Toronto Ripley's Aquarium of Canada | 13.11m | 2s | Ripley Entertainment | B+H

Well said, WMedia!
I don't live in Toronto and always look forward to coming to visit at least twice a year.
 
I haven't lived in Toronto for a while but i was born and raised there until i left for work reasons at the age of 25. It's funny on the outside listening to the people of Toronto and their inferiority complex. Listen to reporters on the radio and tv interviewing celebrities. How do you like us? Do you like our city? Are we world class? They sound like Doug the Dog in the movie UP. It's quite comical. There is no reason for it. Toronto is a great place, and only getting better.
I love getting back into TO as many times as i can. An aquarium would be another excuse for a visit.
 
Particularly with regards to tourism, we have a huge inferiority complex. We feel there's no reason why anyone would want to come to Toronto, when there's TONS of reasons to come. You only have to look at the lack of a City of Toronto Museum or Ontario History Museum to see just how lowly we think of ourselves. As someone who didn't grow up in Toronto, and has only lived here for a bit more than 3 years, I find it amazing (and somewhat sad) that so many people here think so poorly of the place. What needs to be done to shake this inferiority complex? I'm really not sure.
 
Okay, I've only been living in Toronto for a few years (moved here from London, UK), and I'm new to this forum, but can someone please explain to me... What's with this inferiority complex some people have about Toronto? There seems to a lot of pretentious whining, and meaningless phrases like "not world class" banded around in this forum. This is an amazing city, on par with the world's other great cities. Apart from a few of the glass-box condos, the architecture downtown is largely of a high standard. The mix of residential, retail, office, and entertainment is very well balanced here compared to most cities.

Anyway, I digress... Of course an aquarium is good for Toronto. Tourists are good for Toronto. It is pretentious to think Ripley's will "cheapen" the area. Quit whining, and support this amazing city as it grows. Remember, most people who appreciate buildings are NOT architects.

It's because Toronto always gets a lot of underwhelming projects, that never really push the envelope, or deliver what was promised. So we end up disappointed quite often. At least, that's what I think. Examples: Canoe Landing Park, and Toronto Life Square.
 
It's because Toronto always gets a lot of underwhelming projects, that never really push the envelope, or deliver what was promised. So we end up disappointed quite often. At least, that's what I think. Examples: Canoe Landing Park, and Toronto Life Square.

The same can be said of any city. We also get some amazing projects that do "push the envelope" and so satisfy or exceed expectations. Why be selectively negative?
 
And it only seems to occur here more often to him because he doesn't live elsewhere so he isn't exposed to every project in London, Berlin, Tokyo, etc. Considering Toronto is home to the CN Tower, Skydome, the ROM Crystal, the new AGO, BAPS Mandir, OCAD, and so on, we have our fair share of iconic recently built buildings. Considering how much people chide Dubai for being an architectural playground, it doesn't seem any quantity of quality buildings can please people. It's always too much, or too little.

Also, architecture isn't everything. Torontonians have an inferiority complex that extends well beyond being ashamed of what has been built.
 
I also live outside of Toronto and feel the inferiority complex is unjustified. I always love visiting and feel there's plenty to do... restaurants, museums, neighbourhood exploring, etc... and an aquarium will be a welcome addition. However, I do agree with khristopher that Toronto remains a design-challenged city. There are a lot of good things going up, but also too many important half-baked cheaped out developments... not to mention shabby park and streetscapes with Fisher Price street furniture, etc. At times you feel the pride in the city's aesthetic just isn't there.
 
There is no sense of theme with Toronto neighbourhoods. The designs are not cohesive to communicate a sense of vision.
Take the Distillery district. Even though the new condo buildings look nice, the use of glass does not work as well with the historical significant of the area. Also, there is very little to integrate parks and recreation areas for design purposes. Everything is all fused together.
 
There is no sense of theme with Toronto neighbourhoods. The designs are not cohesive to communicate a sense of vision.
Take the Distillery district. Even though the new condo buildings look nice, the use of glass does not work as well with the historical significant of the area. Also, there is very little to integrate parks and recreation areas for design purposes. Everything is all fused together.

Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods. In fact, one of the most interesting things about Toronto is that each neighbourhood has a different cultural, history, and vibe. Are you suggesting that these neighbourhoods lack a theme simly because they don't each have their own architectural style?
 
The trouble is, too many people use other cities as a lesson in how to view Toronto, at the expense of using Toronto as a lesson in how to view other cities...
 
I never understood the cliché that Toronto's 'a city of neighbourhoods.' All cities are cities are cities of neighbourhoods. It's almost like saying 'We got nothing going on here. Oh, wait. We're a city of neighbourhoods!'
 
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Agreed. It seems like people here like to tout this as something unique to Toronto. I've traveled to many cities in North America and Europe, and every city I've visited had neighbourhoods, some better than others, and each had it's own uniqueness to it. I guess the one thing that may set Toronto apart is the extremely healthy and diverse retail/restaurant sector. Each neighbourhood here is saturated with bars, restaurants, cafes, local shops, where in the case of many US cities, the retail strips in old neighbourhoods are patchy at best (excluding NY and SF).

Toronto is very live able mainly because our housing can still be purchased my middle income families. However with the recent appreciation this is becoming less true. One trend that is bothersome is the exodus of families with children from the city. As more kids grow up in the suburbs, it makes the city more shallow place where only yuppies and the elite hang out.

We need to build more dwellings where families can live afford-ably within the city limits.
 

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