HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #401  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2018, 7:06 PM
someone123's Avatar
someone123 someone123 is offline
hähnchenbrüstfiletstüc
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
Megadude's beach town story makes sense but I think it's a good example of how city size can be a red herring.

Humans generally like areas that are moderately active and feel uncomfortable in areas that seem abandoned.

This scales with the type of environment you are in. If you're on a concourse in a big train station in a major city it might feel empty with 200 people on it. If you're on a small town main street it might feel pleasantly busy if you go into a shop and see 3 other people, and walk by 3 others on your way down the block.

A lot of North American cities are dysfunctional and dead, with almost no street life. The larger cities tend to be less dead on average but you can find decently busy human environments at any scale. Vibrancy and city size are merely rough correlates.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #402  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2018, 7:54 PM
Acajack's Avatar
Acajack Acajack is online now
Unapologetic Occidental
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Province 2, Canadian Empire
Posts: 67,777
Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123 View Post
Megadude's beach town story makes sense but I think it's a good example of how city size can be a red herring.

Humans generally like areas that are moderately active and feel uncomfortable in areas that seem abandoned.

This scales with the type of environment you are in. If you're on a concourse in a big train station in a major city it might feel empty with 200 people on it. If you're on a small town main street it might feel pleasantly busy if you go into a shop and see 3 other people, and walk by 3 others on your way down the block.

A lot of North American cities are dysfunctional and dead, with almost no street life. The larger cities tend to be less dead on average but you can find decently busy human environments at any scale. Vibrancy and city size are merely rough correlates.
And obviously even if you live in a city/metro with millions of people, you won't be or wouldn't want to be in the same vicinity as all of them at the same time.

Stuff like density, urban design and form and socio-cultural amenities influences a lot as well.

A medium-sized city like Quebec City might arguably offer a more satisfying urban experience than one of many millions like Houston or Phoenix.
__________________
Amber alerts welcome at any time
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #403  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2018, 9:34 PM
rousseau's Avatar
rousseau rousseau is offline
Registered Drug User
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Southern Ontario
Posts: 8,116
Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123 View Post
I think I'd be significantly happier if I lived somewhere that was more like 35 degrees north (LA area).
Having lived for several years at 23 degrees north in Asia, I can honestly say that I really like the long summer days you get farther north. I wouldn't want the sun to go down consistently throughout the year at 6 or 7 pm.

Not too far north, as you want the sun to be blazing, not weak, but just far enough north so that the days don't end until about 9 or 10 pm for a month or two. Essentially, southern Ontario or the northeastern seaboard of the US.

But yeah, winters can be bleak. Scandinavia and the UK would probably be too much for me to handle. I'm probably a classic candidate for snowbird status.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #404  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2018, 1:12 AM
Capsicum's Avatar
Capsicum Capsicum is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Western Hemisphere
Posts: 2,489
Quote:
Originally Posted by saffronleaf View Post
Add weather and demographics, too.

EDIT - I would also add political outlook. There's more to add, I'm sure.
Demographics does has some (though obviously not full) overlap with 1 and 3 on Acajack's list.

Many people who chose to move to places with similar demographics have family connections that are embedded in ethnic communities (though it's probably also the case that many people would still prefer to arrive at a new city with lots of one's ethnicity present, even with zero family, friends, or people they know there to start with, vs. a new city with few of one's ethnicity). Perhaps they might seek a partner of that ethnicity and that factors in their choice.

Also, demographics probably overlaps with desired amenities serving one's demographic (services and products in one's own language, availability of food products etc., locations of cultural or religious centers). Though it's possible for someone to want to be among one's own ethnic group just based on feeling comfortable among people who look like them and socializing with them (without caring about those cultural amenities provided by the city) to what extent that exists in isolation I don't know.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Would most people agree that in order the main reasons for living in a specific city are:

1) you're from there (and so is most of your family, probably)

2) abundance of jobs, or a specific job or line of work

3) amenities and the general feel of the city (big, medium or small can be desirable depending on the person)
Quote:
Originally Posted by rousseau View Post
Having lived for several years at 23 degrees north in Asia, I can honestly say that I really like the long summer days you get farther north. I wouldn't want the sun to go down consistently throughout the year at 6 or 7 pm.
With my Southern Ontario upbringing of really hot humid nights co-occurring only with long-ish summer days (not long by more northerly parts of Canada's standards but still, I feel like light until 8 or 9 pm is nice), I remember first find it odd or exotic-feeling when visiting places in the world where you can still feel hot at night with an early sunset (eg. 5 pm or 6 pm etc.), since that's not a combo that exists in Canada.

