The Region
of Durham is situated in the highly developed and populated economic
centre of Ontario, known as the Golden Horseshoe, that stretches from
Oshawa to Niagara Falls. Durham Region lies immediately to the east
of the City of Toronto within the Greater Toronto Area and encompasses
an area of approximately 2,590 square kilometres (1,000 square miles).
The area is characterized by a variety of landscapes and communities.
A series of major lakeshore urban communities contrast with a variety
of small towns, villages, hamlets and farms which lie immediately inland.
The relatively flat lakeshore area marked by the bluffs, wooded creeks
and ancient shoreline, features contrasts with the hummocky topography
of the Oak Ridges Moraine running parallel to the shoreline only 15
miles to the north. This diverse landscape of woods, headwaters, ridges
and hollows gives way to rolling farmlands and lakes to the north. Here
the Municipality spreads into the prime recreational lakelands of Simcoe,
Scugog and the Kawarthas.
The
Region lies along a continuous urbanized lakeshore and shares prime
access to the Great Lakes and northeastern markets of the continent,
encompassing some 120 million persons. The area is well known for the
strength of its manufacturing sector which is continually undergoing
rapid diversification. Durham is endowed with a young, skilled labour
force. It has all the utilities, transportation and social infrastructure
associated with modern metropolitan communities. The single most significant
economic factor for the Region has been the dramatic increase in residential
development.
