W. K. Lis
Superstar
Underline the word drive. Exactly, one needs to drive in Mississauga because it would be inconvenient otherwise without driving.
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- Thread starter unimaginative2
- Start date
Underline the word drive. Exactly, one needs to drive in Mississauga because it would be inconvenient otherwise without driving.
doady
Senior Member
Since when was a VIA station a necessity for a vibrant downtown? Ottawa doesn't have a VIA station downtown either.
You are nitpicking, seriously. Seems like same old Mississauga-bashing. You point out Hamilton planned rapid transit lines, but conveniently forget Mississauga's? Mississauga has higher transit ridership than Hamilton, and many other "real" cities in North America for that matter.
No, lack of transit, pedestrians, GO and VIA are not the reasons MCC sucks. I'd say the huge swaths of undeveloped land, sea of parking lots, big box, master-planned communities, wide arterials, incomplete street grid are the real reasons MCC is not a real downtown.
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
San Jose also was its own mid-sized city with a real downtown before it exploded into the Silicon Valley phenomenon. San Jose is much more analogous with Brampton or Oakville than Mississauga.
Doday's right. Intercity passenger railway service is so peripheral to the North American urban experience at this point that it would hardly be a qualifier for any downtown, real or not. Downtown Calgary and San Francisco are two of the most centralized, vibrant business districts in their countries and they are served by absolutely zero intercity passenger trains.
Transportfan
Senior Member
Wide streets do not make a city unurban, Many large cities have them. Even Toronto has University Ave. What makes MCC's streets unurban is the suburban-style turning lanes
W. K. Lis
Superstar
And parking lots. Nothing but parking lots. Little or no sidewalks, and if there is any, it's single narrow slabs. And then even if you do use the sidewalks, one has to trek through vast asphalt deserts to reach a destination.
taal
Senior Member
I disagree with that, even if every single lot was developed I possibility wouldn't consider it is a city ... let me clarify an urban city. That makes a huge difference.
For comparison I'll bring up Houston, Texas ... that I don't consider an urban city in the slightest and if you want to compare Mississauga to anything give that a go. I think new developments have the right idea but if the same ideology and development styles of the past take hold again consider it a one way ticket to Houston minus all the offices (just replace them with condos ... even possibly of equal size : - D).
I apologies to Houston if there was some special event going on when I visited it the last 4 times that banned people from walking anywhere downtown and forced them to remain in malls. Moreover that banned any shops whatsoever in the entire downtown area (to a certain extent). It's damn clean though ... you could lick the sidewalks there!
For comparison I'll bring up Houston, Texas ... that I don't consider an urban city in the slightest and if you want to compare Mississauga to anything give that a go. I think new developments have the right idea but if the same ideology and development styles of the past take hold again consider it a one way ticket to Houston minus all the offices (just replace them with condos ... even possibly of equal size : - D).
I apologies to Houston if there was some special event going on when I visited it the last 4 times that banned people from walking anywhere downtown and forced them to remain in malls. Moreover that banned any shops whatsoever in the entire downtown area (to a certain extent). It's damn clean though ... you could lick the sidewalks there!
khris
Senior Member
One thing that people need to keep in mind about Mississauga's version of a downtown, is that it's not trying to be like a typical downtown. It's going to be a unique take on downtown. It is something that hasn't really been done before. Except for maybe Dubai? I haven't been to Dubai, but I imagine they have some sort of downtown area(s).
adma
Superstar
Buckhead?
taal
Senior Member
How exactly is it going to be like Dubia?
Dubia doesn't really have a traditional downtown many of the buildings are very isolated and due to the weather in the summer it has an inside culture so to speak. Moreover the base of pretty much every single building there is absolutely terrible in the way it meats the street ... there are no street walls. It has a more traditional downtown in the older part of the city.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I suspect the LA reference was a bit lazy.
I have been to LA lots of times and like, I suspect, most visitors to LA have not spent a great deal of time in downtown LA (except when I have to go to the Staples Centre).....most people seem to hang out in West Hollywood, Hollywood, Beverly Hills.......driving around those places it is quite remarkable (once you look past the spanish influence in the exterior design of some buildings) how similar to Mississauga it all looks.....so if that is what they meant, I agree....but you have to recognize that those places are not LA.
I have been to LA lots of times and like, I suspect, most visitors to LA have not spent a great deal of time in downtown LA (except when I have to go to the Staples Centre).....most people seem to hang out in West Hollywood, Hollywood, Beverly Hills.......driving around those places it is quite remarkable (once you look past the spanish influence in the exterior design of some buildings) how similar to Mississauga it all looks.....so if that is what they meant, I agree....but you have to recognize that those places are not LA.
