Differences between outer Toronto and 905/GTA

[Docere]

The main differences seem to be that 416 was pretty much built up by 1970, while 905 is mostly post-1980 suburbia. And significantly more apartments compared to detached houses compared to outer Toronto.

Of course they blend into each other too. The far eastern edge of Scarborough feels very much like Durham Region, older parts of Mississauga very much feel like Etobicoke, and the Markham side of Thornhill feels very much like a continuation of Bayview/Leslie corridor of North York. However Vaughan feels rather different than bordering parts of Toronto, probably because Vaughan was pretty much farmland until the 1980s and is a generation behind in terms of construction (plus NW Toronto is quite poor and Vaughan is fairly affluent).

[Innsertnamehere]

age of suburbs and levels of transit use are the big ones, though transit use is pretty similar in some parts of the 905 like Brampton. Halton, York, and Durham generally have very low transit use though.

The 416 generally actually has larger lots owing to the older build out period - the further out you go the tighter the lots get, ironically. That is sort of swapped out with less apartments though so average densities are probably lower overall.

[Docere]

Two housing typologies compared:

Outer Toronto

Detached 32%
5+ storey apartment 41%

905

Detached 57%
5+ storey apartment 13%

I calculated these figures awhile ago, so from 2016 census.

[Docere]

For selected municipalities (2021 census):

Detached

Ajax 65%
Vaughan 63%
Oakville 59%
Richmond Hill 57%
Markham 56%
Brampton 53%
Mississauga 37%

5+ storey apartment

Mississauga 27%
Richmond Hill 19%
Markham 16%
Vaughan 13%
Oakville 12%
Brampton 10%
Ajax 7%

[MolsonExport]

One is really interesting, the other, much less so.

[Doady]

Mississauga and Brampton are most similar to Hamilton and Oshawa in that they are self-contained cities. Most people who live in these places also work in these places. This reflected in the high local transit ridership in all four of these places. If people live outside Toronto but work in Toronto, the chance of them using local transit is very low. Mississauga and Brampton are also very industrial cities, just like Hamilton and Oshawa.

Malton, Rexdale and Jane-Finch are essentially one neighbourhood, but separated by a political boundary. Mississauga overall is probably more similar to Scarborough than it is to Etobicoke. Etobicoke is much older and not centred around a mall...

Oakville and Markham are very similar to each other in their adherence to New Urbanism.

Ajax is similar to Toronto in that it has a fully public waterfront.

South Mississauga and south North York are similar in their lack of consideration for TOD (e.g. broken corridors such as Lawrence East, large gaps between parallel corridors, lack of pedestrian walkways to corridors).

North and central Mississauga and North Brampton are similar in having entirely new corridors between concessions to increase the amount of major transit routes (e.g. Williams Parkway, Sandalwood Parkway, Glen Erin Drive, Bristol Road, Confederation Parkway).

Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough have very few cycling facilities compared to the 905 due to the city's focus on the downtown bike network.