Observing Downtown Toronto
by Saif Hanif
Toronto at a Glance
Main Observations
Population Density
Medium-Density Residential Land Use
High-Density Residential Land Use
Low-Order Goods / Services
Middle-Order Goods / Services
Middle-order goods are goods or services that you may buy once a week or month (clothing, CD's). These are usually found in the center of town were you may have to drive to. This is a picture of a place in Toronto were you will easily find middle-order goods.
High-Order Goods / Services and Commercial Land Use
High-order goods are goods or services that are usually expensive and only bought occasionally. This may include specialized goods such as furniture, electronics, jewelry and telescopes. The above picture is a picture of the Eaton Centre were you could find a variety of high order goods and services. A city like Toronto can have shops selling expensive and specialized goods because of there large threshold population (the minimum number of people before a certain good or service can be provided in that area).
In the CBD of Toronto, there are examples of commercial land use everywhere. There are many advertisements and a large range of low, middle, and high order goods and services.
Transportation Land Use
Institutional Land Use
Industrial Land Use
Open-Space / Recreational Land Use
Land Use Conflict
Land use conflict occurs everywhere around the world. Some things just can't go next to each other. For example, you won't find a factory near the condos in downtown Toronto because industrial and residential land don't go together. Nobody would want to live there because factories create pollution and sound pollution. The same goes for industrial and institutional and industrial and sometimes commercial land. The picture above shows exactly why urban planners have to bear this in mind when designing cities.