Great Canadian Suburban Skyline Thread!

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Beedok

The roads are way too wide, but I see no serious need for street level retail if the mall can provide all that's needed. If more retail is needed the vast road centric vistas say to me that internal podium malls would be better.

Wide streets are not a huge issue imo. Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world and it is very wide, but it is lined with wide sidewalk and good architecture. Almost a linear plaza. Wide streets don't need to be completely dead, as is the case in Mississauga, or Burnaby if you like.

[WhipperSnapper]

Massive blocks and wide streets lead to highway speeds. I find the sidewalk and superfluous landscaping is giving too much space Retail shouldn't be setback 20 metres from the street hidden behind rows of saplings and colonades.

It works for what it is and will continue to develop as.

[1overcosc]

It's interesting to study the contrast of how Toronto's various suburban 'urban cores' have performed. Mississauga's and Scarborough's are bad failures, not much better than 'towers in the park'. By contrast, North York's is absolutely incredible, and Markham's is shaping up to be pretty good. We have yet to see how things will turn out in Vaughan's, I think that one is still not really built at all yet. Brampton's looks like it could be great as it's on the foundation of an actual historic core and it's at what's projected to be the one of the region's most important transit hubs.

[caltrane74]

Yes North York is amazing, sidewalks are getting very busy and crowded. In addition the size of North York Centre is huge stretching 2-3 km, and building more and ridiculous density all the time. Hullmark Centre is going to create a huge underground connection for the Yonge and Sheppard Area. And Sheppard-Yonge and Finch subways are some of the busiest in Toronto. I remember a time when kool-moduit had stated that he liked London, because he could be in one dense urban area of the city and take the subway and 1 hour later be in another dense and bustling part of the city. So here you are in North York Centre and 40-45 mins subway ride away you can be on King West/Queen West in the Entertainment District, or BloorWest Village , 30 mins away you are in Bloor-Yonge Yorkville and 35 mins away is the Annex or the Danforth.

[niwell]

North York City Centre has the advantage of working with a pre-war street grid along a major retail street. Even though the area didn't see much development until the 1950s the roads were platted out well before then. On the whole it's quite vibrant, but there are still some negatives - largely to due with the linear fashion of the district. The "ring roads" (Beecroft and Doris) added a few decades ago and still somewhat in progress make for a hard suburban edge to the centre.

I wouldn't be too quick to write Mississauga City Centre off as a failure. It's at a disadvantage due to the pre-existing infrastructure, it's still very much a work in progress. Let's revisit in 20 years and see what's happened.

[IN'SAUGA]

Originally Posted by niwell

North York City Centre has the advantage of working with a pre-war street grid along a major retail street. Even though the area didn't see much development until the 1950s the roads were platted out well before then. On the whole it's quite vibrant, but there are still some negatives - largely to due with the linear fashion of the district. The "ring roads" (Beecroft and Doris) added a few decades ago and still somewhat in progress make for a hard suburban edge to the centre.

I wouldn't be too quick to write Mississauga City Centre off as a failure. It's at a disadvantage due to the pre-existing infrastructure, it's still very much a work in progress. Let's revisit in 20 years and see what's happened.

I think you've nailed it on the head. I was born and raised in Mississauga and have lived there for 34 yrs right up until my move to downtown Brampton this year. The shortcomings and the planning failures are obvious, but what is also obvious are the efforts to correct this. It will however take several years, and it will be a slow transition from a car oriented environment to one that is more pedestrian. I don't think Mississauga can ever completely shed the car dependency but in light of this fact I think the city has tremendous potential. The developments are happening at a rapid rate and with that it should usher changes to the city centre itself.

Having lived in MCC right up until I moved, I noted a lot more foot traffic than in previous years. The larger Parkside development which I should remind everyone only consists of 3 towers at the moment out of OVER 15 total highrise towers will be the true downtown. The retail at the bottom of these towers are more attractive I'd say than you're typical corner store/nail salon type of businesses.. I would assume the others in the yet to be built towers will follow suit.

The city is working with a giant elephant in the middle of the room, that being Square One. It is currently being renovated and expanded on and the new Square One will also be geared more towards an urban pedestrian kind of feel. Markham and Vaughan are at an advantage as they get to learn from Mississauga and Toronto borough Scarborough's mistakes.

I've seen this place grow from farm fields to a budding city, so I won't throw in the towel on Mississauga. I'd go so far to even say that in 10 years the city will be quite a different place than present day! I think the future is bright.. and I think forums like these are great for healthy discussion and idea sharing.

[Monolith]

2015 - Vancouver - East Van Sunrise by Ted's photos - For me & you, on FlickrTaken on January 15, 2015

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by logan5

Wide streets are not a huge issue imo. Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world and it is very wide, but it is lined with wide sidewalk and good architecture. Almost a linear plaza. Wide streets don't need to be completely dead, as is the case in Mississauga, or Burnaby if you like.

