Sprawl continues it's reign in Canada

[CCF]

Originally Posted by patm

I'm young and like to have people over. I was able have 30-40 people over for parties at my parents place multiple times a year in suburban Calgary and never once get a noise ticket. As far as I know, that would be impossible to do in a condo that is in a reasonable price range.

I don't disagree with your points. I understand that it's greedy and uneconomical, but frankly if I'm going to spend the next 15-25 years paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a home, it better allow me to at least host a birthday party.

If condo builders could properly insulate units then I would never even consider a house.

I'm not sure what condo buildings you've been in of late-but that shouldn't even be a problem. I've been living in a 70s built apartment for about 8 months now, if it weren't for signs on the balcony I would think they are empty. I never hear a thing. Technology has only become better in the last 40 years.

[casper]

Originally Posted by CCF

I'm not sure what condo buildings you've been in of late-but that shouldn't even be a problem. I've been living in a 70s built apartment for about 8 months now, if it weren't for signs on the balcony I would think they are empty. I never hear a thing. Technology has only become better in the last 40 years.

I use to live in a downtown high-rise (concrete) built in the 1970s. Your neighbor could be making all the noise in the world and it would not come through the walls. I now live in a side by side townhouse and you can pickup the noise from two units down.

The technology is there to make it sound proof, the only question is if the developers have the incentive to spend the money.

[CCF]

Originally Posted by casper

I use to live in a downtown high-rise (concrete) built in the 1970s. Your neighbor could be making all the noise in the world and it would not come through the walls. I now live in a side by side townhouse and you can pickup the noise from two units down.

The technology is there to make it sound proof, the only question is if the developers have the incentive to spend the money.

All comes down to concrete vs stick construction. Anything above (typically) 4 stories and it's concrete, something lower density like a townhouse will be stick construction. The two different builds are really the difference makers with respect to sound.

[rbt]

Originally Posted by CCF

All comes down to concrete vs stick construction. Anything above (typically) 4 stories and it's concrete, something lower density like a townhouse will be stick construction. The two different builds are really the difference makers with respect to sound.

Some builders put in fewer firewalls than others. It's apparently not necessary for all units in a tall condo building to have firewalls between them and a few do put in a basic drywall and steel beam between some units.

So, you may hear a ton of noise from one neighbour and none from the one on the other side.

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by casper

I use to live in a downtown high-rise (concrete) built in the 1970s. Your neighbor could be making all the noise in the world and it would not come through the walls. I now live in a side by side townhouse and you can pickup the noise from two units down.

Sounds exactly like my townhouse unit

I can also hear my idiot neighbours smoking weed and laughing maniacally on their patio at 3am. I though sound carried well in a standard suburb, but it carries extremely well in a townhouse complex. I'm going to miss the cold winter weather that kept them inside.

[Andrewjm3D]

I'd take a highrise over most townhouses developed these days. They rarely divide them with enough sound proofing. One of my friends who purchased a new build in Cornell up in Markham was told during sales the row houses would be built with cinder blocks separating each unit. Upon construction that clearly wasn't the case. When she spoke to the developer they said they were using a modern type of build that offered better sound proofing. It doesn't work. I live in a row house that's only 7 years old but it was built like a loft with concrete walls. I've never heard my next-door neighbor. Mind you it's an accounting office and they are gone by the time I get home.

I'd never move into a multi-unit low rise unless I knew how it was built first. As stated above even 1970 highrises are better then most townhouses. I also had friends living in the town homes in Liberty Village and you could here the next-door neighbor vacuuming.

[dleung]

Doing some market research, and lo and behold... the amount of power centers per capita, for each province!

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by dleung

Doing some market research, and lo and behold... the amount of power centers per capita, for each province!

Wow, that is surprisingly apt Great find!

