Comment 122656

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted March 20, 2018 at 19:23:50

This short citylab article by Richard Florida is a thoughtful comment on the limits of a focus on high-rises in urban design:

https://www.citylab.com/design/2012/05/l...

And here is a quote relevant to the current discussion:

If the pendulum originally swung too far in the direction of sprawl over the past 50 years, the risk today is that it is swinging way too far back toward high-rise skyscrapers. "To oppose a high-rise building," he writes, "is to run the risk of being labeled a NIMBY, a dumb growth advocate, a Luddite — or worse. Buildings 20, 40, 60 even 100 stories tall are being proposed and built in low and mid-rise neighborhoods all over the world. All of these projects are justified with the explanation that if density is good, even more density is better."

and, a propos of cookie cutter Vancouver and the Toronto waterfront:

"Density does not always demand high-rises," notes McMahon. "Skyscrapers are a dime a dozen in today’s world. Once a low rise city or town succumbs to high-rise mania, many more towers will follow, until the city becomes a carbon-copy of every other city in a 'geography of nowhere.'"

We should be thinking carefully about how many high-rises are appropriate, where they should be, and what we want the overall urban environment to feel like.

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2018-03-20 19:30:48

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