Quote:
Originally Posted by middeljohn
Summer last year.........
It's just getting tiresome hearing Calgarians constantly bash Edmonton as if the two cities are that different. They are much more similar to each other than either of them are to any other cities on this planet.
It comes down to preference. Calgary wants Toronto's downtown, ....
Edmonton's downtown is an appropriate size for its population and as a result has enough big hitters left who can fill up other commercial areas resulting in shorter commutes for a larger percentage of the population.
But the above paragraphs also exaggerates the differences between the cities. The two cities are neck and neck for worst sprawl in the country. And both cities are aggressively investing to change the automobile culture. Both cities have heavily oil-dependent economies. Both cities are built around a river......Both cities are fiscally conservative. Both cities have gone through a period of rapid growth and are working towards getting the infrastructure and housing caught up.
Both cities are currently building a ring road. Both cities are very young. Both cities have rapidly increased their visible minority populations and are both currently at ~30%.
Edmonton and Calgary aren't identical but they are very very similar and people in both cities tend to forget that and instead focus on the differences, which are far fewer than the similarities.
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Without trying to sound superior, but just objectively, this is so different to Vancouver.
There, a nascent network of rrt route extensions and existing grade-seperated transit are emphasized as the preferred way to go. The "metro" (Skyrain) system in Vancouver already carries nearly as many pax per day as much-larger Philadelphia, and is much busier in rail transit than either Seattle or Portland.
The result is sometimes called "transit-oriented development" wherein the developers build along the rrt line under construction, that a cluster of 30 storey buildings appears in the forest. Also, there is massive town center development happening around certain other major stations in the system, further densifying development.
Some buildings are planned at 35, 45, 55 storeys. These are in the town centres, linked by rrt (skytain, Canada Line) which can attain frquencies of a train a minute during rush hour.
There are freeways here, but smaller in size, scope, and number than in Calgary.
Constricted geographically, Vancouver had NO choice but to go up, and densify. The results are turning out interesting, to say the least.
We build it the way we build it because we have to.
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