Canada's 30 Largest UAs on One Page

[Chadillaccc]

Here is the agglomeration of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).

[feepa]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

Ottawa's is a bit misleading: a good deal of the space shown is greenspace, especially around Aylmer, Kanata and Orleans.

Really cool to compare the size, though!

Applicable to all cities in this diagram.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Cyro

Nice job, great work..

Here we go now..
"Wait we're bigger than that"..It's not accurate for _________, we're much bigger/larger...
It's interesting to see who posts first and complains...very telling..

Kingston looks cute, like a little mouse..

Maybe in real life. But around here you're more likely to see people complaining that they're smaller than shown as we love density and hate sprawl!

[Gresto]

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

The industrial zone that ensheaths Pearson is an egregiously unappealing introduction to the city to any newcomer flying in. Miles of grey drabness and lifelessness in all directions.

[middeljohn]

Originally Posted by Gresto

The industrial zone that ensheaths Pearson is an egregiously unappealing introduction to the city to any newcomer flying in. Miles of grey drabness and lifelessness in all directions.

That one is the largest, but pretty much all the highways in the GTA are surrounded by industrial parks. The QEW running through Halton is basically a 30km long industrial park.

[middeljohn]

Originally Posted by feepa

Applicable to all cities in this diagram.

Like I said, it's not perfect, but is close enough to give fairly accurate visual ratios between the different cities' sizes.

[vid]

My city is 31st.

[Vertigo3000]

This is actually really cool. One note is that there are still large municipalities missing from Toronto and Barrie. I noticed none of Barries surroundings made it, and Whitchurch Stoufville, Holland Landing, Keswick, King, Bradford and if I'm mistaken Bolton. Just letting you know. It's great that you did this, it really puts our cities into perspective.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

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

Oh fuck off already! I knew there'd be someone from Montreal hating on Calgary in this thread.

Edmonton, Ottawa and Calgary are all roughly the same size but you single out Calgary. Sounds about right.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

The big 3 in Canada is pretty dense.

Oh yeah, maybe In Montreal or Toronto proper but sure as hell not in Laval, Longueil or say Etobicoke or Mississauga.

I bet you visited Calgary once in the 90's and base your comparison on the city from then. Beltline is every bit as dense as any inner city neighbourhood in the big 3.

Sorry for the rant but the negativity towards Calgary from Montreal is appalling. We're not the anti Christ you know.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Oh yeah, maybe In Montreal or Toronto proper but sure as hell not in Laval, Longueil or say Etobicoke or Mississauga.

I bet you visited Calgary once in the 90's and base your comparison on the city from then. Beltline is every bit as dense as any inner city neighbourhood in the big 3.

Well that's not really true at all but I get what you are saying. The Beltline is nowhere near as dense as inner-city Montreal or Toronto (and probably Vancouver but I haven't experienced it as much). Both cities have large contiguous areas that are more dense and urban. Which should be expected. Don't get me wrong though, for a city the age and size of Calgary the Beltline is great though! Every year I come back to Calgary it seems to get a bit better.

Calgary's suburbs are pretty dense. Definitely a bit less dense than the GTA (and probably Van?) due to fewer multi-family developments and mid/high-rises. Better than Montreal's outer 'burbs though. The real issue in Calgary's new communities has been layout, but that seems to have improved in the newest plans too.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by niwell

Well that's not really true at all but I get what you are saying. The Beltline is nowhere near as dense as inner-city Montreal or Toronto (and probably Vancouver but I haven't experienced it as much). Both cities have large contiguous areas that are more dense and urban. Which should be expected. Don't get me wrong though, for a city the age and size of Calgary the Beltline is great though! Every year I come back to Calgary it seems to get a bit better.

Calgary's suburbs are pretty dense. Definitely a bit less dense than the GTA (and probably Van?) due to fewer multi-family developments and mid/high-rises. Better than Montreal's outer 'burbs though. The real issue in Calgary's new communities has been layout, but that seems to have improved in the newest plans too.

