Recent content by CBBarnett

I am more curious what happens if/when the elevated line also comes in over-budget and delayed. Again, all we have really seen is the test-fit concept plan, nothing detailed with costing attached. With some of the more provincially-aligned candidates somewhat indifferent on if the line ends in...

Your are right - that's probably why the focus on Heritage, it's a tactical decision based on existing conditions but it's also pretty short-sighted. The same avoidance of congestion logic didn't seem to apply to road capacity investments - when traffic got worse in the 2000s in the area, we...

The traditional 3 to 4 storey walkups of Montreal do a few other things right by having so many of them be zero-lot line and with limited (useless) setbacks in most places. The result is just a much more efficient density, that's higher but not necessarily taller or more oppressive feeling...

This one will be great - boring, functional high density urbanism. Doesn't need to be sexy, just needs some scale to kick-start a market for apartments in this area. This is a perfect project to do so as a kick-start. Eventually I want to see Calgary Transit reverse it's trends of...

Housing supply is a cumulative exercise because even at very fast growth rates most houses already exist. Montreal doesn't build a ton of low-rise anymore, but they also don't have much land left and the economics that produced their plex system of small apartment blocks has changed dramatically...

Heritage has got to be one of the wilder bus loop designs we have - it's clearly been reorganized a few times and and has lost a ton of it's coherence about what is going on, at least visually. I had to look up the map to guess what all the loops and roads were supposed to be for: That whole...

It's all debatable, but underground is probably the best option on most dimensions apart from cost, but its outrageously expensive so trade-offs are required. Elevated makes sense in this context and gives many of the same benefit at an expected lower cost. Of course, "expected lower cost" is...

It's a tricky one - at crux of the problem, CAs and communities are simply too small to be effective at representative decision-making on most issues. 90% of communities do not have enough population to generate enough volunteers to have a self-sustaining infrastructure and consensus building...

Puts modern era 12 storey proposal in Bankview or a 19 storey proposal in Marda Loop into perspective for sure.

I find it interesting when a developer really centralizes their efforts to a single corridor or area to legitimately try to change it. Kind of makes sense so they can benefit from their cumulative investment and understanding of the hyper-local market. There's probably others, but it seems like...

Perhaps I have forgotten just because the renovation has been going on for so long - is there any numbers or metrics about what the key differences between the previous Glenbow and the new one are? I recall discussion on how the renovation is opening things up and creating new exhibition space...

I think investing in frequency helps here a lot, perhaps even more than additional security in some cases. Just having more buses and trains out there spreads people out - it means fewer people are likely to be stuck on the same vehicle as the occasional person with anti-social behaviour. It...

Looks great - a surprisingly neat, almost invisible, infill. Does anyone know what the floor plate actually looks like? Seems so narrow and tiny, must only be a few rooms per floor?

191 units so 250 to 300 people? All within 100m of existing retail with giant sidewalks and quality public realm. From that perspective it's a slam dunk. Eventually when a popular area loses it's "new and shiny" vibe - they almost all do eventually - it's these 250 or 300 people that will...

Yeah a bit, and while remaining critical of the suburban office development schemes generally, at least Quarry Park is still very much within a major city - your example is one of those ex-urban Severance-style office complexes must be next to impossible to repurpose or lease again!