Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Hotel Vancouver. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Hotel Vancouver. Sort by date Show all posts

Saturday, November 22, 2025

The small Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/westin-bayshore-vancouver-best-luxury-hotel  

https://vancouversbestplaces.com/vancouver-hotels/vancouver-westin-bayshore-hotel

Of course the Vancouver location wasn't allowed to be as big as the Westin in Seattle. Just like the Hotel+Vancouver wasn't designed to be as tall and especially as wide as the Royal+York+Hotel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westin_Seattle "The hotel originally consisted of a single 40 story tower, today's south tower, reaching a height of 121 m (397 ft). The tower was topped out in January 1969 and the hotel opened on June 29, 1969." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westin_Seattle#History "The 137 m (449 ft), 47-story north tower opened in June 1982..." 

While Vancouver is only warm for half of the year, at best, the old Bayshore Inn wasn't allowed to be as big as anything in Waikiki. 

https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/council-approves-new-policy-address-vancouvers-hotel-room-shortage.pdf 

https://corporatemeetingsnetwork.ca/2025/05/01/tackling-vancouvers-hotel-shortage-crisis/

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/no-rooms-at-the-inns-knock-on-effects-of-vancouvers-hotel-shortage 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/vancouver-s-last-undeveloped-waterfront-site-could-house-convention-centre-hotel-according-to-city-memo/ar-AA1vO3Bz 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Westin_Seattle_from_Olive_8.jpg
Unlike Seattle, Vancouver no longer has its first 40 story hotel. Perhaps if the city had allowed a much taller condo tower, the hotel tower could have been saved. Or, a new double tower combination of a 55 story hotel and 65 story condo tower. Instead, the old landmark was replaced with 2 stumps that have less than 40 stories.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Empire_Hotel_Landmark.jpg/330px-Empire_Hotel_Landmark.jpg 

Other cities seemed to be more interested in cultivating their hotel and tourism industry. Even encouraging more hotel towers. However, Vancouver with its very strict (multigenerational) imposed height restrictions, kept falling behind.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/sep/27/wipe-out-era-1970s-vanish-vancouver 

After several decades of keeping Vancouver hotels short and small, now the city realized that there aren't enough hotel rooms for the tourism industry. 

https://globalnews.ca/video/11127278/biv-vancouver-needs-thousands-more-hotel-rooms

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-tourism-risk-hotel-development-construction-policies 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_Seattle Vancouver has yet to permit a big, bulky hotel like this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainier_Square_Tower While this isn't a hotel, its 60m taller than the tallest building in Vancouver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telus_Sky No hotel, just an office and residential tower. However, its about 22m taller than the tallest in Vancouver. 

The (unofficial) rule is that almost everything in Vancouver has to be scaled back or watered down in size.  


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=hotels  

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Hotel+Vancouver

Thursday, October 30, 2025

World Cup lodging shortfall predicted in Vancouver

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/airbnb-wants-str-rules-relaxed-for-upcoming-2026-fifa-world-cup-in-vancouver-1.7649128  

The proposed 27-storey hotel tower at the edge of Stanley Park is drawing pushback from West End residents over its scale https://vancouversun.com/news/proposed-west-end-tower-that-aims-to-fill-vancouvers-hotel-shortage Parking lots and almost delapadeted buildings should be selected first. This building still seems to be in reasonable shape. 

https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/vancouver-needs-10k-more-hotel-rooms-says-report-10508458

https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-major-hotel-policy-overhaul-room-shortage

https://www.destinationvancouver.com/media/media-releases/BC-hotel-association-provides-recommendations-to-spur-new-hotel-development 

Lots of people in some parts of the West_End end are still accustomed to stumpy buildings, despite the very high land costs. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Vancouver-stanley-park.jpg/960px-Vancouver-stanley-park.jpg Many other cities aren't afraid to build tall close to the water or parks.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Vancouver_west_end.jpg/960px-Vancouver_west_end.jpg People shouldn't be displace just becaus of a new development. An agreement should be reached so that they can still remain in the new structure. However, it's the height issue that usually keeps popping up. A lot of people that still remember Vancouver as a provincial backwater of a city want it to remain that way for as long as possible.

