Ugly Canada 2 (Only architecture, planning and design faux pas) - Page 210

Acajack · #**4181** Posted **Jun 16, 2020, 7:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denscity

Don't listen to those Calgary "easterners" lol. Asphalt driveways are most popular here. Concrete are only for the fancy people here.

OK thanks!

Acajack · #**4182** Posted **Jun 16, 2020, 7:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

I went in the British pre revamp after playing soccer somewhere near there. It was a rough place pre 2010 ?

https://goo.gl/maps/VcpeqWgLG2MZXVan8 Mystery draft beer and dodgy looking food.

At least in my mind, the British never had a reputation for being dodgy. It wasn't any more notorious than any of the Vieux-Hull taverns, for example.

Architype · #**4183** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 2:37 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denscity

Don't listen to those Calgary "easterners" lol. Asphalt driveways are most popular here. Concrete are only for the fancy people here.

Vancouver area has lots of non asphalt driveways, it may depend on which area, but there are streets where it's all concrete:

https://goo.gl/maps/J683cMDMviTJEqg16

https://goo.gl/maps/aPCAwhR1zfMFZBvX8

Asphalt is considered less desirable here.

O-tacular · #**4184** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 4:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

I can't recall what the most common driveway material is in Calgary and the West? Concrete I guess?

In pricier neighbourhoods in Quebec a lot of people have interlock paving stones, or a mix of asphalt and interlock paving stones.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.43964...7i13312!8i6656

My driveway is part asphalt, part paving stones.

Another alternative to asphalt that is common in Quebec is simply to leave it as gravel. That is common in rural areas all over Canada but in Quebec you see that a lot more in the suburbs of cities than you would, say, in Ontario.

As for the streetlights, again I don't remember what predominates out west, but I personally much prefer those street lights as in Gatineau to the utilitarian cobra-style highway street lights.

My street has the same ones as in your picture, though these are also common here in pricier areas:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.49187...7i13312!8i6656

Yes our driveways are cement. The ugly blight here is the notorious unidriveway.

As for street lights here are two common varieties:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8848...7i13312!8i6656

stevanford1 · #**4185** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 5:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Yes our driveways are cement. The ugly blight here is the notorious unidriveway.

As for street lights here are two common varieties:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8848...7i13312!8i6656

Do you know where the original unidriveway photo was taken?

O-tacular · #**4186** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 11:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevanford1

Do you know where the original unidriveway photo was taken?

NE Calgary. The cancer has metastasized though and spread to other new communities.

Here's the OG:

The new technically legal version of this involves replacing the strip of grass between properties with gravel.

stevanford1 · #**4187** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 11:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

NE Calgary. The cancer has metastasized though and spread to other new communities.

Here's the OG:

The new technically legal version of this involves replacing the strip of grass between properties with gravel.

Ah I see.

Harrison · #**4188** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 4:54 PM**

The unidriveway streetscape is one of the worst I've seen for any city in Canada - beige, banal, bland and a blight on 5,000 years of human settlement. I can't think of a worse Canadian urban environment in which to be outside of a vehicle (except the industrial sprawl-lands of Peel Region).

Hawrylyshyn · #**4189** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 4:58 PM**

At least those sprawl lands have sone amount of greenery! These photos are just plain depressing

MolsonExport · #**4190** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 5:35 PM**

With a unidriveway, there will never be any trees to at least deflect some of the banality. It will forever be horrible.

Acajack · #**4191** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 6:14 PM**

I am more tolerant of suburbia than most on here, but those unidriveways... maaaaaaaaaaan.

How common are they in the newer suburban areas of Calgary?

O-tacular · #**4192** Posted **Jun 19, 2020, 5:33 PM**

Unidriveways are technically illegal in Calgary but I'm not sure how stringent enforcement is. People skirt the issue by doing crap like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8880...7i13312!8i6656

At least the gravel is permeable and won't instantly overload the storm sewers nearby. That's the other issue with unidriveways.

Then there is ugly shit like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8884...7i13312!8i6656

A couple of pieces of astro turf as 'greenery'. The rest is all gravel.

Gravel has also replaced side lawns that front onto the street for 'low maintenance':

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8884...7i13312!8i6656

Here's a craptacular example of the lack of yard in a cul de sac of a new community. The unidriveway is simply an honest expression of the poor planning that went into building the community. The city of Calgary had good intentions to reduce urban sprawl by reducing lot sizes in new communities. The unfortunate reality is crap like this as there is virtually no yard space.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8892...7i13312!8i6656