Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America. Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and is part of a densely populated region in Southern Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe.
According to knowledgeable Toronto residents, and architects who have designed buildings in the city, such as Will Alsop, Toronto has no single, dominant architectural style. Lawrence Richards, a member of the faculty of architecture at the University of Toronto, has said "Toronto is a new, brash, rag-tag place - a big mix of periods and styles." Toronto buildings vary in design and age with many structures dating back to the mid-1800s, while other prominent buildings were just newly built in the 2000s.
Defining the Toronto skyline is the CN Tower. At a height of 553.33 metres (1,815 ft 5 in) it was the world's tallest freestanding structure until 2007 when it was surpassed by the Burj Khalifa, but it is still the tallest tower in the western hemisphere surpassing Chicago's Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower) by 110 metres in height. It is an important telecommunications hub, and a centre of tourism in Toronto. Toronto has a diverse array of public spaces, from city squares to public parks overlooking ravines. A group called the Toronto Public Space Committee was formed to protect the city's public spaces. Nathan Phillips Square is the city's main square in downtown, and forms the entrance to City Hall. Yonge-Dundas Square, a newer square not far from City Hall, has also gained attention in recent years as one of the busiest gathering spots in the city. Other squares include Harbourfront Square, on the revitalized Toronto waterfront, and the civic squares at the former city halls of the defunct Metropolitan Toronto, most notably Mel Lastman Square in North York.
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