Urban Tech Links: UTL: Search results for LA

Unlike the 2009 YVR-Canada Line, which is still only running 2 car joke trains, La REM has 4 car trains. Hardly as long as a 9 car Metro train, but it can run with shorter headways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Line_(Montreal_Metro)#Proposed_extensions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Line_(Montreal_Metro)#Rolling_stock 6 car trains

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Major hotel and condo tower proposed for 1166 West Pender Street

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1166-west-pender-street-vancouver-hotel-condo-tower-reliance-hines-2026-concept

Of course Vancouver still isn't allowed to have residential towers as tall as what's in Calgary and Seattle.

https://www.cedistrict.com/projects/marriott-hotel-residences

https://majorprojects.alberta.ca/details/Stampede-Station-Hotel-Residences/11793

https://skyscraperpage.com/b168430/calgary/w-calgary

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=3&status=15

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Calgary#Proposed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telus_Sky 222.3 m (729 ft) vs 201 m in Vancouver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Calgary#Tallest_buildings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainier_Square_Tower 850-foot (260 m) vs 201 m in Vancouver.

https://skyscraperpage.com/b103432/seattle/rainier-square-tower

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=27&status=15

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Shangri-La 200.86 metres (659 ft) so, almost 201 m is the imposed height limit for Vancouver.

Saturday, July 11, 2026

LA’s ‘No-Car’ Olympics Plan Explained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT1WO8zWk7o

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Are People Moving To Seattle For The Weather?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvEwubAId_g

While Seattle doesn't quite get as much rain as Vancouver, BC, you still have to endure half a year of cold, damp & dreary weather. At least there usually isn't that much snow to shovel in the middle of winter.

Perhaps some people are getting fed up with 100F summers in other places.

While L.A. can easily have some 100F summer days, that's hardly the case in S.F. Indeed, SF doesn't get as hot as LA in the summer or as cold as Seattle in the winter. Honolulu just might have the best overall weather, not quite as hot during the summers in Miami and LA.

L.A. City and LA County

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUclitPknhE

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

The 15-30 minute city concept

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-minute_city

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198222000641

Ideally, if most things are within 15 minutes, that's great.

https://unfccc.int/news/the-15-minute-city

https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/industries/government-public/perspectives/urban-future-with-a-purpose/15-minute-city.html

Even in the case of urban sprawl, a lot of things can be built within 15-30 minute town centers.

https://policyoptions.irpp.org/2024/10/15-minute-cities-canada

https://www.oecd.org/en/blogs/2025/04/from-the-15-minute-city-to-the-30-minute-region-rethinking-how-we-live-and-connect.html

No matter how big a city or urban region is, 15-30 minute town centers can be built, but it can require a lot of work.

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/07/117975-could-la-be-15-minute-city

https://laist.com/brief/news/climate-environment/how-15-minute-cities-could-save-time-reduce-emissions-and-build-community

However, sometimes people still have to get across town for various reasons.

https://medium.com/sybarite/escape-to-a-15-minute-city-ce3707baf145 While its not impossible, to even establish 30 minute urban focal points in Greater L.A. can be challenging. If a person living in L.A. is within 15 minutes of walking or biking, or a bus or train trip from the stores and other services, that's great. However, a lot of people are still a 30-60 minute drive away from work & other places to get to. Thus, a 1 hour+ city is still unavoidable in some cases.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Urbanism/comments/1gtlylo/what_city_is_californias_best_option_for_a/

Friday, June 26, 2026

CN Tower celebrates 50 years of being a skyline icon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujWLEBhbdt8

If it were possible today, the KEEP VANCOUVER SMALL AND BACKWARDS people would still not permit any building to be a 3rd of the height of the CN_Tower. (CNT) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower#Height_comparisons

The Harbour_Centre opened just over a year after the CNT, and is just under a 3rd of its height. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbour_Centre#Height

https://www.cntower.ca/

Unfortunately, The Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) was able to ensure that the Canada_Line Stations aren't even quite a 3rd of the length of the 152.5 m Montreal Metro stations.

