Greenview

The shared off-leash park along Highland Park & Greenview is the kind of place where you end up knowing people's dogs before you know their names. North Middle School Campus gives the streets a morning rhythm, and multiple bus lines — including an express route north — mean downtown and the suburbs are both reachable without a car. Greenview runs practical: discount retail, strip malls geared toward weekday errands, housing that mixes renters and owners in roughly equal measure. It has more in common with neighbouring Thorncliffe than with the inner-city neighbourhoods further south — same no-fuss character, same housing stock built for living in rather than looking at.