Do you wish Canadian cities were just a little more American?

[boden]

Originally Posted by 401_King

look what up?? silly comments from those bellvellians again!

Nice spelling by the way.

[401_King]

man, 30 years ago, T.O was da place to BE. there was a porn shop on every corner on yonge. you could get laid in a private room, have a shawarma, then a papaya juice, then get laid again then snort up with Sam the record man then sit back and enjoy an adult film at the movies without guilt! how is that not excitement!

[the dude]

actually, that does sound like a lot of fun. man, things really suck now.

[softee]

Originally Posted by the dude

toronto was a very different looking city 30 years ago. very white, very conservative, very boring. i'm actually not old enough to know this first hand but i can read so there you go.

More like 60 years ago.

[the dude]

let's not exaggerate. our immigration policies didn't change until the mid '70s.

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by the dude

let's not exaggerate. our immigration policies didn't change until the mid '70s.

actually the mid-60's. That's when my parents came when the ban on visible minorites was lifted.

[the dude]

ya, early 60s actually. but our policy of multiculturalism didn't begin until the 1970s. that's when our cities began to look...less white.

[401_King]

definitely.

[HockeyFan]

The thing with Detroit... so many of those buildings are abandoned.

American cities like Chicago, Boston, and New York have great, vibrant downtowns with great architecture.

Canadian cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver have great, vibrant downtowns with what I would also consider great architecture.

There are also American cities like Phoenix, where the downtown is basically non-existant. Without exaggeration, downtown Saskatoon feels bigger and is more vibrant than downtown Phoenix.

Generally, I find Canadian cities revolve more around the downtown, as the downtown is still more the heart of the city. Perhaps a lot of this comes from denser population -- the downtown is far closer for most people in the GTA than it is in Houston, and the metros have similar population. American cities tend to vacate at 5 PM -- with the exceptions of a few cities such as the previously mentioned ones, Denver, San Francisco, and a few others.

[boden]

A blog written by somebody called Hazlit:

Toronto architecture is a disaster. The city, particularly in commercial areas is built without any sense of context or politeness. So you end up with a fifty-story glass tower with a parking lot on one side and run-down thrift-shop on the other. Though exciting in its human geography,Toronto’s physical geography is a deadly combination of boring and ugly. With a mostly flat terrain Toronto would always be under pressure to do something interesting with its architecture, but as it is, the love of the car and TO’s perennial wish to be a big city has meant construction more interested in functionality than beauty. Though by living here I’ve come to appreciate the many things Toronto has to offer intellectually and culturally, I find walking around the city almost painful. My sight is violated by the ugliness.

Why can’t this city, with such extraordinary possibilities for rich human encounters, with everything from parading nudists, hip-swinging transvestites, and burka-wearing women do something more for its physical environment? What I would love to see would be a great bit of public architecture. But both Toronto’s city hall and its research library are the kinds of sterile, person-hating, back turning, aloof architecture that it makes good sense to hate. Why not take a vast centrally-located site and build something grand and truly beautiful? When was the last time Toronto, (or any other city for that matter) built a grand masonry arch to frame a window? Why not say no to the glass curtain wall, no doubt the most popular and most ugly architectural innovation of the last century?

It’s so sad to walk down Avenue Road and see old apartment buildings that have beautiful deco detailing, copper doors, and even bits of relief sculpture, all neglected because traffic has to move so fast there that all sense of pedestrian movement, of the deeply human aspect of architecture is gone? The city is a living organism, indeed one of the greatest human inventions of all time, but one that is constantly threatened by people’s hatred of each other and of difference.

The great sadness in Toronto is that it is so evident that the city could do so much better!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Architecture

[caltrane74]

Toronto is an evolving city.

[malek]

Bah you can find a blog entry for whatever thing you're looking for... opinions are not really worth as much as before because everyone can say whatever he wants and its so damn easy with technology.

[habsfan]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

ok then we need to do a break down for:

subways - Toronto: (690)
buses TTC (1600)
streetcars-TTC (250)
commuter trains- GO Transit (45 locomotives, 392 coaches )
light rapid transit vehicles.(36 - SRT)
passangers - Toronto TTC (3,229,000 passengers daily or 1.178,585,000 per year)
total employees. Toronto - TTC ( 11,000)
GO Transit Ridership : 47 Million passangers a year

for Boston, Washington, and Toronto. You can throw in Chicago and SF for fun.

Ummm, i remember having this discussion on the boards 2 years ago, and the TTC ridership back then was at 1.3 million passengers per day. I have a hard time believing it's at 3.2 million today! A real hard time!

