Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Last week, Joe Berridge, Partner at Urban Strategies, gave a presentation at the Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance titled, Toronto: The Accidental Metropolis. I’ve seen Joe give similar presentations to this one before, and I always thoroughly enjoy his focus on Toronto’s position as a global city.
Here is a slide from the presentation that projects out Toronto’s population to 2071 and compares it to the largest cities in the US.
But the two slides that have been really making the rounds online are the following ones. The first is a rendering of what downtown Toronto looked like in 2000.
I remember this time clearly. Queen West seemed to end at Spadina. King West and Ossington weren’t things. And “Richmond and Adelaide” felt like the greatest club district in the world. (If you’re not from Toronto, these references will likely mean nothing to you. Sorry.)
The second slide is a rendering of what Toronto will look like in 2025. The transformation is just incredible.
I’ve seen some people comment that the Toronto of 2000 was relatively affordable; the Toronto of 2018 is unaffordable; and the Toronto of 2025 will be even more unaffordable with all of this new development.
But I don’t understand that logic. Considering the growth rate shown in the first slide, imagine how unaffordable this city would be if we weren’t building new places for people to live and new places for people to work.
For the full slide deck, go here. And for recent aerial photos of Toronto’s downtown core, check out my Instagram page.
I came across this Hong Kong apartment listing earlier in the week. Sai Ying Pun is the neighborhood.
Houston doesn’t often get a lot of love in urbanist circles.
Though since Ed Glaeser published Triumph of the City and declared Houston’s unfettered sprawl the secret sauce for housing affordability, it is now frequently held up as the shining example of why housing supply matters.
But this is a hotly debated topic.
Ed Glaeser would argue that increased supply is the key to housing affordability. But Richard Florida would likely be quick to point out that Houston is also one of the most unequal and segregated cities in America. It is not the model we should be following.
But let’s be positive today on the blog.
At the bottom of this post is a great talk by Stephen Klineberg called: Houston, The Global City. Klineberg is a Professor of Sociology at Rice University and the founder of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.
In this hour long talk, he outlines, among other things, the remarkable transformation of Houston from a one-industry town (oil) comprised predominantly of white people to a mixed economy where every major ethnicity is now a minority.
He also argues that Houston is at the forefront of the demographic shifts happening all across the country and that, without this inflow of immigrants over the past couple of decades, Houston today would probably look a lot like a decaying rustbelt city.
It’s a good watch.
If you can’t see the video below, click here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJdWYXIr_qE?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
Last week, Joe Berridge, Partner at Urban Strategies, gave a presentation at the Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance titled, Toronto: The Accidental Metropolis. I’ve seen Joe give similar presentations to this one before, and I always thoroughly enjoy his focus on Toronto’s position as a global city.
Here is a slide from the presentation that projects out Toronto’s population to 2071 and compares it to the largest cities in the US.
But the two slides that have been really making the rounds online are the following ones. The first is a rendering of what downtown Toronto looked like in 2000.
I remember this time clearly. Queen West seemed to end at Spadina. King West and Ossington weren’t things. And “Richmond and Adelaide” felt like the greatest club district in the world. (If you’re not from Toronto, these references will likely mean nothing to you. Sorry.)
The second slide is a rendering of what Toronto will look like in 2025. The transformation is just incredible.
I’ve seen some people comment that the Toronto of 2000 was relatively affordable; the Toronto of 2018 is unaffordable; and the Toronto of 2025 will be even more unaffordable with all of this new development.
But I don’t understand that logic. Considering the growth rate shown in the first slide, imagine how unaffordable this city would be if we weren’t building new places for people to live and new places for people to work.
For the full slide deck, go here. And for recent aerial photos of Toronto’s downtown core, check out my Instagram page.
I came across this Hong Kong apartment listing earlier in the week. Sai Ying Pun is the neighborhood.
Houston doesn’t often get a lot of love in urbanist circles.
Though since Ed Glaeser published Triumph of the City and declared Houston’s unfettered sprawl the secret sauce for housing affordability, it is now frequently held up as the shining example of why housing supply matters.
But this is a hotly debated topic.
Ed Glaeser would argue that increased supply is the key to housing affordability. But Richard Florida would likely be quick to point out that Houston is also one of the most unequal and segregated cities in America. It is not the model we should be following.
But let’s be positive today on the blog.
At the bottom of this post is a great talk by Stephen Klineberg called: Houston, The Global City. Klineberg is a Professor of Sociology at Rice University and the founder of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.
In this hour long talk, he outlines, among other things, the remarkable transformation of Houston from a one-industry town (oil) comprised predominantly of white people to a mixed economy where every major ethnicity is now a minority.
He also argues that Houston is at the forefront of the demographic shifts happening all across the country and that, without this inflow of immigrants over the past couple of decades, Houston today would probably look a lot like a decaying rustbelt city.
It’s a good watch.
If you can’t see the video below, click here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJdWYXIr_qE?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
HK$9.8 million = C$1,554,833 based on today’s exchange rate (1 CAD = 6.30293 HKD).
At 432 square feet (net), that’s C$3,599 psf. But I have also been told that new buildings here could easily fetch C$5,000 psf and probably much more.
There’s certainly a tremendous amount of wealth in Hong Kong. However, the topic of discussion right now is the new money being generated in mainland China.
I am curious what all of this could mean for Hong Kong, it’s place within the PRC, and for real estate long-term.
Hong Kong’s Basic Law stipulates that the region shall maintain a capitalist system and that its current way of life shall be preserved outside of the PRC.
But that constitutional document is set to expire in 2047 – fifty years after the handover from the British. And one would assume that China would favor more, rather than less, integration.
Already the Cantonese language – the official language of HK along with English – seems to be getting diluted in favor of the “speech of the officials.”
So what will Hong Kong look like by the middle of the 21st century? Will it simply become a “second city” to Beijing and Shanghai?
Place your bets in the comments below. Or call Miss Winnie.
HK$9.8 million = C$1,554,833 based on today’s exchange rate (1 CAD = 6.30293 HKD).
At 432 square feet (net), that’s C$3,599 psf. But I have also been told that new buildings here could easily fetch C$5,000 psf and probably much more.
There’s certainly a tremendous amount of wealth in Hong Kong. However, the topic of discussion right now is the new money being generated in mainland China.
I am curious what all of this could mean for Hong Kong, it’s place within the PRC, and for real estate long-term.
Hong Kong’s Basic Law stipulates that the region shall maintain a capitalist system and that its current way of life shall be preserved outside of the PRC.
But that constitutional document is set to expire in 2047 – fifty years after the handover from the British. And one would assume that China would favor more, rather than less, integration.
Already the Cantonese language – the official language of HK along with English – seems to be getting diluted in favor of the “speech of the officials.”
So what will Hong Kong look like by the middle of the 21st century? Will it simply become a “second city” to Beijing and Shanghai?
Place your bets in the comments below. Or call Miss Winnie.
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