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and that's the problem. And most of our inner city neighbourhoods function like the beaches - low density with one single retail street. East York is another excellent example - it is largely boring. If put in Madrid or Berlin, a place like East York will be vibrant like St Lawrence Market, but...

Two story semis are only slightly better than detached. They are still low density and are not exactly friendly to high capacity transit. The math is actually quite simple. They are two story high, which puts a cap on possible density no matter how you describe it. It will be a lot less dense...

Great comments. I am very sick of this "let Toronto be Toronto" kind of argument. It sounds nice and sweet but in fact means absolutely nothing and is probably more detrimental than constructive. Toronto is not an unchanging concept. And Toronto today is definitely not the same one in the 1990s...

When did I say there is "no value" in such built from? Again thank you for putting words in my mouth. That must have made you feel smarter.

I am not rich and never talk for the rich. I just don't support the poor every time as if they are always the victim of some sort of social injustice. that's all. In reality, despite the seemingly omnipresent highrises which often rise to 40-70s tall in the more dense old city of Toronto...

OK I don't understand one thing: if one argues that ridership is sufficient in Yonge North for a subway, then why don't we build a subway along King/Queen st first, since the ridership of 504/501 is four times as much? Why do the people in York region feel more entitled to a subway ride to...

or keep letting only the wealthy 1% monopolize them just because we love how those old houses look. Something needs to be done to increase housing supply and bring non-rich people in.

Walkable? Let's see. Are neighbourhoods such as Rosedale walkable? In theory yes, because it is so damn close to Yonge/Bloor, but how many of those residents live walkable lives and don't depend on cars? Does the layout of the streets with all the cul-de-sac encourage public transport? They do...

I agree we probably should preserve some Victorian houses of the best quality in some areas, but in reality, there are simply too many of them in Toronto occupying too much valuable land very close to downtown. For example, I always have huge problems with the layout and build form of Rosedale -...

Barcelona's urban layout is nearby perfect, not just the buildings, but also division between bus lanes, car lanes and bike/pedestrians lanes. While I was walking on the street, I was amazed and wonder how backward Toronto is in that respect. We are not even bold enough to have a single...

20+ years, plus about 8 times in Europe, 3 times in South America, once in Africa. And I am used to cities with 5-15 subway lines - that's a benefit of density. Lyon, France for example has half a million people, and 4 subway lines. Anger, France has 150k people, but it has a LRT - imagine...

I do. I have been to North York or Scarborough after all. In all seriousness, what I was against was this fear mongering "this is too dense!" protest as if a couple of 60-80s towers will immediately make an area unlivable. I am sure those people must have grown up in the suburbs where there are...

You have no idea of what "super density" really is. Don't throw words randomly like this. Downtown Toronto is still sparsely populated. Increase the density 4 folds and I wouldn't call it "super dense".

I meant from the exit to the train platform. Of course the distance from your gate to the exit depends. Pearson in that respect (worst scenario for example) is probably worse than Schiphol. Every time I felt I am exhausted by just walking to the customs.

it is embarrassing even to suggest a type of sandwich is Toronto's "signature food". It is still just a sandwich at the end of the day.

very true. Within the Ontario government, an assistant deputy minister is typical paid only about twice as a regular staff 4 levels under him. The pay scale is simply too flat, with too many over paid supporting staff doing little. What's worse, it is almost impossible to fire a public sector...

I would say it is stupid policy to impose 0% salary increase to government employees. I hardly see that as some sort of achievement. Public sector needs to be competitive and attractive to the right talents too, just like the private sector. To use the government employees as the scapegoat every...

I took it for a second time two days ago, from Terminal 3. It was a bit more distance than I would prefer, but in general not so horrible. The train also felt quite slow. In Amsterdam, the downtown train is right beneath the airport terminal, which takes 3 minutes to walk to. Just to show there...

Only in Toronto the HM store looks 10 times better than the Apple Store (which is a sad space).

I have to say all this talk about "dislocation of poor people" that makes some people feel so noble about themselves is often unnecessary if not annoying, not because the related social issues are not important, but because there is a complete lack of evidence showing poor people will be...