"LRTs displace all the poor people"?

[Viewfromthe42]

Do you have examples of FSR's for other cities downtown cores? 3 seems very low.

I would say 3 is pretty low for downtown, but ok for downtown adjacent neighbourhoods. 

Barcelona's Eixample was calculated to has a floor space to area ratio of 2.65.
http://densityatlas.org/casestudies/profile.php?id=92

However, that would include streets and parks. You also have to take into account that Barcelona doesn't have uniform building heights, there's many in the 8-10 storey range, but also others around 3-5. That website probably include spaces like elevators and stairwells in the building area too though, they probably just multiplied the building footprint by the height since it can be difficult to find data on just the floor area of the units.

More examples here:
 http://densityatlas.org/casestudies/inde...ale&s=desc

The other thing to keep in mind, is the more streets, parks/squares, as well un-redevelopable low density buildings* there are, the less of a need there is for new developments to have courtyards and setbacks to ensure access to light, which means higher densities can be achieved.

*ex many public buildings, or historic buildings

Keep in mind that many in the public view things differently. A group of Jane's Walk-ers were discussing how important it is that if you have single family home(s) turned into condos, any trees and open space should be more than replaced with fully public accessible areas. Specifically on that matter, if you had two trees on your front lawn, and a large fenced backyard with four more, then whatever might replace your home should have more than six trees, and more grass space than your private front lawn and private backyard combined, and all of it fully publicly accessible. No one seemed to consider that they don't want random people pitching picnics on their front lawn, or bringing a dog to run around in a backyard that isn't theirs, but had no qualms about suggesting that the change of a single family home to anything else meant replacing all the private green space with public green space.