Comment 69170

By mystoneycreek (registered) - website | Posted September 07, 2011 at 12:00:11 in reply to Comment 69164

I know I'm not telling you anything new here...nor many RTHers, either...so please forgive me for thinking out loud... But before the advent of 'lobbed sprawl' (my own phraseology), urban areas grew organically, correct? A hub grew out of certain circumstances, and expanded organically outward. But this growth contained within it those features that were required for any location to sustain itself in the first place: work, retail, leisure... No matter what country you go to, you can identify 'organic growth' easily; it looks and feels so much different from 'lobbed sprawl', where- Well, where the heart of the impetus is most often 'development'. And as a result, most everything ends up giving off an antiseptic feel, not an authentic 'neighbourhood' vibe at all.

Any time I've been through a 'sub-division' here in Ontario, whether it be around Rymal Road, out Governor's Road, in Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, there's this sense of unnaturalness about the 'neighbourhoods'. They're plunked houses with no corner stores, no 'main streets'...nuthin' except these nasty, characterless strip malls...which always seem to me to be terrible knock-offs of 'main streets' in small towns.

(Where I'm currently staying is an odd example of a non-lobbed-sprawl subdivision...but definitely not a 'small town' situation, either.)

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