SunriseChampion
Senior Member
I second this sentiment as, I too, get that feeling when I'm in Hamilton. It kind of trips me out.
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Montreal: Canada's most American city?
- Thread starter kool maudit
- Start date
I second this sentiment as, I too, get that feeling when I'm in Hamilton. It kind of trips me out.
urbandreamer
recession proof
Which isn't really unexpected, since it's really the closest proper city to the USA rust belt area.
Jonny5
Senior Member
Hamilton has to get uniqueness points for the dual level layout of the city.
I highly recommend a trip to neighbourhoods in the lower city at the very bottom of the escarpment. While some laugh at the comical description of it as a "mountain", the escarpment is incredibly imposing in the few areas where it is mostly vertical and people live directly under it. You don't get this feeling viewing from a distance or driving up it on the 403. Watching HSR buses weaving down the Queen to Garth access is scary.
I highly recommend a trip to neighbourhoods in the lower city at the very bottom of the escarpment. While some laugh at the comical description of it as a "mountain", the escarpment is incredibly imposing in the few areas where it is mostly vertical and people live directly under it. You don't get this feeling viewing from a distance or driving up it on the 403. Watching HSR buses weaving down the Queen to Garth access is scary.
urbandreamer
recession proof
^Driving down to lower Hamilton from the mountain is an incredible urban experience. One of the most unique cities in Canada/NA imho! If the downtown parking lots get built up within the next 50-100 years, the city is gonna be one of the most urban in Canada. In places, Hamilton feels much more densely urban than Toronto.
Cooool
Active Member
San Franciso has 12 billionaires in the city which is only surpassed in North America by Chicago, Los Angeles and New York (which has 55 billionaires). Overall, the US has an alarming amount of billionaires in relation to other countries. Germany is second.
How many billionaires are in Toronto? Surely a few.
How many billionaires are in Toronto? Surely a few.
golodhendil
Active Member
Not sure where you got your data, but according to Forbes' 2009 list, Chicago only has 10, at the world's 9th place and NA's 5th. Dallas surpasses SF, with 14, LA has 17, and NYC, as you pointed out, has 55, at the world's top. The entire Canada has 20, just under HK's 21 which is at the world's 4th place.
A more pertinent question is what this particular statistic says about a city. Nothing much, I would say, except that the top cities on this list are some of the places with the world's worst rich-poor disparity.
flar
Active Member
Hamilton actually is quite dense, no doubt a result of its unique geography and the era in which the city was built.
Population density of continuous urban area as defined by Statistics Canada (pop/square km) (2001 census data)
Toronto 2718.29
Montreal 1978.16
Hamilton 1763.13
Vancouver 1720.00
Ottawa 1680.55
Dirk
New Member
This is just because San Fransisco was not included in that list because it wasn't thought to be important enough, there is no way the SF has a lower average income than Mumbai, the lowest city on the list.
Here some income stats from Wikipedia and the Census with SF in American dollars:
San Fransisco (2007):
Median Household: 65,519
Median Family: 81,136
Montreal (2006):
Median Household:38,201
Median Family:44,512
Archivist
Senior Member
junctionist
Senior Member
That's very conservative and there's plenty more where that came from. Still, they've made good strides in urban design with the likes of the compact black traffic signals and street furniture. The Metro system with not a single identical station will only inspire future citizens.
Archivist
Senior Member
junctionist, I agree, really. I think Montreal's smaller scale buildings (rowhouses, three-storey-high residential buildings) are really superior to Toronto's. It's a very mixed story.
kool maudit
Active Member
it's juist terrible, isn't it? i can't believe they want to build this.
montreal has never been architecturally sophisticated though - not really. it just has a really good vernacular. large projects have been iffy since 1900.
adma
Superstar
Considering the photographic evidence in that link, I'd have to say that even the nondescript 60s/70s stuff in Montreal gets short shrift--at least shorter than it might get in Toronto...
Archivist
Senior Member
I was a bit surprised by the posting and comments at Spacing Montreal about the building, which seemed to focus only on its bulk and height. I think a fine hotel tower in that location, like Four Seasons or Shangri-La, could complement and add to the appreciation of the surrounding bulk of concrete highrises. Instead, the post mentions painting the grey buildings bright colours, and no one commented on the wretchedness of too-late-po-mo of the proposed design at all. It's only one posting and a set of comments, but it made me think, "What up with our sister city down the river?"
kool maudit
Active Member
spacing is way too concerned with weird issues like the height limit and "community feedback" to give much of a shit about architecture. they probably think it's decadent, bougie...
...honestly, i doubt that hotel will look like that. that rendering is an old dcysm rendering from the '90s. it was around long before this waldorf astoria project, and i think they're using it as a placeholder.
...honestly, i doubt that hotel will look like that. that rendering is an old dcysm rendering from the '90s. it was around long before this waldorf astoria project, and i think they're using it as a placeholder.