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I'm comparing inner city London to inner city Toronto (old toronto/york whatever)
Honestly, there isn't much of a comparison. Go visit someday and you'll see for yourself. When it comes to layout, Toronto has far more in common with Chicago than it does with London. London and Toronto aren't similar in that respect.
Am I right to say that most of the uniqueness of Toronto would be outside downtown? But more in the inner city areas immediately outside downtown?
On google maps () Toronto seems very dense.
I don't know. The only outside part I have been to is around the 400 series highways that enter the city from the North. That part of Toronto (Mississauga and South until the centre) horrify me. So ugly and sprawling. I have friends who live in flats around there so they can access one of the nearby major universities (York), and you couldn't pay me to live in that area.
I like the things that happen in Toronto. It's a liberal and artsy city (if you pay attention to the youthfull residents) with cool festivals and interesting live music everywhere you go. I love all the little different ethnic villages and access to whatever you want, but I effing hate the layout of that city. I feel depressed on the outer parts by how ugly everything is, but overwhelmed in the centre around Yonge, Bloor, etc. Actually, downtown Toronto is unlike anything I've ever experienced in big Westernized cities the world over, I feel so trapped there. It takes well over an hour and a half to get out of the city going North.
It's just not my kind of place to live. I like to visit and hang around, but it gets old quickly for me. I prefer Montreal, and Vancouver if I'm feeling outdoorsy. Not trying to bash or anything. Some people move there and never look back, but I'm not one of those people is all.
Toronto and New York are the only Western cities that can compare with London in terms of racial and ethnic diversity. As a Canadian city, there is unsurprisingly a much more British flavor in Toronto than in any US city. Much of Toronto definitely does have a Londonish aesthetic, albeit a North-Americanized version of it.
It is possible to compare aspects of two cities without implying that the cities in general are especially comparable.
Incidentally, while Toronto may not be a "truly great city" at the same level as London and New York, it is undoubtedly one of North America's greatest, and one that is extremely undervalued by Americans.
The fact that Toronto, a city only slightly bigger than Atlanta, is routinely placed on a level with Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, and the fact that Toronto makes the top 20 of every major "global city" ranking, and the fact that Toronto is the third-smallest GaWC Alpha city (after Brussels and Amsterdam) should all be signs that it is doing something very right.
The fact that Toronto, a city only slightly bigger than Atlanta, is routinely placed on a level with Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, and the fact that Toronto makes the top 20 of every major "global city" ranking, and the fact that Toronto is the third-smallest GaWC Alpha city (after Brussels and Amsterdam) should all be signs that it is doing something very right.
Good series of post you have made!.. What one has to take into consideration with Toronto vs most American cities is its density relative to others its size. Cities like Atlanta, Dallas, Houston on paper have similar metro populations but they need to sprawl out considerably further in area to capture those populations using American style MSA/CSA metrics that Canada doesn't use (If we did Toronto would comfortably be around the 7-8million mark and would be quite a bit larger than Atlanta). The only large U.S cities (except for NYC which smashes every American/Canadian city in population metrics) that come close to matching Toronto's Urban area density is Chicago, S.F (Bay Area) and L.A..
Demographia does a good job capturing this.. Compare Toronto to other U.S cities and you'll see what I mean - its interesting to compare the land area vs densities.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
^ Indeed, by urban area population, Toronto is 1.5 million people more populous then Atlanta, and FAR more densely populated. It's also bigger and denser than Washington D.C. and San Francisco. Chicago's urban area population is still well ahead of Toronto's, but Toronto's is significantly more dense.
I feel depressed on the outer parts by how ugly everything is, but overwhelmed in the centre around Yonge, Bloor, etc. Actually, downtown Toronto is unlike anything I've ever experienced in big Westernized cities the world over, I feel so trapped there. It takes well over an hour and a half to get out of the city going North.
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Toronto is the only real large city in Canada with a substantive metro area population. The Golden Horsehoe is 8.7 million people in an area roughly the size of Chicagoland so it is going to take a lot longer to reach more sparsely populated areas. Montreal and Vancouver have good urban density but they just fan out rather quickly and are much more compact so the transition from city to nature is a lot easier of a transition. I think its good that Canada has at least one fairly large city both in city proper and metro terms.
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) Toronto seems very dense.
