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Topic:
Changes in the Canadian Urban System
Essay Instructions:
To the writers:
Please follow the instruction to write a 9 pages long paper with the resources given below. Attached is the Statistics Canada (2008). 2006 Population and Dwelling Counts, Urban Areas and Designated Places. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
Please always contact me by email and let know the process of the paper. Thank you.
The project: Changes in the Canadian Urban System
The project background paper: http://www(dot)geog(dot)ubc(dot)ca/~ewyly/g350/cansystem.pdf
For scholarly sources, track down the footnotes cited in the background paper, the references in Bunting & Filion or Knox & McCarthy, or consider these:
http://www(dot)utoronto(dot)ca/isrn/publications/NatMeeting/NatSlides/Nat10/Papers/Session%20V%20ShearmurR_Growth%20in%20the%20Cdn%20Urban%20Sys%20II.pdf
http://www(dot)springerlink(dot)com/content/3ph212u4517v6454/
http://onlinelibrary(dot)wiley(dot)com/doi/10.1111/j.1435-5957.2006.00024.x/full
For local press coverage of your chosen cities and towns, try various keyword searches on one of these databases:
http://www(dot)lexisnexis(dot)com/hottopics/lnacademic/?
This is the instruction of the project:
I would like you to undertake an analysis of changes in the Canadian urban system, using the
dataset on population changes I used for this background paper. Use this background paper as
one model for the kinds of simple calculations you can design to shed light on patterns of
growth, stability, and decline. You should also consult Chapter 2 of the Bunting and Filion text,
or Chapters 3 and 4 of the Knox and McCarthy text, for an extended discussion of theories of
urban systems development and change. But use this background paper as a guide, not a
straightjacket: be creative. In general, you will find it easier to tell an interesting story if you
choose cities that are not at the very peak of the national urban system: if you do choose to focus
on the largest cities, you should adopt a comparative perspective, to discuss (for example) the
causes and consequences of the contemporary historical competition between Montreal and
Toronto, or the rise of Calgary and Edmonton to rival, in their own distinctive ways, the urban
centrality of Toronto and Montreal. The story is very hard to tell if you focus solely on one large
city, because over a five-year period it is very unlikely that a large city will deviate too far from
the national growth trend. For big cities, the growth quotients tend to be more moderate; smaller
places are more likely to have growth quotients that are extremely high or extremely low.
You have several options for designing an interesting study. First, you could analyze how the
trends in 2001 to 2006 compared with earlier trends, as described in Bunting and Filion's
Chapter 2 of Canadian Cities in Transition. What places have reversed decline, or have
stagnated after substantial growth in earlier periods? Second, you could define a particular
geographic region and narrow your focus to the urban areas and designated places within that
region. Are all the places in your region experiencing the same kinds of growth trajectories? Or
do you see a pattern of regional restructuring, with a number of smaller settlements stagnating or
losing population while one city becomes the dominant regional center for economic growth,
shopping and cultural opportunities? Third, you could identify a small number of individual
communities that seem to have distinctive profiles in the population data – very high or very low
growth quotients, or a very large share of what the StatsCan folks call ‘temporary or foreignoccupied dwellings.' (Take a look at the row for Whistler in the data worksheet.) What makes
these places distinctive, and what are the implications of their growth trajectories? There are
certainly other options; the main point is to think creatively about how to tell a geographical
narrative about recent changes in population and urban settlement.
Regardless of which path you choose, you should begin by reviewing the class outline on urban
systems, and Bunting and Filion's chapter.You should then undertake a preliminary
exploration of the data, which are provided in a simple Excel worksheet on the course website;
you'll be able to see some of the calculations and simple tools I used to prepare the tables and
figures for this background paper. Then you should undertake a search for additional materials
to help you describe, interpret, and explain what is happening in different parts of the urban
system – just like the short literature search I did to find articles documenting Prince Rupert's
If you purchased the Knox and McCarthy text, skim through Chapters 3 and 4, and then, for more explicit
Canadian perspectives, see Jim Simmons and Larry S. Bourne (2003). The Canadian Urban System, 1971-2001:
Responses to a Changing World. Bulletin 18. Toronto: Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of
Toronto. growth and decline at various points in time. Search for academic articles in refereed journals, as
well as reports by municipal, provincial, or federal government sources. You may also track
down local newspaper accounts to describe community reactions to growth and decline -- which
often appear as soon as the latest Census data are released. I recommend Canadian Newsstand,
or Lexis-Nexis, for these kinds of media searches. Finally, you should draft a paper presenting
your findings and interpretations.
Essay Sample Content Preview:
NAME
PROFESSOR
COURSE/SUBJECT
DATE
Canadian urban system: Changes and trends towards new urban trajectories
Introduction
The advent of the 21st century saw the rapid urbanization in most of Canada`s regions where economic, political and cultural activities have become largely concentrated on a few major cities and emerging urban systems. This paper will analyze how the trends in population growth, stability and decline have become functions of Canadian urban systems. This will look at the population data of the twenty major geographical centers in the country from Stats Can. Moreover, the paper will also concentrate on a particular geographic region - that of Ontario - to ascertain whether certain patterns are emerging. The analysis will be guided by previous literatures on Canadian urban systems. The underlying objective of this paper is to present a geographical narrative regarding the changes that have occurred in population and urban settlement during the early years of the 21st century.
