Toronto ranked the most livable city in the world

Thanks to its revitalized suburbs and “enormous urban potential,” Toronto has once been given the honour of being named the world’s most liveable city.

Metropolis Magazine, a New York based architecture journal, was the latest publication to heap praise on The 6, placing Toronto ahead of Tokyo, Japan, and Helsinki, Finland.

Earlier this year, The Economist ranked Toronto as the world’s best city to live in.

“We had a lot of debates about why Toronto over some of these other cities, but in the end we felt that this year, Toronto deserved to be number one,” Metropolis’ editorial director, Paul Makovsky, told Metro News.

The magazine publishes an annual ranking of cities based on the overall quality of life, including criteria such as housing, amenities and culture. The editors consulted a team of urban experts to determine the rankings.

Written by Christopher Hume, the Metropolis article praises Toronto’s condos and office towers that “continue to pop up at a fast and furious rate as people” for the first time since the 1970s.

Hume also points to projects such as the Waterfront Toronto and Toronto Tower Renewal as examples in revitalizing the city’s post-industrial harbor lands.

When it comes multiculturalism, Toronto “relishes cuisines from the world over.” Hume refers to the Kensington Market as one of Toronto’s “most successful mixed-use neighbourhoods.”

“I think one thing Torontonians should do is step back and appreciate what they have,” Makovsky said. “I mean New York doesn’t have a good Chinatown. You have like four.”

Yet in the midst of all the perks, there is one unfortunately huge issue that continues to plague Canada’s most populous city: traffic.

Hume points to the fact that the city has not been able to keep up with demand but he does highlight the new Union-Pearson Express service to the airport as a game-changer.

According to the magazine, Toronto’s population should continue to grow; in the next 15 years, it’s population is expected to expand by more than three million people.

“Toronto is in the midst of a transformation that will make one of the most livable cities on earth even more attractive,” Hume wrote.