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/2030-2038-barclay-st , https://stop2030barclay.ca 

https://henriquezpartners.com/projects/2030-barclay The height proposal is at lest a dozen floors too short, it should be about 20 stories taller.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2030-barclay-street-vancouver-stanley-park-hotel-tower

https://storeys.com/marcon-barclay-street-vancouver-hotel The issue here is that a lot of people don't want a stump replaced with an atempt of a taller building. The people that live there should have the option to live in the new building. If the city and the developer could reach an agreement to allow the current residents to move into the lower floors of the tower. Then remain there at a reasonable rental rate for as long as they want. Then eventually after all the former residents have moved on or passed on, the lower floors could be repurposed into hotel rooms. If a developer in such a situation could agree to that, then the city should allow them to build 15-20 floors higher than 27 stories.

That gets back to the height restriction issue in Vancouver. Other cities have allowed tall buildings right up to the edge of a park. It seems that no one from Vancouver was able to ever stop Sydney. Rather, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) never made it there to thwart big, bustling Sydney.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg/960px-Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Global_Citizen_Festival_Central_Park_New_York_City Anything like the VMV would have thwartted NYC so badly. 

Of course it would have been great if there was future space south of the Hotel+Vancouver (with only 507 rooms) to build a 55-65 story tower. A VPL and Hotel+Vancouver tower could have been started there in the mid 1950s, but Vancouver was still too much of a provincial backwater then. The Fairmont_Royal_York is nice and wide with 1,363 rooms


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westin_St._Francis "...the St. Francis one of the largest hotels in the city, with more than 1,254 rooms and suites." 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_San_Francisco_Union_Square "Renovated in 2017, it is the largest hotel on the West Coast,[8] with 1,921 rooms."

Fortunately, Sydney, Melbourne, SF and Toronto were never under anything like a Vancouverization agenda. Somehow that backwards mentality was never adopted in most real cities.

https://bcbusiness.ca/industries/real-estate/land-values-how-the-hotel-shortage-in-vancouver-is-coinciding-with-a-boom-in-tourism The BC Mind Virus is so firmly entrenched that its still very difficult to properly upgrade things.


 https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC+hotel+shortage

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

The Stack Tower, or is it just another stumpy office building in Vancouver, BC?

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/the-stack-office-tower-1133-melville-street-vancouver-tallest-greenest

It's all about Stumps+and+Towers.

There is no office tower in Vancouver or BC that has ever been allowed to have a 40th floor. Seattle has the 76 story B of A tower & Toronto has the 72 story BMO tower. That's because those cities aren't under anything like the restrictions and limitations that Vancouver has. If you can't build a wall around BC, the next best thing is to limit or reduce the scale of things. Then continually fall behind with the overall infrastructure.

Vancouver not only has limited the scale of office towers, but residential towers as well. It would seem that there is more of a demand now for residential towers than office towers.

Seattle, Calgary & Edmonton all have allowed a residential tower to be taller than anything in Vancouver. 

https://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.com/search?q=Vancouver+House

London, UK for the longest time, refused to permit taller buildings. Then eventually as the land became so expensive, they eventually started to allow some towers that even rivaled that of Paris & Frankfurt. Some of the towers would not even be stumps when compared to those in NYC & Chicago.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/no-rooms-at-the-inns-knock-on-effects-of-vancouvers-hotel-shortage If the city would allow taller buildings, then the hotel companies could build more rooms on the lower half, while providing condos on the upper half. Or, visa versa. 

https://storeys.com/vancouver-hotel-shortage-council-motion Fortunatly, many other cities are able to keep up with getting more hotel rooms built. https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/09/08/vancouver-hotels-shortage-city-councillor/

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-hotel-supply-shortage-demand

https://www.bcbusiness.ca/Land-Values-How-the-hotel-shortage-in-Vancouver-is-coinciding-with-a-boom-in-tourism

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/city-of-vancouver-hotel-room-shortage-new-policies

Of course by the late 1800s, Montreal & Toronto had a sense of becoming major cities. Then by the early & mid 1900s, it became even more apparent. In the early 21st century, Vancouver is still stuck in a multi-decade rut of wanting to stunt, thwart or hold back the city in any way possible.

https://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.com/search?q=The+No+Fun+City

Most of the regional bridges or crossings have been deliberately kept so narrow that it's almost impossible to have a proper regional express bus network to compliment the short sighted Skytrain stations.

