kEiThZ
Superstar
KeithZ:
If you compare Toronto and Paris, my favorite city, the two cities have similar population, yet Toronto's land (630sq km) is exactly 6 times of the City of Paris (105 sq km), which mean the entire Toronto population can fit in 1/6 of its current area, how big will that be? I did some work on the map, and the area covers Lake Ontario to the south, Lawrence Ave to the North, DVP to the East and Keele to the West. The entire great city of Paris fits in this area, yet Toronto has to spread as far as 6 times large. If that's not sprawl, I don't know what it.
Imagine how life will be easier if Toronto is the size of Paris, without all those either vacant or extremely sparsely populated areas where I have to build subways to, yet Toronto will be much denser and more vibrant on the street.
Hey. I like Europe too. I have family in Vienna and London that I visit often enough. And I do like their transit systems. But the reality is that Toronto is not a European city. Our city didn't get mostly grow during the pre-industrial era where transport distances were essentially limited to foot travel for most.
We are where we are. And while we can certainly plan for more densification, suggesting that we should essentially limit all transit development to 1/6th of the city because that where people should have lived all along is draconian and simply unsellable. Quite frankly it just isn't going to happen with property prices the way they are. And nor will the public tolerate such restricting policies.
You want European density? Just look at what was accomplished on north Yonge and Sheppard. That's a lot closer than anything that would happened on the whole half of Sheppard East that was literally backyards (stable neighbourhoods not to be rezoned).