[habsfan]

Originally Posted by boden

A blog written by somebody called Hazlit:

Toronto architecture is a disaster. The city, particularly in commercial areas is built without any sense of context or politeness. So you end up with a fifty-story glass tower with a parking lot on one side and run-down thrift-shop on the other. Though exciting in its human geography,Toronto’s physical geography is a deadly combination of boring and ugly. With a mostly flat terrain Toronto would always be under pressure to do something interesting with its architecture, but as it is, the love of the car and TO’s perennial wish to be a big city has meant construction more interested in functionality than beauty. Though by living here I’ve come to appreciate the many things Toronto has to offer intellectually and culturally, I find walking around the city almost painful. My sight is violated by the ugliness.

Why can’t this city, with such extraordinary possibilities for rich human encounters, with everything from parading nudists, hip-swinging transvestites, and burka-wearing women do something more for its physical environment? What I would love to see would be a great bit of public architecture. But both Toronto’s city hall and its research library are the kinds of sterile, person-hating, back turning, aloof architecture that it makes good sense to hate. Why not take a vast centrally-located site and build something grand and truly beautiful? When was the last time Toronto, (or any other city for that matter) built a grand masonry arch to frame a window? Why not say no to the glass curtain wall, no doubt the most popular and most ugly architectural innovation of the last century?

It’s so sad to walk down Avenue Road and see old apartment buildings that have beautiful deco detailing, copper doors, and even bits of relief sculpture, all neglected because traffic has to move so fast there that all sense of pedestrian movement, of the deeply human aspect of architecture is gone? The city is a living organism, indeed one of the greatest human inventions of all time, but one that is constantly threatened by people’s hatred of each other and of difference.

The great sadness in Toronto is that it is so evident that the city could do so much better!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Architecture

Like Malek said, everyone has an opinion! It doesn't make him right, or what he said to be true!

To say that Toronta's architecture is a disaster or that walking down the streets is painful to him, tells me this guy is a dork. A world class loser. If he finds it that painful to walk down the streets of Toronta, he would find it even more painful to walk down the streets of 80% of all major cities in North America!

[Montreal (438)]

Originally Posted by 401_King

man, 30 years ago, T.O was da place to BE. there was a porn shop on every corner on yonge. you could get laid in a private room, have a shawarma, then a papaya juice, then get laid again then snort up with Sam the record man then sit back and enjoy an adult film at the movies without guilt! how is that not excitement!

That sounds like Montreal right now.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by boden

You are absolutely right Mike...Toronto does not have the quality of depth that many American cities have. There is an awful lot of crap....and that doesn't just hold true for Toronto...it is true of many Canadian cities.
The much maligned Detroit has some of the finest architecture to be had anywhere in the world. It is far less true in Montreal, because Montreal has a history..Toronto has much less of one. When I was a kid I remember Toronto as a small, boring town..people used to go to the much larger Buffalo for excitement and culture. Things have changed, but Toronto is still not a truly world class city....

I am curious how old you are. Because it has been more than 50 years since Buffalo was even remotely matching Toronto in population.

[Only The Lonely..]

My own thoughts are that Canadian cities typically have more filled out skylines, but the American cities almost always have the more impressive skyscrapers.

The other thing I've noticed in my travels is that while Canadian cities may or may not have better funded public transit systems, American cities overall have better infrastructure.

It seems that no matter what Canadian city you reside in it always takes 20 years for a new expressway or bridge to be built. To their credit the one thing about the Yanks is when those boys want a triple flyover or a new highway bridge they build it dammit!

No dicking around with 20 years of public debate and pleas for fedeal funding.

[boden]

Originally Posted by habsfan

Like Malek said, everyone has an opinion! It doesn't make him right, or what he said to be true!

To say that Toronta's architecture is a disaster or that walking down the streets is painful to him, tells me this guy is a dork. A world class loser. If he finds it that painful to walk down the streets of Toronta, he would find it even more painful to walk down the streets of 80% of all major cities in North America!

I suspect, judging from his eloquence, that his is a well thought out opinion... of course, as you and Malek have pointed out it is just his opinion....and Malek....opinions ARE as important as ever, just easier to find!

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

My own thoughts are that Canadian cities typically have more filled out skylines, but the American cities almost always have the more impressive skyscrapers.

The other thing I've noticed in my travels is that while Canadian cities may or may not have better funded public transit systems, American cities overall have better infrastructure.

It seems that no matter what Canadian city you reside in it always takes 20 years for a new expressway or bridge to be built. To their credit the one thing about the Yankee's is when those boys want a triple flyover or a new highway bridge they build it! No dicking around with 20 years of public debate and pleas for fedeal funding.

About waiting 20 years, that's pretty much true for most people around the world. They can "git er dun" in no time, whereas here in Ottawa, it's been years since we got "LRT" and we are still debating it, years after we got the pilot project.

[malek]

Because they understand that infrastructures are the backbones of a healthy economy, a concept that alot of people don't seem to understand in Canada.