5 ms·

Chicago and NYC are probably the two places this critique does not apply to. Take Houston, LA, etc. that are all around the same size, and you'll find a signifi

Chicago and NYC are probably the two places this critique does not apply to. Take Houston, LA, etc. that are all around the same size, and you'll find a significantly different makeup of housing stock. Take where I live - Seattle - and the criticism makes a lot more sense. I live in a neighborhood about two blocks from a light rail stop and still walk by single family homes on relatively large plots on my walk from door to door. In nearly any direction, you are within a block or two of what one would say looks like a suburban single family home. There is the concept of "urban villages" which are small pockets of multi-family housing surrounded by low density housing. I have a strong conviction that the reason Montreal housing is cheaper is in no small part because of the language barrier. Even if you could work remotely, why would you move somewhere you don't speak the primary language, surrounded by people that are somewhat hostile? It's a much smaller market.

pessimizer 4y ago
> I live in a neighborhood about two blocks from a light rail stop and still walk by single family homes on relatively large plots on my walk from door to door. In nearly any direction, you are within a block or two of what one would say looks like a suburban single family home. I live in Chicago, in a three floor walkup three blocks from an El station, and walk by dozens of single family homes on the way there. There are single-family homes everywhere, it's very difficult not to be within 100 feet of one. Are single-family homes the enemy? I think they're nice. ----- edit: Houston and LA are notably strange places. I'd add Nashville into that, which turns into what seems like Russian doll-nested suburbs right after you leave downtown. Houston is what gets held up by house-building anti-zoning advocates as a model, though, for some reason. To me, it's always been a hellhole, but I haven't visited for years.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Even Houston and LA have density pockets, apartment buildings can be found and they often cluster together. I think more and more single-family homes have to be the enemy, because there must always be an Other preventing your paradise from being reality.
rory 4y ago
Also doesn't apply to Boston, Philly, and perhaps some smaller cities in New Jersey etc.. The author is Canadian and it seems like he's taking a lot of his perspective from Toronto, which is actually kind of bizarre in that it has clusters of high rises with single family homes in between, and leafy suburban neighborhoods right around downtown.
- graeme 4y ago
  Toronto’s core urban density is lower than Montreal’s. Am referring to the densest neighbourhoods like Plateau. Often I go to Toronto and find I am the only one walking down many streets, which does not happen often in Montreal or NYC
bombcar 4y ago
It's entirely unreasonable to expect cities to look like some perfect gradient of density like something out of Cities Skylines; you'd expect the central desirable areas to be the most dense, and pockets of density here and there, but you'd still find single family homes even in dense areas for quite awhile. Paris didn't become as dense as it is overnight, and even there you can find relatively low-density housing quite close to the CBD. The question I'd have is how close is a non single-family dwelling (exclude duplexes, too) - I'm in a relatively low density ruralish town, and there's an apartment building a block away on one side, and three on another.
Scoundreller 4y ago
> I have a strong conviction that the reason Montreal housing is cheaper is in no small part because of the language barrier. You can totally get by in Montreal speaking English only. Here’s the CEO of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, on how he’s managed to thrive in Montreal without knowing French working for a legislatively bilingual organization: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-ceo-1.6393063 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-ceo-1.6393063 > Even if you could work remotely, why would you move somewhere you don't speak the primary language Immigrating to Quebec from outside of Canada is difficult since they have a system to keep non-French speakers from moving there.
- glouwbug 4y ago
  Remember, kids, it's only racist if you're the majority /s
  - seszett 4y ago
    Most countries have language skills requirements for immigrants though, and language isn't an intrinsic part of a person but can be learned, so language skills requirements certainly aren't racist.
    - glouwbug 4y ago
      Canada is so heavily reliant on immigration that what's classified as barely passing English is enough to move to the suburbs of Vancouver and Toronto. There would be so much backlash in Vancouver if a bill like Quebec's Bill 96 passed to prevent first generation Hindi or Mandarin speakers from communicating to their doctors in anything but English. Quebec's actions are racist. They literally try to exit Canada with every federal election
      - seszett 4y ago
        Health services are not really affected by loi 96 and mandarin speakers have no issue talking to their doctors in my experience (specifically living with a mandarin speaker in Montreal in the past, with whom I'm still in contact). However, doctors now have to be able to communicate in French and English along with any other language they wish. Independence sentiment in a province annexed through war, even if it was long ago, and that has kept a different identity, has very little too do with racism it seems to me. As someone who lived in Canada but isn't Canadian, there is so much disinformation regarding Québec in the rest of Canada, and not uncommonly outright hate, that the often heard claims of racism are very ironic.

