The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[SignalHillHiker]

Montreal over river at dusk by Songquan Deng, on Flickr

[kw5150]

Ouch, just seriously ouch.

Originally Posted by RyeJay

No thank you. You could, instead of exaggerating my mention of Calgary's sprawl, post pictures of Calgary.

[SteelTown]

^^ Nice!

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Montreal over river at dusk by Songquan Deng, on Flickr

Hmm, needs more skyscrapers.

[Nouvellecosse]

+ 1

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[ZeDgE]

Another pano by me, sorry for big ass lens flare..lol too bad theres no friendly people about.. just workers.

[FrAnKs]

Wow, nice view. The spring thaw is early there...

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by MeIsThomas

Hamilton


Source

Not enough sky to skyline.
(On a more serious note we need more creative angles of Hamilton. I'm tempted to post that mega-panorama.)

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Wow, nice view. The spring thaw is early there...

WE get thaws throughout the winter, this one means nothing really.

[ZeDgE]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Wow, nice view. The spring thaw is early there...

LOL. It was bare and brown a week ago. We get a thaw a few times a month here.

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[Beedok]

No, this one:

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[Andrewjm3D]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Montreal over river at dusk by Songquan Deng, on Flickr

This makes Montreal look tiny.

[zoomer]

Nice panos! Montreal is somehow so underrated it's mind boggling.

A few skyline shots of little old Victoria:


by Muhammad on Flickr

and one by jehvicvbc on Flickr


As far as what constitutes urban, as many have said, we each have our own definition. To me it's not the number of tall buildings, but, continuous pedestrian friendly streetscapes, pedestrian traffic, restaurant density, cultural activities and high walking/cycling rates. This is why I find Calgary more suburban than Victoria. As with larger cities with large CBD in the downtown, sometimes walking by these buildings and their large parking garages and frontages makes it feel like you're in an suburban office park.

Victoria has an incredible number of downtown restaurants, click here for an older argument on which city in NA has the most per capita. A very rough approach is Urbanspoon which shows 250 restaurants in Downtown Calgary vs. 325 in Victoria. Victoria has a high percentage of independent non-chain restaurants.

Another indicator is bike commuting, Victoria number one in Canada according to Stats Canada, and the dreaded Macleans magazine rates Victoria number one in terms of culture.

Not that we don't have a lot to improve on, because we do, but in my travels, I find that in Western Canada the best year round consistent urban experiences are in Vancouver and Victoria. Lots more to choose from back East for sure. And I do find Edmonton beautiful in the summer, Calgary is an attractive modern city, Regina is pretty cool and lots to see and explore in Winnipeg!

Edited for this link I think we've seen before, most walkable cities in Canada:

Victoria number 3, very close to the top 2. and two Victoria neighbourhoods (not suburbs) are also in the top 16, Esquimalt and Oak Bay. Calgary comes in at 81.

[Spring2008]

Originally Posted by zoomer

Nice panos! Montreal is somehow so underrated it's mind boggling.


Victoria has an incredible number of downtown restaurants, click here for an older argument on which city in NA has the most per capita. A very rough approach is Urbanspoon which shows 250 restaurants in Downtown Calgary vs. 325 in Victoria. Victoria has a high percentage of independent non-chain restaurants.

Wow Calgary is really getting shit on these days in the Canada section. Seems like the more the city is progressing, the more it is bothering certain people.

"Downtown Calgary" might have ~250 restaurants listed on Urbanspoon, but that number does not include 211 restaurants within the Stephen Ave area alone, 52 in Chinatown, 19 in Eau-Claire, 100 in the west Beltine, 60 in East Beltine(Victoria Park), over 100 on 17th ave, and LOTS more in surrounding areas like Mission, Kensington, Bridgeland, and Inglewood.


Calgary easily has one of the best restaurant and coffee scenes in the country, and both of these scenes have been evolving very quickly. I suspect someone like Rusty can add a lot more to my response as well.

[Tarsus]

This thread was moving along nicely with skyline pics and then this. <Double face-palm> Dude, obviously you've never been to Calgary. The amount of restaurants in downtown Calgary's core is far higher than the number in downtown Victoria. The number of 250 you see in Urban Spoon is only the CBD, and does not include Chinatown or Stephen ave, Beltline, etc... the number for the core (CBD and Beltline) is 775. Add on Mission which is basically part of the core these days, and the number is well over 800.

As far as the walkable neighborhood thing. That has been discussed to death, and everyone agrees that the score really isn't representative of the city. It's a neighborhood by neighborhood comparison. Everyone, has a right to an opinion, and obviously you have yours. I've been to Victoria, and let's just say my opinion differs from yours. Now can we please move back to skyline pics.

Originally Posted by zoomer

As far as what constitutes urban, as many have said, we each have our own definition. To me it's not the number of tall buildings, but, continuous pedestrian friendly streetscapes, pedestrian traffic, restaurant density, cultural activities and high walking/cycling rates. This is why I find Calgary more suburban than Victoria. As with larger cities with large CBD in the downtown, sometimes walking by these buildings and their large parking garages and frontages makes it feel like you're in an suburban office park.

Victoria has an incredible number of downtown restaurants, click here for an older argument on which city in NA has the most per capita. A very rough approach is Urbanspoon which shows 250 restaurants in Downtown Calgary vs. 325 in Victoria. Victoria has a high percentage of independent non-chain restaurants.

Another indicator is bike commuting, Victoria number one in Canada according to Stats Canada, and the dreaded Macleans magazine rates Victoria number one in terms of culture.

Not that we don't have a lot to improve on, because we do, but in my travels, I find that in Western Canada the best year round consistent urban experiences are in Vancouver and Victoria. Lots more to choose from back East for sure. And I do find Edmonton beautiful in the summer, Calgary is an attractive modern city, Regina is pretty cool and lots to see and explore in Winnipeg!

Edited for this link I think we've seen before, most walkable cities in Canada:

Victoria number 3, very close to the top 2. and two Victoria neighbourhoods (not suburbs) are also in the top 16, Esquimalt and Oak Bay. Calgary comes in at 81.

[zoomer]

I apologize Spring2008, if I came across as crapping on Calgary. Too put my comments in context, I should have quoted this previous post.

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

Agreed. cities like Calgary, Quebec, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Halifax would come as the cities with the most urbanity after the big three. Victoria isn't even close.

The area of downtown Victoria is very small, and for this area to have as many restaurants as it does is impressive. Especially for a city with a population 3 times smaller than Calgary. Yes, I have heard lots of about Calgary's coffee shops as well, and the high end restaurants owned by chef celebrities.

[Spring2008]

Originally Posted by zoomer

I apologize Spring2008, if I came across as crapping on Calgary. Too put my comments in context, I should have quoted this previous post.



The area of downtown Victoria is very small, and for this area to have as many restaurants as it does is impressive. Especially for a city with a population 3 times smaller than Calgary. Yes, I have heard lots of about Calgary's coffee shops as well, and the high end restaurants owned by chef celebrities.

It's not just high-end restaurants owned by celebrity chefs either though. There are a lot of really good restaurants across the price spectrum, with lots of cultural variety to chose from. Lots of independent restaurants too.