All the narrow bridges should have had additional Bus+and+HOV+Lane bridges by now.

https://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.com/search?q=HOV

The stump city has so much potential, but only if Vancouver reaches for the sky.


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=stumps

Friday, September 26, 2025

Toronto Royal York Hotel vs. The Hotel Vancouver

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

When you live in stumpy Vancouver for several decades, its always amazing to see how much wider the buildings are allowed to be in other cities.

https://torontopics.me/2016/08/29/fairmont-royal-york-hotel

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Toronto_-_ON_-_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Royal_York#Location "Opened on 11 June 1929, the Châteauesque-styled building is 124 metres (407 ft) tall, and contains 28 floors."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Royal_York#Design 1363 rooms

 https://www.thefairmontroyalyork.com , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Hotels_%26_Resorts#Properties

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

"Opened in May 1939, the Châteauesque-styled building is considered one of Canada's grand railway hotels. The hotel stands 112.47-metre-tall (369.0 ft), and contains 17 floors."

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/The_Fairmont_Hotel_Vancouver_%2842914562450%29.jpg Had the entier block been reseverd for future hotel space, a 65 story tower could have eventually been built, beside the first phase. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Hotel_vanc_2007.jpg/960px-Hotel_vanc_2007.jpg However, some people might not have liked an extension of the HV to become the tallest building in the city again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Vancouver#Design

https://www.straight.com/living/experience-magic-of-autumn-at-fairmont-hotel-vancouver 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/CN_Tower_observation_level_2023d.jpg  Toronto like most real cities, is able to set aside enough space to go wider. Narrow-minded Vancouver just keeps going the other way by continually watering the scale of things down. 

The Hotel Vancouver could have been designed with future expansion in mind to its south. The Royal York had enough space to eventually add a wing to the east side of the building.


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC+Hotels 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Hotel+Vancouver

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Metro Vancouver beaches with E.coli advisories

 https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/interactive-map-vancouver-beaches-e-coli-advisories-2024-9130797

Despite Vancouver being cold, depressing & damp for half of the year, the urban beaches should be in better shape. Plus, there should be a lot more hotel rooms in the metropolitan region.

Fortunately, other urban beaches around the world realize that it hurts their tourism business if they have crappy beaches.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfers_Paradise,_Queensland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfers_Paradise,_Queensland#Sport_and_recreation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfers_Paradise,_Queensland#Transport


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Beach,_Florida

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Isles_Beach,_Florida

https://www.miamiandbeaches.com/things-to-do/beaches


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waik%C4%ABk%C4%AB

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheraton_Waikiki_Hotel This hotel isn't 64 stories, it only has 32, but it has over 1600 rooms. Vancouver has been very reluctant to have wide buildings like this.

Number of rooms1636
Number of suites131
Number of restaurants2
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Sheraton_Waikiki_from_Waikiki_Beach.jpg In Vancouver, its tough enough just to have a hotel with 700 rooms.

https://www.cntraveler.com/hotels/united-states/honolulu/hyatt-regency-waikiki-resort---spa Over 1200 rooms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_Seattle 1260 rooms.

It's been very difficult for Vancouver to think, plan & build on a big scale. Especially, with some of the most restrictive building limits around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_Vancouver 650 rooms. Despite not being close to a beach, there should have been a provision to have a 2nd tower next to the Hyatt_Regency_Vancouver. Or, enough space to double the width of the existing building. Or, add about 20 floors to the single hotel tower. If the Royal_Centre complex was always going to just consist of 2 towers, then the office tower & the hotel tower should have been designed to eventually add another 20 stories. Not a problem for Seattle or Calgary, because they are allowed to be proper big cities.

https://www.hyatt.com/hyatt-hotels/en-US/yvrph-hyatt-vancouver-downtown-alberni Only about a quarter of Vancouver's tallest building is a hotel.