Even the North-Shore mountains aren't allowed to be as tall as the mountains north of L.A.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Shore_(Greater_Vancouver)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/LA_San_Gabriel_Mountains.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gabriel_Mountains#Gallery

Whether you are from Toronto or Chicago, LA or SF, Melbourne or Sydney, you might be shocked as to seeing how scaled down or watered down Vancouver is. Yet, the City of Paris, despite having a slightly smaller land area than Vancouver, can fit so much more inside. Boston and SF are only slightly larger in area than the City of Vancouver, yet they can also fit in so much more.

Is LA's Airport Train Actually Useful?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-9O8UYX3FQ

Ideally, an airport line can run from the city to the airport station. Sometimes, the airport station is just a stop on a larger line.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

How To Get from Vancouver (YVR) Airport to Vancouver City Center - Downtown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VPFqSyi1Z4

The Canada_Line could also be called Line 3 or the C-Line, but it isn't for some reason. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YVR-Airport_station

Its not just an airport line, but a line between Vancouver and Richmond.

L.A. has the C_Line_(Los_Angeles_Metro) to the LAX/Metro_Transit_Center. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinki_Sharyo_P3010

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyLink_(Los_Angeles_International_Airport)

Calgary has the CTrain , witch will eventually reach the airport.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CTrain#Spur_line_to_Calgary_International_Airport

Thursday, June 11, 2026

La Défense: Paris's Modern Transit Hub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNzAv5WN8Ts

Sunday, May 31, 2026

City's chief planner emphasizes creating a 'Vancouver approach' to taller towers

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-higher-buildings-review-taller-towers

Seattle, Calgary and Edmonton all have taller and wider downtowns, where as most of downtown Vancouver is confined to a small peninsula. Yet, Seattle, Calgary and Edmonton already each have a taller residential tower than what restrictive Vancouver allows.

So far, only three buildings have been permitted to be higher than the flag at the top of the 581 ft. Harbour_Centre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver

As of 2026, no residential tower within Vancouver has 65 stories and no office tower has been permitted to have a 40th floor.

Backwater BC is 75% mountainous, yet there has been such a cultivated fear that somehow provincial Vancouver could block out most of the mountains by allowing significantly taller towers.

Whenever retuning from Los_Angeles to Vancouver, you quickly realize that even the mountains just north of Vancouver are shorter than the ones in L.A. Its as if even the Vancouver mountains are under height restrictions.

Vancouver 450 ft and Fahrenheit 451

Was a 450 foot height restriction just by chance, or was it intentionally made to be very close to 451 Fahrenheit? Despite being around the same size as Paris, Boston & SF, Vancouver remains as a very restrictive city.

Any tall building in SL City is under 450 feet. Honolulu is still stuck around the 450 foot maximum, while San Diego is stuck at 500 feet. Even Rio DeGennaro still has shorter buildings than Vancouver, BC. Washington, DC has strict height limitations like Paris. However, W,DC could eventually set up their own equivalent of La_Defense. Its a fine example of allowing tall buildings just beyond the city limits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451 (1953) By the 1950s, so many things were already banned, watered down or scaled back in provincial backwater Vancouver. Generations later, there was the No Fun City mind virus that further tried to cancel out things in such a small city with so much red tape and other ridiculous obstacles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451_(1966_film) By the mid and late1960s, the city made sure that its first office tower to have more than 29 floors wouldn't be until the 1970s. Its highly doubtful that Vancouver will have an office tower at, or over 40 stories by 2030. However, Burnaby and Surrey could, because they aren't under the extreme restrictions of the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV).

It wasn't until 1973 when Vancouver allowed its first building to be taller than the Los_Angeles_City_Hall. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_City_Hall

The Scotia_Tower (stump) is a good reference point to visualize the small scale of backwater Vancouver, as its about the same height as the Los_Angeles_City_Hall at 453'.

