I thought this was interesting:
https://www.turnerdrake.com/newsrese...ng-halifax.pdf
It is a report on the health of downtown Halifax, and a prediction of its future health and development, created in 2008 or so.
There are a few main themes and suggestions, paraphrased from the perspective of the day:
- There isn't much development pressure downtown.
- There is ample space to build without tearing down historic buildings.
- There is tension between preserving the wider public benefit of heritage buildings and the desire of developers to maximize the returns on their property:
The gulf between the property owner’s pressing need to maximise the value of their site, and broader community goal of preserving those buildings to secure the longer term economic and social value of Downtown Halifax, will not be resolved by the present debate; HRMbyDesign will not solve the problem.
- A lot of valuable land is owned by the government and is not being developed in a timely fashion. There is consequently a negative impact on downtown.
- Halifax city council used to take an active role as
facilitator, ensuring that plans that were good for the city were developed and implemented. Today, HRM council acts as a passive mediator between developers, heritage groups, and others.
How did the predictions pan out? Are they still relevant? What changed? I think some of these are still applicable, while others are not very accurate.
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