Could Toronto be Considered a US City? (best, difference, states)
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Toronto is MUCH more urban than LA. I don't get that comparison at all.
Toronto and LA both rose to prominence in their respective countries at around the same time. Take a look at 1900 Toronto and Los Angeles populations and they're identical. From there you can pretty much judge when the infrastructure was built, how established the downtown was at the time, economy, etc. Both Toronto and LA have many satellite cities, suburbs, lots of sprawl, very car-centric outside of the core, and freeway-heavy. Both cities exploded in population post WWII. IMO, they correlate pretty evenly. From an urban standpoint I'd say Toronto comes on top, but you've got to realize Los Angeles is comprised by a bunch of satellite cities all with unique and bustling downtown centers. Toronto only has one of significance and history.
Either that or Toronto's a scaled down Chicago. Both were established in the late 18th century, neighborhoods were built around the streetcar, similar economy, etc.. Pick your poison.
Although it is seperate by national barriers, Toronto is very much alike many of the NE cities. It has pro teams that are in US leagues. It has a very profound skyline. It is similar to NYC than most US cities are.
Toronto has been mainly link to being similar to Chicago. Also if responding to another question, if that region was apart of the US it would more than likely be group with the midwest.
To answer title question, Toronto can't be a US city because it's located in Canada.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Out of all the major cities in Canada it feels more American, certainly more than Vancouver or Montreal (Vancouver is very Pacific Rim, and Montreal is Quebecois first, then Canadian). Maybe Calgary is more American feeling as it's often compared to Denver or even Dallas with the oil industry. Toronto has density and infrastructure that is more simalar to Chicago than LA, but as another poster mentioned Toronto does have very LA like freeways. Ontario encompases half of the Great Lakes and has many rust belt feeling cities such as Hamilton, so I would say it is closer to the Upper Midwest rather than the Northeast. Southern Ontario's landscape is pretty much a continuation of Michigan. With that said Toronto seems much more polished and contemporary than the Midwest or the Northeast so at the end of the day it could only be in Canada.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 01-13-2011 at 11:38 PM..
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lammius
I don't see it. To me, Toronto is Canada. It is their primate city. I love Toronto very much, but it has not once reminded me of any US city. It's a much newer city than NYC, in that it didn't rise to its current level of prominence until only several decades ago (Montreal was Canada's largest city and economic "centre" until the 70s). And it's kind of a sprawler by Canadian standards. Maybe Toronto is part of Canada's "sunbelt" or perhaps more appropriately, "thawbelt."
It's still very high density by American standards, with regular public transit usage exceeding that of NYC or any other American city.
Dallas has LA type freeways and they couldn't be more different if the tried.
Until the 1970s Montreal was bigger but not by that much and Montreal and Toronto both have always been the bastions of old wealth and political power. Despite what people in the West like to say they are still the big ones on the block and Vancouver is just an also-ran.
In Canada you are a nobody in political, economic, and cultural realm unless you have the Montreal-Toronto cocktail circuit down to an art form. Seriously kids, Quebec still has roughly the same population of Alberta and BC combined.
My god, within 200km of downtown Toronto is the population of all of Western Canada.
When considering English Canada and it's politics and culture Toronto's number one position is total. There is no number 2 or even 3.
As far as sprawl...............Vancouver sprawls more than Toronto. Toronto does sprawl but only due to it's size. Toronto has higher density than Montreal or Vancouver.
Toronto IS downtown Canada. It is completely different world from the US socially, culturally, and politically. Calgary is about as close as you would come to an American city due it's more conservative social and cultural views but if it joined the US it would still be seen as a progressive city.
If Ontario joined the US everyone would notice because they would all want to move there.
Calling Toronto American is like calling Dallas English.
I agree with what everyone else is saying, Toronto can't be considered a US city because it is in Canada.
That being said..., IMO Toronto and other Canadian cities are more like American cities than European cities. Although Canada does a better job with managing growth, it still has a lot of the same issues many American cities have. Toronto's traffic is about as bad as DC or Atlanta, especially on the 401 and QEW. Outside of the city they have a ton of auto-centric sprawl with tract homes, although I will take their homes over ours since most of their homes are built using brick, lol.
Out of all the major cities in Canada it feels more American, certainly more than Vancouver or Montreal (Vancouver is very Pacific Rim, and Montreal is Quebecois first, then Canadian). Maybe Calgary is more American feeling as it's often compared to Denver or even Dallas with the oil industry. Toronto has density and infrastructure that is more simalar to Chicago than LA, but as another poster mentioned Toronto does have very LA like freeways. Ontario encompases half of the Great Lakes and has many rust belt feeling cities such as Hamilton, so I would say it is closer to the Upper Midwest rather than the Northeast. Southern Ontario's landscape is pretty much a continuation of Michigan. With that said Toronto seems much more polished and contemporary than the Midwest or the Northeast so at the end of the day it could only be in Canada.
Not sure what that means, but Vancouver feels a lot like Seattle.
Calgary is about as close as you would come to an American city
That's mostly due to the fact 10% of their population consists of American expats.
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