Downtown Arena Part 2: Update

Cartoon in the Edmonton Journal about the future of the arena

The Edmonton Arena. Will it increase activity and life in downtown Edmonton? Like most cities, Edmonton is struggling to keep up with the public demand for a denser downtown. People want to live there, but there isn’t enough housing to meet demand, and most jobs are located outside of the downtown. People would have to commute out of downtown to work everyday. It appears the suburban movement has done a complete 180 turn-around! Those in the suburbs want to live the urban life. This is also evident in Sydney on a larger scale. The new hockey arena – also meant to support concerts and other shows – is part of the grand plan to consolidate the downtown. Although, after years and years of trying to move forward. As of 15 May the arena deal was done. Articles in the city’s leading news paper The Edmonton Journal shift their focus to who will run for mayor in October, how much this new arena will actually cost tax payers compared to the cost of maintaining it’s current one. A tiny paragraph at the end of this article comments on the arena’s promise of a “new downtown,” although other articles say the arena’s promise of improving the downtown must wait still.

Western side of the winning arena design for downtown Edmonton

One thing is true though; Edmonton will need a new arena sooner than later. Inner city land is available, so why not use it for the new arena. Despite changing opinions in the planning world about arenas, saving or not saving downtowns remains to be answered in Edmonton. Although it appears the urban processes of energy flow throughout the city were dismissed for a really pretty looking arena building. Another band-aid on the compact city problem where form ignores process.

Edmonton Journal article on the final arena deal

Image:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/index.html

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/01/18/good-vibrations-on-edmontons-downtown-arena/