Mississauga Absolute World | 169.77m | 56s | Cityzen | MAD architects

what do you mean by urban?

Lively and vibrant street life.

Specifically, a diverse mix of people shopping, sitting at outdoor cafes, chatting, enjoying street performers, etc. All I see in Mississauga are people walking their dogs and waiting at bus stops... just like the suburbs.
 
Actually it's "towers" as there is two of them and I live in Mississauga but spend a lot of time in Toronto. Remember what the railway lands looked like before City Place? - we're talking pig. Mississauga is evolving into quite an urban area. There are more than 24 towers proposed or under construction in MCC

- Parkside – Amacon 1: 50s
Amacon 2: 45s
Amacon 3: 45s
Amacon 4: 40s
Amacon 5: 40s
Capital 3: 38s
Solstice 1: 38s
Solstice 2: 38s
-Absolute – 2 towers (plus 3 already built) – 50 and 56 stories
-Ultra Ovation – 1 tower 32 stories (combined with 2 already built)
-Pinnacle International – 11+ towers (4 - 18 Storey Towers
1 - 25 Storey Tower
2 - 32 Storey Towers (Fronting Eglinton Avenue)
3 - 42 Storey Towers (All fronting Hurontario Street)
1 - 50 Storey Tower)
- Plus, plus

It’s starting to look pretty good even befor this new group.

All those towers and I still can't find a single pedestrian walking on the street. Walking the streets of downtown Sauga, is the loneliest place in the world. You're surrounded by people (in cars) but you can't speak or communicate with a single one of them. That's what I mean by suburban hell. It doesn't have the beauty and tranquility of the country or the urbanity of a real city. And god help you if you need a coffee, washroom or cigarette while walking down those streets. You need to hike through miles of parking lot to get to a mall entrance. Malls make me nauseous! Mississauga does not deserve these towers. I don't think they are going to change the habits of the people who live there. They'll just look at it through their windshields and won't venture out of their cars.
 
All those towers and I still can't find a single pedestrian walking on the street. Walking the streets of downtown Sauga, is the loneliest place in the world. You're surrounded by people (in cars) but you can't speak or communicate with a single one of them. That's what I mean by suburban hell. It doesn't have the beauty and tranquility of the country or the urbanity of a real city. And god help you if you need a coffee, washroom or cigarette while walking down those streets. You need to hike through miles of parking lot to get to a mall entrance. Malls make me nauseous! Mississauga does not deserve these towers. I don't think they are going to change the habits of the people who live there. They'll just look at it through their windshields and won't venture out of their cars.

And here we go again with the "no pedestrians in MCC" comment. *Yawn*
 
as an ex-Torontonian now living in Mississauga, I can confirm there are many more pedestrians in MCC than there were 5 years ago...my wife, who is also an ex-Torontonian, believes that MCC is turning into a 'zoo'...

Having said that, there is no way that downtown Mississauga can even come close to the urban experience that you find every day in T.O....
 
from experience it beats downtown Phoenix by a mile...


Lol I was like this is the centre of a metro region of around 5 million people!!!


However the houses and landscaping were really nice.
 
from experience it beats downtown Phoenix by a mile...


Lol I was like this is the centre of a metro region of around 5 million people!!!


However the houses and landscaping were really nice.

haha, I'll one up you, Houston! Even larger - and MCC would be NYC in comparison ... I'm not even exaggerating ... damn it was sooo clean you wouldn't believe it - you could lick the ground.

Anyway, regarding MCC - there's points on both sides.
Here's number 1:
Anyone who defends MCC by quoting the number of towers && heights that exist / will exist in MCC is completely on the wrong track. There are mainly residential (houses) areas of Toronto that have way more pedestrian traffic.

So buildings do not imply people - they can help but it's not the key.

Another thing ... sure people usually associate pedestrians with urban areas but that doesn't necessarily need to be the case. The key for MCC is too create retail at grade that people will walk to vs Malls (the Mall) - that's the large barrier MCC faces - unfortunately, it's not just any kind of retail that'll do it. So we'll have to see if these new buildings can bring something else i.e. restaurants / unique stores / things along those lines.

