List of neighbourhoods in Toronto

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toronto, Ontario, Canada is called "the city of neighbourhoods" because of the strength and vitality of its many communities. The city has upwards of 240 distinct neighbourhoods within its boundaries. Before 1998, Toronto was a much smaller municipality and formed part of Metropolitan Toronto. When the city amalgamated that year, Toronto grew to encompass the former municipalities of York, East York, North York, Etobicoke, and Scarborough. Each of these former municipalities still maintains, to a certain degree, its own distinct identity, and the names of these municipalities are still used by their residents. The area known as Toronto before the amalgamation is sometimes called the "old" City of Toronto, the Central District or simply "Downtown".

The "old" City of Toronto is, by far, the most populous and dense part of the city. It is also the business centre of the city.

The "inner ring" suburbs of York and East York are older, predominantly middle-class areas, and ethnically diverse. Much of the housing stock in these areas consists of old pre-war single-family houses and post-war high-rises. Many of the neighbourhoods in these areas were built up as streetcar suburbs and contain many dense and mixed-use streets. Mostly they share many characteristics with sections of the "old" city, outside of the downtown core.

The "outer ring" suburbs of Etobicoke, Scarborough, and North York are much more suburban in nature (although these boroughs are developing urban centres of their own, such as North York Centre around Mel Lastman Square). The following is a list of the more notable neighbourhoods, divided by the neighbourhoods' location based on the former municipalities, the names of which are still known and commonly used by Torontonians.

What makes Toronto unique in many ways is the concern of local residents within its neighbourhoods. Many Ratepayer’s Associations, Resident's Associations and Homeowner's Associations exist and meet regularly. Larger umbrella organizations such as CORRA, FoNTRA and CHIP organize because of bigger issues. Many of these organizations have websites which can be accessed from the Toronto Wiki website's Ratepayer’s Associations listings page.

1 Old Toronto
2 East York
3 Etobicoke
4 Scarborough
5 North York
6 York
7 External links

[edit] Old Toronto

The Old City of Toronto refers to the City of Toronto and its boundaries from 1967 to 1997. It is sometimes referred to as the "South" or "Central" district, or more frequently as "the (downtown) core." Some of these names such as "The Fashion District" are (or were) used as marketing for the areas or by BIAs; this area is actually called "King-Spadina" by locals. Another example is the "Old Town of York", known also as "King and Parliament". Many were recreated or branded to reconnect the areas with their past history, early beginnings, or even recent use and prominence. Some historical city 'wards' used in the 19th century are no longer used, St. David's, St. John's, St. Paul's, St. Georges and St. Patrick's wards. The use for St. Lawrence's ward has remained, known today just as "St. Lawrence".

For the purposes of geographic distinction, the neighbourhoods of the Old City are broken down into four sub sections;

Downtown Core (Central)