Canada's 30 Largest UAs on One Page - Page 2

middeljohn · #21 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Edmonton and Calgary, the way you've placed them, look like they're dancing together.

Now I can't not see it.

GreaterMontréal · #22 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Awesome work, thanks for all the effort that must have taken!

Toronto is an utter behemoth, but otherwise I'm quite surprised at how similar in size Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal all are. Edmonton's urban area in particular is simply massive for a city its size, definitely a product of it's huge industrial activity.

Yes, like Phoenix in the US, Alberta cities sprawl is similar.

ue · #23 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Awesome work, thanks for all the effort that must have taken!

Toronto is an utter behemoth, but otherwise I'm quite surprised at how similar in size Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal all are. Edmonton's urban area in particular is simply massive for a city its size, definitely a product of it's huge industrial activity.

Vancouver doesn't surprise me. It's known for being a compact city.

Toronto just looks behemoth because it's the largest of the bunch, but over the years, looking at satellite images from the area and seeing Detroit a little bit to the south have killed any idea that Toronto is a sprawling behemoth in my mind.

Yes, I'd say part of Edmonton's beefiness is due to the larger industrial presence. The residential sprawl itself is much like Calgary and the GTA, very compact.

The one that surprised me the most was Montreal. I expected it to be bigger in land area.

ScreamingViking · #24 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:32 PM**

I used to have this poster hanging on my office wall, until it fell behind a big filing cabinet. It's a few years old now but provides a useful international comparison.

Source: The Neptis Foundation http://www.neptis.org/publications/m...icators-poster

middeljohn · #25 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Yes, like Phoenix in the US, Alberta cities sprawl is similar.

Edmonton, Winnipeg, London and Calgary are all built on similar geographical terrains; mostly flat and a river running through, so they all sprawled out the same way, with the downtown being the first part to develop, so naturally by the river, and then due to no geographical constraints, the rest of the city just grew radially outwards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ue

Vancouver doesn't surprise me. It's known for being a compact city.

Toronto just looks behemoth because it's the largest of the bunch, but over the years, looking at satellite images from the area and seeing Detroit a little bit to the south have killed any idea that Toronto is a sprawling behemoth in my mind.

Yes, I'd say part of Edmonton's beefiness is due to the larger industrial presence. The residential sprawl itself is much like Calgary and the GTA, very compact.

The one that surprised me the most was Montreal. I expected it to be bigger in land area.

Detroit (as well as most US cities) are insanely sprawled out. I did a comparison of Toronto and Atlanta once, Atlanta takes up twice the land. It's not.like here where you reach the end of the city and now you know you're back in the country. Instead the buildings just seem to get further and further and further apart, until you reach a point where you're not entirely sure if you're still in the city or not.

Chadillaccc · #26 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:35 PM**

Phoenix is larger than Toronto in size... there is no way Calgary or Edmonton are comparable to that.

GreaterMontréal · #27 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:38 PM**

Montréal is denser than Copenhagen and Stockholm. 30pop/ha. in sight.

LeftCoaster · #28 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by middeljohn

Detroit (as well as most US cities) are insanely sprawled out. I did a comparison of Toronto and Atlanta once, Atlanta takes up twice the land. It's not.like here where you reach the end of the city and now you know you're back in the country. Instead the buildings just seem to get further and further and further apart, until you reach a point where you're not entirely sure if you're still in the city or not.

Ya US cities are weird like that, DC is very similar. Thanks to the greenbelt etc... the line where Toronto ends is quite striking, it's pretty dense suburbia then just nothing. When driving up to cottage country along the 400 the city just ends like that, its pretty cool.

niwell · #29 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by middeljohn

Detroit (as well as most US cities) are insanely sprawled out. I did a comparison of Toronto and Atlanta once, Atlanta takes up twice the land. It's not.like here where you reach the end of the city and now you know you're back in the country. Instead the buildings just seem to get further and further and further apart, until you reach a point where you're not entirely sure if you're still in the city or not.

In the Eastern part of the US it can be extremely difficult to tell when urban areas actually end. You get so much fragmented and linear development along major roads. Driving through suburban Boston on surface arterials (as an example) it was impossible to tell when you had left the urban area.

