Toronto in 2030. An Interesting Topic, especially with what modern Toronto has come to be as a result of the action and inaction of the last 30 years or so.
First thing to consider is outside conditions. Anyone who says "manufacturing jobs are not ever coming back" is forgetting two problems - first is rising energy prices, the second economic nationalism. The first problem we have seen some inkling of, but that's going to get bigger as economic growth makes oil and the fuels made from crude oil more expensive. It costs twice as much to ship something from China as it did ten years ago. That does hurt, especially in tight markets. It is also why transit in North America is going to swell, because as others have pointed out, it is going to get more expensive to live in the boonies, especially if you drive a large car, truck, SUV or minivan, none of which get particularly good fuel economy. Now, cars will get more efficient and easier on the environment as time goes on, and while I think pure electric cars are unlikely, series hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt, efficient turbodiesels like those so common in Europe and growing use of fuel from alcohol (not the E85 ethanol scam going on right now - that only works because of massive subsidies to it from national governments - but cellulosic ethanol, produced by microorganisms turning cellulose in plant matter into sugars, and then fermenting it in a process similar to how one makes beer) will make the world's fuel supply much bigger. Adding to that, unconventional sources of oil such as oil shale, tar sands and synthetic crude will mean the supply is around for a long, long time yet - but none of these can be as easily pumped out of the ground and refined, as such it will cost more.
The economic nationalism part is trickier. The world's economy, not just the US and Europe but China and India too, is going to take a giant dump at some point in the late 2010s or 2020s. Canada has in this world a strong hand - moderate industrial capacity, tons of natural resources, well-established and strong financial and engineering sectors and plenty of human capital. This economic crash, which I figure is most likely to happen by 2020, is gonna mean a rough time for Canada in the short term and a downright ugly one in the United States, as America's idiotic and insular politicians, who are corrupt on a level thousands of times greater than even corporatist butt-kissers like PM Harper, will undoubtedly force "austerity measures" on their populace and in the process cause giant civil unrest in the United States. With that and the failings of Europe (which may start or be a consequence of this - which it is doesn't matter much, its the same result in the end) will force Canada into a huge recession, and all of the talk of globalization in the world won't save it there. Governments will be FORCED to rebuild industrial capacity to put Canadians back to work, and FORCED to put an end to free trade deals, particularly with nations that play the field for their own benefit, China being the biggest example of such nations. In the short term after that crash, however, Toronto's problems with income inequality and unemployment will go absolutely ballistic.
Assuming that happens about 2020, the city's inner suburbs are gonna in the short term gonna get hit hard, but those problems with economic issues will also send real estate prices into the basement, hard - a loss in the value of most properties of at least 30-40%. Those who had bought the properties at a high level will take a bath on them, unfortunately - but as the problems with subprime aren't as bad here, there won't be the huge wave of foreclosures as what happened in the United States. When combined with higher energy prices, population will start gravitating back to the cities. Governments forcing a major rebuild of industrial capacity will add to this, as there will plenty of brownfield sites to be use for these in the GTA. Forget cheap products from Wal-Mart - that company, with its huge overhead due to its size, may well face the same fate as Sears Roebuck did in the United States, major contractors or perhaps even bankruptcy.
Transit will have to be built to stop communities from starting to crumble, and so light rail lines and bus lines are built in numbers. With the need to get the city's economy and unemployment situation straightened out, I think Toronto will go on a major construction binge as the governments at all levels try to fix the problems. Eglinton is either built as a Subway or rebuilt as one. The DRL is built, GO Transit expands operations in both its bus and train divisions, Sheppard is stretched to provide the Loop Ford wants and goes out into the suburbs into Missassauga, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Pickering. Light rail fills in gaps where appropriate. The new manufacturing places in the city also lead to CNR and CPR working to get freight service active on a greater scale into the city core, which helps jobs. Toronto will almost certainly have some additional air and water pollution from this, though the fewer or more efficient cars will offset this somewhat.
By 2025, Toronto's unemployment is still high but not anywhere it had been as before. The light rail lines in the plan are built or nearly done by now. By now, transit planning is having to consider people who commute into the GTA as well, which means Transit planning is going to include busways and light rail in the 905 where appropriate - Missassauga, Brampton, Markham and some places in Vaughan and Oshawa get light rail. In the city of Toronto, growing population densities and industrial growth will make for the system of subways, light rail, streetcars and buses to be mostly interlocking - by now, the transit authorities will be trying to get the fare card systems worked out, if that is not already done. Cars will still be crossing into the city in huge numbers, of course, but with the problems in the United States almost certainly causing a considerable number of people from south of the border coming up here looking for work and natural population growth (with the baby boomers fading away slowly by 2030) the population of Toronto will probably grow considerably, with some newcomers landing in the suburbs but the majority landing in developed neighborhoods within the city.
By 2030, as the world begins to open up its trade after a decade all trying to localize and get as much advantage as possible, the industrial sectors of Canada will be back to a size not seen since the 1960s or 1970s, which has many effects. The higher levels of air and water pollution I mentioned earlier will be one, but manufacturing jobs in higher-wage countries tend to also be fairly well-paying ones, and physical jobs in such environments will also reduce (but not eliminate by any means) the problems of poor health conditions, and while cases of generational unemployment are possible, I think once the problems with the world's economy in the 2020s are seen, I think these cases will be avoided by governments as much as possible.
I think people are being far too pessimistic about what Toronto will look like in the future. I'm not sure if that's a natural reaction to His Fatass and his dumbass brother or what, but let's be a little more positive. Ford got elected because of Miller's excesses, and no matter how often the right-wing goon newspaper of this city likes to say it, this city leans to the left, towards greater levels of social justice, and Ford is gonna have to acquiesce to that. Karen Stintz has recently led that charge for a shift in actions to a more moderate position. She isn't gonna be pushed to a Miller position, and guys like Adam Vaughan had better figure that out PDQ. If the moderate left and moderate right of council can get work done, the others will have to follow along, whether Ford and the Toronto Scum like it or not. If Ford is smart, he'll toss his brother and idiots like Mammoliti to the curb pronto and start playing ball, and maybe then he'll get re-elected in 2014.
Let's think positive, guys.
