The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[isaidso]

Most of these buildings will be gone in 10 years so we won't have that to worry about. A few stretches of decent Victorians will likely be saved/incorporated into new structures, but the rest are already on borrowed time. This will be a 50-90 floor canyon from Bloor to Front by 2020.

[Chadillaccc]

Do you actually think the mega boom will last that long?

[caltrane74]

It wont be a boom, but construction of highrises on Yonge will continue well past 2020.

[caltrane74]

Skyline from punk rocker infested Queen West

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Do you actually think the mega boom will last that long?

I didn't think it would last till 2011, but now we're in 2012. Construction booms tend to lag economic booms; they occur towards to the end of a cycle just before a recession. The bizarre thing is that our construction boom continued right through it and it's still going just as our economy starts to show some legs.

82,000 new jobs last month with most of it in Quebec/Ontario is a very good sign. Ontario's unemployment rate fell from 8.1% to 7.6% and even manufacturing is starting to claw its way back. These things coupled with the continued population boom in downtown Toronto bode well for construction activity to remain buoyant till the end of this economic cycle. It's quite amazing, but I wouldn't be surprised if Toronto's construction boom keeps going for another 5 years minimum. Beyond that, who knows.

The more I look at the data, the more I'm convinced that Toronto is experiencing one of those once in a century booms that all great cities go through. Chicago didn't get to its current status by growing at the same rate as the rest, nor did New York. All great cities at one point in their life encounter a mega boom that elevates them to greatness. Toronto used to be comparable to Melbourne or Montreal. Now people compare Toronto to Chicago. Only a protracted boom can boost a city to that next level and I'm convinced that's what's happening here.

The question is how far can Toronto go. Will things plateau when we reach 10 million and equal footing with Chicago or will Toronto keep rocketing ahead setting its sights on the next big city in the global pecking order? Honestly, I'd be very disappointed if our growth leveled off before reeling Chicago in.

[Symz]

Living in a city where the economy still feels like it's in the gutter I am often amazed at the pace of Toronto's construction, it seems to defy reality.

[Ramako]

Toronto by sarif82, on Flickr



Untitled by marcus kamps, on Flickr



Toronto 049 by w3kn, on Flickr



Toronto skyline early on 2012 04 04 -b by booledozer, on Flickr

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Most of these buildings will be gone in 10 years so we won't have that to worry about. A few stretches of decent Victorians will likely be saved/incorporated into new structures, but the rest are already on borrowed time. This will be a 50-90 floor canyon from Bloor to Front by 2020.

2020 is absurd. It's less than eight years away. By the time Aura is delivered in 2016 it will be a decade since the re-zoning application was first submitted.

Building heights will be significantly reduced after the correction has run its course. It will take the better part of a decade or longer to reach today's average heights. Market value dictates how tall developers must build and not a wanting desire by developers to build tall. Most would rather flip three twenty storey buildings in the time it takes to build one 70 storey behemoth.

[isaidso]

Every one knows that demand dictates what gets built, that's obvious. Regarding whether that canyon appears it looks like we will be half way there by 2016. By 2020.... we'll see.




Courtesy of Insertnamehere

[logan5]

Originally Posted by isaidso

The question is how far can Toronto go. Will things plateau when we reach 10 million and equal footing with Chicago or will Toronto keep rocketing ahead setting its sights on the next big city in the global pecking order? Honestly, I'd be very disappointed if our growth leveled off before reeling Chicago in.

Looking on the Wikipedia list of MSA's, there are 6 cities ahead of Toronto, with Dallas and Houston growing at a faster rate than Toronto. And Atlanta is catching up to Toronto with their higher growth rate. Of course you could make the argument that U.S. cities have different measuring standards because of their more car-centric city planning strategy.


