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Downtown Real Estate

^^High incomes, you can afford sprawl and a car and Downtown is less of a priority here overall. Prairie growth with no limits.
 
David A said:
Edmonton is a young city, pretty much designed with a suburban focus and that mentality is hard to change, particularly when those people find going or living downtown inconvenient, scary or expensive.
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Being a young city is not a good reason. My hometown is just shy of 10 years older, and was also designed originally with a sprawling mentality, because it only became a major city in the 1950s, when it was chosen to be an industrial hub in the SE of the country, and there was a huge lobby from the automotive industry here (it was the home of Mercedes' first car factory in the Southern hemisphere, and one of 3 currently in operation).

It changed gears during the mid 1990s, when the municipal government started to make changes to prioritize transit and walkability, and most of the change was done through the guidance of the government, until it gained enough momentum, in the mid 2000s.

We lack the political will, it seems, in Edmonton, to do it.
 
That would not explain Calgary, or even why Red Deer has a quite nice downtown with quite a good mix of retail and service businesses.
 
ChazYEG said:
Being a young city is not a good reason. My hometown is just shy of 10 years older, and was also designed originally with a sprawling mentality, because it only became a major city in the 1950s, when it was chosen to be an industrial hub in the SE of the country, and there was a huge lobby from the automotive industry here (it was the home of Mercedes' first car factory in the Southern hemisphere, and one of 3 currently in operation).

It changed gears during the mid 1990s, when the municipal government started to make changes to prioritize transit and walkability, and most of the change was done through the guidance of the government, until it gained enough momentum, in the mid 2000s.

We lack the political will, it seems, in Edmonton, to do it.
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Its not as much about restricting space downtown as it is about restricting suburban sprawl. On that note, property developers are generous contributors to pretty much every one on city council.

So, yeah lack of political will
 
ChazYEG said:
Being a young city is not a good reason. My hometown is just shy of 10 years older, and was also designed originally with a sprawling mentality, because it only became a major city in the 1950s, when it was chosen to be an industrial hub in the SE of the country, and there was a huge lobby from the automotive industry here (it was the home of Mercedes' first car factory in the Southern hemisphere, and one of 3 currently in operation).

It changed gears during the mid 1990s, when the municipal government started to make changes to prioritize transit and walkability, and most of the change was done through the guidance of the government, until it gained enough momentum, in the mid 2000s.

We lack the political will, it seems, in Edmonton, to do it.
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I think its a fascinating question and a super valuable comparison. We need to look at how cities in places outside of Canada, the US, and Western Europe function.

My instinct is that part of the answer would be connected to wealth disparity. It's fairly easy to hire a large number of cleaners at $2 an hour without benefits than it is when they have to be union jobs north of $30 an hour with benefits. We have been on a 30 year run of pursuing ever lower taxes in Canada and there are fewer and fewer things we are willing to invest in. And our cities show it.
 
Oliver is full of trees and parks and has smaller, residential type streets. Downtown has few trees and a lot of roads larger than 4 lanes. Those two things alone create a massively different experience.

Here’s 5 randomly chosen street views from the same time of year for each area. Oliver vs downtown is drastically different outside of 104ave and jasper

. B66BC087-253D-4D27-9659-53CD33C0333E.png3654F63A-A952-44AB-B2FA-0D0009FBC021.png3669EE7A-6E2F-4CCA-9940-DC2D30A82520.png5A2BE215-D025-4127-B180-CC0E820EC5D6.pngC7F2E265-C167-409A-A5CE-2B5D2E37AD79.pngC278A232-DDF7-4A91-BD33-5B8EEB3C0C03.png49B45205-BF72-4C52-BB49-94639CA62972.pngE373DEC7-A5B8-4707-AC82-D57E1FE83A12.png5334B150-426B-4C79-982F-2B2AE8E1824B.pngF3ADEBC3-8EF9-4A41-8E32-8629EDC75F08.png
 
Sometimes I feel like I am shouting into the wind, but here are two thoughts on this:

1. One of the biggest issues for the downtown in Edmonton is the cost of SFH, which is much lower than other cities. Why would a person buy a condo in the centre when they can still afford a larger house? There are some people who truly like urban living, but I can guarantee you that many people scrimping to afford a condo in Toronto would kill to be able to buy an entire house. Downtown will only really hit its stride when people are forced to choose between long commutes or a central condo.

2. Urban design isn't perfect in Edmonton, but the city has come a very long way in the past 10 years. Almost every neighbourhood renewal has included road diets, wider sidewalks and bike lanes. The real problem is arterials, which seem to get refurbished much more slowly and leave a bad impression if you only ever drive around the city.
 
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