Canadian vs. Nordic large cities (houses, landscaping, buy)
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Seriously why are people so against driving a car? It gives you freedom. I myself hate public transportation, that's why I like living in suburb right outside a large city.
Btw public transportation in Canada's largest cities, particularly in Montreal and Toronto is excellent! No car needed at all, and they do have bike lanes.
Idk but i find it strange how higher car usage is a negative thing.
Canadians prefer to drive cars more than Swedes... big deal, we are in the 21st century..
I'm sure people do enjoy living in dense environments and they have good reasons to but many people prefer car friendly cities with quite neighborhoods with lots of space and trees and they enjoy their life there. https://www.google.com/maps/@43.9101...vhyoFx46QA!2e0
That's a start, but... Calgary's land area is 825 km2. Helsinki's land area is 214 km2, and has over 1200 kilometres of bikeways. There's a difference between bikable and "bikable". Calgary is still very car-centric. Quickly looked at the 4th and 5th Avenues. Both have 5 lanes in one direction. That tells a lot.
Copenhagen has as its aim that 50% of all commuting within city limits will be done by bike in 2015. What's the situation in Winnipeg?
The city limits are big, but I'm talking about people that live near the core, not the sprawl. My point was to show you that they are lots of biking paths in the area.
I agree that Calgary is car centric, it's in OIL country and gas is some of the cheapest in Canada.
Looking at a couple of major streets on Google Streetview can be a bit deceiving.
Winnipeg, I haven't been to in many years, so can't comment on the bike situation.
Vancouver where I live is extremely bike friendly. Granted the majority of the biking is for pleasure, but many ride to work and the bike paths are increasing at a good rate.
Vancouver is 114 sq K and has so far 400 K's of bike paths. It has a ways to go, but will grow as more people demand it.
This map shows how many bike paths there are. There isn't really anyplace in Vancouver you can't go to on a bike easily.
"Vancouver was one of the first cities in North America to create a low-cost, low-impact network by creating bikeways along residential streets with relatively light traffic volumes – a system that Portland, Ore., copied. That system has helped push cycling trips in some parts of the city – Commercial Drive, Kitsilano – to the 12- to 15-per-cent range"
The thing that keeps biking from exploding, as in some Nordic countries is cost. It's simply cheaper to have a car here. Checking I see that currently a litre of gas in Finland on average is $2.35 CDN. It's currently $1.42 here in Vancouver and in Calgary it's $1.15 per litre. So given the choice of riding in the rain or snow and cold, many choose the relative cheapness of driving.
Our best for public transit are Montreal and Toronto at about 35% each.
Vancouver and Ottawa are around 20-25%.
Calgary is a few points below 20%.
I wonder what is the percentage of people who walk to work in those cities and could that have an effect on transit use? I know many here in Vancouver that walk to work all year long.
from a neighborhood just to the south of downtown:
Beach is popular, but no one is in the water:
" Beach is popular, but no one is in the water: LOL
If you look at what the crowd is wearing in the foreground, and even the lack of skin on the beach, you can see it's a cool day. I can assure you, since I have ridden my bike past this beach several times this summer, that people were definitely in the water.
Not really. Canadian cities look more like American cities than Australian cities, by far. In fact, they're pretty much indistinct to each other. The only similarities between Australian cities and Canadian cities are the skyscrapers. That's pretty much it - We're not that similar.
And what does this have to do with me choosing a Nordic's urbanity and architecture over a Canadian city? Your point was irrelevant to this subject matter. I mean, a person from Australia can't prefer a European architectural outlook over 'boxes' just because we have those too? Lol...
I haven't been to Australia so I have no personal experience, but in what way are Australian cities different than Canadian ones? It's a pretty broad brush I admit since I wouldn't compare Calgary to Melbourne, but apparently the comparison of Melbourne and Vancouver is a popular one.
My friends from Sydney who have travelled in Canada and the US say the opposite of your viewpoint. They said that Canadian cities " feel " more like home to them, than American ones. I realize this is very subjective…but your thoughts??
" Beach is popular, but no one is in the water: LOL
If you look at what the crowd is wearing in the foreground, and even the lack of skin on the beach, you can see it's a cool day. I can assure you, since I have ridden my bike past this beach several times this summer, that people were definitely in the water.
Yea, I didn't mean to suggest that was the case throughout the summer. I think my photos were of Kiltsano Beach. How warm did the water temperatures reach this year? My photos were taken late July 2011, I was told the mountains wouldn't normally have snow on them that time of year.
Montreal and Quebec City (especially Quebec City) look much more European than North American.
This is only true if you restrict yourself to a rather small part of both cities (touristic, historical parts). For the overwhelming majority of Quebec City residents in particular, lifestyle and built environment are 100% North American.
I wonder what is the percentage of people who walk to work in those cities and could that have an effect on transit use? I know many here in Vancouver that walk to work all year long.
One thing I notice about Nordic cities (and European cities in general), is that they are much better at creating "village centres" in newer suburban areas.
Friends of mine who live over there often live in suburban areas that aren't any more dense than mine (or even less dense in some cases) but they usually have a "village centre" not too far away with an attractive layout where they can shop, eat or have a drink. It's always a whole lot better than a 6-8 lane boulevard lined with commercial strips with huge parking lots in the front like we often see here.
Aside from that I'd say the inner parts of Canadian cities hold up pretty well to the Nordic cities when it comes to urbanity, urban amenities and liveliness. (Though not architecturally of course.)
Idk but i find it strange how higher car usage is a negative thing.
Canadians prefer to drive cars more than Swedes... big deal, we are in the 21st century..
I'm sure people do enjoy living in dense environments and they have good reasons to but many people prefer car friendly cities with quite neighborhoods with lots of space and trees and they enjoy their life there. https://www.google.com/maps/@43.9101...vhyoFx46QA!2e0
You might get a nice, convenient suburb with high car usage, but I don't think you get as appealing city with most people driving. A city with few people walking feels rather dead, and going past strip malls and parking lots isn't interesting.
As for the first two Canadian view, you picked some rather bland example. As for the bolded, where do you get that idea? You can find plenty of low density neighborhoods in Nordic suburbs, but of course not near the city center, why should there be? That wouldn't be variety. Appears to be Stockholm proper, looks more attractive than that Toronto burb IMO with the greenery and less of a wide concrete look:
I could keep going. If anything suburbia in the Scandivinian countries might be less dense than Canadian suburbs. The cities are denser and less car friendly. But that's more variety, so seems like a good deal all around.
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