Tewder
Senior Member
I think it's important here to note your context/perspective as a British person coming to Toronto because I can see that somebody from that context may not necessarily appreciate or understand the uniquess of Toronto's thriving, urban inner-city neighbourhoods in the same way that somebody from a North American context would as this is an urban pattern far more common in Europe than here, and I can also understand why those skyscrapers would make the sort of impression on you that they did as they were once far more common here than across the pond. They make an impression on me too, by the way, and I'm as happy as anybody else to see exciting grand buildings rise on the skyline (well probably not quite as happy but you know what I mean).
Yearning for Manhattan style canyons and density seems unrealistic to me given that Manhattan is an island with truly limited land to start with, and was largely built in a different era under a differing political system resulting fromt he growth and expansion of an American capitalist empire. The contexts are so different. This doesn't preclude highrises in Toronto in any way but we must embrace our context here and be true to it rather than looking too closely elsewhere. Some parts of the city do feel Manhattan-like, or probably Chicago-like to be more accurate, which probably makes sense when even Manhattan 'lowrise' feels more dense and highrise than Toronto's typical two-storey main streets and detached urban residential homes.
