Quote:
Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker
Lace posted a picture of Quebec City in another thread that shows the contrast with Atlantic Canadian cities perfectly
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When I saw that picture I thought it was kind of similar to what you see in parts of Halifax. One big difference is that there's not much in the way of green space, backyards or trees in that Quebec City neighbourhood (it's a winter picture too so that no doubt contributes). Another difference is that you can't find an area that large in Halifax that postwar urban planners didn't somehow mess with. A lot of Quebec City looks like Halifax from 1950, built in a different style, and with less greenspace.
The original construction in this neighbourhood is mostly 2-3 storey rowhouses and flats. When the area was first built, it had a mix of businesses throughout. Original development happened during 1770-1850 or so.
The lower half of the photo with the towers and wider street was originally the most densely built up, so it was the most ripe for redevelopment according to postwar planners. It still more or less typifies what I think of as the inner-city neighourhoods that make up a relatively large portion of Atlantic cities, and contributes to the "downtown" vs. "neighbourhood" balance. Western cities like Vancouver and Calgary don't have any neighbourhoods like this.