Under the Radar: Darkhorse small cities that could one day be very big

[balletomane]

Originally Posted by harls

I'm gonna go all in on Churchill.

If urban planners had their fantasies fulfilled a century ago Churchill would look like this:


http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history...blincity.shtml

You never know what the next century will bring...

[GreaterMontréal]

Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver have no competition within their own province, but in Alberta, Edmonton and Calgary will battle for the same things. something unique in Canada.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver have no competition within their own province, but in Alberta, Edmonton and Calgary will battle for the same things. something unique in Canada.

Not that unique:

NB = SJ vs Freddy vs Moncton........

Moncton - 150,000
Saint John - 128,000
Fredericton - 110,000

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Not that unique:

NB = SJ vs Freddy vs Moncton........

Moncton - 150,000
Saint John - 128,000
Fredericton - 110,000

but those cities are not in the same league.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

but those cities are not in the same league.

But they still bicker and feud amongst themselves. It's a continual series of oneupmanship, except on a smaller scale.........

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

But they still bicker and feud amongst themselves. It's a continual series of oneupmanship, except on a smaller scale.........

Atlantic Canada will have to reinvent itself to stay dans la course d'ici 30 ans. They should work together to compete with the big players. I see a merger of the 4 Atlantic provinces within the next 50 years. Even if some people disagree, Halifax should become the big city of the East Coast.

[speedog]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver have no competition within their own province, but in Alberta, Edmonton and Calgary will battle for the same things. something unique in Canada.

Regina and Saskatoon are pretty much akin to Edmonton and Calgary albeit on a smaller scale.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by speedog

Regina and Saskatoon are pretty much akin to Edmonton and Calgary albeit on a smaller scale.

I know but they're small. can't be compared to Cal-Ed

[eternallyme]

Given the chinooks and relatively wide land availability, I will go with Lethbridge, AB as a potential sleeper growth city. For Canadian standards, winters are often quite mild, and it is sunny there.

[speedog]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

I know but they're small. can't be compared to Cal-Ed

Dunno, Saskatoon versus Regina can be compared on many levels albeit at a smaller scale. Distance between in similar, both land locked, two are government seats while the other two are larger in population, the percentage of the associated province's population is quite similar as well. I'll have to respectfully disagree as I do not believe there is any better comparison to Calgary/Edmonton in Canada.

[speedog]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

Given the chinooks and relatively wide land availability, I will go with Lethbridge, AB as a potential sleeper growth city. For Canadian standards, winters are often quite mild, and it is sunny there.

Airdrie is another sleeper when it comes to growth although Airdrie will most likely never be anything but a major bedroom community to Calgary. Stunning growth though, enough so to surpass the next 3 or 4 cities above it in Alberta within the next few years.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by speedog

Airdrie is another sleeper when it comes to growth although Airdrie will most likely never be anything but a major bedroom community to Calgary. Stunning growth though, enough so to surpass the next 3 or 4 cities above it in Alberta within the next few years.

True but that is more related to growth in Calgary than general growth.

[Spocket]

My bet is either on Lethbridge or the Kelowna region.

Lethbridge is already the third largest center in Alberta and it's growing fast. Plus it's far enough away from either of the two big cities not to lose anything of its scale to their economic gravity.

Kelowna has the twin advantages of quasi-isolation and an attractive setting. The problem with Kelowna is that there's no solid manufacturing base to work from and no reason to locate one there. While it's somewhat hemmed in by the terrain, that's not really a problem in the modern world.

The only other plausible candidates are in Alberta and B.C. but I can't see any others actually doubling, tripling, or trebling their populations within 50 years so as to join the big league.

[Rollerstud98]

Originally Posted by speedog

Airdrie is another sleeper when it comes to growth although Airdrie will most likely never be anything but a major bedroom community to Calgary. Stunning growth though, enough so to surpass the next 3 or 4 cities above it in Alberta within the next few years.

Municipal census just released, grew at a modest 4.98% from April 2016 to April 2017, now sitting at 64,922 residents.

Originally Posted by eternallyme

True but that is more related to growth in Calgary than general growth.

While most certainly true, compared with 30 years ago the city does offer everything people need. I still remember that we had to drive in to Beddington Co-op for groceries, was pretty exciting when we finally got our own out here! Lol. We really need a revamp of our downtown here and maybe we could start attracting more businesses to town. I really hoped that when Fortis Alberta headquartered here it would be the start of something, but never really panned out. But of course the ease of the commute to DT Calgary plays a major role and always will for Airdrie growth. Hopefully in the next few years we will get our 40th ave 1/2 interchange on QE2 and relieve some of the stress from all other interchanges

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Atlantic Canada will have to reinvent itself to stay dans la course d'ici 30 ans. They should work together to compete with the big players. I see a merger of the 4 Atlantic provinces within the next 50 years. Even if some people disagree, Halifax should become the big city of the East Coast.