[leftimage]

Montreal with 2nd lowest shopping centers per capita, hell ya.
Making me proud

[vanman]

I thought Vancouver's rate would be low, but not the lowest, wow. We must be doing something right. (Geography and land prices don't hurt either)

[ciudad_del_norte]

Looked at stats very similar to these a few weeks ago in a lecture on retail land development. I think we were looking at total retail space per capita, but the trend was pretty much identical. The broker said that although 'retail culture' does have a small part to play in the numbers, it usually has more to do with the way the local markets work. For example, Victoria and Van tend to be lower because of the effect of the ability to shop in the states. Whereas places like Halifax, Edmonton and Calgary come in high because retail in Halifax supports pretty much all of the maritimes, whereas Calgary and Edmonton draw a lot from Sask and the North.

[Waterlooson]

Originally Posted by leftimage

Montreal with 2nd lowest shopping centers per capita, hell ya.
Making me proud

But why is that? Is it because people there don't have as much money to spend as say in Edmonton or Calgary?

[yaletown_fella]

I think it has to do more with the fact that most of Montreal was built up before power centers became mainstream. In the 90's/early 2000's Toronto still had (and still has) plenty of vacant space/old industrial land to build crap like the Leaside Center.

[eemy]

The populations they used in their calculations are a bit wonky. For example, Ottawa apparently lost population from 2010 to 2011 according to the chart, and there's obviously something off with the per capita power centre number for Toronto. I reran the per capita figures using the actual Statistics Canada population estimates for CMAs, and the picture is roughly the same as here except for a few details. The general per capita figures for shopping centres and power centres is slightly lower and Ottawa's increase in per capita amounts is less than shown. One key difference is that Winnipeg had a per capita increase in shopping Centre and power centre s.f. per capita instead of a decrease, Ottawa had a decrease in power centre s.f. per capita, and Toronto's power centre s.f. per capita only increased slightly instead of by 50% or so.

I don't normally try to replicate results that I come across like this, but the numbers seemed off to me. It makes me realize just how often I take graphs and charts like this for granted, though. Perhaps I should do this more often.

[leftimage]

Originally Posted by Waterlooson

But why is that? Is it because people there don't have as much money to spend as say in Edmonton or Calgary?

Although they may not on average that's not the reason. New York city has the least big-box stores per capita on the east coast. It's by no means a poor city.

PS:. Ask anyone who's lived there, Montreal has a lot more wealth than meets the eye (or meets the income statements). Not that I'm proud of it.

[leftimage]

Originally Posted by vanman

I thought Vancouver's rate would be low, but not the lowest, wow. We must be doing something right. (Geography and land prices don't hurt either)

Or as Waterlooson would say, maybe it's cause Vancouverites have less moneys than Calgarians or... Edmontonians

[giallo]

^Nah. Power centres are generally a cheaper place to buy things. One could argue that the lack of power centres means the public has more money to buy from niche ie. expensive retailers. As for Vancouver, like San Francisco, there isn't the land for these centres, so the retailers have to figure out other ways to integrate their stores in the the urban fabric (see Vancouver's downtown Costco; a retailer that is traditionally found in a power centre).

Whatever the reason, I'm just glad that there isn't many of these blights in Vancouver. I can't express how much I dislike the concept and the execution.

[Andrewjm3D]

Originally Posted by leftimage

Montreal with 2nd lowest shopping centers per capita, hell ya.
Making me proud

I think you mean 3rd.

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by Andrewjm3D

I'd take a highrise over most townhouses developed these days. They rarely divide them with enough sound proofing. One of my friends who purchased a new build in Cornell up in Markham was told during sales the row houses would be built with cinder blocks separating each unit. Upon construction that clearly wasn't the case. When she spoke to the developer they said they were using a modern type of build that offered better sound proofing. It doesn't work.

Your friend could probably sue for fraudulent misrepresentation. If they clearly said cinder blocks would be used, and if the purchase of the house was made conditional on cinder block soundproofing, then there may be grounds for a fundamental breach of contract.