Quote:
Originally Posted by wwmiv
IF Toronto has all of its proposals built (not counting what is already under construction), which is a dubious proposition, I would still put Chicago as having the more impressive skyline for a number of contextual reasons:
A—greater height
B—greater visual concentration
C—better architecture
D—more variation in architecture
E—significantly more skyscrapers underneath this article’s arbitrary boundary - for most people, 150 meters is WAY above the boundary line for what they’d consider a skyscraper... official metrices by cloistered academics be damned - for which points A-D also apply
F—and the fact that, well, Toronto won’t be far enough ahead of Chicago at all at that point on the simple, arbitrary, and totally unjustified metric used by this article (12 towers, or 8% of Chicago’s existing + under construction + proposed tower stock over 150 meters... far less than the difference between NYC and Chicago) for Toronto to say that it unambiguously has a bigger skyline (AKA because it is ambiguous, context matters).
Conclusion: at best Toronto can say it is tied with Chicago.
Also: Toronto’s archetypal tower in the park style is an urban typology of which I am very much not a fan. Skyscrapers often DO NOT equal high quality urbanism. Yay for Toronto, the Miami of Canada.
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A few comments on your points above:
- No arguments with C and D above.
- Your arguments on points E and F are not correct, and they are based not on factual data but your own faulty estimates. Quick fun exercise for the lazy, go to diagrams on this website, and select Toronto & Chicago (include only built and on-construction buildings, and please include towers - I'm sure if the CN Tower was in the US, you guys would include it in the stats). After page 1 (where Chicago has 16 out of 25 buildings, you'll see it fairly even up to page 10. Toronto takes over after that, pretty much.
Your more glaring misstatement is calling Toronto, the 'Miami of Canada'. I can tell you've never been to Toronto. Outside of NYC, Toronto has arguably, along with Montreal, the most extensive, dense, fully functional and accessible urban cores in US & Canada that are served by mass transit (subways, streetcars, buses) and are fully pedestrianized. When I say 'fully functional and accessible', I mean there are basically no
no-go-zones, and you can move through the entire urban fabric without being concerned for your safety.
Miami (I went to school there) is several levels below in the 'urbanity' league, to say the least. Taking about a towers in-the-park type of city.
Even if you don't have the initiative or means to travel more abroad, we live in an age when there is Google Street view. Use it.
I love Chicago, by the way.