Atlantic Canada needs a massive influx of immigrants to even stand a chance 20 years from now. Most areas are retirement homes and they won't be around when the boomers pass on. All of the youth have moved on and no-one's really left to pay taxes to support education, healthcare, etc.. Immigrants or bust at this stage for much of it with a heavy focus on urbanism needed.

I would have voted for Halifax had the option been there. I think it's on the cusp of a big boom.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

I know but they're small. can't be compared to Cal-Ed

Size does not matter. When you have two similar sized cities they will always fight for things, whether it is a pro sports team or a new children's hospital. The only difference is the scale of the things being fought over.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by someone123

Here are the estimated 2015-2016 growth rates by CMA, sorted from fastest to slowest. The first number is the percentage change year-over-year and the last one is the population in thousands.

If the biggest cities were growing fastest, we'd expect this order to be the same as the order from biggest to smallest city (i.e. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver ...). But instead the top 5 spots are taken up by smaller Prairie cities.

 3.17 Saskatoon (Sask.) 290.7                                                                                                                                     

 2.61 Regina (Sask.) 230.9                                                                                                                                        

 2.49 Calgary (Alta.) 1353.9                                                                                                                                      

 2.46 Edmonton (Alta.) 1282.2                                                                                                                                     

 2.16 Winnipeg (Man.) 770.5                                                                                                                                       

 1.96 Halifax (N.S.) 410.3                                                                                                                                        

 1.93 Toronto (Ont.) 5967.2                                                                                                                                       

 1.65 Vancouver (B.C.) 2444.3                                                                                                                                     

 1.63 Guelph (Ont.) 149.8                                                                                                                                         

 1.60 Ottawa-Gatineau (Ont.-Que.) 1303.1                                                                                                                          

 1.59 Kelowna (B.C.) 188.0                                                                                                                                        

 1.49 St. John's (N.L.) 208.8                                                                                                                                    

 1.42 Moncton (N.B.) 144.6                                                                                                                                        

 1.41 Abbotsford-Mission (B.C.) 178.5                                                                                                                             

 1.39 Oshawa (Ont.) 379.0                                                                                                                                         

 1.27 Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (Ont.) 502.5                                                                                                                   

 1.26 London (Ont.) 498.1                                                                                                                                         

 1.23 Barrie (Ont.) 198.1                                                                                                                                         

 1.20 Victoria (B.C.) 358.3                                                                                                                                       

 1.18 Kingston (Ont.) 167.0                                                                                                                                       

 1.16 Windsor (Ont.) 332.6                                                                                                                                        

 1.09 Montreal (Que.) 3980.8                                                                                                                                      

 1.08 Sherbrooke (Que.) 209.6                                                                                                                                     

 1.06 Hamilton (Ont.) 758.0                                                                                                                                       

 1.04 Brantford (Ont.) 141.9                                                                                                                                      

 0.74 Quebec (Que.) 790.5                                                                                                                                         

 0.73 St. Catharines-Niagara (Ont.) 405.2                                                                                                                         

 0.64 Trois-Rivieres (Que.) 155.2                                                                                                                                 

 0.57 Peterborough (Ont.) 123.2                                                                                                                                   

 0.39 Saint John (N.B.) 127.8                                                                                                                                     

 0.0 Greater Sudbury (Ont.) 166.0                                                                                                                                 

-0.18 Saguenay (Que.) 160.4                                                                                                                                       

-0.24 Thunder Bay (Ont.) 125.2

No surprise fast growing cities with smaller to much smaller population bases are at the of the list compared to the megalopolises. Apples and Oranges. We aren't growing through making babies afterall.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Size does not matter. When you have two similar sized cities they will always fight for things, whether it is a pro sports team or a new children's hospital. The only difference is the scale of the things being fought over.

of course, but Canada's economy is much more dependant on its big cities than in the US. the big 6 represent more than 50% of our GDP.

[speedog]

CMA growth rates aren't really relative here when the thread's talk is of city growth of which some are not CMA's and others are a part of another CMA - the city of Airdrie grew at twice the speed of the CMA it is a part of.

[speedog]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

of course, but Canada's economy is much more dependant on its big cities than in the US. the big 6 represent more than 50% of our GDP.

If your intent was based upon big cities when you made the Calgary-Edmonton comparison then you said have said so - the comparisons MonctonRad and myself posted are easily valid within the confines of your original post and there probably are other comparisons that can be found as well, those are just two of the more notable ones.