If Mississauga and North York can develop skylines so can Laval and Longeuil. Heck, even Dartmouth can.
True, I can't even name a Vancouver suburb without it's own skyline. Maybe Delta or Maple Ridge? It's rare, and certainly there aren't any that also have rapid transit stations, like Laval does.
Laval's problem is that it has no centre or downtown to speak of. Laval was only created in 1964 as a merger of the municipalities on its island (ile Jésus). Each of these municipalities were small towns, and the inhabited parts did not border each other, but were instead spread out. In between these settlements was either farmland or wooded areas. These rural areas were gradually filled in with subdivisions. Although these subdivisions were not really interconnected all that well (as most tend not to be...). The end result was that Laval became very auto-centric and car dependent due to its extremely poor planning.
Longueuil was different than Laval because it had an existing downtown, which was simply extended westward with the arrival of the Metro, which was also conveniently the same area as the entrance to the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Longueuil had been mostly built upon by that point. (although Brossard, St-Hubert, etc are another story)
I would suspect that most other cities with suburban skylines already had the clear "centre" that Laval lacks (Laval's centre might be the Carrefour Laval shopping mall...).
Laval's problem is that it has no centre or downtown to speak of. Laval was only created in 1964 as a merger of the municipalities on its island (ile Jésus). Each of these municipalities were small towns, and the inhabited parts did not border each other, but were instead spread out. In between these settlements was either farmland or wooded areas. These rural areas were gradually filled in with subdivisions. Although these subdivisions were not really interconnected all that well (as most tend not to be...). The end result was that Laval became very auto-centric and car dependent due to its extremely poor planning.
That sounds exactly like Mississauga, which was created in 1968 out of the established towns of Port Credit and Streetsville, and numerous rural villages and some newly developing subdivisions. Mississauga City Centre only dates back as far as 1974.
Agree. Laval and Mississauga have similar histories. Mississauga is simply far further along in developing a proper city centre. They've been at it for 20 years already. Laval looks like it hasn't started yet.
Laval is a wreck, without any urban vision. It's the most depressing suburb in the country. It's beyond salvage at this point. The whole thing should be razed. Longueuil is a very depressed city economically and their leaders also lack any king of vision. How else can we explain that this place, a metro station away from downtown Montreal, has seen virtually no significant development in the last 20 or 30 years ?
If Mississauga and North York can develop skylines so can Laval and Longeuil. Heck, even Dartmouth can.
I believe Dartmouth has had a skyline for decades.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIMBAM
True, I can't even name a Vancouver suburb without it's own skyline. Maybe Delta or Maple Ridge? It's rare, and certainly there aren't any that also have rapid transit stations, like Laval does.
Precisely, Delta, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Langley, Port Coquitlam (not Coquitlam)... I think that's it except for the towns of under 5 000. Even Port Moody and West Van have skylines.
Hello new office tower for Edmonton... Possibly the new Stantec HQ and first Arena district tower.
Job No 143774258-001: To construct a 32-storey mixed use building: (Underground Levels P1-P4 - Accessory and Non-Accessory Parking, Podium Level Floors 1-3 - Business Support Services, Convenience Retail Stores, General Retail Stores, Restaurants, Floor 4 - Tower Setback Area - Child Care Services, Indoor Participant Recreation Services, Floors 5-30 - Professional Financial and Office Support Services and Floors 31-32 Mechanical).
10330 - 101 STREET NW
Plan 8021480 Blk 1 Lot A
STANTEC ARCHITECTURE LTD., DEAN BENVENUTO
Just a place holder, but expect something similar to the tower middle picture.
-arena obviously
-32 storey office
-250-300 room hotel, possibly with some residences on top
-175-200,000sqft of retail, not sure exactly how much/where each is allocated.
-45-50 storey condo with many smaller type units.
-Plaza
Squint? Dartmouth's tallest building is over 70 meters, and second tallest is 66 meters. Both built over 2 decades ago. It currently has 12 buildings over 35 meters, 10 of them semi-clustered in the suburb's core, wih 2 uner construction as part of the Kings Wharf Development, and 1 uc in Burnside. Not bad for an Atlantic suburb of under 70 000.
I definitely agree on the points about Mississauga having a head start because they picked their "centre" decades ago. Laval has really just decided that its centre should be around the Montmorency Metro station/Carrefour Laval shopping mall... At Mississauga's population density, Laval has room for over 600,000 people (it's about 45 sq. km smaller in land area).
Longueuil desperately needs redevelopment, although nobody is too interested since it is still relatively poor and just plain ugly. Hopefully these new developments around the Metro spark new confidence of developers in the city. This is what much of Longueuil looks like (the image below is just a few blocks from the Metro and the Jacques Cartier Bridge...) The majority of Longueuil is grid-pattern with sidewalks, but lacks quality buildings (and a lot of roads are not in great shape). http://goo.gl/maps/AmGYu
Dartmouth is kind of interesting. It is more like a (very small scale) Brooklyn type of setup rather than a Mississauga or Longueuil. It had 6,000 people back in 1890 (back when the #10 town in Canada, Kingston, had 14,000 people) and some industry like a rope factory, skate factory, and sugar refinery. It still has some nice old buildings and more of a blue collar feel.
It used to be run-down but it is starting to become desirable since it is relatively cheap and has the ferry. There are actually a bunch of new highrises planned. I could see it being a pretty attractive neighbourhood someday, once it (re)develops a good mix of businesses and amenities.
Last edited by someone123; Sep 20, 2013 at 1:18 AM.
Here is a new render for the two-faced monstrosity, Le Peterson.
Here's the side (from the north) the salespeople didn't want you to see! At least it will be mostly hidden by the high-rises on that part of Sherbrooke.
Prev
At least it will be mostly hidden by the high-rises on that part of Sherbrooke.
Linear Mode
