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North downtown /= uptown


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#41 Scaper

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 10:11 AM

what's wrong with uptown? just curious why you don't like it.

#42 G-Man

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 10:33 AM

Because you can't have uptown as part of downtown.

Uptown to me will be the new T&C mall once they get some intensive residential around there.

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#43 Galvanized

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 10:42 AM

People have been calling the Mayfair area "uptown" already for years so as far as I'm concerned it's already taken.

North-town or north-downtown is too limiting and the areas with names already are what they are such as Chinatown and Rock Bay.

I used to envision this area being called our financial district because of the offices that were built on either side of the Hudson in the last couple of decades but with the amount of residential proposed that would be a silly name though it wouldn't be far off.

I like new town beause we already have an old town and the name disguinishes between the two. I also like the arena district since the new arena has spured some of this development. Discovery district has a nice ring to it too.

This is a great thread for those lurkers out there to post for the first time and give a suggestion, I'm sure there are some good ideas out there.
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#44 Scaper

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 06:08 PM

I still say it should be downtown...it's a block away from city hall...how can it not be downtown??? This is so silly!!!

#45 Holden West

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 06:13 PM

If there's a Downtown, doesn't logic follow that there has to be an Uptown as well?

It's like a planet with only one hemisphere.

Without an Uptown, Downtown is just "Town"!

:D
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#46 Scaper

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 06:29 PM

That's it....Call it all Town or The Core or The Heart of Victoria...No uptown downtown intown newtown oldtown chinatown crap....Just....The heart of Victoria!!! Scrap them all!!!

#47 G-Man

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 09:24 PM

AGH Scaper it is downtown but it can also be something else like Old town which is downtown but is also old town. So are you saying that it is not allowed a second name???

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#48 Scaper

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 10:40 PM

I just don't see the hudson being so far away from the CIBC building that it should be called downtown and uptown....they are a few blocks away from each other. But if you call it new town what would you call all the new development in the Humbolt Valley...as the Falls, the Aria, the Crystal Court and Y lot will be just as new as this block? Do you call the Hubolt South Town, then the CIBC center Downtown, then The Hudson and arena North town? It doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe because I have grown up in Saanich almost 90 percent of my life...I just see Downtown as one big entity. Maybe if Saanich gets some vision and creates a high density node in the Town and Country, Save on Foods area that could be called North Town or uptown. OR again maybe if Colwood does it in the Colwood Corners area this could be Uptown or North Town.

These are just my thoughts on this naming thing!!! :-D

#49 Holden West

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Posted 30 December 2006 - 11:25 PM

Naming sub districts is very valuable in identifying unique areas and enhancing the overall character of a city.

Of course, the whole area is called Downtown, but within that area we already have several sub-districts like Chinatown, Harris Green, Old Commercial District etc.

But the area to the north doesn't have a name. Or it does have a name (Rock Bay, subset of Burnside) but it's not a very accurate descriptor as it's not near water and sure doesn't feel like Burnside.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
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#50 aastra

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Posted 31 December 2006 - 10:37 AM

I think we should let areas name themselves. Call it what the people who live and work there call it. Allow that to evolve without being planned or forced.


Good call.

#51 G-Man

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Posted 31 December 2006 - 10:38 AM

How do we think anywhere gets a name? A few people that live in the city start calling it something and it catches on. Why can't we be the ones to do it? I live a three minute walk from here.

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#52 Ms. B. Havin

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Posted 31 December 2006 - 10:40 AM

^ "Harris Green"; "Humboldt Valley"... Who named that? It doesn't always work, and often a name gets stuck on before people actually live there in any great numbers, or before the people who work there or frequent it have bothered to give it much thought. I still think it would be too bad if the area got stuck with the name "North Downtown" as it's too geographical & limiting.

(Edit: my comment was in response to aastra -- i.e., I meant that it doesn't always work that the people living or working there come up with a name that makes sense, even if in an ideal world that would be the case. And re. G-Man's comment: he lives 3 min. walk from there and he's thinking about a name for it -- so he's an example of someone who lives [near] and/or uses the area.)
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#53 Baro

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Posted 31 December 2006 - 12:27 PM

As jane jacobs says in her chapter on hoods, it's stupid for government and groups to try to CREATE artificial areas on a map and name them as districts or neighbourhoods. Such things only happen organically. If an area is distinct, it will be distinct on its own, and a name will happen on its own.

The idea of strict borders is also ridiculous. City neighbourhoods flow and mix with each other and depend on the point of view. One person may think of their own neighbourhood as only the street they live on, while another person may think of a km radius around their home as their neighbourhood.

People who live on the borders of neighbourhoods that exist only on maps don't feel them selves in a corner, their neighbourhood is the area around them, it's a totally personal thing. One's personal neighbourhood is THE most important neighbourhood, and it's imposible to draw on a map.

There's nothing wrong with giving clearly distinct areas names and even a general location on a map, it can be a good planning aid. But when the city obesesses over these lines that only exist on a map and view them as concrete walls rather than ever changing fuzzy outlines, we often lose sight of the big picture of the city.

For example, take the plans for developing the crystal court motel. If you stood on the corner and asked everyone who walked by if they were downtown, 90% would say yes. It's surrounded by tall buildings and apartmnets, yet because it's on the wrong side of one of these berlin-walls that seperate neighbourhoods, it's suddenly held to totally different standards. A tall building is ok DOWNTOWN, but james bay is a sleepy residential neighbourhood of mainly houses and almost no tall buildings (or so they like to claim), thus anything on this lot must be "james bay scaled", even though most everyone would view this area as downtown.

Even in this forum we all view the city in different ways. Some of us refer to downtown as quite a large area, stretching from beacon hill park all the way to the bloody cement plant, while other people view downtown as a maybe a couple dozen blocks between The Falls Site and the old Bay building.

Who cares what exact neighbourhood a building is in, rather look at its immediate neighbours and go out from there to judge if a building is right for an area. This is how most people view their city, from the ground level, not from a planning map.
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