The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Chadillaccc]

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[Pinion]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I mean, Gastown and that area are great at ground level, but those new glass condos near the stadium? The streets there are blandly suburban. Mississauga, essentially.

This is absurd. The condo designs are boring from the air, no doubt, but the street life in Yaletown is great and vibrant. Not the best video but enough to show that street life isn't blandly suburban:

• Video Link

I could agree with your statement for Coal Harbour, but not everywhere can be urban. Vancouver is still a pretty small city.

[esquire]

With the buildings in Yaletown and other new condo-heavy areas in Vancouver being fairly recent builds, they're too new to have really developed the fine grained complexity you typically see in older areas. I think that will happen over time.

When I've walked around there I certainly never felt like I was in some sterile suburbia. To each their own.

[jmt18325]

Out of Canada's larger cities, I find Vancouver to be the most bland, even if it is the most beautiful in pictures.

[esquire]

^ I will concede that it's a bit more bland than the three or four other largest Canadian cities, but I don't consider it to be a bland city on the whole. You can find new condo districts that lack historical character in just about any major Canadian city... I wouldn't judge Van by Yaletown.

[Monolith]

So Much For The Afterglow ~ Vancouver, BC by SeaSide Signs ~ Vancouver, BC, on Flickr Taken on February 22, 2016

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Pinion

This is absurd. The condo designs are boring from the air, no doubt, but the street life in Yaletown is great and vibrant. Not the best video but enough to show that street life isn't blandly suburban:

Bit of a hyperbole with the Mississauga comparison, I admit. But having Google Streetviewed the area, it does look bland and suburban.

Back to the aerial, certain parts of the lakeshore in Toronto have the same problem, like in the bottom of this pic. Though the mass of towers just to the west of Air Canada Centre is quite good.

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

by Jimmy Wu on flickr (old pic but haven't seen it on here):

[logan5]

Would love to hear what suburb in Canada Yaletown resembles. Yale town has a lot of glass towers, but it also has a large concentration of historic buildings that give it urban appeal. Yaletown is what Liberty Village and Griffen Town will someday resemble.

[biguc]

Originally Posted by logan5

Would love to hear what suburb in Canada Yaletown resembles. Yale town has a lot of glass towers, but it also has a large concentration of historic buildings that give it urban appeal. Yaletown is what Liberty Village and Griffen Town will someday resemble.

Most of Yaletown is pretty nice, but Pacific blvd does kind of resemble Mississauga. That street is too damn wide. My long-standing distaste for Yaletown was definitely colored by my shit brown experience with Pacific blvd the first time I checked the area out. I think it's fair to say that Yaletown along Pacific and next to False Creek is suburban, in that it's a residential hinterland to the heart of its neighborhood and DT Vancouver.

[dreambrother808]

My favourite type of comment is "I've looked at a lot of pictures and now I've come to a solid, unwavering opinion about what it's like to live in downtown Vancouver."

Google streetview is not akin to actually experiencing something, but I certainly hope that goes without saying.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

My favourite type of comment is "I've looked at a lot of pictures and now I've come to a solid, unwavering opinion about what it's like to live in downtown Vancouver."

Who said that?

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by biguc

Most of Yaletown is pretty nice, but Pacific blvd does kind of resemble Mississauga. That street is too damn wide. My long-standing distaste for Yaletown was definitely colored by my shit brown experience with Pacific blvd the first time I checked the area out. I think it's fair to say that Yaletown along Pacific and next to False Creek is suburban, in that it's a residential hinterland to the heart of its neighborhood and DT Vancouver.

I can see this point. Pacific itself is a little sterile, but once you venture off of Pacific (especially north) it becomes a true urban neighbourhood, many streets with varying layers of texture (such as Mainland and Hamilton). Do keep in mind that Pacific is a reserved ROW for a streecar line (one　day, maybe...)

The area next to False Creek though is no less suburban than other high density tower neighbourhoods in other large cities. Maybe it is the seawall or the number of parks that give people this idea? Also it is not yet fully built out on the eastern end (still a few vacant lots left, but those are now becoming far and few between)

And that is the thing, Yaletown is not the CBD or commercial core of the city.　And I do find it ironic for people in Toronto talk down on Yaletown when they are currently building much larger / taller Yaletowns, many of them with less interesting street scapes IMO (while many streets were fantastic in Toronto, the last time I was there I found the areas around the bases of many of the taller towers to be very sterile.)

