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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Never been, but Toronto seems like a more modern, less dilapidated Great Lakes city. Maybe what Detroit might have been if it hadn't had gone downhill. It's tempting to compare it to Chicago, but I feel Toronto is more urban, despite Chicago's impressive skyline and massive core, with lots of high rises more like that of New York City, Vancouver or Miami. Toronto also has a multicultural population like NYC and Chicago, while Detroit and Buffalo seem less diverse. Of course Toronto's city isn't majority black like Detroit or Cleveland.
Is the architecture more like Midwestern or Northeastern cities? It seems more Midwestern, since it's not a very old city (although older than Chicago, similar in age to Detroit). I think it largely boomed in the past 50 years or so too.
Never been, but Toronto seems like a more modern, less dilapidated Great Lakes city. Maybe what Detroit might have been if it hadn't had gone downhill. It's tempting to compare it to Chicago, but I feel Toronto is more urban, despite Chicago's impressive skyline and massive core, with lots of high rises more like that of New York City, Vancouver or Miami. Toronto also has a multicultural population like NYC and Chicago, while Detroit and Buffalo seem less diverse. Of course Toronto's city isn't majority black like Detroit or Cleveland.
Is the architecture more like Midwestern or Northeastern cities? It seems more Midwestern, since it's not a very old city (although older than Chicago, similar in age to Detroit). I think it largely boomed in the past 50 years or so too.
It has a little bit of everything. It reminds me of New York in many ways but the density (at least the downtown core) feels more like Chicago. It doesn't have that depressing vibe that plagues the Great Lakes cities in America. It is a vibrant and proud international city. I visited Toronto twice last year. I really like it. I hope to live there one day.
Architecturally, Pittsburgh has some neighbourhoods that look a lot like Toronto, as well as what's left of the original homes of Midtown Detroit. The outer inner city parts of Toronto like Silverthorne or Old East York have a fair bit of similarities to Philadelphia neighbourhoods from the same time period.
It has a little bit of everything. It reminds me of New York in many ways but the density (at least the downtown core) feels more like Chicago. It doesn't have that depressing vibe that plagues the Great Lakes cities in America. It is a vibrant and proud international city. I visited Toronto twice last year. I really like it. I hope to live there one day.
I agree, I was in Detroit last year, as soon as we crossed the border I could see abandoned buildings, not a good first impression
In my opinion Toronto should be viewed as entirely unique rather than similar to this region or that city in the US. Having said that, I once had it put to me that Toronto is what Detroit could have been. I think that's an apt description, at least in terms of cityscape, architecture, layout, etc.
Having said that, I think Toronto fits better into the Northeastern US than Midwestern. This place just doesn't have a Midwestern feel, though I can't explain why.
Toronto has elements common to both a typical Great Lake city as well as a north eastern United States city, but it also has it's own unique character as well. Toronto, and more broadly, the "Golden Horsehoe" has a real diverse feel with each city being noticeably unique from the others. The city proper of Toronto has the culture of a smaller NY, looks like Chicago in the downtown/financial district, and looks like Philadelphia in the residential areas. As you go out to the suburbs like Mississauga, Oakville, Markham you actually almost get a Long Island meets central Florida feel with the outlet malls, wide open spaces, architecture of the newer homes (minus the palm trees). And finally to the very west, you have Hamilton which is the last "major city" with almost 600 000 people. Of all the cities in the GTA/Golden Horseshoe, Hamilton definitely has the most of a mid western/Great Lake feel. Lots of country girls, country themed bars, etc. Much more conservative with a "heartland" America feel. It's a 45 minutes drive down the QEW from Toronto yet it feels like it might as well be 500 miles away. So, I would say Toronto (GTA) is an extremely diverse feeling metropolis and changes very quickly in a short distance. It's quite interesting.
I've lived in both Toronto and Chicago. I consider Toronto very simiar to Chicago, and, as such, with a lifestyle and personality more "Midwestern USA" than "Northeastern USA."
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