Canadian Skyline Thread III

[TorontoDrew]

This would be a fun area for us to do a building design friendly competition.

New Stompin' Grounds by Ryan Gaynor, on Flickr

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

This would be a fun area for us to do a building design friendly competition.

New arena's going just south of that spot.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I think Calgary is under represented here these days due to everyone being chased to SRC by trolls in the Calgary section. SRC is a far superior format (This one is on borrow time these days) so it might be hard to get some forumers from there to come here and post more.

SRC Ottawa is starting to gain traction. It's getting far more media of developments (pics/vids) because of ease of use, but SSP Ottawa is still getting more dialogue about community and infrastructure. I'm a mod on SRC, but I still visit and enjoy both forums.

[TorontoDrew]

Grittied up Calgary a bit lol.

alchemyrefiner_alchemymagic_0_1d6b7efa-5680-469b-9e54-b94ee8008c19_0 by Andrew Moore, on Flickr

[logan5]

That’s a great photo

[Calgarian]

I get blade runner / Moscow vibes from that somehow lol.

[Nouvellecosse]

That's not an actual picture of Calgary is it? I assume AI or at least photoshop or something...

[Calgarian]

I think that's Toronto overlaid on that Calgary picture above, and made oh so moody... lol

[giallo]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

That's not an actual picture of Calgary is it? I assume AI or at least photoshop or something...

It's 100% AI. Someone probably typed in 'Calgary, dystopia, sunset' into an AI site, and this is what it produced.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by giallo

It's 100% AI. Someone probably typed in 'Calgary, dystopia, sunset' into an AI site, and this is what it produced.

Oh that makes sense. I started second guessing myself for a second there lol.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by giallo

It's 100% AI. Someone probably typed in 'Calgary, dystopia, sunset' into an AI site, and this is what it produced.

I did a bit more then that, but yes it's A.I.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by zoomer

I think like any city if you’ve lived long enough in it you see the warts and the frustrations build. To an outsider though like myself when I visited in May, I loved the city and Yonge street in particular. Sure throughout the core there were many parks that were overgrown, or partially fenced off, the roads and sidewalks are worn and crumbling under the weight of humanity and vehicles, graffiti is everywhere, but those things didn’t bother me at all for some reason. Perhaps because I was on holiday mode. Also because when I travel I’m not looking for the same thing I left, nor do I expect it.

Toronto has very little in terms of physical natural beauty at all, and maybe over time that would get to me, but I still found as a whole it was a fantastic visual treat in its own human built way. The gardens/landscaping seemed non-existent or very basic even in some of the posh neighbourhoods (at least compared to what I’m used to in Victoria) but those streets were still beautiful and had nice trees.

Toronto's public realm is battered and shabby, and it feels like it gets worse every time I go back. But, it also feels lived in - as you say, it's crumbling under the weight of humanity - rather than from lack of use. All in all, there can be a very visceral sense of life to the city (of course, one could still get that feeling without the ugliness).

Toronto won't win any natural beauty contests either, but I don't agree that there's nothing at all. I think its natural landscape is somewhat underappreciated: it's got the lake, the islands, the ravines, the lush tree canopy, sandy beaches, and the odd interesting feature like the bluffs. Southern Ontario is the mildest and most biodiverse region in Canada outside of Coastal BC, and it has foliage & landscapes that can't be found anywhere else in the country. It doesn't have the in-your-face awe of BC, but living here has actually come make me appreciate what Ontario does have, because it's just different.

[Metro-One]

The three most biologically unique biomes in Canada are the south coast of BC, the hot interior valleys of BC (in particular the South Okanagan) and southern Ontario. After that its extreme south east Alberta / south west Saskatchewan and the Montreal area.

Dang, you guys fell for that AI? I hate seeing the AI infestation grow. The bizarre rails gave it away, along with a train seemingly coming out of the bushes and random places gantries.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I think Calgary is under represented here these days due to everyone being chased to SRC by trolls in the Calgary section. SRC is a far superior format (This one is on borrow time these days) so it might be hard to get some forumers from there to come here and post more.

Urbantoronto reminds me of Emporis 25 years ago. Monetization and introduction of subscription based premium service to access their data. Will the forums last long term?

Skyrise Calgary is a local forum which is different from the national forums. That civic pride that created all those showy slogans like can do spirit is just on hiatus until construction picks up again.

