Equivalent areas between Toronto/Vancouver?

[dleung]

No two cities seem to share such a similar demographic, building styles, developers lol, and above all the sheer number of transplants from the other city. My parents have never stayed here for more than a few days, but have recently discovered that in some areas of Toronto good deals can still be had for houses (not the overpriced condos), and are looking to pad their nest egg with something better-performing than their mutual funds. It's been interesting trying to explain to them why particular areas are underrated and why others are overrated. The easiest way is to compare such areas to equivalents in Vancouver:





I went on a limb with some areas just to get a more even coverage than I otherwise would have, so feel free to disagree lol

[MonkeyRonin]

New West and St. Lawrence being equivalents? Pretty sure the Vancouver equivalent of St. Lawrence would be Gastown & area (oldest area of the city, very touristy now, midrises, borders on some sketchier areas, etc). There isn't really a perfect Toronto equivalent of New West, but I think it'd be something like Mimico if it had better transit and the new development were more integrated into the older urban fabric.

[Beedok]

Is Hamilton Victoria?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Beedok

Is Hamilton Victoria?

You wish!

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by Acajack

You wish!

It's that or Abbotsford. Maybe Nanaimo? Chiliwack?

[theman23]

Hamilton to Nanaimo I can see, mostly because of the blue collar shabbiness. But its still not the perfect comparison - Nanaimo is tiny, and you feel like you've seen everything there is to see in a day. A better comparison is probably St.Catharines.

[Andy6]

It's BridLE Path, not BridAL Path. A path for horses, not ladies.

[MolsonExport]

Interesting thread concept.

Richmond (BC) is Markham (Ont).

Laval is Milton/Abbotsford/Newton; Longueuil is...Longueuil (no parallel place); the Waste Island is North York with a dash of Oakville.

[WhipperSnapper]

LOL There's such an obvious choice for Richmond in the 905 and you say Markham.

[MolsonExport]

LOL yourself. The most Chinese city in Ontario is Markham (40% ethnic Chinese), whereas the most Chinese city in BC is Richmond (48.5% ethnic Chinese). And I lived in Richmond for 4 years.

[WhipperSnapper]

Chinese are dominant throughout many parts of York Region. Development along Yonge in Richmond Hill actually looks like those in Richmond. Multiple 15 storey tower developments repeated over and over.

[SignalHillHiker]

First post was surprisingly fun to read/compare. I don't know either city well enough to get it, but it's fun thinking about.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Longueuil is...Longueuil (no parallel place);

The old city of Gatineau (not the merged megacity that includes Hull, Aylmer, etc.) is kind of a hybrid of Longueuil and Laval.

Lucky us!

[LeftCoaster]

Since I rarely make it out of the 416, and rarely made if SoF during my time in Vancouver, I'll focus on the more inner neighbourhood comparisons.

Toronto - Vanvouver
Yorkville = Yaletown
Ossington = Main Street
St Lawrence = Gastown
The Beaches = Kits
Bridle Path = Southlands
Rosedale = Shaughnessy
Yonge St. = Granville St.
West End = West End!
Forrest Hill = The West Side
North York = Metrotown

It's actually amazing that despite a lot of dissimilarities how similarly the equivalent neighbourhoods in these two cities function for their respective city.

[shappy]

So this is a comparison of neighbourhoods by demographics and building styles? I don't see a lot of similarities with building styles except a handful of early 2000s condos in City Place. And basically every city of comparable size has a yorkville or gastown. So I don't see a lot of similarities here but it's always fun to compare.

Having said that, I do think Kits and the Beaches have a notably similar feel.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by shappy

So this is a comparison of neighbourhoods by demographics and building styles? I don't see a lot of similarities with building styles except a handful of early 2000s condos in City Place. And basically every city of comparable size has a yorkville or gastown. So I don't see a lot of similarities here but it's always fun to compare.

Having said that, I do think Kits and the Beaches have a notably similar feel.

Building styles are totally out, very different architecture in both cities. The two cities just developed at completely different periods and 4,000kms apart.

With my comparisons I was thinking more the role they play and their cognitive association in their respective cities

Yorkville/Yaletown = yuppies
Ossington/Main St = hipsters

[yaletown_fella]

This map is well done , dleung. Very cool.

I know it's nitpicking, but port Credit and Mineola is just as high end as Oakville. Similar large lots and homes without the rediculous Oakville premium price tag. I supposed North Van has areas with similar lot sizes and conservation areas? I think the price range and demographics is more like West Van.

The port credit "downtown" is also smaller and less urban than North Van. Maybe Portcredit is larger version of Horseshoe bay?

Also, Fraserview should be shifted farther north near the Princess Gardens neighborhood. Edenbridge and Thorncrest (where you placed fraserview) is more like higher end/larger lot parts of Vancouver's west side or Caulfield.

On the other hand, the built form of the Annex (or Church street area like you put on the map) is strikingly similar to the West End. You nailed that along with Kitsilano, East Van & Capitol Hill.

Also, Bridal Path is only really comparable to Southlands. Its lots are way bigger than those in West Van. West Van is probably more like York Mills.

[hipster duck]

dleung:

Fun thread. Obviously, there are big differences between the two cities - the built form is totally different, and demographics-wise, Toronto has a huge southern European, African and West Indian presence that Vancouver almost totally lacks - but some of the suburban areas are more easily comparable due to the fact that both cities were on the receiving end of much of Canada's immigration since 1970.

Just my opinion, but I'd make the following switches:

- Scarborough Town Centre = Surrey Centre more than Brentwood. STC and Surrey Centre both have a low end stigma that municipal leaders tried to remedy by packing the area with both private development and civic landmarks (e.g. new library, new performing arts centres, etc.). They're both getting their share of development, but everybody knows that if governments would have invested the same amount of energy revitalizing areas that are already desirable, that there would have been an explosion of development rather than some modest gains.

- Markham isn't Coquitlam. Markham is Richmond. The Korean centre for Toronto is North York Centre, although there is proportionally less Korean representation in Toronto than in Vancouver to start with.

- Oakridge is St. Clair? I don't see the connection there.

- Ladner reminds me of Durham Region: it's where the white people fled to.

[dleung]

I'll make an update soon... totally forgot about Gastown/St Lawrence. To me, STC is a bit of Whalley and Brentwood. Might make Mississauga Brentwood, but Brentwood is far more urban and with better prospects. Totally disagree about Richmond/Richmond Hill/Markham. Richmond is far more urban and much closer to North York with the widespread second-growth redevelopment of 1960's original builds. Most of the 905 is built in the 80's/90's, and still being built out over greenfield land, similar to Coquitlam and the eastern suburbs of Vancouver.

[shappy]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Building styles are totally out, very different architecture in both cities. The two cities just developed at completely different periods and 4,000kms apart.

I was actually even thinking along the lines of more recent and modern developments but I agree. Hence I'm questioning the premise of this thread. Seems arbitrary. Both do build a lot of condos though...

Originally Posted by dleung

No two cities seem to share such a similar demographic, building styles, developers