Canada’s Densest Boroughs: Is the Plateau Really on Top?

In talking up the density of low-rise walk-up apartments, many people claim that the Plateau in Montreal is the densest borough or neighbourhood in all of Canada. I’m not sure where this originally came from but the assertion even shows up on the Wikipedia page. At 13,000 people per square kilometre, the Plateau is pretty dense. But is it really the densest in the country?

Keep Urbanity rolling:

References:

Density data came from the Canadian census, using 2021 numbers when possible/relevant.

[flcon]

I was going to say that 13, 000 isn't that dense because that's barely above Roger's Park, Chicago... But apparently we're one of the 6 most dense wards in Chicago (out of 76). Odd, it feels so quiet and some people refer to us as a suburb.

I think density done right can really create a wonderfully liveable place for so many people.

[SteveBluescemi]

It should also be noted that Vancouver's west end is a beautiful, clean, and quiet yet thriving neighborhood that was recently called the best in all of Canada, despite also being the densest. Nimbys will scaremonger about Kowloon Walled City when the urbanist goal is actually more like Bute Street.

[Alpine]

I live in the West End, I love it. You'd think it would be super busy all the time, but there's lots of quiet places, small parks, and hidden secrets most people don't know about

[malachyfernandez]

this video was viewed by 4, 000 people and not one thought to update wikipedia! i updated it now :)

[I.____.....__...__]

1:44 * Montreal doesn't do snow plowing, it does snow REMOVAL (as you showed in the video). They don't just shove the snow to the sides, into the bike-lanes, bike-paths, and sidewalks, they actually SUCK IT UP into a dump-truck and haul it away and dump it into a quarry that stays full of snow into April.

[fleodo]

Plateau is not the densest but where the density is the most livable I think, with a pretty close european way of like. You explains all of that really well !

[Skip]

I live in Yaletown. It’s full of massive apartment towers. The West End has the potential for being the best neighboorhood in Canada, but for two main problems: lack of higher-order transit, and most of the old buildings are not earthquake proof

[bjdon]

The Plateau may or may not be the densest neighbourhood in Canada but its the coolest one.

[hellssatansfc]

As a proud East Yorker I feel I should point out that the official name of that part of Toronto is the "Borough of East York"

[BoBandits]

We, in Toronto do have boroughs. East York, Old Toronto, North York, Etobicoke and Scarborough. They are pre metro boroughs, and still used in our mailing addresses.

[zycosi]

I was surprised to see that the density in the Plateau was lower than my census tract, which has the same kind of built form, but I think it's because while here most of the three-storey walkups have two apartments per floor, it's common to see buildings with 1 unit per floor in the Plateau. A great video, thanks for making it!

[Meyers]

Toronto has very "spikey" density. Case in point, Toronto Centre has lots of high-rise apartments and condos in St James Town and elsewhere, and also Cabbagetown, which is mostly century-old detached homes, semis and rowhouses. Also, Cabbagetown seems to be a breeding ground for NIMBYs; they once opposed a badly-needed daycare centre because of potential noise from children.

[allanflippin]

The "definition of borough" issue reminds me of something else strange that I recently discovered. That's how Chongqing China is the most populous city in the world 32, 000, 000) as well as the largest in area (82, 000 square km, or the size of the country of Austria). This is a stunt with the definition of ""city" in China. By their definition, the 11 largest area cities in the world are in China.

[YoJesusMorales]

I feel like I fell on a weird forum post where they are having this argument.

[emdxemdx]

@5:26 That "other cluster of downtown apartments surrounding Concordia" is called the "Shaughnessy Village".

[UrdnotChuckles]

Last I checked Garneau in Edmonton is around 12, 000 people per square km? Oliver isn't too far behind that either. With luck our cities get more comfortably dense walkable places to live as time goes by. :)

[denisrho]

Great video... great mind... thanks for you search !
From a Montrealer - merci beaucoup.

[alexseguin]

What's good about the Plateau is that achieves high density while looking good and offering decent space for its residents. The large downtown condo towers you see in Toronto don't look good and have way too small units. It is pointless to build high density if you're gonna build it with 350 square feet of space per unit.

[YoungThos]

Shocking erasure of Winnipeg's Osborne Village, which comes in at 14, 000 people per square kilometre. Winnipeg is so dense it even made a list in a CityNerd video this week 🤓

[hysterics]

The boundaries of federal ridings are adjusted to keep the populations nearly equal if possible, with extra ridings being added as required.