[CryingAutumn]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

Grittied up Calgary a bit lol.

alchemyrefiner_alchemymagic_0_1d6b7efa-5680-469b-9e54-b94ee8008c19_0 by Andrew Moore, on Flickr

Oh God, AI is infesting Skyscraperpage now?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Toronto's public realm is battered and shabby, and it feels like it gets worse every time I go back. But, it also feels lived in - as you say, it's crumbling under the weight of humanity - rather than from lack of use. All in all, there can be a very visceral sense of life to the city (of course, one could still get that feeling without the ugliness).

Toronto won't win any natural beauty contests either, but I don't agree that there's nothing at all. I think its natural landscape is somewhat underappreciated: it's got the lake, the islands, the ravines, the lush tree canopy, sandy beaches, and the odd interesting feature like the bluffs. Southern Ontario is the mildest and most biodiverse region in Canada outside of Coastal BC, and it has foliage & landscapes that can't be found anywhere else in the country. It doesn't have the in-your-face awe of BC, but living here has actually come make me appreciate what Ontario does have, because it's just different.

I think you're right but I don't find Toronto does a very good job of highlighting and bringing attention to these spots with infrastructure and public realm enhancements.

Other cities are much better at doing this, and as an example look at what davidivivid recently posted in the Public Realm thread from Quebec City. There isn't anything that special about this spot but look how they've done something great with it. Toronto certainly has lots of stuff it could work with to make something as good or better. In multiple places.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Toronto's public realm is battered and shabby, and it feels like it gets worse every time I go back. But, it also feels lived in - as you say, it's crumbling under the weight of humanity - rather than from lack of use. All in all, there can be a very visceral sense of life to the city (of course, one could still get that feeling without the ugliness).

I'm not sure it's getting worse but it often feels like a "2 steps forward, 1 back" kinda situation. As public realm deteriorates in some areas I've seen noted improvements in others. Some of this is at least a partial return to basic services - I've seen more street cleaning in my area this Spring than in the past couple years for instance. Was quite impressed when they ripped up the brick paving near me for utility work and actually replaced it instead of an asphalt patch (this could be insistence from the BIA too). Also a noted improvement in street trees on *some* major streets (Roncy, parts of Bloor and College, for instance). New seating along stretches of Bloor near the Annex seems very well used and fills a necessary gap. Was East of the Don for the first time in a while the other weekend and it's certainly much better in terms of upkeep than when I lived there.

Meanwhile parts of the downtown core are looking worse. And for every successful new park there seems to be one in construction limbo or overgrown. A lot of it is pretty simple stuff - take College Park for instance which made some headlines due to the NW corner relegated to dirt as the grass died off. The rest of the park is in good maintenance (I'm there weekly) and decently functional, and the decrepit portion could be easily rectified by reconfigured walkways. The design encouraged people to cut across the grass on a desire-line which got out of hand, which was pointed out ahead of time and dismissed.

Toronto's never been great at showcasing it's best public spaces, which can certainly be frustrating. As a resident it bothers me less, as the areas I frequent are certainly very well used and functional. If given a binary choice I'll take that over pretty yet empty any day, but of course these shouldn't be mutually exclusive. If I lived in the core I could see myself getting disillusioned though, particularly as everything is exacerbated by nonstop construction.

[Biff]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I think Calgary is under represented here these days due to everyone being chased to SRC by trolls in the Calgary section. SRC is a far superior format (This one is on borrow time these days) so it might be hard to get some forumers from there to come here and post more.

Sorry to be ignorant, but what forum is SRC?

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Dang, you guys fell for that AI? I hate seeing the AI infestation grow. The bizarre rails gave it away, along with a train seemingly coming out of the bushes and random places gantries.

I hate it as well, but it's coming for all of the jobs in my Industry so I'm trying to stay ahead of the game.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think you're right but I don't find Toronto does a very good job of highlighting and bringing attention to these spots with infrastructure and public realm enhancements.

Other cities are much better at doing this, and as an example look at what davidivivid recently posted in the Public Realm thread from Quebec City. There isn't anything that special about this spot but look how they've done something great with it. Toronto certainly has lots of stuff it could work with to make something as good or better. In multiple places.

It's always been like this. Toronto seems to be vastly underfunded by the province and Ottawa for public realm improvements. It's an unpopular position outside of Toronto to invest any money in this city. I'm not sure how it is now but 15 years ago Toronto only got 4% of every tax dollar generated in the city, the rest of the money was spread around the province and country.

Nobody bats and eye when other Canadian cities use tax dollars to fund improvements but Toronto always gets snubbed. At the very least we should have the same sort of public realm improvements as Montreal has. In Toronto we need to look for investors to fix or upgrade things. just look at Ontario Place.