perfect and it does acknowledge that, at least at the end, I wasn't willing to give the city a chance.

A guy I went on a date with from Montreal really cemented for me my desire to leave based on his very negative (but accurate) description of what our futures would be like there ("You're the first gay I've met who doesn't work for minimum wage at the mall - not that there's anything wrong with that, but... people are just treading water here. I've never experienced anything like this city. It's like opposite town.", etc.). My cousin in the army, when she would visit 17 Wing for work, would get together with me and she'd always say things like, "This place is ****ing bleak, Ryan. I've been in Alert, and this feels MORE like a northern work camp. Even Kingston is better."

So I was definitely stuck in a... sphere of negativity while there. I imagine it could have been different if I was hanging out with people who liked it. And I did have a couple of friends, one at the Freep, for example, who had realistic but still deep love for the city.

But I have good memories too. Great people, great bike rides from Rosedale Avenue to Assiniboine Park, great beaches. And I spent many days listening to music and hiking/biking along the river trails. Backyard fires/drinking with friends in South Osborne. Early Sunday breakfasts on Corydon. I don't doubt at all that it's possible to be happy in Winnipeg. It just wasn't me.

And, to be fair... my background is very different. It's not like I'm from Calgary and moved to Winnipeg, which I think would be easier. I missed the sea, the colourful houses, the density (there's only so many times you can drive down Pembina Highway and not want to jump off the Jubilee overpass).

And, also to be fair, everything I hated about Winnipeg also exists here - just in smaller quantities. Kenmount Road is my Pembina Highway. The old Fortis Building is my beige, blank downtown. It's just that what I get beyond all the crap here is what I actually want, and where I actually belong.

[MonkeyRonin]

On the topic of "most urban city outside of the three biggest": its pretty clearly Quebec City. My inclination would be that Hamilton and Halifax would follow, and then Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Victoria after that (roughly in that order). I'm not sure where smaller cities like St. John's, Saint John, and Trois-Riviers would figure though - they all have highly urban cores, but those account for such small areas that they lack the critical mass necessary to allow for a significant urban lifestyle.

[SignalHillHiker]

Agreed RE: Quebec. The rest I would shuffle a bit: Ottawa, Hamilton, Halifax, Calgary, Victoria, Winnipeg (but I haven't been to Hamilton in person). I'm comforable comparing St. John's to Victoria or Winnipeg in this regard - but completely understand why someone from a larger city wouldn't. (I mentioned in another thread that my favourite negative critique of St. John's ever was from a friend who lived here for one summer and said: "It's such an awkward size: far too big to be charming, far too small to be useful.").

Now I have to check out Trois Rivieres. I had no idea it could be described that way.

[MonkeyRonin]

While Ottawa has a heftier core than Hamilton & Halifax, but they have a much more urban housing stock. Which is therefore more urban? A matter of opinion, I suppose.

As for Trois-Rivières - probably the only Canadian city of 100,000 where you can find streetscapes that look like this:



(its just that there are only a few blocks of that stuff)

[SignalHillHiker]

Wow - and it's even beautiful in a more industrial, less romantic New Orleans kind of way.

[davidivivid]

Trois-Rivières indeed has some great streetscapes as well as a fair number of historic buildings. Here's a collection of pics from the city:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=81416056&postcount=185

[SignalHillHiker]

Holy ****.

That's brilliant. It punches above its weight at least as dramatically as St-Pierre-et-Miquelon does. Really fantastic. And beautiful!

[SignalHillHiker]

David, you have to check this out some weekday during rush hour (which is around 3 p.m. Newfoundland Time, so 1:30 p.m. in Quebec). It's insanely busy for a town of 5,900.

http://www.cheznoo.net/saint-pierre-et-miquelon/webcams/webcam.php