The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[Beedok]

Love all these massive highrise neighbourhoods being built up.

[flar]

[FrAnKs]

I think this city needs more density outside of Downtown core.

[Allan83]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

I think this city needs more density outside of Downtown core.

I’m not sure what this means. Wouldn’t this be true of every city in Canada?

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Allan83

I’m not sure what this means. Wouldn’t this be true of every city in Canada?

I'd say it's true of every city in Canada outside the big 3. It's likely just the natural evolution of a city. Once cities reach a certain size they start getting denser everywhere instead of simply sprawling outwards indefinitely.

Calgary is likely at that size where it's starting to do that, but it's very early days at this point.

[Allan83]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I'd say it's true of every city in Canada outside the big 3. It's likely just the natural evolution of a city. Once cities reach a certain size they start getting denser everywhere instead of simply sprawling outwards indefinitely.

Calgary is likely at that size where it's starting to do that, but it's very early days at this point.

Are you saying that you don’t think the three biggest cities need more density outside of their downtown cores? To me the statement seems like a truism.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Allan83

Are you saying that you don’t think the three biggest cities need more density outside of their downtown cores?

No I'm not. I'm saying (what I thought was quite clearly) that only the big 3 have any significant density outside their cores.

[Allan83]

Originally Posted by isaidso

No I'm not. I'm saying (what I thought was quite clearly) that only the big 3 have any significant density outside their cores.

I guess that depends on how you define significant, and core for that matter. I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you. It just seemed to me that Franks statement was essentially a truism.

[G.S MTL]

Originally Posted by Allan83

I guess that depends on how you define significant, and core for that matter. I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you. It just seemed to me that Franks statement was essentially a truism.

Lol look get over it! isaidso said it and he/she is right. I agree 100%

[Beedok]

Ottawa has plenty of density outside there core (not outside the greenbelt, but still outside the core).

[Nouvellecosse]

I don't think the big three are any more exempt than a number of older denser cities including Hamilton, Halifax, Ottawa, etc. They could all use more density outside the core, but have enough dense, central areas to support enjoyable urban neighbourhoods, public transit use, etc.They could all use more, but don't need it the way some of the lower density cities do.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by Allan83

Are you saying that you don’t think the three biggest cities need more density outside of their downtown cores? To me the statement seems like a truism.

I don't think that this is what he said. Looking at those pics, it's pretty obvious that Calgary, outside its core, looks like Laval more than it looks like Le Plateau. Why is it so hard to admit the obvious ?

[Chadillaccc]

You guys haven't seen many of our suburbs though. I've tried my best to show, but it usually just gets lost in the mix. We have many dense suburbs already, and the trend is accelerating. In Calgary we have a 100 meter tower UC in the mid-far south called the Camden, it is joining two 75 meter towers. We're also waiting on a big announcement coming soon about the Westbrook developments. What is hard to see is the huge areas of low-rise multi residential that are in almost all suburbs through the city. Sure you can take one screen shot of a suburban aerial, and ignore the ones that show any density, but that doesn't make you right in proving any point about Calgary. Remember, Montreal is the exurban sprawl capital of Canada... Calgary's suburban sprawl is bad by Canadian standards, but we have 0 exurbs.


Everything in Calgary over 35 meters, south of 23rd Avenue South. Of course it's not much, but I'm sure it's more than you imagined it would be.

[/url]


Everything North and East-West of Downtown.






I wish I could find aerials like that of the denser hoods, but I can't.

[caltrane74]

I guess the equivalent would be if the 10 blocks of the downtown Financial Core in Toronto was surrounded by Suburban Mississauga wasteland. Like people in Toronto would love a portal at King and Spadina that transports them directly to Hwy 10 and Eglinton, Calgary gets a real life one, but without the portal thing.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

I think this city needs more density outside of Downtown core.

true, but Calgary is becoming denser. The current built up land area is around 480 sq. km (out of total land area of ~850 sq km). With over 1,150,000 people we have a truer population density of ~2,396 persons per sq. km (~6,205 persons per sq. mi).

New "Suburban" (still part of city limits) densities have increased from an average of 13.5 units per hectare in 1995 to an average of 20.9 units per hectare in 2012. The problem, in my humble opinion, is the lack of a regular street grid in new communities. We're building much denser suburban communities but not walkable communities.

All communities that are "inner city" outside the downtown core are increasing density. Old bungalows are being torn down for semi-detached infills or low-mid rise condos in almost all communities within say a 15 minute drive of downtown.

In contrast to the pre-war cities of Toronto and Montreal, Calgary isn't just a post-war city, it's more like a post 1970s city. It'll take a few decades to become much more urban.

[FrAnKs]

Sorry guys, it wasnt a ''bad ass'' comment. I would have said the same thing for Quebec city ... though, the city is working pretty well on midrises in the suburbs lately. Lots of 5 to 10fl going up.

The best example of general Density for the ''1 million group'' is probably Ottawa, as Beedok stated above.

[Allan83]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Sorry guys, it wasnt a ''bad ass'' comment. I would have said the same thing for Quebec city ... though, the city is working pretty well on midrises in the suburbs lately. Lots of 5 to 10fl going up.

The best example of general Density for the ''1 million group'' is probably Ottawa, as Beedok stated above.

I wasn’t saying that you were making a bad comment. It just seemed like a meaningless comment, because it’s true for every city.

But you’re confusing me again now. As someone who has lived in both Ottawa and Calgary, Ottawa isn’t even close to Calgary. On paper Ottawa has about as many people as Calgary, but it seems much smaller because it isn’t really a regional centre. Calgary and Edmonton for example are the regional centres for half of Alberta and some of BC and Sask as well, so they really service populations of somewhere between 2-3 million each. Ottawa, otoh, isn’t even the regional centre for many people living in Ottawa. Instead they go to Montreal to do their shopping, and a surprising number go to Toronto as well. There may be some ways that Ottawa is denser than Calgary, I suppose. I’m guessing that the average lot size in Ottawa is smaller, which might make their residential neighbourhoods somewhat denser, but since I’m not really sure what the comment was about in the first place I’m not sure what to compare. In general, however, Ottawa seems like a much smaller city than Calgary, maybe 2/3 the size.

[Innsertnamehere]

remember that density =/= height. Density and height are very, very different things.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

remember that density =/= height. Density and height are very, very different things.

Exactly.

Lets just point it out with pictures :







I love both cities, hence it's just the true reality. In Ottawa you will find mid/highrises more far away of the downtown core.
Could it change in the future ? ... sure, I'm sure Calgary is working on that way. But I think it will take years to reach Ottawa.

[FrAnKs]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bob/72133404/sizes/l/in/photolist-7nGKo-8WzFu-8Y3Ff-t2hTG-uoUYs/