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Old Posted Sep 5, 2012, 5:04 PM
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Steely Dan Steely Dan is online now
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Lincoln Square, Chicago
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^ that relatively high density single family home suburbia you see in metro toronto is not terribly common here in chicagoland. single family homes are generally given more breathing room here, but the suburbia being built today is still, for the most part, every bit as autocentric, disconnected, and mono-use, making for mind-numbingly boring communities.

i too much, MUCH prefer the suburbia of the early 20th century. it's the kind of suburbia i knew growing up in wilmette (north shore burb).

as mentioned before, toronto just wasn't a huge place yet when that early pattern of suburbia first developed. in fact, in 1930, toronto wouldn't have even ranked as one of the 10 largest metros in US/Canada.


1930 metro population:
  1. New York ---- 10,901,000
  2. Chicago ------- 4,365,000
  3. Philadelphia ---- 2,847,000
  4. Boston -------- 2,308,000
  5. Detroit -------- 2,105,000
  6. Pittsburgh ----- 1,954,000
  7. St. Louis ------ 1,294,000
  8. San Francisco - 1,290,000
  9. Cleveland ------ 1,195,000
  10. Montreal ------- 1,023,000
  11. Baltimore -------- 949,000
  12. Minneapolis ------ 832,000
  13. Buffalo ---------- 821,000
  14. Toronto --------- 810,000



another difference to consider is that chicago has had a large and fairly comprehensive commuter rail network serving its suburbs since the late 19th century, whereas commuter rail didn't really become a big thing in toronto until the 1960s. as a result chicagoland is littered with traditionally urban suburban town centers built around railroad stations that have been organically developing for over a century now.
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Last edited by Steely Dan; Sep 5, 2012 at 5:44 PM.
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