Public Realm in Canadian Cities - Developments

[esquire]

Reading that article, it looks like the rationale bounced around for allowing tents in parks was about throwing up a middle finger to the higher orders of government, and perhaps trigger some action on the province's part. Which while questionable, at least it's a coherent argument that makes sense on some level. As opposed to allowing tents in parks because to do otherwise would somehow be "problematic".

[ScreamingViking]

Many municipal councils seem to have no idea WTF to do. So they side with their constituents because the only certainty is they want to keep their job after the next election!

Local residents protest just about everything. Hamilton is STILL kicking around a tiny homes pilot to test how that may be useful to moderate the issue... the most recent idea was to put these homes on a lot that's part of a strip of "parkland" adjacent to a rail corridor in the city's urban north-end. But the consultation was handled very badly (with some residents apparently becoming belligerent).

Thing is, there are tents on that land already. So complaints about risks (needles and open drug use seem to be the biggest, as are worries about impacts on the children) are a bit specious. The idea for the tiny home pilot was to include a central space for washrooms and a kitchen, with security and management on-site. So to me, how is this not better than what is there already??? Those tents aren't going away; if they're forcibly removed they'll be back at some point.

This is an issue cities and towns aren't equipped to handle, but senior levels of government aren't being at all helpful.

[Echoes]

New basketball courts along the River Landing riverfront in Saskatoon. This is going to be a hive of activity in summertime:





https://www.facebook.com/cityofsaskatoon

[kwoldtimer]

Where's the pickleball courts?

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Where's the pickleball courts?

Taking over the defunct curling club north of downtown of course!

[WhipperSnapper]

Claude Cormier absolutely dominated this topic in Toronto. Curious how the city moves on following his death a couple weeks ago.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Echoes

New basketball courts along the River Landing riverfront in Saskatoon. This is going to be a hive of activity in summertime:





https://www.facebook.com/cityofsaskatoon

This looks good expect the extra hoops may lead to arguments down the road.

pickleball is fun like curling.

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by Echoes

New basketball courts along the River Landing riverfront in Saskatoon. This is going to be a hive of activity in summertime:





https://www.facebook.com/cityofsaskatoon

Those look great! Looking at the Jumpstart logo, I assume the courts received some private funding from Jumpstart/Canadian Tire?

[Echoes]

Jumpstart and local Canadian Tire dealers covered the full capital costs and the City is assuming the operating costs.

[J.OT13]

Redevelopment of the Ruisseau de la Brasserie in Hull proposed by the National Capital Commission. Ottawa and Gatineau City Councils aren't doing squat, so the NCC is picking up the slack.







https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/a...CQG5OFQWXDQZ4/

Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hu...xdHk?entry=ttu

[Kilgore Trout]

The reconstruction of avenue des Pins (aka Pine Avenue) in Montreal is complete. One of the ugliest streets on the Plateau is now one of its nicest, with trees and planted areas, public seating and protected cycle tracks. The reconstructed portion of the street is about 1km in length, from Park Avenue in the west to St-Denis in the east.



The above photo was shared by Alex Norris, a local city councillor, and the following photos were all taken by myself. It's a really nice project, but not perfect. One of the biggest issues is that there are raised crossings for the sidewalks and bike paths at non-signalled intersections, but they're not raised enough. It's like... almost Amsterdam. But not quite.

[Nouvellecosse]

^ Looking good!

[Echoes]

Fantastic.

[giallo]

Exceptional

[Nite]

26 more Urbanism changes in Montreal in the last few years.
Let hope this will influence more Canadian cities to improve the public realm quicker.

• Video Link

[Kilgore Trout]

Aside from Montreal, which Canadian cities are doing the best to transform public space? I feel like it's a toss up between Quebec City, Calgary and Vancouver. Quebec City is doing similar things to Montreal, but on a smaller scale (of course). Calgary is quite ambitious and has transformed a lot of its riverfront in a really great way.

Vancouver is interesting because it has been adopting a Montreal technique of using "transitory" design to create new spaces. For instance, this block of Kamloops Street near Hastings:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CywW4YeSFZO/?img_index=1

The challenge is transitioning from this temporary phase to something permanent.

[Nite]

This tweeter account is by the City of Toronto Cycling and Pedestrian Projects unit and post often about all the projects in planning or under construction in the city.

https://twitter.com/TO_Cycling_Ped

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

Aside from Montreal, which Canadian cities are doing the best to transform public space?

Montreal seems to be doing it on an entirely other level than any place in the country.

Where I am, there are as many misses as hits. And some of the latter are still works in progress with plenty of time to whiff. Pier 8 is another that has a promenade completed last year, awaiting development within its confines.

The best seem to have just been kept very simple, and given time to grow into themselves. Like Bayfront and Pier 4 parks in Hamilton, not far west of that to-be-completed "hit" I linked, which were transformed from industrial land and landfill in the early 1990s.

Bayfront (those trees were quite modest 30 years ago!):

[J.OT13]

We're seeing some public realm transformations in Ottawa, but nowhere near the level of Montreal. We have to depend on the NCC mostly, who are doing good work. The Cities (i.e. municipalities) of Ottawa and Gatineau are mostly stagnant.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

Aside from Montreal, which Canadian cities are doing the best to transform public space? I feel like it's a toss up between Quebec City, Calgary and Vancouver. Quebec City is doing similar things to Montreal, but on a smaller scale (of course). Calgary is quite ambitious and has transformed a lot of its riverfront in a really great way.

Vancouver is interesting because it has been adopting a Montreal technique of using "transitory" design to create new spaces. For instance, this block of Kamloops Street near Hastings:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CywW4YeSFZO/?img_index=1

The challenge is transitioning from this temporary phase to something permanent.

The sheer number and scope of projects in Toronto has to be contender. Small community projects get completely overshadowed by skyscraper development. Also, the use of cast in place concrete surfaces over pavers. The pavers make Pines Avenue. It's a forgettable project without them. Calgary's love affair with cast in place concrete is even closer than Toronto's. The downtown waterfront project has great things. Overall, it's just satisfactory. The vision doesn't allow for adaptability. There's not much function otherthan a pretty stroll. Like I said, the finishes have too much cast in place concrete