south Alberta history vignettes

[Mr. Analog]

growing cities gotta grow...

They can go up

Existing property can be re-purposed

But at the moment it's still cheaper to build on new land (which adds complexity to actually running an already tough to run city.)

[Thorin]

Sprawl is bound to happen in an urban area with no physical constraints.  There's no lake, or river, or mountains stopping us from growing outwards, just the cost of commuting and loss of farmland (which most urban folk don't even stop to think about).

If you want to combat sprawl you have to make self-contained neighbourhoods with medium density.  No one really wants to live in high-density areas, if given the choice, because of the high crime rates in such areas that just come from living on top of one another.  The neighbourhoods have to be set up in such a way that everyone can walk to get groceries, and there's a central transportation hub that connects to other neighbourhoods.  To be able to walk to get groceries, that store (or those stores) have to be within a kilometer of where you live, otherwise people will drive.

So, I suggest one-kilometer-square areas with a small town square in the middle with a grocery store and transit station, and a road leading right through the middle of it.  There should be mixed single detached houses and lowrise apartment buildings, and there should be an office tower in the center.

That'll never happen, of course, since we have to deal with the aftermath of planning from 40-50 years ago.

[Darren Dirt]

I suggest one-kilometer-square areas with a small town square in the middle with a grocery store and transit station, and a road leading right through the middle of it.  There should be mixed single detached houses and lowrise apartment buildings, and there should be an office tower in the center.

Sounds kinda similiar in spirit (though not necessarily in specific details) to the Muni redevelopment plan.

[Thorin]

Yes, well, the redevelopment plans for the old municipal airport lands were put together by people who understand what it takes to attract families.  But that still won't do anything for a downtown core that's all 20-storey office towers.

[Mr. Analog]

I suggest one-kilometer-square areas with a small town square in the middle with a grocery store and transit station, and a road leading right through the middle of it.  There should be mixed single detached houses and lowrise apartment buildings, and there should be an office tower in the center.

Sounds kinda similiar in spirit (though not necessarily in specific details) to the Muni redevelopment plan.

It's actually the same way Japan organizes communities within larger communities.

In residential areas you'll have a centre with shopping, a park, a grade school, a high school, a train station. There is a mix of medium density apartments and houses. Then you move over a few kilometres and it's the same thing again just a different area.

Higher density areas are pretty much the same as anywhere else, high rise towers, hotels, nightclubs and shopping for big ticket items and electronics...

The funny thing I found though was that other than the downtown areas it never really felt crowded, even though there were a lot of people around. As well you could walk pretty much anywhere, or take a very short train ride to get somewhere that had shopping (we're only talking 1 stop after a couple of minutes).

Shopping habits are different, it's so easy to just pick stuff up every day that they don't really have more than a few days worth of food in the house, not like here where when you go shopping you see people buying a whole month's worth of groceries.

[Thorin]

Yup, but we drive everywhere so we can carry lots of groceries home, and we drive because stores are too far away, and stores are large and in central locations because we drive there.

Circular reference.

[Mr. Analog]

Yepp, I think back to Judge Doom from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and his completely insane plan for the future

[Darren Dirt]

Sounds kinda similiar in spirit (though not necessarily in specific details) to the Muni redevelopment plan.

It's actually the same way Japan organizes communities within larger communities.

Yeah, but we sure don't want Canadian communities to be impossible to navigate by people not familiar with the chronological developmental history of that community

[Mr. Analog]

Yeah, heaven forbid you should be a 20 minute walk away from transit that can link to any other part of the city from the most suburban of areas.

[Darren Dirt]

Yeah, heaven forbid you should be a 20 minute walk away from transit that can link to any other part of the city from the most suburban of areas.

I just meant the way that Japan names their streets and city blocks = confusing, compared to a simple numeric grid system. Not knocking decent availability/proximity of amenities 

[Mr. Analog]

Yeah, heaven forbid you should be a 20 minute walk away from transit that can link to any other part of the city from the most suburban of areas.

I just meant the way that Japan names their streets and city blocks = confusing, compared to a simple numeric grid system. Not knocking decent availability/proximity of amenities 

Oh there are no names in some streets, or numbers, just names on the houses or approximate addresses, the postman who works the route just knows the area