Whatever it felt like on the ground for Torontonians, our city's star continued to shine brightly internationally in 2011. Surveying the international media, Toronto received rave reviews.
That was especially the case in rankings of global cities. We were never far from the
top. Name the rating system—
happiness,
innovation,
reputation,
economic power,
economic security,
museums,
entrepreneurship,
sustainability, as a
travel destination,
liveability or
well-being, Toronto usually scored high. In some areas, Toronto came out of nowhere. As the
Grasshopper Group wrote in February: "Although not historically known as a nexus of entrepreneurship, Toronto has come onto the scene as a fast-moving startup city."
But spreadsheets weren't the only thing telling us we're doing just fine. Visiting reporters also found Toronto to have charms and attractions that can't necessarily be measured by cold, hard numbers. Our
diversity and snow-free streets attracted attention, as did our
vintage shops and movie locations, our
life-sciences sector, the reinvented
Roncesvalles village,
TIFF, our
3D and
game industries, our
music scene,
Luminato, the
Distillery District (
multiple times—a real travel-writer
fave), our "
creative force" and, of course, the CN Tower's newest
thrill, the
Edgewalk.
But if we had to pick the top two things that people were talking about when they talked about Toronto on 2011, it would have to be our
banks and our love of
towers. Not only did we
avoid a real estate and banking
crisis, we decided to keep moving onward and upward—especially upward—making us the North American city with the most tower construction currently in progress.