Totally, I think you raise some great points, I'm just of the view that we shouldn't be designing our public spaces exclusively through the lens of the nuclear family as it's outdated and exclusionary way of thinking. We should be encouraging designs that serve the entire community throughout all stages and walks of life.
 
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DavidCapizzano said:
Totally, I think you raise some great points, I'm just of the view that we shouldn't be designing our public spaces exclusively through the lens of the nuclear family as it's outdated and exclusionary way of thinking. We should be encouraging designs that serve the entire community throughout all stages and walks of life.
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Is the nuclear family really an institution on the decline in North America, though? Certainly the concept of the 'biological' nuclear family as a heteronormative space is. But our family laws, child protection laws, schooling and housing structures, etc, are all largely geared toward the idea of children being principally raised in small family units, than large collective units (rightly or wrongly). Interesting question though. But I do wholly agree that we should make parkland decisions with the entire community in mind. I get that "family" can be a loaded term.
My only point was that the kiddies seem to utilize the small parkettes much more than adults do when they're given some playground equipment to play on and that unprogrammed tiny park spaces often go largely unused otherwise. Hard to imagine what this little parkette tucked away into Dupont could be used for.
 
ADRM said:
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I'm not pleased with the tendency of many developers to produce these long monotomous midrise buildings with little or no effort to break up the facade using different materials or design. And this stuff often replaces multiple properties or storefronts.

The Honest Ed's redevelopment is a rare example of taking the opposite approach, which will result in a far more visually interesting streetscape.

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The well produced rendering illustrations help blend them in, but this project looks rather heavy handed on the spandrel usage. The ratio looks close to 2:2 in terms of glass to spandrel per window section throughout most of the cladding expanses.
 
bilked said:
Is the nuclear family really an institution on the decline in North America, though? Certainly the concept of the 'biological' nuclear family as a heteronormative space is. But our family laws, child protection laws, schooling and housing structures, etc, are all largely geared toward the idea of children being principally raised in small family units, than large collective units (rightly or wrongly). Interesting question though. But I do wholly agree that we should make parkland decisions with the entire community in mind. I get that "family" can be a loaded term.
My only point was that the kiddies seem to utilize the small parkettes much more than adults do when they're given some playground equipment to play on and that unprogrammed tiny park spaces often go largely unused otherwise. Hard to imagine what this little parkette tucked away into Dupont could be used for.
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I think it is very possible for a mix of both. Small parkettes do not need to commandeer a park space. There are many places and specifically the Netherlands comes to mind, where local small parkettes are all over the place in cities like Amsterdam.

The key point here is that parks are not a play place, parks can be a mature area for people to read, hang out, watch the street, et cetera. However I would also argue that parents have an inherent need for parks, especially in urban areas where inside and outside play areas can be quite small, and just like any energetic animal, they need space to play to grow in a healthy way.
 
bilked said:
So if we are going to create parkettes, from my perspective, they ought to keep young families in mind. For unprogrammed green space (which I agree is important) it would be better to simply have the developer contribute to off-site parkland dedications for larger projects like rail deck park, which will, no doubt, be embraced by the adult folk.
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This has been an interesting discussion – thanks both of you.

I also live close by and have kids. My first instinct was to say that there are a lots of playgrounds around here, and there are – but the closest one is 400 m away. This is a case where the city’s on-site park policy actually makes a lot of sense.

Now: the midrise massing is really the problem here. It’s a big site. If this building was even modestly tall, there will be plenty of room for a park that would allow both passive spaces and a playground.
 
Could be nice infill if executed well. Too bad there won't be a grocery store anymore.
 
syn said:
Could be nice infill if executed well. Too bad there won't be a grocery store anymore.
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There are so many grocery stores in the area, with Loblaws and Fiesta Farms nearby, and Farm Boy coming soon at 'Litho.' it's not going to be a big blow to the community.

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