Cleaner beaches and more support for tourism would be of great benefit to Vancouver & BC. Especially, for taller & wider hotels, but that's what a big city would do. Vancouver is still a small-minded city that occasionally likes to pretend that its grown up.


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Metro+Vancouver+beaches

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=hotel+rooms

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Vancouver is Canada's top hotel market

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-canada-hotel-market-us-visitors-tariffs-impact  

"Without major policy changes, the number of hotel rooms in Vancouver will continue to stagnate, making it harder and more expensive to visit the city.

If the City is serious about addressing Vancouver’s hotel shortage, it needs to introduce real incentives to make big hotel development attractive.

The City must allow condominiums to be integrated into hotel developments, providing an essential financial cushion for developers. At the same time, building height restrictions need to be relaxed — without taller buildings, there’s not enough strata residential use to subsidize hotel construction." https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-hotel-room-shortage-crisis-solutions

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=hotel+rooms

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Vancouver's forgotten streetcars and interurban trams

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/transportation-old/interurban-streetcar-hydrogen-rail-line-fraser-valley-bc-1942783

Fortunately, Toronto, NO, SF and Melbourne never got rid of all their streetcar and tram lines.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/downtown-vancouver-false-creek-streetcar-route-map

While backwards Vancouver wanted to be among the first cities to get rid of them, Vancouver will likely be one of the last cities to bring them back.

https://viewpointvancouver.ca/2021/04/06/a-bump-in-the-road-kits-points-hidden-streetcar-line/

Atlanta, SD, LA, Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle & Portland brought back some of their trollies in the form of modern LRT or tram-trains.

https://montecristomagazine.com/community/vancouvers-forgotten-streetcars

The sad irony is that Vancouver, Burnaby & NW really could have benefitted from following the Toronto, SF and Melbourne examples. 

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/history/last-ride-oak-streetcar-vancouver-1937040

https://www.facebook.com/groups/128486813979056/posts/1968090176685368

 https://maps.nicholsonroad.com/bcer/

https://humantransit.org/2010/02/vancouver-the-almost-perfect-grid.html

There used too be a streetcar route along Robson St., Denman St. & Davie St. A revived version of this could provide a nice downtown transit loop. However, that would go against the backwards mentality of Vancouver. Fortunately, the Vancouver mentality never made it to Atlanta & Dallas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Streetcar#Downtown_Loop_route_funded

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

Unfortunatly, Vancouver & BC are all about congestive planning.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/2026-fifa-world-cup-vancouver-1.7559067

With less than a year to go, its impossible to revive any streetcar lines, because that can take 5-10 years. There isn't even a network of regional bus bridges. Such inept transportation planning means that busses have to squeeze onto bridges that are mostly just 2 lanes each way. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-rising-costs-fifa-2026-world-cup-1.7573669

Despite the first SkyTrain line opening in 1985, it took until 2025 to start having5 car trains. The 2nd & 3rd lines are still only running 2 car trains.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/vancouver-short-on-hotel-rooms-silent-on-safety-costs-for-2026-world-cup/

Of course the city is decades behind in keeping up with having enough hotel rooms.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-hotel-shortage-2026-world-cup-1.7117696

https://vancouverfwc26.ca 

https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/articles/vancouver-host-seven-matches-canada-stadium-bc-place


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Trams-Trains+and+Streetcars

Thursday, February 20, 2025

30-storey tower with a Marriott hotel and rental homes proposed for the Yaletown part of Vancouver

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/888-896-cambie-street-vancouver-marriott-yaletown-hotel-npg

This should be a mixed-use hotel and tower of at least 65 stories.

https://www.travelpulse.ca/news/hotels-and-resorts/hotel-construction-to-add-457-rooms-to-greater-vancouver-inventory

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-hotel-shortage-2026-world-cup-1.7117696

From 1985 to 2010, there should have been a continual hotel expansion. Then, from 2010 & well into the 2040s, the number of hotel+rooms should still keep growing. 