Urbanization and urban systems in Canada
The period between 2001 and 2006 has seen Canada`s population increase by 1.6 million, or a growth rate of 5.3%, to almost 31.6 million (Wyly, 2011 2). But almost half of the increase in population took place in large urban areas namely, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton (Wyly, 2011 2). However, the concentrated growth of Canadian population implies significant variations for there is a diversity of growth and decline that happened beyond that of the major urban centers in the country. Elvin Wyly said that aside from the six large-city regions, there are about 895 areas and 1,289 "designated areas" that can still be considered small communities (2011 2). The population of these communities can account for the vast majority of the country`s population. The data provided by Stats Can will provide us an opportunity to explore the different parts of the Canadian urban system.
An urban system is "a set of interdependent urban places… articulated into a working system through networks along which goods, services, ideas, capital and labor flow" (Wyly, 2011, 2). In another definition, an urban system is a "set of cities in a given region or country that share certain attributes and are abound together by formal and informal linkages, by flows of people, goods and ideas, as well as by social norms and values and that as a result and in varying degrees, function as an integrated system" (Bourne and Flowers, 1996 2). Generally, these systems have become concentrated major cities creating an urban hierarchy where these cities sit atop the "planetary network of world cities." However, these systems resulted to the polarization of core urban cities against peripheral regional centers.
Global changes in economic and political arenas lead to profound changes to urban systems and Canada is not an exemption. Larry Bourne said that there are three ways to analyze the present situation of Canadian urban system in the context of these changes: (1) both global and domestic changes have had profound impacts in urban growth and change; (2) there is the uneven impacts of these changes on the urban system and on individual cities; and, (3) these changes contributed to the emergence of new kinds of differences among cities, and in some cases, replaced the traditional sources of differences (2004 98). There are four sets of factors that resulted to such changes namely: (1) the restructuring of the economy; (2) shift in trade flows; (3) the demographic transition and immigration; and, (4) the changing role of governments (Bourne, 2004 98). These factors are interlinked but each has its own dynamism; we will notice that such factors were present in major urban systems in the country through empirically observable data from a couple of case studies: (1) the City of Kitchener, in particular; and, (2) the Province of Ontario, in general.
Case study 1: Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is located in Southern Ontario, Canada. According to the 2006 census, Kitchener has a population of 422, 514; in 2001, the population was 387, 319, a 3.2% growth rate in the course of five years. The growth quotient of the city is 1.64 with a cumulative share of national income growth of 60% from 2001 to 2006. Kitchener is an example of how rapid urbanization shapes a particular geographic region. However, this is not surprising for most of the cities in Ontario saw dramatic increases in its number of population. During the said period, most of Ontario is largely urbanized; eight of the twenty most populous areas in Canada are from this region (see Figure 1). Moreover, the country`s most populous city, Toronto, which already surpassed the population of Montreal in the past year, is located in Ontario.
There is an imperative to look at this situation against the backdrop of the city`s historical, economic, and political situations to better understand the subsequent changes in its urban system. Kitchener is largely a working class city with a number of manufacturers providing employment to most of the city`s population.
Changes in the national economy have some interesting geographical characteristics. Over the years, it continued to shift from natural resources and basic manufacturing to the provision of both public and private services (Bourne, 2004 99). The shift in the sectoral composition of the national economy also resulted to the spatial distribution of economic growth creating a new geography of urbanization. Notwithstanding the impact of the dot.com crash, 21st century saw a dramatic increase of capital and labor flow within the information technology and communications market. However, this market tends to be concentrated in large metropolitan areas despite its rhetoric of the elimination of spatial constraints, resulting to the concentration of employment in large global cities.
The role of governments cannot be overlooked when it comes to these changes. Despite the lack of explicit national urban policy, the Canadian government seems to contribute significantly to rapid changes in the country`s urban system (Bourne, 2004 101). For instance, the recent policies on trade liberalization and accelerated levels of immigration contributed to the uneven structure and organization among the country`s urban and regional centers.
According to Richard Shearmur, the period of 2001 to 2006 in Canada was an overall sustained growth, albeit the dot.com crash and the ensuing job losses that happened from 2001 to 2002 and affecting most of the urban areas that relied on information technology market (2009 2). This sustained growth was caused by: (1) the rise in demand and prices for most commodities, which led to economic growth in resource-based communities; (2) the expansion of financial services industry; and, (3) decreasing unemployment, rising incomes and increasing household debt fuelled a consumption boom (Shearmur, 2009 2). The latter factor has caused the increase in the number of private residential areas, for instance, in Kitchener (see Figure 4)...
