Sideways Chicago vs. Tilted Toronto: Great Lakes Urbanism Showdown

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/wp-content/uploa...

Toronto subway frequencies: https://www.ttc.ca/routes-and-schedul...

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://www-2.rotman.utoronto.ca/mpi/c...

Toronto is less black-white racially segregated: https://www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/...

Health inequalities in Chicago vs Toronto: https://works.bepress.com/fdemaio/36/