Future Canadian Skylines

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Up until the late 2000s, Toronto was probably the most parking lot'd city in the country for a while. Obviously I can't verify that though. Just pictures.

Even at its 1970s worst, Toronto was far from being the worst parking offender. The older industrial areas to the east and west of the CBD were pretty barren, but those were mostly filled in by the 80s and 90s.





Looks not too dissimilar from - dare I say, Edmonton or Hamilton today.

[1overcosc]

^ Toronto used to be way worse, but in recent years the lots are mostly gone with their insane building boom.

Ottawa is also an improvement over time, but it's a bit farther in the past. We had a ton of surface parking lots downtown in the 1960s, but over the 70s-80s-early 90s they were eliminated. Only a small handful of lots still exist. Development in downtown Ottawa is unbelievably compact with lot line to lot line buildings everywhere, practically every block is a complete canyon. Its interesting how Ottawa's skyline is a complete joke, but when you actually walk through DT you feel like you're in a humongous city thanks to the canyons.

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

^ Toronto used to be way worse, but in recent years the lots are mostly gone with their insane building boom.

Ottawa is also an improvement over time, but it's a bit farther in the past. We had a ton of surface parking lots downtown in the 1960s, but over the 70s-80s-early 90s they were eliminated. Only a small handful of lots still exist. Development in downtown Ottawa is unbelievably compact with lot line to lot line buildings everywhere, practically every block is a complete canyon. Its interesting how Ottawa's skyline is a complete joke, but when you actually walk through DT you feel like you're in a humongous city thanks to the canyons.

I can only count one in the core and an other one in the market.

[Razor]

^ Ya that Houston pic is gawd awful!..This what happens when you allow a city to grow to 5.0 million without curbing (pardon the pun) citizens' car fixations downtown.

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

I can only count one in the core and an other one in the market.

Ya thinking about it..It's true..Like people stated over and over on here...If anything, Ottawa does a decent job on DT density and street canyons. Just don't look waay up, because it isn't there.

[Beedok]

I think Hamilton might be the worst city east of Lake Superior for parking lots.

[ssiguy]

I tend to agree with the

[ssiguy]

I tend to agree with the idea that Edmonton should concentrate on mid rises to fill up all those parking lots faster.

All the parking lots makes for a rather dreary urban environment and tend to segregate the city by making it less walkable. Until the downtown fills in Edmonton will still feel like more a bunch of buildings than a true urban environment.

I know that sounds cruel but it's just how I see it. It's the only major Canadian city I can think of that has Edmonton's odd downtown urban design.

[Daveography]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I tend to agree with the idea that Edmonton should concentrate on mid rises to fill up all those parking lots faster.

All the parking lots makes for a rather dreary urban environment and tend to segregate the city by making it less walkable. Until the downtown fills in Edmonton will still feel like more a bunch of buildings than a true urban environment.

I know that sounds cruel but it's just how I see it. It's the only major Canadian city I can think of that has Edmonton's odd downtown urban design.

The market dictates what gets built (including height, notwithstanding the recently removed airport overlay) more than anything else, and the economics are always tricky. Mid-rise isn't necessarily profitable, high-rise is risky, and landowners of these parking lots aren't always willing to jump at the opportunity to develop or sell, often content to sit on the land and rake in parking profits.

Saying that the city should focus on one type of building over another vastly oversimplifies the situation. No offence intended but it actually displays a complete lack of understanding of what drives construction altogether.

[WhipperSnapper]

I disagree with Toronto being among the worst offenders 15 years ago. There was a higher concentration of surface lots in the former industrial areas however, north of Queen to Bloor, lots were few and far between. When I think of towers that have been built north of Queen, most required demolition to proceed.

The actual railway lands were left as weed lots with Cityplace as a temp 9 hole golf course and driving range. CBC, Simcoe Place, Metro Hall and the Convention Centre had widdled the massive 1970s lot left when the railway intermodel terminal was demo'd west of downtown to almost nothing by 2000.

[SkahHigh]

Hey, at least none of our cities look like this (Houston)!


http://beyonddc.com/log/wp-content/u...ownhouston.jpg

[Chadillaccc]

Sorry guys, I really thought I had seen a lot of pics with Toronto as a surface lot haven, I guess I was mistaken. Regardless, yes, at least none of our cities have ever looked like Houston did. Thankfully even Houston doesn't look like that anymore.

[caltrane74]

Toronto had a huge parking lot west of University south of King all the way to the railway and then the lake. If you watch the original Police Academy Movie, you will notice a great deal of that movie was actually filmed there.

[TallBob]

My God, that shot of Houston is horrible!!! They could build three stadiums on that land!

[niwell]

The infamous Houston shot makes an appearance in the Canada forum! Effectively banned elsewhere on SSP.

[MolsonExport]

That world infamous Houston shot is quite dated; mid 70s, I reckon. I've got Toronto pictures taken from the CN Tower in 1975 (when it first opened, my Dad took me up...he worked for CN so we were among the first), and around the base and to the east, there was an ocean of parking lots. No redevelopment of the waterfront yet. And the old sooty railway roundhouses (I've always liked those).

[onanewday]

I live in Calgary and the boom and bust of the 80's gave us our wonderful and vast areas of pavement that we finally are starting to make a real dent in!

But I remember Vancouver and Toronto before their respective booms. Parking lots abounding.

It almost seems like parking lot havens are a precursor to building booms. The only question is how long you have the acres and acres of pavement. In Calgary it was just way tooooo long.

[rbt]

Originally Posted by onanewday

But I remember Vancouver and Toronto before their respective booms. Parking lots abounding.

Very true.

Toronto was a little unusual though as many of those parking lots were created when railway tracks were torn up. This wasn't helped by silly taxation policies like the very low rates on parking lots versus other business types.

[Beedok]

Hamilton's had its long enough. Let's bring on the boom!

[J.OT13]

Can't find the all out skyline pics they had in a huge pdf, but here are glimpses of parts of Ottawa future skyline that will connect Ottawa and Gatineau.

Every tall building on the "green" is new.


Glimpse of a new skyline in the background:


Stone building, centre, is a now abandoned historic industrial building to be restored converted to a hotel.


http://www.windmilldevelopments.com/...lio/les-isles/

[koops65]

Something is wrong with my flickr account, giving this a try with another site...

Downtown Toronto with the Mirvish & Gehry towers added.

[IMG][/IMG]

It seems you need to click on the image to see it full size... I'll try again.