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Chicago has a much higher density of office space, though Toronto's office towers are much better integrated with the subway system - some of Chicago's office towers are a good 10-minute (outdoor) walk from the nearest subway stop, which sucks in the winter. Chicago has a much higher percentage of metro-area office space in it's downtown, though if you include office space along the Yonge subway line north of downtown Toronto as "downtown office space", they're probably about even.
Population density they're probably about equal (the downtowns I'm talking about).
Density of retail space, probably Toronto by a little. Though maybe not. Chicago has more downtown dept. stores. Toronto has a lot more downtown retail streets.
Downtown Toronto has more frequent transit service. Both subway lines never have scheduled head ways of more than 5 minutes. All the streetcar lines also run 5 minutes or less for most of the day. There are also five 24-hour transit routes, one of which runs every 3-4 minutes in both directions until about 4am, and two of which never have scheduled head ways longer than 15 minutes, at any time of night 7 days a week. Downtown Chicago though is served by more commuter rail lines.
Which downtown has the better density, urban planning, structure placement etc?
Well one thing I like about Toronto's downtown is that the surrounding neighborhoods blend more seamlessly into the central business district than they do in Chicago. Aside form the Gold Coast on the north side of downtown, the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Chicago feel cut of from the city core. This gives Toronto the advantage of being more walkable.
Chicago's advantage over Toronto is the great lakefront parkland adjacent to downtown. Toronto's lakefront is pretty weak, at least in the downtown area. Chicago also has much more attractive buildings.
Chicago's advantage over Toronto is the great lakefront parkland adjacent to downtown. Toronto's lakefront is pretty weak, at least in the downtown area. Chicago also has much more attractive buildings.
I agree.. a majority Toronto buildings lack character, most historical buildings are becoming demolished because they lie in very expensive downtown lots, where large business skyscrapers are planning to be built. Chicago found a way to conserve their historical buildings and learn to incorperate it with new developments. I'm not saying old architecture in Toronto is completely gone, but it's slowly diminishing..
That being said, Toronto is pretty interesting..I like the city's setup. I like Yonge Street in that it seems like something is going on there all the time, and since it's so long, it's easy enough for everyone to get to.
What surprised me most about Toronto was how easy it was to just drive right through it...much more manageable...it might be a large city, but still feels like a small city in many ways. That's not a bad thing either.
Chicago though just screams 'urban city'..and oozes it everywhere. It also takes forever to drive into or drive out of...
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