H
Hydrogen
Guest
That'd be a steam-powered scooter, then.
Granted, I am only seeing one render, but what I see in it does not look like a "downtown" to me at all....There is nothing truly urban about this concept. There is no mixed use of residential, retail and office space.
Well, there should be thousands of jobs and tens of thousands of retail square footage within a block, and a GO station a few blocks farther. Downtown Markham isn't the problem, Markham Centre at large is the problem...Downtown Markham certainly won't have any walkable or community ties to, say, the offices at Rodick & 7.
Neighbourhoods can be successful and urban without yuppies and hipsters...but the media won't pick up on them except for occasional 'ironic field trip' blog reports or 'celebrating Toronto's diversity' 6pm fluff news stories. Markham may end up being a quietly improved - but not cool - suburb.
This is an attempt to build an urban downtown by copying only the most superficial aspects of what makes a city a city: tallish buildings that are close together.
Granted, I am only seeing one render, but what I see in it does not look like a "downtown" to me at all. I see rows of identical buildings, all residential, and a sprinkling of homogenous suburbanites using the street for recreation only. I imagine that beneath those walls are parking garages filled with automobiles. I imagine that these render people will drive home from work in the evening and lock themselves behind their grand faux-historical walls and watch TV; when they need to buy food or a new TV, they will climb into their vehicles and emerge from their garages and drive into the heart of Real Markham, which is a sea of overly wide pseudo-freeways ringing monstrous parking lots and box stores. Then they'll drive back home again into the safety of their garages until the next excursion. When they want exercise they might take their bikes and scooters (mere toys) out of the garage and ride them around the vicinity for a bit. But they won't use them as transportation.
There is nothing truly urban about this concept. There is no mixed use of residential, retail and office space. Nobody can wander out their door and pick up a coffee in the lobby of their building, drop off some books at the library, then walk down the street to a small grocery store and pick up a few things for dinner. There's no urban messiness: no mix of pretentious yuppies and hard-working new immigrants and I'm-so-cool hipsters all sharing common spaces and being forced to occassionally -- gasp! -- interact with each other. There is no sign of a day-to-night transformation of the neighbourhood when the suits head home and the bar-hoppers head out.
I don't see pedestrians, taxis, buses, bikes, scooters and delivery vans all fighting for driving and parking space in an eternal competition to get around. Unless there is some stunning secret transit plan in the works, every adult in this "downtown" will need to own a car should they ever wish to escape the confines of their glorious compound. There will be no TTC, no GO, and probably not even a Viva within walking or cycling distance.
Most importantly, there is simply no LIFE in those renders, or in the photos of the semi-completed concrete-boxes-in-fields. I wouldn't want to fly over that hideous neighbourhood in a 747 nevermind live in it.
What I see here is suburbia with different shaped buildings. And frankly, based on my years working in Markham and visiting acquaintaces who live there, I'm pretty sure most Markhamites are pretty happy with their suburban surroundings. That's why they live there, and if they wanted a "downtown" they would move a half-hour south. That's fine. But please don't insult suburbanites and urbanites alike by building this monstrosity and calling it a "downtown".
Downtown Markham to me has a feel similar to that of a lot of suburbs. It feels more like a park with houses than a major urban center. The lack of retail hurts it. If they had a bigger mall across from the Arts center (where the future shop/ no frills / Victorian themed Chinese restaurant complete with maid outfit fetish >.>) it would be more of a draw (although I'm sure for all you non-Chinese guys probably perked up on that Victorian themed Chinese restaurant complete with maid fetish thing).
Edit... should i mention this in the retail section >.> ... <.<
Actually they can. Downtown Markham has a bunch of buildings with retail space at the 1st floor and indeed Majestic Court will be another one. The arts center/city hall is there as is a no frills and... see my above post
You're conflicting yourself here...will Downtown Markham have a lack of retail or will it have buildings with retail podiums? The renderings clearly show a piazza with what looks like an outdoor lifestyle centre intended to have a certain number of chain stores (and not just dry cleaners and tiny sushi shops). All of these Markham threads just turn into generic suburb bashing unless people differentiate between Remington's "Downtown Markham" and Markham Centre, which is all of "downtown" Markham. Markham's projects are poorly branded.
The civic centre and No Frills are hardly going to be a quick walk away from most Downtown Markham homes. They'll be a full 1km away, which turns into much more if people are trying to stop off at the No Frills after getting off Viva or GO. Clearly, they'll need to add much more stuff to Downtown Markham if they don't want 90+% of trips to be made in cars.
This model shows why Markham is going to have to work overtime, weekends, and holidays to connect Downtown Markham with the rest of downtown Markham...highways, megarterials, and valley parklands aren't exactly the best glue to hold a continuous urban environment together. Downtown Markham may not be big enough on its own
I'm not really contradicting myself. There will be shoppes but no big mall "shopping experience". Current trends point to include retail space on the 1st floors of condos every block or so (therefore people should be able to get their basics easily).
Shoppes however do not make a good downtown feel unless they want to emphasize the "town" part of that. Part of me can't quite get out of my head that "shoppes" are just the new "plaza". Remember those? There's a nice thread in the retail section showcasing how derelict they've become.
Do you realize that Downtown Markham is one of the largest condo projects in the GTA, if not THE largest? Perhaps even larger than Cityplace? If anything, the huge size the problem. I am not fond of mega projects like this.