Thank you. I can agree with even your negative points as they are actually intelligent and consist of more than just baseless stereotypes. Thankfully new suburbs will be reverting to grid layouts in future neighbourhoods and multifamily units are actually quite prevalent in newer neighbourhoods. The area I live in in SE Calgary by the new hospital has a massive amount of multifamily. A good mixture of town homes, condos and assisted living and many many duplexes.

[MonkeyRonin]

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

I actually calculated that once, and as I recall, was in excess of 100 sqkm.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Thank you. I can agree with even your negative points as they are actually intelligent and consist of more than just baseless stereotypes. Thankfully new suburbs will be reverting to grid layouts in future neighbourhoods and multifamily units are actually quite prevalent in newer neighbourhoods. The area I live in in SE Calgary by the new hospital has a massive amount of multifamily. A good mixture of town homes, condos and assisted living and many many duplexes.

I'm actually very interested in the way the far SE develops as the City seems to want to encourage a real town centre type development. Also the far NE development (I cannot remember the name) with a modified grid pattern and higher densities than previously allowed. It is very similar to what the GTA started doing under Places to Grow except Calgary does have the advantage of being under one government.

I do wonder about the long-term effects of having these types of developments right on the outskirts while the ones slightly further in exhibit the worst types of urban design. This goes for a lot of places.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by niwell

I'm actually very interested in the way the far SE develops as the City seems to want to encourage a real town centre type development. Also the far NE development (I cannot remember the name) with a modified grid pattern and higher densities than previously allowed. It is very similar to what the GTA started doing under Places to Grow except Calgary does have the advantage of being under one government.

I do wonder about the long-term effects of having these types of developments right on the outskirts while the ones slightly further in exhibit the worst types of urban design. This goes for a lot of places.

My theory is they'll eventually start to densify. The only hope for the worst offenders such as big box shopping malls is that they can be converted fairly easily to higher density grid based centres. But the curvy streets and cul-de-sacs of 80's and 90's neighbourhoods do pose a bigger challenge.

Edit: on second thought I think that those areas might densify along arterials and in lane ways, but not much can be done with the street layouts.

[GreaterMontréal]

Laval-des-Rapides pop 70 000+ : 2 725 hab./km2
Chomedey in Laval pop 70 000+ : 2 649 hab./km2
Longueuil pop 231 000+ : 2002 hab./km2

[niwell]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Edit: on second thought I think that those areas might densify along arterials and in lane ways, but not much can be done with the street layouts.

It's probably correct, unfortunately. I grew up in Varsity Estates in the NW of Calgary and when I go back to visit I see more and more original houses demolished for mansions. These aren't going anywhere anytime soon. But at the same time the new high density development at Dalhousie Station. Varsity proper may have some redevelopment potential but I think it would be along the lines of what is seen in inner-city Calgary. A bungalow for 2 semi-detached or stacked townhouses. New suburbs are already that dense.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

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.

Edmonton's urban area also looks large here because the projection used by Google Maps makes things look bigger as you get closer to the poles. Edmonton's blown up by over 40% compared to Windsor, for example (the scale is increased by about 1/5 in each axis).

If you pan north or south you can see this effect on the scale bar.

[goodthings]

Originally Posted by Gresto

The industrial zone that ensheaths Pearson is an egregiously unappealing introduction to the city to any newcomer flying in. Miles of grey drabness and lifelessness in all directions.

Well, it seems that in most cities, airports are surrounded by industrial parks. And this area seems to be full of logistics companies, which are sure to be related towards the airport.

It may seem lifeless, but that's just aesthetically speaking. That big uninhabitable 100+ square kilometres of sprawly land area right there (due to aircraft noise) is Mississauga's (and probably Brampton's as well) primary economic engine, and one of Canada's biggest.

And oh, Atlanta and Detroit's metro areas are definitely scary-looking for the actual metropolitan population...

[middeljohn]

Originally Posted by someone123

Edmonton's urban area also looks large here because the projection used by Google Maps makes things look bigger as you get closer to the poles. Edmonton's blown up by over 40% compared to Windsor, for example (the scale is increased by about 1/5 in each axis).

If you pan north or south you can see this effect on the scale bar.

You know I was wondering why some cities' scales were a tiny bit larger than others. Anyhow, I did everything using Toronto as the basis and shrunk all the other images to the same scale (up to 15%).