The number of BC+Hotels must dramatically be increased in order to meet growing tourism demands. However, there is a multigenerational mentality or agenda to symbolically keep things small and inadequate in backwards BC. 

Despite its size, Canada has less than 1% of the world's population. BC is 23 times the size of Switzerland, yet it still doesn't even have the population of 1 CH. 

There are 2 prominent mindsets that would like to keep Canada having less than 1% of the population. The first mindset would still like Canada to be primarily just for people of European descent. The other mindset just has an overall, KEEP THEM OUT mentality, because its good for the environment. 

It seems odd that in this day & age, there is a mindset that would like Canada to still be a Whitman's Paradise. Then the extreme environmentalists just want the rest of the world to deal with most of the population & keep Canada under 1%. 

Since most of the world is nonwhite, there almost seems to a crossover of the KEEP THEM OUT agenda. Since most of the world's population is nonwhite, a SLOW GROWTH AGENDA would primarily be directed towards nonwhites.

Multiculturalism_in_Canada should mean that everyone can retain their heritage & cultural identity as well as be part of the nation at large.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiculturalism_in_Canada#Criticisms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiculturalism_in_Canada#Historical_context

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

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

https://www.canada.ca/en/services/culture/canadian-identity-society/multiculturalism.html

https://www.multiculturalcanada.ca , https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj-sjc/jsp-sjp/rp02_8-dr02_8/p2.html

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/about-multiculturalism-anti-racism/about-act.html

I have never been to Europe, but my ancestors are from there. 

https://ancnl.ca/guide/culture-and-social-life/multiculturalism-in-canada/

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

The White vs. the rest of the world mentality is becoming more out of place in the 21st century.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-diverse-countries

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-census-projects


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC+hotel+shortage

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Vancouver Building Height Limits

http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/protecting-vancouvers-views.aspx
http://vancouver4life.com/vancouver-skyline-2018

Vancouver building height limits are some of the most restrictive in the world.
http://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/final-council-report.pdf,
http://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/view-protection-guidelines.pdf

http://forbiddenvancouver.ca/hotel-vancouver-retold,
http://forbiddenvancouver.ca/category/vancouver-past-and-present

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Oakridge_Heights.jpg,
http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2013/10/04/revised-oakridge-centre-proposal-moves-closer-to-public-hearing

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/tag/downtownhttp://www.vancouvermarket.ca/tag/753-seymour

At the top left of this picture are a couple of the shortest office towers in Canada.
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/07/vancouver-aerial-photos-sk
The TD was the first office tower in Vancouver to actually have offices on a 30th floor, the TD tower in Toronto is almost 60 stories. The SB tower was the 2nd office tower permitted to rise above 35 floors, the SB in Toronto is double the height, at almost 70 stories.
So far, no office tower in Vancouver has been permitted to have a 40th floor, let alone 50, 60 or 70+ stories.
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/09/32-storey-office-tower-proposed-for-753-seymour-street

This picture shows the tallest office tower & the tallest residential tower in BC.
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/VC2-2.jpg

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Urban Tech Links .:. UTL

UTL - Personal observations of the urban world from a backwards Vancouver and backwater BC perspective. Indeed, it's always amazing to see what so many other cities can do, simply because they don't have anything like a Vancouver, Victoria & BC mentality to hold them back.

The Greater_Tokyo_Area is the most populated urban region on the planet.
https://wikimedia.org/Sand_Island_and_Honolulu.jpg Honolulu hasn't permitted any buildings to be as tall as what is in Miami, LA or SF. Indeed, Honolulu, has avoided having a Singapore or especially a HK size skyline. So far, no building has been allowed to be as tall as the Custom_House_Tower in Boston or the Smith_Tower in Seattle. Indeed, no buildings are even allowed to be as tall as the Los_Angeles_City_Hall at 453 feet or 138m.
https://wikimedia.org/Perth_airport.JPG No building in Vancouver is allowed to be as tall as the 2 tallest in Perth & Calgary.
Honolulu and 
Perth, WA are in such nice climate zones. They are a couple of the most isolated major cities on the planet. 
In some ways, Australia has been able to surpass Canada, despite it having a smaller land area & less population than Canada. Unlike Montreal & especially Vancouver, Perth & especially Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane, have allowed several taller buildings than what is allowed in Montreal & Vancouver. 
However, Honolulu's_tallest_buildings still haven't been permitted to even be as tall as the 2 tallest in the Giza_pyramid_complex in Cairo, Egypt

