With 97 cranes in the sky, Toronto far ahead of other North American cities

By Tina Yazdani

It seems every time you look up, you can spot one towering over the city. With 97 in the sky, Toronto has the most cranes in all of North America. This is the third time in a row the RLB Crane Index survey found Toronto is far ahead of other cities. Seattle, in second place, has only 65 cranes.

“It really is a reflection of the incredible amount of investment, I think people just really recognize the city of Toronto as an incredible place to live,” said Andrea Gaus, SvN architectural associate.

Urban designers predict an additional 250,000 people will be living in the city by 2041. To accommodate the influx, condos have been popping up across the city. The skyline has already changed dramatically, and it has some residents saying enough is enough.

“My whole building is now surrounded by other buildings so it’s a bit of an eyesore,” said Brittany Evans, who lives in Wellington Place.

“It makes me want to move. Just because the amount of units looks to be enormous and just going to add that many more people to the area.”

Evans lives in Wellington Place and says not only is traffic terrible, but there aren’t enough green spaces in the community. It’s a similar problem just west of the area in Liberty Village.

“We put in so many condos so densely, so quickly and hardly any public space and hardly any amenities, and now we’re struggling to play catch up after the fact,” said urban designer Ken Greenberg.

Greenberg says planners need to be thinking about social infrastructure before they begin building condos. He’s talking transit, schools, daycares, playgrounds, green spaces and even healthcare.

“Are we doing enough? No,” he said. “We need more sources of revenue. We need to think about raising taxes. I know politicians don’t like to talk about that but currently our ability to maintain our infrastructure – we have a deficit in transit investment, we have a deficit in maintaining public spaces, we have to really bear down with all three levels of government and think about how we fund all those essential services.”

Toronto is expected to see a boost in spending on infrastructure. There are currently 400 proposed high rise projects for the city.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today