The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Razor]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I tend to agree.

Toronto certainly is a busy city but the financial district is a wasteland after 6:00.

Actually all of the financial core is a wasteland for anything but banking and this is all due to PATH. A true urban planning nightmare which saps all life out of the streets and Toronto seems intent on expanding it everywhere. With Toronto's colder climate I can certainly see the rational behind it but the problem is that it has become so large that even on nice days the streets are dead because it has sucked all the restaurants and coffee shops underground.

Even on nice days there is nothing to do and no where to go for lunch except underground to yet another food court. You can count on your hands and toes the number of restaurants at street level in the financial core.

Vancouver's financial area is miniscule compared to Toronto's but it is far busier during the day and night. Considering the massive size and concentration of towers in Toronto, it probably has the deadest financial district on the planet and because Toronto is intent on connecting everything to PATH, it will only get worse.

I can't comment on Vancouver's financial district's vibrancy after hours, but I find it a little unfair of people to expect any sort of vibrancy on a city's financial district after hours..Aside from maybe NYC Times square, all North American cities shut down after dark..Even the Dundas square area of Toronto or Yonge at Dundas leading up to college square gets dead in the winter on a week night..It's not a shocker though.

Originally Posted by isaidso

I lived in downtown Halifax for 10 years. I've always viewed Halifax as a quaint town, so moving downtown I had no expectations that it be busy. I just wanted a cute neighbourhood where I could walk everywhere and run into 50 people I knew within an hour or so. It satisfied all of those requirements in spades.

For Halifax's size, the downtown is extremely urbane. I'd argue that it's more vibrant than the one in Hamilton, Calgary, or Winnipeg. It's on par with Ottawa, but understandably miles behind Montreal and Toronto. I haven't been to Edmonton or Vancouver so can't comment.

Ya I suspected that Halifax's DT does real well, especially in the summer months..I met a couple of Haligonians years ago here in the Market..I remember making small talk, and I also vividly remember them saying that Halifax's DT scene was just as vibrant as Ottawa's market area patio scene during Halifax's summer. They also said it died off in the winter, but so does Ottawa. Being a port, I imagine Halifax gets a lot of people touring through in the summer, and being an older city, it must have some cool established neighbourhoods and strips.