Urban Tech Links is a basic blog about referencing tall buildings & urban technology in various cities in general. Thus, it's mostly just a list of various urban and tech links. It's also about comparing various cities & infrastructure.
Some cities like to have narrow bridges, short trains & small buildings, like Vancouver, while many others cities reach for the sky
There is a point when a lot of major cities start to permit buildings to be taller than the 2 tallest pyramids in Egypt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids 
Paris & London, NYC & Chicago, Tokyo & Seoul...  


The BC part of Canada has tried to keep its infrastructure as small as possible for as long as possible.
It wasn't until the 1970s when strict & stubborn Vancouver started to allow for some buildings to be almost as tall as the 2 tallest Egyptian pyramids. https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=105524651&offset=50 

1973 Royal_Centre_(Vancouver) not quite as tall as .:.
1977 Harbour_Centre not counting the flagpole, its still shorter than the original height of the tallest Egyptian pyramid.
2001 One_Wall_Centre, not including its spire, was the first building in Vancouver & BC to be taller than the tallest pyramid in Egypt

For most of Vancouver's history, the city refused to permit any building to be taller than the pyramid on top of the 496' Custom_House_Tower in Boston, the 462' Smith_Tower in Seattle, the 453' Los_Angeles_City_Hall. Of course today they are all just like stumps. 481' and 471' are the original heights of the 2 tallest in the Giza_pyramid_complex.
https://wikimedia.org/Pyramids_of_the_Giza_Necropolis.jpg
https://wikimedia.org/Kheops-Pyramid.jpg
"Initially standing at 146.6 metres (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the world's tallest human-made structure for more than 3,800 years. Over time, most of the smooth white limestone casing was removed, which lowered the pyramid's height to the current 138.5 metres (454.4 ft)" 
HeightOriginal: 146.6 m (481 ft) or 280 cubits
Current: 138.5 m (454 ft)
HeightCurrently: 136.4 metres (448 ft)
Original: 143.5 m (471 ft; 274 cu)

"The 1997 study noted that the opportunities for buildings significantly exceeding existing permitted heights were limited. There were a total of five sites where buildings exceeding the 450 foot height limit are possible and two sites in the northwest corner of the Central Business District where heights up to 400 feet (exceeding the 300 foot limit) could be considered." https://council.vancouver.ca/20030515/pe2.htm

Indeed, it's tough to believe that for the longest time, any building in the BC part of Canada had to be considerably shorter than the Washington_Monument in DC or the Philadelphia_City_Hall.

Then Vancouver wouldn't permit any building to be as tall as the Cairo_Tower
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Tower "At 187 m (614 ft), it was the tallest structure in Egypt for 37 years until 1998..."
2016 was when a Hotel-Condo was allowed to be slightly taller than the Cairo-Tower

The Cairo_Flagpole is the world's tallest flagpole, at 201.952 m (662 ft 7 in) tall. No building in Vancouver is allowed to be as tall.
The Living_Shangri-La tower is close, but not quite.
Of course Vancouver, BC & even Canada can't stop Egypt from building big & tall.
{The origin of Al-Qahirah is said to come from the appearance of the planet Mars during the foundation of the City of Cairo. The planet Mars, which in Greek was called Ares, was associated with ruin or destruction and was called Al Najm Al Qahir in Arabic. Al Najm Al Qahir is transliterated as "the destroyer star [planet]".} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo#Etymology


https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-cairo-washington-dc Washinton, DC made sure that going into the 20th century, it was going to have mostly low rise buildings like Paris & London or Berlin. However, the Greater Paris Region would eventually allow some tall buildings in certain areas. London even moreso. Yet, Greater London & Metropolitan Paris, certainly have allowed some tall buildings. 

