The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[travis3000]

^ Looking good Calgary

[caltrane74]

I don't think it would take much for Calgary to look like a bigger city than Toronto. It's buildings seem more substantial than what has been built in Toronto recently.

[travis3000]

Calgary's buildings are all clustered together where Toronto's are more spread out. So in certain angles it may look like that. Calgary's skyline can be captured in a single camera angle making all their buildings look smudged together while TO has so many skylines and dozens of KM's between buildings, even a panorama has trouble capturing it all. The island view is the best for showcasing Toronto's growth but even this view misses out on dozens of buildings. But in real life... any person will tell you that Toronto feels WAY bigger than Calgary, especially in the downtown core. Go to Toronto island and capture a shot of Toronto which includes Cityplace east to Southcore and towards the downtown.... Toronto looks like a little NYC. Calgary will never have that width to it's skyline.

Look at what Toronto has become. I've posted this image here before but it really shows how big this city is becoming. Right before our eyes.


changes of toronto- the third photo taken by the amazing photographer Jack Landau! by travis3001, on Flickr

[caltrane74]

True enough, but it's office towers are having quite the impact and that is not in doubt.

[LeftCoaster]

Calgary's skyline shows incredibly well but the density falls off quite quickly outside of the core and the streetlife is much much quieter than Toronto.

Calgary has a long ways to go to attain the density/vibe of a large urban centre but it is a young growing city so that is to be expected.

[travis3000]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Calgary's skyline shows incredibly well but the density falls off quite quickly outside of the core and the streetlife is much much quieter than Toronto.

Calgary has a long ways to go to attain the density/vibe of a large urban centre but it is a young growing city so that is to be expected.

^ Very true. I fully believe that in 20-25 years time, the downtown core of Calgary will become much more lively and skyline continue to improve. The city is already trying to bring people downtown and have a vibrant city center, a move which most Calgarians agree with. Even with the Herald Sq project and the Telus tower, the skyline will look WAY better.

But the metro Calgary region only has 1.4 million people VS the 6 million people in the metro Toronto area. For a city of it's size, the Calgary skyline over impresses and makes you think the city is double or even triple the size that it is.

[suburbanite]

If Calgary's skyline/street life is even be compared to Toronto's, a city 6 times as big, than I would say it's well ahead of its class. I think people forget how small and young Calgary is because of its amazing collection of downtown skyscrapers that places it alongside cities often three times as big. Residential density outside of the core requires well... residents, which will come as the city continues to mature.

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Calgary's skyline shows incredibly well but the density falls off quite quickly outside of the core and the streetlife is much much quieter than Toronto.

Calgary has a long ways to go to attain the density/vibe of a large urban centre but it is a young growing city so that is to be expected.

I can't imagine that anyone would ever argue otherwise. Today, Toronto is at least 5 times larger than Calgary. In 1900, Toronto had over 200,000 residents. Calgary had 4,000.

I guess that this is just my way of agreeing with you.

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by travis3000

Toronto looks like a little NYC.

This is a quite a bit of an exaggeration, but the rest is true enough.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

If Calgary's skyline/street life is even be compared to Toronto's, a city 6 times as big, than I would say it's well ahead of its class. I think people forget how small and young Calgary is because of its amazing collection of downtown skyscrapers that places it alongside cities often three times as big. Residential density outside of the core requires well... residents, which will come as the city continues to mature.

Absolutely. The city is also allocating density out of the city centre in areas on Macleod Trail between 39th Avenue and Anderson Station which, while not a dense skyline, it has high rises consistently down the entire 30-block stretch of road, with more going up by the year. Also areas in the NW are starting to build up (University City at Brentwood, Groves Twin Towers at Dalhousie) and the Westbrook TOD which will one day be a collection of about a dozen skyscrapers, 3 of which are already built.

I don't agree with most peoples sentiment that our highrises are only the downtown cluster, because that's simply not true. If one were to actually open there eyes when looking at the city from, say.. Nose Hill Park, you can see several distinct skylines, while not all large, they include: University/Brentwood/Hospital, SAIT/16th Ave, Westbrook, CBD.

Calgary basically has the planning structure/thought process of a forward-thinking city of 3 million people, yet is less than half that size. Our only problem is, we grew too fast so our infrastructure is lagging in some areas, including the Southern half of the ring road. However, our rail transit infrastructure is an examplary benchmark for a city this size.

