Chicago and Toronto are the two biggest cities of the Great Lakes megaregion of North America, and they share a lot of similarities. They have similar populations, climates, street grids, and positions on the lake. To Americans, Toronto is sideways Chicago; to Canadians it’s the opposite. But how do these two Great Lakes metropolises compare?
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References:
Building heights came from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH):
https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/city...
https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/city...
Populations came from the 2021 Canadian census and the 2020 US decennial census.
Density maps came from: https://luminocity3d.org/WorldPopDen/...
Transit ridership numbers (see legend on bottom for type of transit): https://www.apta.com/wpcontent/uploa...
Toronto subway frequencies: https://www.ttc.ca/routesandschedul...
Ghost trains in Chicago: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/10/...
Reece's writings on transit in Toronto vs. Chicago: https://reecemartin.substack.com/p/ta...
Extending the Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts...
6.6 million trips on Divvy in 2023: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2024/1/1...
5.7 million trips on BikeShareTO in 2023: https://bikesharetoronto.com/news/loo...
Greater Chicago has a higher median income: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites...
Toronto is less economically segregated: http://www2.rotman.utoronto.ca/mpi/c...
Toronto is less blackwhite racially segregated: https://www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/...
Health inequalities in Chicago vs Toronto: https://works.bepress.com/fdemaio/36/