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Originally Posted by 10023
Yes. There are lots of huge, dense, urban cities without tall buildings. I happen to think that building these "tower in a park" developments in a suburban environment prevents it from ever developing a real urban fabric.
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These two towers aren't going to be towers-in-parks. Their base is going to come to the lot line. You can see that in the pictures. All the newer towers in that area come to the lot line. And most of them are lined with retail at the base.
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The best would be to build housing of whatever height (maybe 3-4 stories, maybe 5-6 stories, or maybe higher) that went right up to the sidewalk, without a podium base or parking underneath or in a lot surrounding the building.
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Towers are built specifically because there is a market for people who want views from way up high. There are already thousands of lowrise residences (houses, duplex, townhouses) in the immediate area for people who want to live in a lowrise. If you want a view from 400 feet in the air, you're going to want to live in a building like this. All the urbanity in the world won't give you that. I know several people who live in the area pictured. The developers are building these towers to make money, not to better the community.
Here are some recently built projects in the immediate area. Firstly, you can see that they all come to the lot line. You can't see it from this angle, but the large two-towered complex along Living Arts Dr. is lined with ground-floor retail abutting the sidewalk (24 hr. Hasty Market, coffee shop, can't remember what else). The project near the bottom-left of the picture at Princess Royal Drive and Confederation Parkway also has some retail fronting Princess Royal Dr., but I can't remember what.
This is what the newer developments in the area look like. The "tower in the park" stuff is from the early 90s or before.
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