gristle
Senior Member
Once Ice is finished, it will be interesting to see some before and after pictures of that whole area. Can anyone even fully recall the windswept emptiness that was once down there?
I actually took a photo of myself and two friends sitting on a wall outside the convention centre, with the intention of returning in a few years when it was all done to re-take the same photo, with the same people, from the same angle. I came across it recently, and the difference is already quite stunning. The ACC is there, but nothing else.Once Ice is finished, it will be interesting to see some before and after pictures of that whole area. Can anyone even fully recall the windswept emptiness that was once down there?
I can vividly remember what it was like 12 years ago, when the ACC was under construction. I remember laughing when someone said that one day it would be part of the city
We haven't seen anything yet, wait till 2022 when aprox another proposed/planned 10-15 towers are built in that specific area.
Interesting. I think CityPlace says something very different about the city than this neighbourhood, and Donlands and East Bayfront say something entirely different than both of those. In that way, I think it's probably not appropriate to pick one specific area to represent all emerging neighbourhoods as a whole. They're far too diverse. Also, the City and the planning department had widely varying degrees of control over each of these areas (lot sizes, density, design competitions...).This area will come to say a lot about the city in terms of its true urban philosophy, and for me it raises a number of questions: Do we really believe in Jane Jacobs or do we merely force-fit her ideas to already existing neighbourhoods? Do these beliefs truely inform new urban development or have other ideas and forces taken precedence? Do we now truely believe in the City Beautiful and the importance of good design and aesthetics in the urban realm or are we still a 'mean' city, Hogtown? How do we really feel, in practice, about issues such as sustainability, the environment and public infrastructure including mass transit? This area and other new areas like City Place were blank slates, not just for growth and expansion but for the city to inscribe its philosophy of urbanism in a real way. Are we living up to our ideals or is it that we are simply happy and satisfied to see a once-empty space full of towers? Does this new city feel like it belongs to the old one? How do we interpret and judge our true values based on what we see emerging and does this pose a concern for other emerging areas such as those along the waterfront?
Great cities need Robert Moses as well as Jane Jacobs.
No offense by the way but the 90 existing condos are among the most expensive in the city