Vancouver has been under a multigenerational set of restrictions as well as a small thinking & planning agenda. Part of this might be attributed to a backwater BC mentality. However, some parts of Greater Vancouver are allowed to build on a grander scale.

Edmonton, Seattle, Portland & eventually Calgary will all have underground train stations longer than what's in Vancouver. Yet, Vancouver could have really benefited from having proper big city long stations. Most of the regions bridges are so narrow that its difficult to have a proper bus lane & HOV lane system. But Vancouver & BC are all about inefficiency. Things might eventually improve if enough people someday start to see the growing gap between what most cities allow vs. stubborn Vancouver.

https://metropolisfilm.fandom.com/wiki/Joh_Frederson

Alphaville is one of the best cautionary stories about the AI run, totalitarian smart-city scenario. 

THX_1138 is the quintessential movie about AI & machines running an underground totalitarian city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138#Plot

Logan's_Run is another interesting totalitarian smart-city movie. 

Blade_Runner is one of the best urban Sci-Fi movies ever made.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner#Plot

Jacque_Fresco is one of many people throughout history with their own perspectives on civilization. https://www.forbes.com/2007/10/13/jacque-fresco-prediction-tech-future07-cx_1015fresco.html?sh=4107813c607f Some interesting ideas, but perhaps with a utopian angle.


http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion-spirituality/845605-humans-originate-mars.html,
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/marte/esp_marte_14.htm,
http://mars-earth.com/earthpage.htm

http://fusionanomaly.net/orion.htmlhttp://fusionanomaly.net/bladerunner.html,
http://vigilantcitizen.com/hidden-knowledge/connection-between-sirius-and-human-history

More about, UDLhttps://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=urban

https://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/9/11/3318910/nasa-scientist-believes-we-could-all-be-in-a-video-game
Civilization_(computer_game)


The Universe seems to be a vast Multi-channel of space & time that originated from a central point of energy. But what or who started this Big_Bang of cosmic information? Its like a cosmic projection program running inside an immense planetarium. The energy of nature or part of a creators plan. Thus either nature or a conscious creator has set up a cosmic matrix of space & time. Humans are just beginning to try to understand how an intelligent force of creation set this all up. Computer models factor into the study of reality & VR helps to illustrate different phases & parts of the universe.
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The Hundredth_monkey_effect isn't supposed to be true, but in backwards Vancouver & backwater BC, it does seem to be happening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth_monkey_effect#History
Almost everything in Vancouver is like a watered down knockoff. So many people from different backgrounds keep wanting to hold Vancouver back. The NO FUN CITY mentality keeps emerging, but that's just part of the phenomenon.


This reference blog is of a non profit nature.  


Thursday, November 21, 2024

How the City of Vancouver will pay for its 2026 FIFA World Cup costs

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/fifa-world-cup-vancouver-hotel-tax-costs

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/bus-network-improvements.aspx With so many narrow streets, its difficult to have a proper network of bus-lanes, especially on the bridges.

https://visionzerovancouver.ca/2024/07/10/take-action-add-bus-lanes-to-translinks-priority-routes Unfortunatly, most of the bridges in the Greater Vancouver Region are just too narrow. There was no logic to have enough extra width for future bus-lanes and HOV lanes.

https://www.biv.com/news/transportation/vancouver-new-dedicated-bus-lanes-translink-2024-9267523

Unless there is a regional network of new bus-bridges, Greater Vancouver will remain in a bottleneck or chokepoint nightmare. Stuck with only a half-assed express or BRT attempt. I suppose that would be impressive to Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops (K-V-PG-K) standards. Unfortunatly, those aren't big league cities.

Of course the 3rd line, or the YVR-Canada-Line or the Canada (embarrassment) Line, still hasn't been expanded up to a 2.5 car train, let alone having 5 car trains. Right from the start, the trains should have consisted of at least three, 20m coaches, with a provision for 6 car trains. Apparently, because of budget cuts, the station platforms weren't built to be 60-100m long in the first phase, they are only a 50m joke. 