[sync]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Absolutely. The city is also allocating density out of the city centre in areas on Macleod Trail between 39th Avenue and Anderson Station which, while not a dense skyline, it has high rises consistently down the entire 30-block stretch of road, with more going up by the year. Also areas in the NW are starting to build up (University City at Brentwood, Groves Twin Towers at Dalhousie) and the Westbrook TOD which will one day be a collection of about a dozen skyscrapers, 3 of which are already built.

I don't agree with most peoples sentiment that our highrises are only the downtown cluster, because that's simply not true. If one were to actually open there eyes when looking at the city from, say.. Nose Hill Park, you can see several distinct skylines, while not all large, they include: University/Brentwood/Hospital, SAIT/16th Ave, Westbrook, CBD.

Calgary basically has the planning structure/thought process of a forward-thinking city of 3 million people, yet is less than half that size. Our only problem is, we grew too fast so our infrastructure is lagging in some areas, including the Southern half of the ring road. However, our rail transit infrastructure is an examplary benchmark for a city this size.

don't forget kensington which, if anthill, osteri, riley park, and other developments are added to pixel and st. johns, will make it quite a bustling and desirable community with fantastic access to the core.

[Chadillaccc]

Absolutely. But I would consider Kensington's low-rise skyline to be more or less a part of the core, as it is only like 150 meters away from the nearest high-rises associated with the core. While SAIT, on the other hand, is about a km away from the core. Kensington is great though. It's a damn shame they had to tear down those houses from the 1800s, but they were in rough shape. Do you know what will be going up on that block? It's just to the east of the LRT track.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Absolutely. But I would consider Kensington's low-rise skyline to be more or less a part of the core, as it is only like 150 meters away from the nearest high-rises associated with the core. While SAIT, on the other hand, is about a km away from the core. Kensington is great though. It's a damn shame they had to tear down those houses from the 1800s, but they were in rough shape. Do you know what will be going up on that block? It's just to the east of the LRT track.

Yeah they will basically be considered part of the same skyline once Kensington grows up more. The TODs you mentioned in your previous post are going to be our version of suburban skylines.

[Chadillaccc]

Yeah exactly. Well Macleod is already our sad-ass version of North York haha

I think eventually, Airdrie and Okotoks will probably half their own skylines as well.

[kora]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

The city is also allocating density out of the city centre in areas on Macleod Trail between 39th Avenue and Anderson Station which, while not a dense skyline, it has high rises consistently down the entire 30-block stretch of road, with more going up by the year.

Yes, but it's not walkable at all and there's really little effort to make it walkable. Sometimes there aren't even decent connections or even sidewalks to nearby LRT stations. It makes Yonge and Shepard look like a walker's paradise by comparison. Calgary's suburban high rise districts are abysmal.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Yeah exactly. Well Macleod is already our sad-ass version of North York haha

I think eventually, Airdrie and Okotoks will probably half their own skylines as well.

I think it will be a long time before Airdrie has any highrises, and technically Okotoks can't expand any more because they have already surpassed their water allowance (though that doesn't seem to be stopping them). I would love to see the uproar when Airdrie proposes a 15 storey condo tower, the people would go crazy!

[Chadillaccc]

Yep, hence the population of 1.2 million people. We've got a long time ahead of us to fix it.


Lmao! Yeah I bet they would freak out "THIS ISN'T CALGARY RAH RAH RAH!!!"

[Razor]

I always maintained that Calgary's planners had it/have it right.
They had a light rail for some time now, and Ottawa, a city+/- the same size has only started getting their shovels in the ground for it's light rail and down town tunnel this year. Calgary has developed into a nice modern city.
Comparing it to older world cities like Toronto or Montreal is just senseless.
Calgary's future looks great from what I can see on here. It wouldn't surprise me if it grows into a nice medium sized city and catches what Denver's population is now in another few decades.

[MonkeyRonin]

No storm tonight by michaelleckman, on Flickr


Out of focus by dahdouhelie, on Flickr


Victoria's Storm by waterfallout, on Flickr

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Razor

I always maintained that Calgary's planners had it/have it right.
They had a light rail for some time now, and Ottawa, a city+/- the same size has only started getting their shovels in the ground for it's light rail and down town tunnel this year. Calgary has developed into a nice modern city.
Comparing it to older world cities like Toronto or Montreal is just senseless.
Calgary's future looks great from what I can see on here. It wouldn't surprise me if it grows into a nice medium sized city and catches what Denver's population is now in another few decades.

The city of Calgary is already bigger than the city of Denver, but we will probably need another 50 years to catch Metro Denver (about 3 000 000 people).