Urbanity and Ammenities outside downtown: Washington, Toronto and LA metros (better, largest)

[memph]

So Downtown North York was at roughly the same distance from downtown Toronto as Century City from LA.

Along Yonge Street, at roughly the same distance from downtown as Koreatown, LA is Deer Park.

Here's a good aerial image:
Aerial Photos of Toronto / downtown - on - Global Air Photos Inc., Aerial Photos

A google streetview of Deer Park's main intersection, Yonge and St Clair with a link in the image so that you can look around in the other directions:


A residential area of the Deer Park node at Avenue Rd and Lonsdale

[memph]

Further West on St Clair, between Vaughan Rd and Spadina Rd is a dense residential area. I counted around 100 small apartment buildings (3-4 story brick walkups), about 20 midrises and 20 highrises. There is some retail scattered about the neighbourhood in addition to the retail lining St. Clair Avenue.

Here are some of the highrises (streetview with link):


This is a blog article that includes some view over the neighbourhood:
500 and 530 St Clair...what a view!

Those walkups I mentioned (streetview with link):

[memph]

Do all those high density nodes in Washington have high residential populations? A lot of the high density nodes in Greater Toronto have more residents that jobs. It's usually either similar amounts of jobs and residents, or more residents.

And do Washington and Los Angeles have a lot of new townhouses? They're building them everyone in the GTA. They're building them into condo podiums, they're building them in infill areas, and they're building them in the suburbs along major arterials and around commercial plazas.

[Deeman804]

Originally Posted by memph

Do all those high density nodes in Washington have high residential populations? A lot of the high density nodes in Greater Toronto have more residents that jobs. It's usually either similar amounts of jobs and residents, or more residents.

And do Washington and Los Angeles have a lot of new townhouses? They're building them everyone in the GTA. They're building them into condo podiums, they're building them in infill areas, and they're building them in the suburbs along major arterials and around commercial plazas.

I can speak for Washington, YES, they have new townhouses and tons of new condo development. The poster with the pics left out Alexandria and Rosslyn which are even more densely populated then the areas that he posted.

[bballniket]

Join Date: Feb 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by memph
Do all those high density nodes in Washington have high residential populations? A lot of the high density nodes in Greater Toronto have more residents that jobs. It's usually either similar amounts of jobs and residents, or more residents.

And do Washington and Los Angeles have a lot of new townhouses? They're building them everyone in the GTA. They're building them into condo podiums, they're building them in infill areas, and they're building them in the suburbs along major arterials and around commercial plazas.

I can speak for Washington, YES, they have new townhouses and tons of new condo development. The poster with the pics left out Alexandria and Rosslyn which are even more densely populated then the areas that he posted.

Based on my travels in the GTA and having resided in the DC area for the past two years, the business districts/high-rise districts outside of downtown are quite similar in the presence of new high-rise apartment/condo towers and chain establishments centered around a rail station. The urban districts outside of downtown LA are a bit more gritty and have been developed in a slightly less planned way.

[Akhenaton06]

I've not been to Toronto, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's LA because it's so decentralized which gives you a lot of stuff to do all over the metro area.

[dweebo2220]

I got back from toronto recently and, though the housing densities are comparable in the metro area to LA (albeit with more "towers in the park") the neighborhoods outside of the core are quite uniform. Although a place like Mississauga has 10x as many high-rises as, say, Pasadena, it has 10% of the character. LA and Toronto might be similar statistically, but the cultural/historical uniqueness of LA's satellite hubs make it feel (and operate) altogether differently.

Toronto may be decentralized, but there's still little reason to venture out to the suburbs if you live downtown. This is not the case in LA, where the character and identity of the city is spread all over.

[OyCrumbler]

Los Angeles has a lot of interesting topography which creates several different communities within the area.

[roadwarrior101]

LA. Just in terms of size/scale, you have several other urban areas not in downtown:

-LA City Proper - Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, Westwood/Century City, Encino
-LA County - Pasadena, Burbank/Glendale, Santa Monica, Long Beach
-Surrounding Counties - Irvine, Riverside, Santa Ana (I'm probably missing several others)

While I'm not as familiar with DC or Toronto, I can only think of a few in each:

-DC - Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda
-Toronto - Mississauga, Hamilton

[Mezter]

LA easily. DC second. Not that familiar with Toronto.