pessimizer 4y ago

> I live in a neighborhood about two blocks from a light rail stop and still walk by single family homes on relatively large plots on my walk from door to door. In nearly any direction, you are within a block or two of what one would say looks like a suburban single family home. I live in Chicago, in a three floor walkup three blocks from an El station, and walk by dozens of single family homes on the way there. There are single-family homes everywhere, it's very difficult not to be within 100 feet of one. Are single-family homes the enemy? I think they're nice. ----- edit: Houston and LA are notably strange places. I'd add Nashville into that, which turns into what seems like Russian doll-nested suburbs right after you leave downtown. Houston is what gets held up by house-building anti-zoning advocates as a model, though, for some reason. To me, it's always been a hellhole, but I haven't visited for years.

bombcar 4y ago
Even Houston and LA have density pockets, apartment buildings can be found and they often cluster together. I think more and more single-family homes have to be the enemy, because there must always be an Other preventing your paradise from being reality.

rory 4y ago

Also doesn't apply to Boston, Philly, and perhaps some smaller cities in New Jersey etc.. The author is Canadian and it seems like he's taking a lot of his perspective from Toronto, which is actually kind of bizarre in that it has clusters of high rises with single family homes in between, and leafy suburban neighborhoods right around downtown.

graeme 4y ago
Toronto’s core urban density is lower than Montreal’s. Am referring to the densest neighbourhoods like Plateau. Often I go to Toronto and find I am the only one walking down many streets, which does not happen often in Montreal or NYC

bombcar 4y ago

It's entirely unreasonable to expect cities to look like some perfect gradient of density like something out of Cities Skylines; you'd expect the central desirable areas to be the most dense, and pockets of density here and there, but you'd still find single family homes even in dense areas for quite awhile. Paris didn't become as dense as it is overnight, and even there you can find relatively low-density housing quite close to the CBD. The question I'd have is how close is a non single-family dwelling (exclude duplexes, too) - I'm in a relatively low density ruralish town, and there's an apartment building a block away on one side, and three on another.

Scoundreller 4y ago

> I have a strong conviction that the reason Montreal housing is cheaper is in no small part because of the language barrier. You can totally get by in Montreal speaking English only. Here’s the CEO of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, on how he’s managed to thrive in Montreal without knowing French working for a legislatively bilingual organization: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-ceo-1.6393063 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-ceo-1.6393063 > Even if you could work remotely, why would you move somewhere you don't speak the primary language Immigrating to Quebec from outside of Canada is difficult since they have a system to keep non-French speakers from moving there.

glouwbug 4y ago
Remember, kids, it's only racist if you're the majority /s
- seszett 4y ago
  Most countries have language skills requirements for immigrants though, and language isn't an intrinsic part of a person but can be learned, so language skills requirements certainly aren't racist.
  - glouwbug 4y ago
    Canada is so heavily reliant on immigration that what's classified as barely passing English is enough to move to the suburbs of Vancouver and Toronto. There would be so much backlash in Vancouver if a bill like Quebec's Bill 96 passed to prevent first generation Hindi or Mandarin speakers from communicating to their doctors in anything but English. Quebec's actions are racist. They literally try to exit Canada with every federal election
    - seszett 4y ago
      Health services are not really affected by loi 96 and mandarin speakers have no issue talking to their doctors in my experience (specifically living with a mandarin speaker in Montreal in the past, with whom I'm still in contact). However, doctors now have to be able to communicate in French and English along with any other language they wish. Independence sentiment in a province annexed through war, even if it was long ago, and that has kept a different identity, has very little too do with racism it seems to me. As someone who lived in Canada but isn't Canadian, there is so much disinformation regarding Québec in the rest of Canada, and not uncommonly outright hate, that the often heard claims of racism are very ironic.