The stations could have been roughed out to initially accomodate 3-4 car trains and eventually, 8 car trains. 8 x 20m= 160m. The Montreal Metro stations were built to accommodate a 152.5m train. Fortunately, Quebec doesn't have anything like a backward BC planning mentality to hinder it.

The YVR-Canada (embarrassment) Line doesn't have to be stuck as a symbolic example to not properly plan & build for longer trains in BC. This 3rd Metro-Vancouver rapid transit line doesn't have to be stuck with a 2.5 car train buildout. The incredibly short stations should be extended to 60m, which could accomodate a proper 3 car, walkthrough train. Then, with Selective_Door_Operation Technology, a 3 car train can become a 5 car train of 100m. Then, only the middle 3 cars would directly have access to the YVR-Canada-Line station platforms. 

Unfortunatly, due to the shortsighted planning mentality that is Vancouver & BC, the underground stations don't have enough level clearance to be lengthened to 152.5m or 500 feet, like the Montreal Metro stations, which can accomodate nine, 55 foot cars. At least a 5 car, 100m or 328 foot train is still possible in short-minded Vancouver.

For some strange reason, the YVR Canada+Line wasn't designed to eventually provide a link beyond the Vancouver_International_Airport to Waterfront_station. Indeed, a 2nd phase of the inadequate line should have connected Waterfront_station with the Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre and the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal. Then the 3rd phase to connect the YVR-Airport_station with the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal

Like the Catheter Line, the George_Messey_Tunnel was designed to be inadequate, right from the start.

The George_Massey_Tunnel should have had at least 2 wide emergency lanes for future truck or HOV lanes. Plus, there should have been another tunnel section to accommodate a future express or rapid bus corridor & 2 tracks for a light rail train. Instead, cars, busses & trucks were all funneled into a 4 lane chokepoint. Ironically, over the past few decades, a bus & train tunnel or bridge should have been built, at least.

Express Bus lanes or Rapid Bus lanes vs. HOV & Truck lanes. Any bus lane has the potential to move many more people than any HOV lane. Any major port city & metropolitan area should have a truck lane as well as a bus lane. Thus any HOV lane would be more efficient in bussing people & trucking payloads.

Of course the new George_Massey_Tunnel still won't have a provision for a train section. No emergency lanes, but 2 bus lanes in addition to only 3 general lanes each way. Once again, backward BC gets its wrong. Greater Vancouver is suppose to be a major seaport. Unfortunatly, the new tunnel will only have 4 lanes each way & no HOV or emergency lanes, of course.  

Even if there are only 3 general lanes each way, there should have been a provision for a truck lane in addition to a bus lane each way. That would be at least 5 lanes each way, but no emergency lanes & still no provision for 2 train tracks either. 

Thus, the new tunnel will eventually have to have a bus & train bridge or tunnel next to it. That would allow the tunnel to have 3 general lanes each way & 1 HOV lane each way. A rapid bus & rail corridor would ensure 24 hour high capacity transit, even when the YVR-Canada-Line is shutdown overnight. 

Unfortunatly, none of the 80m & 50m SkyTrain stations were designed to have 4 tracks. That would have allowed for a proper express & local train system. The BC mentality seems to be about keeping the trains as well as the roads inadequate to meet future high transportation demands.

The LG Bridge in Vancouver should have had bus, HOV & train tunnels near it decades ago. Surrey_and_Richmond also should have had proper bus, HOV & train tunnels, decades ago.

Why have 3 sets of tracks like the O'Hare_station in Chicago? Or, have at least have 2 tracks like at the SeaTac/Airport_station. The small-scale YVR-Airport_station just has a single track to make congestion more likely. The Vancouver_International_Airport should have had at least 4 long runways by now.

The multigenerational backwater BC mentality is a combination of overlapping restrictions and a, keep it small or backwards agenda. Why plan and build like a big city, when Vancouver can mostly do things that are only impressive to smaller places like, Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-and-Kamloops?

Short trains, mostly stumpy buildings and mostly narrow bridges, provides powerful symbolism for the  antigrowth agenda. Building up proper size infrastructure is the opposite. 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada+Line

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=C+Line