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The Condo Game [CBC Documentary]

I don't mind stuff like this, there's many elements of truth in what is said.

However, it's really silly how much condo-bashing is going on relative to how little suburban sprawl-bashing occurs in the mainstream media.

As damaging as it is to have people living in 80-story buildings, it's not as bas as having them live on a detached home in the middle of nowhere without services or amenities within reach.
 
RC8 said:
I don't mind stuff like this, there's many elements of truth in what is said.

However, it's really silly how much condo-bashing is going on relative to how little suburban sprawl-bashing occurs in the mainstream media.

As damaging as it is to have people living in 80-story buildings, it's not as bas as having them live on a detached home in the middle of nowhere without services or amenities within reach.
Click to expand...

Many times it is as bad. And many suburban subdivisions are now rectifying the errors of the past. 80-storey condos can create almost identical problems associated with sprawl, lack of services/amenities, etc. Rather than a 5min bike ride or 2min drive to the store, the urban resident can face a 5min trip just to reach the lobby, then a walk amongst hordes on too narrow sidewalks to the nearest grocery store blocks away, or a transit trip that's even slower and more grueling.
 
44 North said:
Many times it is as bad. And many suburban subdivisions are now rectifying the errors of the past. 80-storey condos can create almost identical problems associated with sprawl, lack of services/amenities, etc. Rather than a 5min bike ride or 2min drive to the store, the urban resident can face a 5min trip just to reach the lobby, then a walk amongst hordes on too narrow sidewalks to the nearest grocery store blocks away, or a transit trip that's even slower and more grueling.
Click to expand...

Let's keep some perspective. I live in a 50-story building and my commute consists of a 15 minute bicycle ride and 3-4 minutes to deal with the elevator journey. Since the number of units in a building is static, I doubt we will ever have real 'crowding' problems in here. This experience is representative of the vast majority of people who live in high-rises downtown. Occasionally we do build towers that are a disaster, but they are not the norm.

'Some' subdivisions may be trying to rectify the mistakes of the past, but the vast majority - say 99% of them - are not. In almost every single subdivision in the Greater Toronto Area, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit-users are marginalised and endangered, and most people's commutes are more like a 40-minute drive each way. Subdivisions that are utterly unsustainable and help perpetuate cycles of poverty, segregation, and pollution, are the norm.
 
Yawn.

From the synopsis, representative:

Then, as tall towers age, maintenance issues can become a nightmare. Imagine sharing financial responsible for the damage done by a leak 20 floors above you.

Imagine! They make it sound like people are crazy to live in private apartments in multi-storey buildings, like Toronto just invented that a few years ago.
 
Typical CBC. I wont even bother watching this, but I have to give them credit for knowing their suburban, downtown (esp. Toronto) hating market so well though.
 
Meh... I'll watch the episode in its entirety before I judge it. I do think builders get away with a lot of crap but it is what it is.
 
As a person featured in this upcoming Documentary, I wanted to say that while many have commented on the fact that the doc seems one-sided, this is very much a perspective that is necessary, given it is one that the public is rarely privy to.
 
One of my profs showed us a preview clip in a building science class. Window wall systems are a very big concern, as they logically should be.

Very excited to see this documentary. People on UT tend to be very naive about the industry and need to hear this side of the story; not that of developers, real estate folk, and backseat architecture/development fans, but rather the building scientists' point of view.
 
RC8 said:
'Some' subdivisions may be trying to rectify the mistakes of the past, but the vast majority - say 99% of them - are not. In almost every single subdivision in the Greater Toronto Area, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit-users are marginalised and endangered, and most people's commutes are more like a 40-minute drive each way. Subdivisions that are utterly unsustainable and help perpetuate cycles of poverty, segregation, and pollution, are the norm.
Click to expand...

To be honest, most people I know in the burbs who are under 40 either take the GO train (lengthy-ish commute, but I would argue sustainable) or work within the same suburb where they live and have a 20ish minute drive to work. I have no stats on this, but from my experience most of those doing 40+ minute drives a day are baby boomers who generally prefer driving at all costs (and who had a much shorter commute 20 years ago). I know this is anecdotal, but I think the tide is turning on this, at least within the outer 416 and inner 905. Subdivisions may never be ideal, but we're stuck with the thousands that already exist, and I'm optimistic that with intensification on major suburban thoroughfares, suburban transit will become much better used and more effective, and suburban neighbourhoods will become more sustainable.
 
TheKingEast said:
I do think builders get away with a lot of crap but it is what it is.
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I work in residential construction and will tell you that some builders are as unscrupulous as all hell. That's not to excuse workers who don't take any real pride in their work, of who there are many.

Not to mention the Urbancorp build-massacre I live in is a joke as far as workmanship, finishing, and materials go.

I'd love to watch this documentary, just to see which other builders (other than TAS, which I am VERY familiar with) do rubbish work.
 
SP!RE said:
One of my profs showed us a preview clip in a building science class. Window wall systems are a very big concern, as they logically should be.

Very excited to see this documentary. People on UT tend to be very naive about the industry and need to hear this side of the story; not that of developers, real estate folk, and backseat architecture/development fans, but rather the building scientists' point of view.
Click to expand...

This privileged knowledge pose you keep striking is increasingly annoying.
 
canarob said:
To be honest, most people I know in the burbs who are under 40 either take the GO train (lengthy-ish commute, but I would argue sustainable) or work within the same suburb where they live and have a 20ish minute drive to work. I have no stats on this, but from my experience most of those doing 40+ minute drives a day are baby boomers who generally prefer driving at all costs (and who had a much shorter commute 20 years ago). I know this is anecdotal, but I think the tide is turning on this, at least within the outer 416 and inner 905. Subdivisions may never be ideal, but we're stuck with the thousands that already exist, and I'm optimistic that with intensification on major suburban thoroughfares, suburban transit will become much better used and more effective, and suburban neighbourhoods will become more sustainable.
Click to expand...

It seems people want to be downtown, but either can't afford it or still have negative feelings towards it (not being ideal for raising children, too crowded, etc). So it seems there is a trend to bring downtown to the suburbs, with places like Mississauga, Markham, and Vaughan trying to market and build their own mini-downtowns.
 
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