[egotrippin]

It is quite eye-opening when one compares the population of Mississauga with European cities like Dublin, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, or Rotterdam and realizes just how populace and big it is for a mere “suburb”. I am curious how aware people in other provinces and countries are of Mississauga? Although it exists in its dimensions because if its proximity to Toronto, if you made a theoretical copy of Mississauga and plucked it in another part of the country it would be considered a significant regional city on the scale of Winnipeg, Calgary or Edmonton.

Population wise, maybe, but Mississauga lacks the developed core of a standalone city. It's still to some degree a bedroom community to Toronto with a lot of people commuting there for work. There's no CBD to speak of, with many of its bigger employers spread out in campus-style office parks. It'll get there one day, but right now despite all the new condo towers it still feels relatively suburban and sprawling.

 

[mininamib]

Are Canadian suburbs like Mississauga (over 800,000!) unique in the Western world for their population sizes and skylines? I can imagine many parallels in East Asia, but I cannot seem to think of equivalents in North America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand. Perhaps in Latin America?

 

[ericmacm]

Are Canadian suburbs like Mississauga (over 800,000!) unique in the Western world for their population sizes and skylines? I can imagine many parallels in East Asia, but I cannot seem to think of equivalents in North America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand. Perhaps in Latin America?

I can’t think of many that come close to what we have here. Some US suburbs have significant skylines but lack the large population base, such as Bellevue WA, Clayton MO, and Ann Arbor, MI.

 

[sixrings]

I don't think this is a material difference. In both places, people go downtown or stay local in similar proportions. It's not as if a city of 5-7M can fit in Nathan Phillips. At any rate, these things are all pretty superficial. As an economic unit, it's all Toronto.

In some ways I agree with you. But I grew up not far from Scarborough city hall and we never went there for any event. We always went to Scarborough town centre.

In Mississauga you can go to square one but you might find yourself at celebration square for a busker fest or for the raptors championship Jurassic park experience. I’m surprised how often I end up at events at celebration square. Maybe it’s more people who live close to mcc which use it while the ones outside mcc go downtown Toronto. That I don’t know. But it feels like once a month there is an event.

 

[afransen]

In some ways I agree with you. But I grew up not far from Scarborough city hall and we never went there for any event. We always went to Scarborough town centre.

In Mississauga you can go to square one but you might find yourself at celebration square for a busker fest or for the raptors championship Jurassic park experience. I’m surprised how often I end up at events at celebration square. Maybe it’s more people who live close to mcc which use it while the ones outside mcc go downtown Toronto. That I don’t know. But it feels like once a month there is an event.

Sometimes I wander through Celebration Square, but I am more often downtown. Both are a trip for me.

 

[sixrings]

Sometimes I wander through Celebration Square, but I am more often downtown. Both are a trip for me.

I spent a lot of time downtown when I was in Scarborough. Almost none at STC. In fact if I wanted a mall we went to Fairview. Downtown will always be a bigger draw but there’s no denying the events that take place at celebration square or living arts centre. Sheridan in the core makes a difference versus centennial outside of STC. There’s some small parks and of course the library. Nothing will compete with downtown Toronto but as MCC grows so will the amenities.

 

[rdaner]

MCC has a higher residential population than most NA metros. ~70,000! When I was there a month ago I wanted to see if a sense of urbanity was developing and the answer is yes. It is mostly along the western edge of the mall where most of the housing and public facilities are located. I put some images in the MCC/Square One Neighbourhood thread of how Duke of York is developing. It is getting a lot of street level retail and isn’t too wide and as a result has pedestrians!

 

[sixrings]

MCC has a higher residential population than most NA metros. ~70,000! When I was there a month ago I wanted to see if a sense of urbanity was developing and the answer is yes. It is mostly along the western edge of the mall where most of the housing and public facilities are located. I put some images in the MCC/Square One Neighbourhood thread of how Duke of York is developing. It is getting a lot of street level retail and isn’t too wide and as a result has pedestrians!

Yup. It feels like I hear there’s no pedestrians in Mississauga all the time. But confederation, living arts drive, Duke of York all contest that negativity. If what’s happened in these areas keep happening in the new areas than there will be an urban core.

 

[Dan416]

Yup. It feels like I hear there’s no pedestrians in Mississauga all the time. But confederation, living arts drive, Duke of York all contest that negativity. If what’s happened in these areas keep happening in the new areas than there will be an urban core.

I'm at Hurontario and Elm so the western edge of MCC is a bit of a walk for me. Hurontario is one of the most important streets in Mississauga, and it's not very urban all things considered. A lot of buildings don't actually front onto Hurontario (I noticed this when I was curious what the street addresses along Hurontario were around here, and nothing actually has a Hurontario address nearby).

I wish Hurontario were a bit more like Confederation which actually has shops and stuff fronting onto it, even though it is on the wide side.

 

[sixrings]

I'm at Hurontario and Elm so the western edge of MCC is a bit of a walk for me. Hurontario is one of the most important streets in Mississauga, and it's not very urban all things considered. A lot of buildings don't actually front onto Hurontario (I noticed this when I was curious what the street addresses along Hurontario were around here, and nothing actually has a Hurontario address nearby).

I wish Hurontario were a bit more like Confederation which actually has shops and stuff fronting onto it, even though it is on the wide side.

I’m your neighbour and to be honest it’s a bit frustrating on the east side. But I’m hopeful that all the development that happens going forward learns from what’s taking place on the west side. Plus the east side will have the lrt which is a big advantage.

There is some major developments that are coming near hurontario like the 70 floor buildings at 403 and hurontario as well as the 70 at the current petro Canada at burnamthorpe. Also hopeful that exchange south will continue to improve the area. I really like kariya park and a park is going at the bottom of your edge towers. So things are progressing. Just slower.

M condo related John bud clearly park at Webb and confederation was bursting at the seems on Saturday. Is it all the M1 and M2 people? I’ve never seen the place so busy and the small park they are actually building for M condos will no doubt be packed day one.

 

[rdaner]

Another busy spot is Celebration Square on weekend evenings when they have films suitable for kids. Packed with families! Food trucks and a great community feeling. And the much expanded and improved library will only enhance the area.

 

[afransen]

I'm at Hurontario and Elm so the western edge of MCC is a bit of a walk for me. Hurontario is one of the most important streets in Mississauga, and it's not very urban all things considered. A lot of buildings don't actually front onto Hurontario (I noticed this when I was curious what the street addresses along Hurontario were around here, and nothing actually has a Hurontario address nearby).

I wish Hurontario were a bit more like Confederation which actually has shops and stuff fronting onto it, even though it is on the wide side.

Given that Hurontario seems likely to remain a traffic sewer/road, I think it would be better to have activity focus on parallel access streets. Because these wouldn't be serving a through-movement function, they can be relatively narrow like 24-28m (maybe 3 lanes wide + parking + buffer + bike lanes + wide sidewalk), low speed, low volume and relatively pleasant. No one will ever really want to sit on a patio facing Hurontario with the vehicle volumes that road needs to carry.