Who said "concrete"? I contacted Ryerson to ask exactly what will be along Yonge, since the original announcement said "retail" but the render appears to lack entrances or be anything but a barrier. Their answer was that render is all there is.
I'd love to see more renders/information, if you...
His comments are all spot on. The building has a blank wall facing Yonge St! It continues Ryerson's tradition of people-unfriendly buildings, instead of integrating with the surrounding city.
I don't really get why Ryerson is building this. They have huge shortages in residence spaces, it seems like they have more need of classrooms, there is already a student centre attached to Oakham House, there's a library and a grad student study-building already for studying.
Why are they...
Where's the street presence? Do I see exactly one door on that rendering? Let's subdivide the street level and rent it out to community/arts groups. Do something to give a little dynamism to the streetscape.
I can't find evidence that the TTC pays many times median
I'm trying to find supporting evidence that TTC operators earn "many times median levels." The evidence I've come up with doesn't support that claim at all. Is there somewhere else I should be looking? StatsCan reports that in 2007...
Those are the worst. There's a light on my way home at night that's the same. No cross traffic, but the red lasts well over a minute. I'd love to see flashing reds/yellows at night, or even roundabouts in some cases.
heating/cooling
Without much insulation, won't these cost a fortune to heat and cool? Neat idea, but I'm not sure it's as practical as it is photogenic.
What about Hamburg and Munich in Germany? Both have less population than Toronto but 150% the total local rail (measured in terms of both stations and length).
I'm just not sure they have a sane master plan. The new "downtown markham" on enterprise seems like a step in the right direction, although it's a shame that it's isolated from the rest of the region instead of integrated a little more closely.
I'll definitely grant that I'm a noob to...
Based on the success of suburban cities like Detroit? LA?
I'd love it if the burbs could grow into something that will stay nice in the long-term, but I'm not optimistic that it will happen without a big change in the way they're developed. There's just no good evidence that suburbs are...
With the large setback from Sheppard and the lack of any commerce at the station, doesn't it seem likely that Sheppard West will be underused become unsafe rather quickly? Why not turn those walkways into small streets and encourage some mixed commerical-residential along them? Or is that the...
why no residential?
What is the benefit of having minimal residential uses? I guess as a developer, designing the region to fail in the long-run ensures future work. Also, why partner to develop the whole property at once? Wouldn't a more gradual development lead to more organic use?
if I only got one
Restructure the whole region. De-amalgamate and resurrect Metro, and annex the entire GTA. Give Metro broader tax powers and hire some sane planners, and give them authority (no crying to the OMB).
My hope would be that that would lead to and end to the construction of...