Originally Posted by ue
Pre-covid Downtown was positively buzzing on the regular with all of the events at Rogers. It's been far more successful than most downtown arena revitalization schemes. And took away a gigantic hole in Edmonton's core.
As much as I will complain about how often developed lots will get redeveloped over parking lots, I don't think Edmonton has actually lost much granularity. The biggest loss in recent history is the El Mirador and 108th/Jasper corner and the site of the J22 condo (although the Safeway is a huge boon IMO). It's somewhat surprising that in all these years all of the CRUs in Fox aren't filled in yet, though.
It definitely could be better, but I think there's been some dramatic transformations in Edmonton. Downtown feels busier, Whyte feels more grown-up. Even Oliver can be pretty buzzing around Paul Kane/Oliver Exchange.
Again, though, I'd say Calgary still has Edmonton beat. Calgary does feel more vibrant. Even in the middle of a pandemic Stephen Ave can be pretty busy in a way nowhere in Downtown Edmonton regularly is. The densification and other upgrades to inner city neighbourhoods like Marda Loop, Bridgeland, and especially Inglewood have been far beyond what Edmonton's done in a similar fashion. As much as I prefer Whyte, 17th feels more big city - the urban Canadian Tire and Best Buy helps. Inglewood has really become a bona fide vibrant urban neighbourhood, with 9th being on par with Whyte, and exceeding other main streets in Edmonton. It's really surprising how slow the progress has been on 124th, 104th, Alberta Ave, etc.
So with that in mind, I'd propose there are two things going on. In Calgary, there's been more dramatic medium density and "missing middle" type densification that have really beefed up the neighbourhoods and made them much more vivacious while maintaining human scale. Edmonton has had more dramatic "big ticket" changes that really make a statement. Ice District, Stantec being seen from everywhere in the city especially, the new Walterdale, the new RAM, the funicular, the Valley Line, etc. But it hasn't done as much as Calgary's more human scaled improvements to make Edmonton more vibrant, aside from the pull of Rogers-based events. That isn't to say that Calgary hasn't had new flashy statement pieces either, but Calgary was doing that in the 2000s too, so it doesn't feel as dramatic of a change.
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