You know what ... it's not the perfect comparison, but take NYCC -
anyone who's been there knows that there are more people who walk around then the downtown's of many cities in North America (if you don't think so you've never been there). It's not a fair comparison as everything is concentrated on one strip but you get the idea ... if MCC can create something similar I think they might be on the right track.
 
All those towers and I still can't find a single pedestrian walking on the street. Walking the streets of downtown Sauga, is the loneliest place in the world. You're surrounded by people (in cars) but you can't speak or communicate with a single one of them. That's what I mean by suburban hell. It doesn't have the beauty and tranquility of the country or the urbanity of a real city. And god help you if you need a coffee, washroom or cigarette while walking down those streets. You need to hike through miles of parking lot to get to a mall entrance. Malls make me nauseous! Mississauga does not deserve these towers. I don't think they are going to change the habits of the people who live there. They'll just look at it through their windshields and won't venture out of their cars.

Yeah, you're jealous. :D
 
Yeah, you're jealous.

I will concede that I am jealous anyway. Really jealous...
That such landmark towers are stuck out in a corn field.
Because Missy really is a corn field and no matter how many buildings you put on it, it will still feel like one.
You can't overestimate the impact of geography on a city's shape and feel.
Lakes, rivers, islands, seaboard and mountains all give anchors and set boundaries that give some sort of....texture? maybe? to a city.
I can't think of one vibrant city without some sort of geographic anchor. But lots of duds that don't really have a clear one. Like Houston. Or Atlanta.
Lil Missy will always be a cornfield. Sadly. With two world class towers.
 
I will concede that I am jealous anyway. Really jealous...
That such landmark towers are stuck out in a corn field.
Because Missy really is a corn field and no matter how many buildings you put on it, it will still feel like one.
You can't overestimate the impact of geography on a city's shape and feel.
Lakes, rivers, islands, seaboard and mountains all give anchors and set boundaries that give some sort of....texture? maybe? to a city.
I can't think of one vibrant city without some sort of geographic anchor. But lots of duds that don't really have a clear one. Like Houston. Or Atlanta.
Lil Missy will always be a cornfield. Sadly. With two world class towers.

Come on. This is not a thing to be sad about! It's not like Mississauga is actively preventing Toronto from building its own collection of world-class towers. If none are being built in Toronto, whose fault is that really?

The idea that Mississauga is "undeserving" of these buildings is really petty.
 
Agreed, nice photo. Where were you standing? In the middle of the intersection? Risking life for a UT photo?

I do it all the time, gotta' get that shot when the angle is right! (in Toronto, not MCC)
 
You can't overestimate the impact of geography on a city's shape and feel.
Lakes, rivers, islands, seaboard and mountains all give anchors and set boundaries that give some sort of....texture? maybe? to a city.
I would consider the Cooksville Creek, Credit River and Lake Ontario to all be defining geographic features of Mississauga. Although the lake is far, both the Cooksville Creek and the Credit River are indicators of one's entrance into the MCC realm.
 
In Edmonton or Calgary or Pittsburgh or Cincinnati it's the river. The equivalent would be the Pearson and 401 passing through. There's nothing wrong with this - many places develop as spin-offs of other places due to their proximity.

Square One IS the anchor and it grew from corn fields... it's not really disputable. It's not the barrier to fixing many of the problems that are associated with growing the way the city did.

Would Shenzhen have grown the way it did without its proximity to Kong Kong?
 
You can't overestimate the impact of geography on a city's shape and feel.
Lakes, rivers, islands, seaboard and mountains all give anchors and set boundaries that give some sort of....texture? maybe? to a city.

Maybe back in the 1800's, but its 2009. Geography means nothing for cities today. The cities located by lakes, rivers, islands, the sea and mountains are all there because of convenience. Boats were the primary method of travel and shipping. Today we have highways, trains and planes. All the rules that lead to where cities were located have gone out the window. Highways are our new rivers.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Back
Top