Quote:
Originally Posted by MelBridgeman
I dont get that? What is the alternative for most.living in a condo? arent condos even more like dormatory...
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Just ad libbing from what I remember of the film.
My point is that there is very little interaction between people within the suburbs. Even in a condo building you will run into your neighbours, or have a decent chance of being involved on the board, etc. This dehumanizes the community and does not create a desirable place to live.
Townhouses, or having a single family home in an area that has more mixed zoning are two other alternatives to the current suburban development plans that are being used. Condos aren't the only choice.
Of course, economics and affordability come into play. Yet you'd have to think that if more houses were on the market in mixed use communities, the price would be more reasonable (supply vs demand - demand for these types of residences are very high but the supply is very low).
A success story that gets trotted out in forum type discussions about growth in the city of Calgary is the Garrison Woods development in Marda Loop. McKenzie Towne to a lesser extent, with the caveat being that McKenzie Towne is pretty good within itself, it is getting to other areas of the city that presents a problem. Quarry Park will be sure to be another "success story" when it is complete.
When Garrison Woods was opened to the public, the prices were relatively reasonable, but the area has quickly shot up in value and is considered one of the most desirable places to live in Calgary. Good luck getting in now. The message to developers is clear: people want this type of lifestyle. Yet the question that remains for me is why more of these developments are not being built, yet areas like Cranston, Silverado, Evergreen, Royal Oak, etc are going up in droves.
After some more research and discussion with people very active in this area, it is pretty much the result of an unresponsive civic development plan in a boom time, restrictive zoning, and a lack of effective processes in place to review and allow such developments.
"Old" 20 year plans for the city do have some good ideas that are finally being implemented (i.e. The West Leg of the LRT and the whole concept of developing around LRT stations - as outlined in 1995's GoPlan), but they are not really designed with the unpredictable boom and bust nature of Calgary's development in mind. We have a good idea how big we are going to be in 50 years, and understand that it is likely that 90% of the growth is going to happen in 5 - 10 "short" bursts, but our planning does not really have a way to absorb this.
Therefore, development is allowed to be 'fast tracked' in order to play "catch up" (which isn't really correct, it is more like "keep up") to accomodate new growth. It sort of disgusts me how a great provincial park like Fish Creek has been more or less decimated by suburban growth when planning for and allowing re-development in specific areas (see East Village, Ramsay, etc) could have easily absorbed a large portion of our recent growth.
It is a huge problem to overcome as there is no way that a developer will put money into building a mixed use community when the demand isn't there, but wouldn't it be nice to have a city that could respond to a boom situation and re-zone an area in short time so that a developer could get an application in to do so, as opposed to having the same cookie cutter development approved on precedent on the latest batch of annexed land between here and Chestermere?
Sprawl has been our only answer, and it has hurt us in more ways than most people care to think about. Another sad thing to think about for me is what sort of legacy this is leaving on our city.
My house was built in 1918 and is still solid. I don't know if I will be able to say that for the vinyl and particle board houses that are being put up in the satellite communities today. What about public buildings? Recently, an old sandstone school in my community was sold by the CBE to they could probably build a faux brick and corregated steel P.O.S. in Arbour Lake that will likely be ready to scrap before the sandstone school is a quarter way through its lifetime.
The other sad thing is the cultural segregation that is occuring in the city. The NE is a catch-all for immigrants who move here, and the city as a whole is missing out on a huge opportunity to develop more of an international appeal and image.
It just ticks me off that people think that the way we have been growing is the only way, or that the only alternatives are not appealing. Not so.