As opposed to a hard urban edge such as this: http://goo.gl/maps/bt9Ot

Boris2k7 · #30 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by middeljohn

I also found it interesting how much greyer the prairie cities are due to the lack of vegetation. A lot.of interesting things can be observed putting all the cities next to each other that you may not have noticed otherwise.

Well, prairie cities also tend to have a disproportionate amount of land area devoted to industrial uses, which certainly contributes to the "greyness."

For example, in 2010, Calgary (just the city itself, not including anything outside of city limits) had 10,291 hectares of developed industrial land, while all of Metro Vancouver had 8746 hectares of developed industrial land. Winnipeg had 3335 hectares (2008) of developed industrial land while Hamilton had 2640 hectares (I'm including business parks since we also likely include them).

GreaterMontréal · #31 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Phoenix is larger than Toronto in size... there is no way Calgary or Edmonton are comparable to that.

Not in total, more like continuous suburbs of low-density residential neighbourhoods.

Wigs · #32 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by middeljohn

I was curious to see how the various cities stack up to one another in terms of how much space they take up. So I took screen shots from Google Satellite, converted them to all the same scale, and put the urban areas all on one page. Here is what it looks like.

EDIT: Re-uploaded with the scale as well.

I am not 100% familiar with all the cities, but I tried to get all of the urban area in, including satellite cities if they were within reasonable distance, 20km or less.

very cool!

Chadillaccc · #33 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 9:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Not in total, more like continuous suburbs of low-density residential neighbourhoods.

Yes, like every other city on this continent, including the exurb capital of Canada - Montreal.

niwell · #34 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 10:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

Well, prairie cities also tend to have a disproportionate amount of land area devoted to industrial uses, which certainly contributes to the "greyness."

For example, in 2010, Calgary (just the city itself, not including anything outside of city limits) had 10,291 hectares of developed industrial land, while all of Metro Vancouver had 8746 hectares of developed industrial land. Winnipeg had 3335 hectares (2008) of developed industrial land while Hamilton had 2640 hectares (I'm including business parks since we also likely include them).

I'd be interested to see how big the combined Toronto-Mississauga-Brampton industrial areas around the airport are. That must be one of the largest contiguous areas of industrial land in North America

http://goo.gl/maps/v33kM

Also in central Toronto it's interesting to note the greyer area that starts west of downtown and works it's way northwest. This corresponds with traditional working class neighbourhoods with tightly packed housing. In contrast to the leafier upper class areas flanking Yonge street.

http://goo.gl/maps/Jp8za

GreaterMontréal · #35 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 10:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Yes, like every other city on this continent, including the exurb capital of Canada - Montreal.

The big 3 in Canada is pretty dense.

Boris2k7 · #36 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 10:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by niwell

I'd be interested to see how big the combined Toronto-Mississauga-Brampton industrial areas around the airport are. That must be one of the largest contiguous areas of industrial land in North America

http://goo.gl/maps/v33kM

Also in central Toronto it's interesting to note the greyer area that starts west of downtown and works it's way northwest. This corresponds with traditional working class neighbourhoods with tightly packed housing. In contrast to the leafier upper class areas flanking Yonge street.

http://goo.gl/maps/Jp8za

I tend to shy away from including Toronto in comparisons, because it is exceptional in many senses of the word.

No doubt, that is one huge industrial zone!

Beedok · #37 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 10:12 PM**

Quick, combine them into the Canada super city!

matthew6 · #38 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 10:59 PM**

The Montreal one is strange. The west island is not included but it seems that it extends all the way to St Jerome?

matthew6 · #39 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 11:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beedok

Quick, combine them into the Canada super city!

I am all for building a Hong Kong styled mega city that would house all Canadians along the banks of Lake Ontario

GreaterMontréal · #40 Posted **Jan 31, 2014, 11:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by matthew6

The Montreal one is strange. The west island is not included but it seems that it extends all the way to St Jerome?

it is included, the white spot is the St Lawrence river. And highway 15 extends all the way to St-Jerome. So the urban area follows the highway.
https://maps.google.ca/?ll=45.436526...28374&t=h&z=12

West Island pop. 230 000+