Exactly. While I agree that the streets are too wide (side streets too, not just the main ones), wide streets can be made to be urban and pedestrian friendly. It's just that in Mississauga and pretty much every other suburb I've been to they're going about it all wrong. They keep putting the landscaping between the sidewalk and the storefronts, so it acts as an obstacle. The landscaping should be between the sidewalk and the street, with the sidewalk being immediately beside the buildings. For the life of me I don't get why the engineers, planners, and architects who design these districts don't understand this simple but very important concept. Champs-Elysees, of course, has it done the right way.

Of course there's also the issue of the large blocks, podiums too short to adequately enclose the street, excessive setbacks, and the design of the buildings themselves. So many problems.

[red-paladin]

Originally Posted by Monolith

2015 - Vancouver - East Van Sunrise by Ted's photos - For me & you, on FlickrTaken on January 15, 2015

This is actually the Metrotown skyline

[GlassCity]

I had a nice day traveling around Vancouver today:

I generally see Metrotown from the southwest, which isn't its best angle, so getting to see it from the north was awesome. Looks so much bigger.


IMG_20150216_154941991 by AMetalnikov, on Flickr

The Lougheed skyline, which is the Vancouver capital of commie blocks.


IMG_20150216_163049172 by AMetalnikov, on Flickr

The Coquitlam skyline, one of the city's newer ones. Notice the SkyTrain line being built on the right.


IMG_20150216_173949003 by AMetalnikov, on Flickr

[Monolith]

Coquitlam Centre

Untitled by Alex Karpovski, on Flickr Taken on January 31, 2015

[Monolith]

Burnaby Skyline, from Coquitlam Crunch Trail by gerry.bates, on Flickr Uploaded on January 4, 2015

[drawarc]

Britannia Bay in Ottawa:

Balões sobre Ottawa by Kiko Naccarato, on Flickr

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Yes North York is amazing, sidewalks are getting very busy and crowded. In addition the size of North York Centre is huge stretching 2-3 km, and building more and ridiculous density all the time. Hullmark Centre is going to create a huge underground connection for the Yonge and Sheppard Area. And Sheppard-Yonge and Finch subways are some of the busiest in Toronto. I remember a time when kool-moduit had stated that he liked London, because he could be in one dense urban area of the city and take the subway and 1 hour later be in another dense and bustling part of the city. So here you are in North York Centre and 40-45 mins subway ride away you can be on King West/Queen West in the Entertainment District, or BloorWest Village , 30 mins away you are in Bloor-Yonge Yorkville and 35 mins away is the Annex or the Danforth.

North York Centre is not a neighbourhood. It is a surprisingly thin strip of condos along a six lane arterial road that have the advantage of subway access and some street-level retail from the days when it was the streetcar village of Langstaff. You move a block east or west and you're in the middle of dilapidated bungalows and some monster home replacements. Some streets don't even have sidewalks.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by drawarc

Britannia Bay in Ottawa:

Balões sobre Ottawa by Kiko Naccarato, on Flickr

This one is going straight to the commie-block thread.

[Chadillaccc]

http://www.themckelviegroup.com/blog/picture-time/

[Hybrid247]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

This one is going straight to the commie-block thread.

LOL! Ya that seems pretty reasonable.

[drawarc]

A majority of the city's highrises were built in the 70s, so its not surprising they are usually commie blocks.

[miketoronto]

[QUOTE=1overcosc;6913642]It's interesting to study the contrast of how Toronto's various suburban 'urban cores' have performed. Mississauga's and Scarborough's are bad failures, not much better than 'towers in the park'. By contrast, North York's is absolutely incredible, and Markham's is shaping up to be pretty good.

Don't take offense to my comments as many people make the same comment.

But comments like that really strike a cord with me and particularly one of my friends.

Are Scarbroough and Mississauga Centres perfect and the model of urbanity? No they are not.
But Scarborough(and to a lesser extent Mississauga) Centre were developed at a different time, and with a different planning style. And you know what? They work to a very high degree as real centers for the their community.
A significant percentage of visitors (at least in Scarborough) take transit to the centre, and it may be a mall, but people hang out and enjoy the centre.
In addition to the mall, there is skating and events in the public square, offices for government services, YMCA, etc. People use these centers for the very purpose they were planned for.
They may not be walking down grand high streets. But from experience with Scarborough, you can take a bus to Scarborough Centre, and then all the things you need are within a pedestrian only walking environment from the transit station.
Again not perfect, but hardly the disaster you guys make it out to be. It is actually a pretty good suburban centre.

[dleung]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

...Are Scarbroough and Mississauga Centres perfect and the model of urbanity? No they are not.
But...

That's as much an understatement as a morbidly obese person told to lay off the KFC reacting with "Look, am I perfect like a fitness model? No, but..."

The rest of your post doesn't make a good sell either. Just because lower middle class people without cars are willing to cross 8 lanes of traffic to get to a windswept bus stop to access basic services doesn't mean it "works". These centres can rectify its failures and introduce a finer grain of planning, but it doesn't mean the current model hasn't already failed.