Once again, not every building needs to be mixed-use. Jane Jacobs herself would laugh at that concept.
 
No, obviously not every building. Just a building where Toronto's main street meets the waterfront. Jane Jacobs would be horrified by giving over three blocks of the the waterfront to an exclusive private single-use superblock condominium development. In fact, single-use superblocks developed at once like this are exactly what she spent her entire life fighting against. Pick up a copy of Death and Life.
 
If Jane Jacobs were alive right now I'm sure the only thing she'd be saying is: "BRRRRAINS!"

What? Too soon?
 
*silence*


Guess so Canuck. Aww the hell with it, I love irreverence :D

All joking aside, I think that a mixed use building is the way to go here. When i say mixed use I'm not saying that there needs to be an Ikea, MEC, Dominion, and Yacht Accessory Store (with a ballroom for the kiddies) there, just something that will bring people down there.

Could the city get someone like Jamie Kennedy to put in some kind of magnet restaurant which would attract people to the waterfront for dinner and a stroll? Jacobs herself was a big advocate of walking as the best means of urban transport and with all the development going on south of the Gardiner, it would only be a short jaunt down to Pier27 for dinner. Its worked for Captain John's for like 20 years! Even with some of the worst reviews in the city (though I think that Soviet barge relies mainly on out of towners).

Also, when I was in NY this past summer I was surprised at the number of (seemingly) impromptu jazz concerts in parks etc. Why can't we have small concerts of this nature - unadvertised and unpaid but stimulating and perfect for the area. I've seen this more often in the Distillery as well, but never down by the waterfront...unless you count that amphitheater at Harbor Front.
 
unimaginative2 said:
No, obviously not every building. Just a building where Toronto's main street meets the waterfront. Jane Jacobs would be horrified by giving over three blocks of the the waterfront to an exclusive private single-use superblock condominium development. In fact, single-use superblocks developed at once like this are exactly what she spent her entire life fighting against. Pick up a copy of Death and Life.
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Exactly.
 
salvius said:
Well, really, Bosnian/Bosniak, Croatian, Serbian, and possibly Montenegrin.
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I'm having way too much fun with this linguistic masturbation. It's one language spoken by a bunch of nations.;)

Like they say: Druge zemlje, isto djubre

But back to Pier 27. I'm surprised they're building a sales centre on the site of the first building (or is it?) I'd assume they'd build this on pure specs due to the overwhelming support this project is getting.
 
Jane Jacobs said next to nothing about design or aesthetics, and Pier 27's as much a design solution that uses shape, form, space and symbolism to give us a fine group of buildings that will make the waterfront sing as anything else. If the teachings of the saintly old biddy have been reduced to rote dogma - in this case a paean to endless consumerism being inserted into the ground floor of other peoples' apartment buildings - something has gone terribly wrong.
 
Urban Shocker said:
If the teachings of the saintly old biddy have been reduced to rote dogma - in this case a paean to endless consumerism being inserted into the ground floor of other peoples' apartment buildings - something has gone terribly wrong.
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Rote dogma is never good, agreed, but mixed usage buildings with residential on top of commercial is the basic set-up that characterizes urban streetscapes the world over.
 
Maybe there'll be a hot dog vendor at this location? Good enough. Sure I fantasize about the day a Clafouti v2.0 opens on the waterfront but many people forget Toronto already has an accessible vibrant waterfront community--the Beach.

I'm actually getting sick of Jane Jacobs--was she honestly that great?
 
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