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/scotia-tower/4396 453'

https://skyscraperpage.com/b65/vancouver/the-scotia-tower 452'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Wall_Centre It opened in 2001 at 157.8 m (518 ft). Its 49 feet shorter than the Philadelphia_City_Hall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_City_Hall Opened in 1901 at 548 ft (167 m).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451_(2018_film) By 2018 it was quite apparent that Vancouver was in the process of allowing for more buildings over 450 feet. However, nothing has been permitted to reach 700 feet, so far. A tower over 1000 feet would help to water down its provincial mindset.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Vancouver_panorama_%2849988799796%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/3840px-Vancouver_panorama_%2849988799796%29_%28cropped%29.jpg

SF, Sydney & Auckland are just as scenic as Vancouver & warmer throughout the year. They all have taller building than what Vancouver currently permits. Seattle is just as scenic as Vancouver, but its allowed to function like a proper big city, because it doesn't have the imposed restrictions like Vancouver has. While its cold, damp & depressing like Vancouver during the fall & winter, Seattle usually gets noticeably hotter summers than Vancouver, BC. The tallest building in Seattle is the 76 story B of A office tower.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/LA_Skyline_Mountains2.jpg/1280px-LA_Skyline_Mountains2.jpg While the L.A. City Hall looks like a stump there, in Vancouver it would still be one of the prominent buildings.

Everything is so small or scaled back in Vancouver. Even the Greater Vancouver mountains aren't allowed to be as tall as the ones in L.A. While the San_Francisco_Bay & Port_Phillip Bay by Melbourne are big next to their cities, English_Bay in_Vancouver is so much smaller. Its even smaller than Elliott_Bay by Seattle.

Vancouver really needs to have bus and HOV bridges built next to its mostly narrow & congested bridges. Only a 5 car Skytrain is the max on the first 2 lines and ultimately, just a 2.5 car joke of a train on the YVR-Canada Line.

Selective+Door+Operation can allow a short train to have an extra car at each end, despite a shorter platform.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Vancouver_sunset_%28J%29.jpg/3840px-Vancouver_sunset_%28J%29.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Los_Angeles_with_Mount_Baldy.jpg/3840px-Los_Angeles_with_Mount_Baldy.jpg

Australia like the USA, has some big & tall cities on the Pacific Rim. However, Vancouver symbolically kept watering down its size, because that's how you demonstrate a reluctance towards proper urban planning & growth.

Oddly enough, the imposed small scale Vancouver mentality & agenda wasn't adopted by most cities around the world. Officially, there is no Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV), but somehow something like it keeps manifesting, just like the BCMV.

Despite its size, Canada has less than 1% of the worlds population. Its been difficult enough just for Canada to even have half of 1% of the worlds population.

One expects Melbourne and Sydney to be proper big cities. However, Australia has big stuff at both ends of the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges#Design Its a 12 lane crossing in Brisbane.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrows_Bridge_(Perth) 10 lanes with 2 commuter train tracks in the middle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane_Skytower It has 90 floors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q1_(building) Almost has 80 floors.

Perth Central_Park_(skyscraper) at 51 floors and 108_St_Georges_Terrace at 50. Very restrictive Vancouver still won't permit any office tower to have a 40th floor. Calgary and Seattle each have a few over 50 stories.

So far, provincial Halifax hasn't been allowed to be on a similar scale as Boston and Montreal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_L._Macdonald_Bridge 3 lanes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Murray_MacKay_Bridge 4 lanes.

The scale of Vancouver is kept below that of Calgary & Seattle or even Auckland, in some ways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Gate_Bridge A classic 3 lane BC bottleneck-chokepoint. No parallel bus and truck tunnels and especially, no LRT tunnel.

Provincial backwater Victoria isn't allowed to be on a similar scale of Wellington, NZ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Street_Bridge Another BC 3 lane wonder.

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Senakw's first completed tower

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/senakw-rental-housing-rents-rates-first-tower-completion-photos

These towers should have been taller, because they aren't supposed to be under Vancouver's very restrictive height limitations.

So far, no residential tower in Vancouver has been permitted to be as tall as the 222.3 m (729 ft) Telus_Sky Tower in Calgary, or the 250.9 m (823 ft) Stantec_Tower in Edmonton. Then especially, the 850-foot (260 m) Rainier_Square_Tower in Seattle. The former Living_Shangri-La (Park Hyatt) is the tallest within Vancouver's city limits at 200.86 m (659 ft).

Vancouver has yet to ever permit an office tower to have a 40th floor.