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The City of Houston, Texas is like that right now. I think it's really nice to see modern glass office towers scattered around the city. It gives it a "futuristic" look. There are no zoning laws in Houston is what they tell me. Which I guess that to mean that if you want to put up an office tower you don't have to build it in the downtown area.
I understand... This isn't based on my own ideas. This is just based on major studies that have been done. It's also the reason why the federal government has been providing funds for feasibility studies for high speed rail along the corridor. It doesn't appear that this is possible but from what I've read, the southeast is growing at an alarming rate.
I understand that Wikipedia isn't always a reliable source, but it is sometimes the most user friendly. Feel free to research it based on the information provided in the article.
How much of the nation uses rail for travel these days? It is cost prohibitive. If one can hop on a $69 SW Airlines flight which only takes half of one day, what would make them want to spend more than double than for an entire day?
Train travel isn't the romantic notion it was 70 years ago.
I think only Laval is building high-rises nowadays among Montreal suburbs.
For Toronto's suburbs, they're mostly being built in more expensive suburbs (north and west), east and northwest are building little. That includes both true suburbs, and former suburbs that have been merged into the city (mostly North York and Etobicoke) which are similar to what you'd call first and second ring suburbs but with way more high-rises. I think high-rises make up a majority of new multi-family in Toronto's suburbs. Toronto's core is building high-rises a bit faster than the suburbs though these days, even compared to what's there now.
Toronto core (Old Toronto, East York and York)
Highrises built before 2007: 1251
Highrises built since 2007: 220
Highrises under construction: 103
Toronto suburban (North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough and suburbs)
Highrises built before 2007: 1440
Highrises built since 2007: 230
Highrises under construction: 67
Vancouver's suburbs are building a fair bit of high-rises too, but I think 3-6 storey apartment buildings make up a bigger share of new multi-family than in Toronto suburbs.
None of Canada's suburbs are building very large amounts of office high-rises though, pretty much all the high-rises are residential. Office buildings being built these days in the suburbs are mostly 4-8 storey, even though there have been high-rise offices built in decent numbers in the suburbs (at least Toronto's) 2-3 decades ago.
You want to know what highrises in the suburbs will look like? This is already very common where I live, I've linked a bunch of suburban areas below. No, they don't look like traditional pre-war urban areas, despite the skyscrapers. Why would they, just because of the presence of scrapers? They were built in another time period, and driven by different forces. But they don't quite look like the late 20th century suburbia that surrounds them either. These areas are all basically "new", none would have been confused with anything but traditional suburban areas (mostly non-residential districts of them, mind you), 30-40 years ago, and in some cases there was barely anything there at all 30 years ago.
Most of that's pretty dated, too, it's becoming much more so a region of suburban skyscraper nodes. But it's just an idea of what it could look like in other areas. The reason this exists in the forms it does locally are a mix of suburban rapid transit or other highly efficient and desirable public transit, restrictions on suburban development, favourable zoning, and high housing prices.
Wind turbines are skyscrapers (politically-correct ones)
Quote:
Originally Posted by gottaq
Will we see a trend where skyscrapers are starting to be built in suburbs? the inner-ring suburbs obviously, not the exurbs. Will inner ring suburbs eventually look like the city?
We've already got skyscrapers blighting rural areas and suburban fringes in the form of 400-foot wind turbines. I think all skyscrapers belong as close to big cities as possible. Leave the last vestiges of open space alone!
^ im aware, so im saying will we see this trend continue and will these inner rings become their own cities in a sense? or will the skyscrapers move back towards the urban centers? that is the question lol
You can't really "move" a skyscraper.
All kidding aside, I am seeing skyscrapers going up in cities as well.
The only reason someone builds a high rise is because of the cost of land so it has to be worth it for them to build up. The cost of building above 8 floors starts rising astronomically. Many suburbs shouldn't have a need for this unless they are just so close to the inner city that land costs are almost the same or land values are high because of mansions, etc. At that point though, what is the advantage of being in a suburb over the actual city? Maybe incentives, etc?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bhamoutlook
It could happen and very soon. Especially in the southeast where studies are showing that the I-85 corridor could become a megalopolis by 2050. This megalopolis could include the current cities of Birmingham, Atlanta, Greenville, Spartanburg, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham, and Raleigh.
Fort Worth is already an example of this where it is considered a Dallas suburb but has almost 800k in population and is really recognized as its own city or as many people just say Dallas/Fort Worth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
Fort Worth isn't a Dallas suburb, but is its own city and serves as another urban center in that metro.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bhamoutlook
I think I kind of meant the same thing but didn't really get my point across clearly. Thank you for the correction.
Interesting thoughts on DFW, which is currently home for me over last 1 1/2 years.
Drive up Hwy. 75 or the Tollway in Dallas and you'll see plenty of "non-downtown" with plenty of what I'd consider skyscrapers - so it's already happening in Dallas. I'm intrigued by the thought of skyscrapers only happening due to cost of land. I wouldn't consider land in Dallas to be that insanely expensive that there would be a desperate need to build up, but I wonder if the influx of people (and jobs needing offices) makes it still economically feasible? Yes, a developer could buy the land and build a smaller building, but there's enough demand to incur the construction costs to build up, while still filling the building?
As far as "D and FW", I get what Bham was intending...will DFW become a "megalopolis" like some of those other areas? Perhaps in some sense it is, but one thing I discovered quickly upon arriving is in spite of it being called the "DFW metroplex", Dallas and Ft. Worth are two cities far apart and with lots of land in between them. There are all the "Mid-Cities" between them such as Arlington, but the downtowns are a solid 30-40 minute drive on I-30. On the skyscraper question, I cannot imagine there will be that much demand and that much expense to need skyscrapers in the Mid-Cities any time soon.
I come from Minneapolis - St. Paul, where those cities are really one metro area. The downtowns can be reached in about 15 minutes on I-94 without traffic and the borders butt up against each other. Only reason you even know you crossed into a new city is a small sign welcoming you to the new city. However, in that metro I would imagine land is inexpensive enough developers would build out vs. up.
Our inner suburbs are all medium-density buildings with scattered skyscrapers here and there.
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Wind turbines are skyscrapers (politically-correct ones)
