General Road and Highway Discussion

[tomh009]

Now if only we hadn't rushed to convert all of our prime industrial land into condominium towers, and come up with ways to keep industrial lands close to the other existing infrastructure (eg rails, and other services), maybe the vacancy rate wouldn't be such a problem?  How do other countries manage to keep various uses (residential, service, retail and industrial) all close to each other?  Maybe it's also time to have a conversation about how to make existing industrial zones more dense? Surely there are ways to create multi-story factories that weren't in the middle of a big green space? Didn't we do that once around here? (he asks tongue firmly in cheek)

Few modern cities (at least those not in countries with centrally-planned economies) have any significant industrial or warehouseuses near their centres. Those have gradually moved out, further from the centre, as land prices in the centres have increased, and transportation of goods to/from the centres has grown more challenging. (Personal) services and smaller retail have often stayed in the centres, but even there the land/real estate prices are a factor, and larger retail locations, whether malls, supermarkets or big box stores, are generally found on the outskirts.