Toronto Star

No, 2005 wasn't the year Toronto came of age, but it was the year the city started to grow up. Looking back, future historians will surely view the start of the 21st century as the moment when Toronto began its transformation from overgrown town into a big city - or, depending on what happens next, a metropolis. We're not there yet - some doubt we ever will be - but regulations have been rewritten, powers handed over and forces unleashed that, for better or worse, will change Toronto from top to bottom. The most visible sign of the city's growing maturity is the raft of cultural building projects now underway. They are at varying stages of completion, but by the end of the decade, they will have remade the face of the city.