TrickyRicky
Senior Member
At any rate I wouldn't be surprised if that article was paid for by the developers with vested interest in selling units.
ShonTron
Moderator
Quite right. LA is a much more sophisticated urban mass than is often given credit for.
carrefour
New Member
How many of you have lived, lived, live, will live or would live in Mississauga?
My guess would be 1/6th.
Having spent some (a long) time in Mississauga, and sometime in NYC, Vancouver, Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco and soon to be moving to Montreal, I can assure you this: Mississauga (City Centre to be exact) is nothing urban. Port Credit, ya. Oakville Centre, ya. Oshawa, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Parry Sound, Stratford and just about any other city, town and burg in Ontario is more urban than Mississauga.
Why?
Because Mississauga chose the American Dream version of a city - the suburbs. Which did it well, in terms of growth. But we are beginning to realise that suburbs do not a city make.
And until I see life on the streets of MCC,
shops and entertainment and cultural activities facing tree-lined sidewalks,
until I see cafes and community activity,
Mississuaga will always be a suburb.
Case in point - Whenever any Mississaugan says they are going 'Downtown' it invariably means 'Downtown Toronto'. That's not the same for Oakville, or Hamilton...
My guess would be 1/6th.
Having spent some (a long) time in Mississauga, and sometime in NYC, Vancouver, Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco and soon to be moving to Montreal, I can assure you this: Mississauga (City Centre to be exact) is nothing urban. Port Credit, ya. Oakville Centre, ya. Oshawa, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Parry Sound, Stratford and just about any other city, town and burg in Ontario is more urban than Mississauga.
Why?
Because Mississauga chose the American Dream version of a city - the suburbs. Which did it well, in terms of growth. But we are beginning to realise that suburbs do not a city make.
And until I see life on the streets of MCC,
shops and entertainment and cultural activities facing tree-lined sidewalks,
until I see cafes and community activity,
Mississuaga will always be a suburb.
Case in point - Whenever any Mississaugan says they are going 'Downtown' it invariably means 'Downtown Toronto'. That's not the same for Oakville, or Hamilton...
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Streetville could have been a start of a good downtown, but instead of putting in a town square, they built a monstrosity of a shopping centre to the north. It would have been better if they had built shops on the first floor with offices and residences above them like this:
That is what I would call a downtown for Streetsville, if done right as a starting point.
That is what I would call a downtown for Streetsville, if done right as a starting point.
autopilot
New Member
I lived in Mississauga from about 1990 to just recently. My parents still live there so I make it out to the good old 'Saug about every other week...
I love Mississauga for nostalgic reasons. I grew up there and learned some valuable life lessons there. I also saw them take the city down the wrong road...
I think that for one, the mass development occurring around the GTA with each bedroom city wanting to create an identity for itself is stealing Toronto's thunder, and as a result, has hindered our development and progression as a world city, and slowed our economy. A big player in this spreading out of economic development in the GTA is Mississauga.
Suburban planners should start thinking of ways to cater to Toronto, and improve it, thereby improving the entire region. Not ways to separate themselves from it. Imagine if all the development in the Toronto region over the past two decades was focused on a pedestrian friendly mass or sub-mass transit style of planning. Toronto would be an efficient city with a healthy regional economy, and it would also be better prepared for the future. Our suburbs would be therefore more efficient, and more contained. Sprawl would be less prominent.
Instead, we have built the ultimate city of Fordist and consumerism theory. Like someone mentioned above - the American Dream.
If Mississauga ever wants to see MCC become an actual downtown, they need high order transit, store fronts, small blocks like Toronto, and incentives for family run business. A little late for that now though...
I love Mississauga for nostalgic reasons. I grew up there and learned some valuable life lessons there. I also saw them take the city down the wrong road...
I think that for one, the mass development occurring around the GTA with each bedroom city wanting to create an identity for itself is stealing Toronto's thunder, and as a result, has hindered our development and progression as a world city, and slowed our economy. A big player in this spreading out of economic development in the GTA is Mississauga.
Suburban planners should start thinking of ways to cater to Toronto, and improve it, thereby improving the entire region. Not ways to separate themselves from it. Imagine if all the development in the Toronto region over the past two decades was focused on a pedestrian friendly mass or sub-mass transit style of planning. Toronto would be an efficient city with a healthy regional economy, and it would also be better prepared for the future. Our suburbs would be therefore more efficient, and more contained. Sprawl would be less prominent.
Instead, we have built the ultimate city of Fordist and consumerism theory. Like someone mentioned above - the American Dream.
If Mississauga ever wants to see MCC become an actual downtown, they need high order transit, store fronts, small blocks like Toronto, and incentives for family run business. A little late for that now though...