Last edited by Capsicum; Dec 5, 2018 at 1:22 AM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #405  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2018, 5:09 AM
CountryMike's Avatar
CountryMike CountryMike is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Barrie
Posts: 37
Quote:
Originally Posted by megadude View Post
Not that anyone cares but from my own perspective regarding that buzz and energy I can share this experience.

At cottage anyone was allowed to park on the local street and walk the 4 minutes to the beach. Them dropping garbage was super rare.

Then two summers ago Tiny Township banned it unless you paid $100 for a permit of which there were only 150 to be handed out. So basically at most only one car on the street on a nice day instead of two dozen.

So the beach went from buzzing with families (90% and only 10% Wasaga type crowd) to being deserted on weekdays and only marginally busy on weekends.

Seems ideal, right? Have nature and the beach to yourself. Well it became eerily quiet and I preferred the way before just like our neighbour, who is from Georgetown. The buzz was gone.

Some people are like that at city level. My Chinese colleague said that when his mom came to visit she said it was weird and something was off while walking around taking the subway. She said there's not enough people! To some people that's comforting and technically they could get by without it but making a big move with major implications without being able to do it by trial first is kind of scary.

Some people don't even want to drive north of Steeles or hwy 7. It's kind of a joke but there's some reality to it.

Human beings are a very finicky creatures.

Dude, are you talking about Concession Road 4 and 29 in Tiny Township? That law change is the main reason I haven't been back to the beaches there. Fucking Tiny Township, you can't park anywhere.
__________________
Goodairlanguage.com/photo-gallery
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #406  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2018, 5:21 AM
suburbanite's Avatar
suburbanite suburbanite is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Toronto & NYC
Posts: 5,373
Quote:
Originally Posted by rousseau View Post
Having lived for several years at 23 degrees north in Asia, I can honestly say that I really like the long summer days you get farther north. I wouldn't want the sun to go down consistently throughout the year at 6 or 7 pm.
There's nothing better than a nice summer night when you can still see the glow just before 10 pm.
__________________
Discontented suburbanite since 1994
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #407  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2018, 10:24 AM
megadude megadude is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: N. York/Bram/Mark/Sauga/Burl/Oak/DT
Posts: 3,027
Quote:
Originally Posted by CountryMike View Post
Dude, are you talking about Concession Road 4 and 29 in Tiny Township? That law change is the main reason I haven't been back to the beaches there. Fucking Tiny Township, you can't park anywhere.
Haha. It's pretty much any concession as far as I know. And it's BS as far as I'm concerned.

There are some small businesses like general or convenience stores by the beach that I'm sure are affected by the massive drop in beach goers. Even at Balm Beach I bet they're not happy because I bet a lot of people would stop there with the kids on the way or way back for ice cream, arcade, go karts, mini golf, etc.

Then there's the businesses like restaurants and gas stations on the way that people frequented. Not good news for them either.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #408  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2018, 2:19 PM
JHikka's Avatar
JHikka JHikka is offline
ハルウララ
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Toronto
Posts: 12,853
Quote:
Originally Posted by suburbanite View Post
There's nothing better than a nice summer night when you can still see the glow just before 10 pm.
Agreed. Nothing bothers me more than the sun going down at 4PM in December but I live for those long summer nights with the sun still up at 9PM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #409  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2018, 3:04 PM
megadude megadude is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: N. York/Bram/Mark/Sauga/Burl/Oak/DT
Posts: 3,027
Those kind of summer nights are amazing for sports and outdoorsy stuff. You don't have to wait until the weekend to do your hobby. Going after work is a legit option.

If you fish by boat like I do, anything less than 3 hours on the water is not worth the effort to drive, pay for parking or launch, set up and then do the reverse when done.
Reply With Quote
     
     
End
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 2:18 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.