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When do we get a building over 600 ft

megad

By megad
in Providence

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Recchia Town

Recchia

Posted
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Eh, height shmite, who cares. We'll have one at 500 feet, that's fine with me. Look at states like Arizona, Utah, Virginia, Hawaii, none of them have anything over 500 feet at all, and all have pretty decent cities. I'll take a nice dense, walkable, transit-friendly city with medium height any day over a crappy place like Atlanta that happens to have a 1,000 foot tower.

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TheBostonian Hamlet

TheBostonian

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And look at the countless automobile era American "cities" that have great height but little else to make them urban. Any sense of inferiority that Providence has just doesn't fit because the city has so many qualities that newer, higher cities can only dream of. I love tall buildings, but I love them more when they rise from the Boston's Back Bay than from a patchwork of parking lots inside a highway loop surrounded by low density housing. Providence is a winning city.

In other words, I agree with Recchia.

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brick Burg

brick

Posted
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I was looking here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallest_buildings_by_states

It's embarassing that states like CT and Iowa ave taller buildings than we do!

We'll get a 600 ft. or better building when land use demands and probably not sooner. As others have said, hieght is nice but not by itself. Beyond that it would have to be a civic project, and most civic groups in Providence seem opposed to height rather than in favor.

I'm personally more jealous of other cities transport than I am of their height.

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Garris Town

Garris

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Recchia and TheBostonian are both 100% right. Many of the newer automotive age cities look great from 2-3 miles away with their height, but have miserable streetscapes. Providence has far higher (no pun intended) priorities than height.

And don't be embarrassed by Iowa! I lived in Minnesota for 4 years and went to Iowa not infrequently. Trust me, they have absolutely nothing on us!!

- Garris

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megad Unincorporated Area

megad

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Eh, height shmite, who cares. We'll have one at 500 feet, that's fine with me. Look at states like Arizona, Utah, Virginia, Hawaii, none of them have anything over 500 feet at all, and all have pretty decent cities. I'll take a nice dense, walkable, transit-friendly city with medium height any day over a crappy place like Atlanta that happens to have a 1,000 foot tower.

But our city isn't transit friendly or walkable

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Frankie811 City

Frankie811

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But our city isn't transit friendly or walkable

I totally disagree. Not only is the city transit friendly, but the whole state is transit freindly. Exactly where in this state CAN'T you get to from downtown Providence on a RIPTA bus? For $ 1.50/1.60 no doubt!? I brought this up before, but the only other state similar in size to RI is Delaware, whose transit system has three different hub systems that don't provide transportation between each other. PLEASE!!!!!!!! Everybody seems to want service on their routes to operate every 10 minutes, which is not practical. Sorry! I'll bet these are the same people who comment on RIPTA's budget. Then there are those who want light rail. I seriously doubt we will ever see that here, thanks to urban sprawl. If more corporations were located downtown, then maybe. I can't help but take note of the comments of many attendees of conventions here of how walkable Providence actually is. So I must ask megad exactly what he means by this.

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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Providence is very transit friendly and very walkable. Our transit needs to improve drastically but for a city of our class (Edited to add: For a city our class, in the United States), it's nothing to sniff at. There are issues to the city's walkability, not the least of which is snow removal, but it is far more walkable than most cities. We have nary a 4 lane street anywhere in the city for pedestrians to worry about, never mind the 6-8 lane behemoths seen in other cities. There aren't many cities one can live in car free, and maybe I'm a bit of a kook for doing so, but there are many cities where it is not at all possible to live car free.

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urbie Whistle-Stop

urbie

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And don't be embarrassed by Iowa! I lived in Minnesota for 4 years and went to Iowa not infrequently. Trust me, they have absolutely nothing on us!!

Neither does Arizona. We do have some nice geography (I can look out my window at a 12,000-foot mountain), but Phoenix is not a city ANYONE likes, that I know of. I have spent only a minimal amount of time in Tucson -- but some people like it better (they say it's a little more sane in terms of city planning, which isn't saying a lot). Providence (h3ll, Wormtown!) beats 'em both easily....

Urb

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Baines Hamlet

Baines

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Neither does Arizona. We do have some nice geography (I can look out my window at a 12,000-foot mountain), but Phoenix is not a city ANYONE likes, that I know of. I have spent only a minimal amount of time in Tucson -- but some people like it better (they say it's a little more sane in terms of city planning, which isn't saying a lot). Providence (h3ll, Wormtown!) beats 'em both easily....

Urb

Hi all-

Very interesting discussion. As some of you know, I have lived in several cities (both "car era" and pre auto) and still travel to many each year from SF to Boston, St Paul to NO.

What attracted me to PVD was it's great skyline - not the heights of the buildings - since we look at, not up at skylines. PVD has great variety in style and era, classic streetscape, and a very livable (but far from complete) transportation system.

The question is would I rather see one 500-600 ft building in Downcity or two 350-450 on the western and southern edges of Downcity? I pick the expanded skyline - added depth is the only thing PVD is lacking.

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MikeR Hamlet

MikeR

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Very walkable. Nice compact European style streets in many areas, relatively short blocks. The design is walkable, it's just things like simple maintenance (i.e. snow removal, infrastructure repair) that hinder it somewhat.

One area of need is sidewalk maintenance. Providence is very walkable, but the sidewalks need some serious attention.

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