Quote:
Originally Posted by MolsonExport
^Blahsville. I used to live across the street from Westmount mall as it was starting to go down the shitter, right when they were building most of the above (2005). I do not miss the area at all (I have been living for the past 10 years in Liver&Onions)
|
At one time the areas around Wonderland/Westmount was what Hyde Park is today: bustling and booming and on the leading edge of new urban "growth". It was the place to be to live, play, and shop. Changing demographics and socioeconomic trends changed the paradigm for that area for the unbetter. I would not consider it a bad place today, but "blahsville" might not be a bad description - unremarkable and bland in its commercial sameness.
Not to cause offense, but I suspect that one day, Hyde Park will experience something similar - as the big box/urban sprawl phenomenon has its day in the sun and is at some point overtaken by something else in the future. What sent Westmount Mall "down the shitter" is the same commercial business model that currently dominates and sustains Hyde Park, and that itself may very well be sent down the drain in the future by changing socioeconomic trends.
Pride cometh before a fall.
Every modern urban community is at some point new and shiny; the place to be. For most, as time passes the shine wears off and warts develop. Things loose their lustre and wear out. Sometimes/hopefully those communities are able to recycle/reinvent themselves, sometimes not.
BTW: regardless of the subject matter, the quality of the aerial imagery is very nice.