PROFESSOR
COURSE/SUBJECT
DATE
Canadian urban system: Changes and trends towards new urban trajectories
Introduction
The advent of the 21st century saw the rapid urbanization in most of Canada`s regions where economic, political and cultural activities have become largely concentrated on a few major cities and emerging urban systems. This paper will analyze how the trends in population growth, stability and decline have become functions of Canadian urban systems. This will look at the population data of the twenty major geographical centers in the country from Stats Can. Moreover, the paper will also concentrate on a particular geographic region - that of Ontario - to ascertain whether certain patterns are emerging. The analysis will be guided by previous literatures on Canadian urban systems. The underlying objective of this paper is to present a geographical narrative regarding the changes that have occurred in population and urban settlement during the early years of the 21st century.
Urbanization and urban systems in Canada
The period between 2001 and 2006 has seen Canada`s population increase by 1.6 million, or a growth rate of 5.3%, to almost 31.6 million (Wyly, 2011 2). But almost half of the increase in population took place in large urban areas namely, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton (Wyly, 2011 2). However, the concentrated growth of Canadian population implies significant variations for there is a diversity of growth and decline that happened beyond that of the major urban centers in the country. Elvin Wyly said that aside from the six large-city regions, there are about 895 areas and 1,289 "designated areas" that can still be considered small communities (2011 2). The population of these communities can account for the vast majority of the country`s population. The data provided by Stats Can will provide us an opportunity to explore the different parts of the Canadian urban system.
An urban system is "a set of interdependent urban places… articulated into a working system through networks along which goods, services, ideas, capital and labor flow" (Wyly, 2011, 2). In another definition, an urban system is a "set of cities in a given region or country that share certain attributes and are abound together by formal and informal linkages, by flows of people, goods and ideas, as well as by social norms and values and that as a result and in varying degrees, function as an integrated system" (Bourne and Flowers, 1996 2). Generally, these systems have become concentrated major cities creating an urban hierarchy where these cities sit atop the "planetary network of world cities." However, these systems resulted to the polarization of core urban cities against peripheral regional centers.
Global changes in economic and political arenas lead to profound changes to urban systems and Canada is not an exemption. Larry Bourne said that there are three ways to analyze the present situation of Canadian urban system in the context of these changes: (1) both global and domestic changes have had profound impacts in urban growth and change; (2) there is the uneven impacts of these changes on the urban system and on individual cities; and, (3) these changes contributed to the emergence of new kinds of differences among cities, and in some cases, replaced the traditional sources of differences (2004 98). There are four sets of factors that resulted to such changes namely: (1) the restructuring of the economy; (2) shift in trade flows; (3) the demographic transition and immigration; and, (4) the changing role of governments (Bourne, 2004 98). These factors are interlinked but each has its own dynamism; we will notice that such factors were present in major urban systems in the country through empirically observable data from a couple of case studies: (1) the City of Kitchener, in particular; and, (2) the Province of Ontario, in general.
Case study 1: Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is located in Southern Ontario, Canada. According to the 2006 census, Kitchener has a population of 422, 514; in 2001, the population was 387, 319, a 3.2% growth rate in the course of five years. The growth quotient of the city is 1.64 with a cumulative share of national income growth of 60% from 2001 to 2006. Kitchener is an example of how rapid urbanization shapes a particular geographic region. However, this is not surprising for most of the cities in Ontario saw dramatic increases in its number of population. During the said period, most of Ontario is largely urbanized; eight of the twenty most populous areas in Canada are from this region (see Figure 1). Moreover, the country`s most populous city, Toronto, which already surpassed the population of Montreal in the past year, is located in Ontario.
There is an imperative to look at this situation against the backdrop of the city`s historical, economic, and political situations to better understand the subsequent changes in its urban system. Kitchener is largely a working class city with a number of manufacturers providing employment to most of the city`s population.
Changes in the national economy have some interesting geographical characteristics. Over the years, it continued to shift from natural resources and basic manufacturing to the provision of both public and private services (Bourne, 2004 99). The shift in the sectoral composition of the national economy also resulted to the spatial distribution of economic growth creating a new geography of urbanization. Notwithstanding the impact of the dot.com crash, 21st century saw a dramatic increase of capital and labor flow within the information technology and communications market. However, this market tends to be concentrated in large metropolitan areas despite its rhetoric of the elimination of spatial constraints, resulting to the concentration of employment in large global cities.
The role of governments cannot be overlooked when it comes to these changes. Despite the lack of explicit national urban policy, the Canadian government seems to contribute significantly to rapid changes in the country`s urban system (Bourne, 2004 101). For instance, the recent policies on trade liberalization and accelerated levels of immigration contributed to the uneven structure and organization among the country`s urban and regional centers.
According to Richard Shearmur, the period of 2001 to 2006 in Canada was an overall sustained growth, albeit the dot.com crash and the ensuing job losses that happened from 2001 to 2002 and affecting most of the urban areas that relied on information technology market (2009 2). This sustained growth was caused by: (1) the rise in demand and prices for most commodities, which led to economic growth in resource-based communities; (2) the expansion of financial services industry; and, (3) decreasing unemployment, rising incomes and increasing household debt fuelled a consumption boom (Shearmur, 2009 2). The latter factor has caused the increase in the number of private residential areas, for instance, in Kitchener (see Figure 4)...
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