In the end, Yaletown is not perfect, and parts of it are a little sterile, but once again I see many hyperboles being thrown around on here. Is it my favorite part of downtown, no, is it as bad as many on here are trying to paint it, no.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Who said that?

Here:

Originally Posted by isaidso

I've viewed countless photos of the streets at the base of those Vancouver glass condos and it's quite abysmal imo. It says a lot that those sidewalks are empty of people. They're suburban developments and quite the opposite of what I seek in a big city downtown.

And I'd argue that even in skyline shots it's only at first glance that it looks good. On closer inspection it's a sea of soul less monotony. I'd pull my hair out if I had to live in that neighbourhood. 'Mississauga with mountains' as rousseau put it.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

In the end, Yaletown is not perfect, and parts of it are a little sterile, but once again I see many hyperboles being thrown around on here. Is it my favorite part of downtown, no, is it as bad as many on here are trying to paint it, no.

It's the typical pattern of someone praising Vancouver and then the usual haters coming out and making a fuss to prove otherwise. Does it matter? Why do I care? I don't know. It's all a bit silly really.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

It's the typical pattern of someone praising Vancouver and then the usual haters coming out and making a fuss to prove otherwise. Does it matter? Why do I care? I don't know. It's all a bit silly really.

Haha, so much to be said, but dont want to derail this thread any further.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by biguc

Most of Yaletown is pretty nice, but Pacific blvd does kind of resemble Mississauga. That street is too damn wide. My long-standing distaste for Yaletown was definitely colored by my shit brown experience with Pacific blvd the first time I checked the area out. I think it's fair to say that Yaletown along Pacific and next to False Creek is suburban, in that it's a residential hinterland to the heart of its neighborhood and DT Vancouver.

Pacific is more reminicent of City Place imo, except even Pacific is less desolate than City Place. The main streets in Yaletown are Hamilton, Mainland, and Homer. The residential buildings along Richards are the earlier, better examples of Vancouverism, so it has turned out pretty good for a (high density) residential street.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

My favourite type of comment is "I've looked at a lot of pictures and now I've come to a solid, unwavering opinion about what it's like to live in downtown Vancouver."

Google streetview is not akin to actually experiencing something, but I certainly hope that goes without saying.

I will say the impression I got was that if you took Toronto and distilled everything that separates it from the rest of Ontario (minus some height) you'd basically have Vancouver.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Here:

If you have a refined urban aesthetic, and you don't like what a place looks like, why would you want to live in a place that doesn't have what you like? Seeing what's missing isn't the same as saying that you know exactly what it's like to live in a place.

How is this not obvious? Oh, yeah, but of course...the prickly sensibilities of so many Vancouver posters on this forum don't allow for considered criticism of anything to do with the city. It's the most tedious cliché on this forum.

[dreambrother808]

It's the tone, the hyperbole, your condescension, time and time again. I've lived in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, and your comparative assertions as to how vastly different these places are and the innate inferiority of Vancouver is actually quite laughable. I prefer certain aspects of each city, naturally. You don't discuss these matters with "considered criticism" but rather with thinly-veiled passive-aggression. You get the response you deserve and then throw out more inane generalizations about how "thinly-skinned" many Vancouverites are. Are you dumb? Have you never read the countless similarly-categorized posts from every city on this forum?? Get a grip.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by biguc

Most of Yaletown is pretty nice, but Pacific blvd does kind of resemble Mississauga. That street is too damn wide. My long-standing distaste for Yaletown was definitely colored by my shit brown experience with Pacific blvd the first time I checked the area out. I think it's fair to say that Yaletown along Pacific and next to False Creek is suburban, in that it's a residential hinterland to the heart of its neighborhood and DT Vancouver.

The existence of such an area isn't very interesting though. Is there a city in Canada where you can't pick out an ugly spot adjacent to downtown, generally near some 70's highway infrastructure and/or a stadium/arena? The parts of Toronto south of the railway tracks aren't great. It's got 3 or 4 Pacific Boulevards and the Gardiner. In many other cities the equivalent area is just a sea of parking lots.