I recently returned from a research
trip to New York and Toronto. Being the first time in Canada’s largest metropolis
my expectations were high. I was not disappointed. Nevertheless the image I had
had of Toronto was altered a lot. The first days it represented itself as what
many would call a highly livable city, everyone’s friendly, there is a lot of green space,
people move around on bikes or in streetcars, small little restaurants, clean
and safe, many of the big chain retailers are hidden well in shopping malls, to
make way for more small scale retail infrastructures also in the bigger
shopping streets. Moreover it definitely has a European touch und it is
certainly understandable why it has been ranking top in various ‘most livable
cities’ indexes.
However, soon I ‘discovered’ the
suburbs. Standing at the viewing platform of CN Tower revealed the vast suburban landscape which
is part of Toronto and its metropolitan area.