Metropolitan Areas in Northern America[1][2][3]

Rank Metropolitan Area Latest Census Data (2011 CA/2010 US) Data From Previous Decennial Census (2001 CA/2000 US) Change

1 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA 18,897,109 - 18,323,002 +3.13%

2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA 12,828,837 - 12,365,627 +3.75%

3 Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA 9,461,105 - 9,098,316 +3.99%

4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA 6,371,773 - 5,161,544 +23.45%

5 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA 5,965,343 - 5,687,147 +4.89%

6 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA 5,946,800 - 4,715,407 +26.11%

7 Toronto, ON CMA 5,583,064 - 4,682,897 +19.22%

8 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA 5,582,170 - 4,796,183 +16.39%

9 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA 5,564,635 - 5,007,564 +11.12%

10 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA 5,268,860 - 4,247,981 +24.03%

[caltrane74]

Yes you are correct, its hard to make an argument when Canada and the US use different metrics to measure urban areas. Instead why not just use city population to rank the cities.

That will probably give you a truer idea of the size of Canadian and US cities.

[softee]

^^ The GTA is probably a better comparison to an American MSA, in which case Toronto would be 5th on that list. Even the GTA boundaries are rather small and constrained compared to American MSA. Toronto would probably rank 4th by American standards

[hockey rules!]

Toronto's GTA is 7,124.15 km2 while the Greater Houston area is 26,061 km2...

[The_Architect]

Here's a neat picture from Reddit of the Toronto skyline from the Donlands without the CN Tower:



Smaller version here.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by logan5

Looking on the Wikipedia list of MSA's, there are 6 cities ahead of Toronto, with Dallas and Houston growing at a faster rate than Toronto. And Atlanta is catching up to Toronto with their higher growth rate. Of course you could make the argument that U.S. cities have different measuring standards because of their more car-centric city planning strategy.

Toronto will soon have faster growth rates than the southern cities of Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta. Aside from the tremendous financial unsustainability of these 'car-centric' cities, as you've mentioned, their southern geographies are a big disadvantage now. These American cities shall experience their economies being eaten away, now that we are living in a reality of escalating climate change. Eventually, these regions will experience a state of perpetual emergencies, constantly rebuilding after the damages of natural disasters. Forest fires, flash floods, prolonged droughts, ridiculously frequent and severe tornadic activity... Even basic industries such as agriculture will be impossible to maintain.

[suburbanite]

Still looks great even without its signature landmark.

[Lenin]

Here's a few I snapped from the new Jubilee stop; the southern terminus of Winnipeg's rapid transit line that officially opened today.

They're not the greatest shots, but it's a vantage point you might not see too often:

Damn poles [utility poles; I'm not being xenophobic]:

I'm actually pleased these didn't turn out even shittier. It was bloody windy out. Haven't felt such a terrific blow since I ran into your sister. Zing!

The lights of freedom:

In the distance we see the Osborne Village and Wellington Crescent areas:

And that, as they say in Des Moines, is that:

[Symz]

Originally Posted by Ramako

That's probably the coolest Toronto pic I've ever seen. It's an awesome pic, and it doesn't even have the iconic CN Tower in it.

[Chadillaccc]

agreed



And yeah I do believe that all things considered, if Ontario were an American State, Toronto would be the Toronto-Oshawa-Hamilton combined statistical area which would put it at around 6.6 million. While if you also included St. Catherines-Niagara, it would basically be 7 million people. And that would still be WELL under the size of an American-style MSA at only 10 000 km sq.

To make it fair, the entire Greater Golden Horseshoe is close to the size of the Houston MSA(26,061 km sq) at 31 561 km sq.

Toronto, in a logical world, would be the fifth largest population center/MSA/CSA in North America at 8.8 million people spread across an area just a bit larger than Greater Houston (an area with half the population).




Great shots of Winnipeg btw! I dunno why I just love Winnie! Hopefully ya'll get some new towers to fill in those gaps soon.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Toronto, a logical world, would be the fourth largest population center/MSA/CSA in North America at 8.8 million people spread across an area just a bit larger than Greater Houston

Don't forget Mexico City! They're still in North America. But your point is taken, Toronto in 5th place makes the most sense.