It seems everyone is gladhanding these ultra-tall condos with the argument that 'we need to look to the future'.
Introduction: Yes, lots of people are.
I don't know what kind of future we're talking about here, but TO's population growth is something that's known in advance and accounted for.
Well, that's a very centrally-planned way to look at it. Yes, there are official plans that help direct growth. No, it's not "all accounted for" in regards to their being any one agency doling out housing permits in meet some sort of quota.
Toronto is very large, and we have vast areas of the city ripe for development (Eglinton East/West, Sheppard East/West, Lawrence East/West, Finch East/West, numerous infill opportunities, East York, Scarboro, York, Etobicoke, 1,000 acres of ultra-prime waterfront, two suburban subway corridors coming online within the decade...)
Market forces will mean that new housing will sell in all these areas, each according to the demand. "1,000 acres of ultra-prime waterfront"—Well, what exactly do you mean by that? There certainly are not thousands of acres of ultra-prime waterfront lots waiting to go. Over a period of several decades more and more of the waterfront will be redeveloped.
With the amount of ultra-tall condos in the core and its periphery that people are wishing for, the majority of them will obviously sit empty.
Exactly backwards. The buildings don't go up until they're 70 to 80% sold.
Yes there's a demand for shoebox units in the core, but there's also an enormous demand for townhomes and sizable/affordable units well outside the core. We can only absorb so much, and wishing for a Hong Kong level of ultra-rise condos is just that...wishing.
Sales will determine how much gets built at what speed where. If demand drops so much that the tall condos you don't like don't sell enough to start, well, then that's that. If they do sell, then another one will come onto the market.
The official act, market conditions, infrastructure conditions, unforeseen economic conditions... all say we're never going to be Manhattan. The congested ultra-tall utopia is a fantasy.
The climax? That line is just you making up a bunch 'a stuff. It's absolutely meaningless, which pretty much encapsulates your whole argument, so, well placed.
The laneways of Kensignton, the detached Victorian and Edwardian homes of Cabbagetown, the garages of Little Italy, the mansions of The Annex...they'll be with us for the long haul.
As a denouement, that's lovely and poetic, but it misses out the fact that an increasingly higher percentage of Torontonians live in high rise, a percentage which will continue to increase. We'll see an increase in mid-rise too. There are places for each, and we have to get the development of all of it right.
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