Especially when you look at Paris, which doesn't worry about angular plane and has pleasant enough streetscapes. I think we'd be better of not worrying to much about angular plane, getting slightly higher FSI and putting in more public space/parks.
That's a rather misleading comparison.
Outside of Le Defense and a few of the suburban banlieus Paris has virtually nothing over 6 storeys.
This is Paris:
In Toronto, the road width on many of these streets would negate any requirement for the angular plane.
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When you look at the way in which many of the buildings are organized, they would to a great degree comply with Toronto's separation distance requirements for midrises:
That's because they are often organized to face into courtyards.
For a variety of reasons, this built form is simply not being built here, and likely couldn't be from an economic and regulatory perspective.
The overlook issue doesn't really apply when the vast majority of buildings are the same height, all between 5-7 storeys, with a smattering of shorter buildings here and there.
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I quite like Paris overall; it could smell a bit better, the Seine makes Toronto's waterways seem pristine, its architecture overall is quite nice, if a tad monotonous and lacking in colour.....
But what makes Paris is Paris simply isn't that transferable to the Toronto context.
