The longevity is a good point. I can't imagine how a lot of these buildings will look in 50 years. This one might not be that bad because, apart from the podium, it's acceptable looking and the rest of the materials are fine. All those buildings in Waterloo, though? King Street Towers are full of stains and deterioration due to vents leaking out. Preston House next door is suffering from the same problem. That one condo at King and James often has some sort of issue with the grey fake brick panels where they get white stains on them. 22 Frederick, which Europro painted with ugly grey paint thereby ruining John Lingwood's original architecture, will need to be perpetually repainted as it decays. There are so many more examples.
I'm not sure how the cities could remedy this. They don't seem to have any desire to do so either way. Waterloo is the worst offender for it. Kitchener isn't that bad...we have a few cheap buildings and failures, but it's not like there are dozens of them clustered together. Cambridge rarely gets new developments right now, but overall they seem to have the sense to preserve the original architecture of the city and any new buildings they do have aren't that bad.
I'm not sure how the cities could remedy this. They don't seem to have any desire to do so either way. Waterloo is the worst offender for it. Kitchener isn't that bad...we have a few cheap buildings and failures, but it's not like there are dozens of them clustered together. Cambridge rarely gets new developments right now, but overall they seem to have the sense to preserve the original architecture of the city and any new buildings they do have aren't that bad.