10-07-2025, 04:07 PM
(10-01-2025, 06:02 AM)nms Wrote: I'm not a fan of taking up of virtually every last square centimetre of the property. It removes any ground level outdoor spaces which might encourage casual interactions between the property and the streetscape.
A problem is that lot of the time, outdoor spaces on urban condo properties are very hit and miss in terms of actual use, whether they're private (on a podium) or ground level private-public park space. It's very frequent that they just become these disused, void spaces that aren't properly being utilized in any meaningful capacity and increasingly, developers would prefer to shrink them in size rather than spend money to make a space very few in the building (or the general public) will actually use on a regular basis, then have to maintain them for years and these days often consider security measures if there is drug use being seen (initially, this was an issue at 55 Duke where nearby addicts would use the open space off of Duke Street to study their rocket science, but they mostly chased them off).
I see this all the time in Toronto where I live, but it's common in most cities these days. Whether you're walking around downtown, midtown or areas with some clusters of density if you stroll through these properties chances are you won't see that many people out no matter how many times you visit, relative to how many live in said building or pass by. It's heightened in midsized cities/regions like Waterloo Region too, due to the lack of density. You can walk around a place like Tehran or Hong Kong and people are everywhere due to how many there are. But here it's a lot different.
Plus, I suspect that besides the issues of them being private property and not feeling that inviting (even if you are a condo owner...you still know you don't truly own any of what you "bought"), it's an issue of the third space. People desperately seek places like this, especially within this globohomo world which has significantly reduced said third spaces. Neighbourhood cafes, bowling alleys, community centres, pool halls, arcades, social clubs etc all still exist but not like they used to. People want to get out and do things beyond home/work/planned meetups with friends, but if you want to "encourage casual interactions between the property and the streetscape" you need more than a small courtyard next to a condo tower. Thus, developers often think what's the point in spending money on this?
But! That's not to say it can't be done. Some actually do manage to do it successfully. As horrifically ugly as The Gaslight Condominiums with the barcode podium is, they did do a fairly decent private-public outdoor/indoor space utilizing the old structures. Thanks to the efforts of the property owners and others associated, they regularly put on events there and having retail included also draws in shoppers. But that was a unique one because they had a significant amount of space to play with. The average low quality, cookie cutter pre-cast condo or apartment tower lacks that and so it's tricky to justify building a big outdoor space.