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Statscan numbers

THe Marda Loop area has been one of Calgary's best success stories over the last 20 years. If we could have a couple more neighbourhoods emerge like that we will be in good shape
Hopefully some of the neighborhoods in the North & NW will follow suit. Banff Trail, Capitol Hill, Mount Pleasant, Tuxedo, etc., are all well positioned to add pretty significant density over the decades
 
This is where using density as a measure of "downtown" really starts to fall apart. Mississauga's "downtown" is just a massive number of high-rises dropped onto a grid of 7-lane car sewers and centred on a sea of surface parking lots surrounding a suburban-style mall (Square One).
These are measures of density, not urbanity. It would be hard to argue that downtown/Beltline have better residential towers, architecturally speaking, compared to some of the beauties in Mississauga. We haven't been awarded any building of the year prize for our condo/rental buildings. It's absolutely true that our towers have come a very long way in the last 10 years and we still have room for improvement. I think of the disaster Vantage Point beside the Coop (1053 - 10 St SW) which kicked off the high rise boom in the Beltline and compare it to the recent crowning glory of Eleven.
 
These are measures of density, not urbanity. It would be hard to argue that downtown/Beltline have better residential towers, architecturally speaking, compared to some of the beauties in Mississauga. We haven't been awarded any building of the year prize for our condo/rental buildings. It's absolutely true that our towers have come a very long way in the last 10 years and we still have room for improvement. I think of the disaster Vantage Point beside the Coop (1053 - 10 St SW) which kicked off the high rise boom in the Beltline and compare it to the recent crowning glory of Eleven.
We literally have; Telus Sky has won CBUH Best Tall Building 200-299 Metres amongst others. (Also, architectural awards are not a measure of urbanity; they're closer to an inverse relationship.)

I also think it doesn't make any sense to compare downtowns that are substantial employment centres against those that are suburban malls/apartment nodes on the basis of population density alone; the secondary centres have population, but very little employment.
 
These are measures of density, not urbanity. It would be hard to argue that downtown/Beltline have better residential towers, architecturally speaking, compared to some of the beauties in Mississauga. We haven't been awarded any building of the year prize for our condo/rental buildings. It's absolutely true that our towers have come a very long way in the last 10 years and we still have room for improvement. I think of the disaster Vantage Point beside the Coop (1053 - 10 St SW) which kicked off the high rise boom in the Beltline and compare it to the recent crowning glory of Eleven.
Regardless of density numbers or how good towers in Mississauga look, I’d take the Beltline and its makeup every day of the year over Mississauga. It’s just a personal opinion of mine, but I hate almost everything about Mississauga.
 
Looks like Ottawa received a massive expansion to it's CMA (6,767 km2 to 8,047 km2 compared to our 5,110 km2), so Calgary is now back to #5 - surpassing us by 6,501 people - til the next census when we inevitably overtake them again, even without gaining Foothills ;)
 
Really happy to see such strong growth in our Core. I'm a bit surprised for sure. On the other hand, a little disappointed in our overall CMA growth, even accounting for the recession, and the fact Calgarians still seem to be leaving existing suburbs and moving into newer suburbs. Not a great trend.

Does anyone know why Okotoks and High river are still not included in Calgary's CMA? Hate seeing Calgary slip to number 5 while Ottawa gets new municipalities thrown into their CMA. Also, is there a detailed comparison of how much our growth occurred in existing communities versus greenfield communities?
 
Looks like Ottawa received a massive expansion to it's CMA (6,767 km2 to 8,047 km2 compared to our 5,110 km2), so Calgary is now back to #5 - surpassing us by 6,501 people - til the next census when we inevitably overtake them again, even without gaining Foothills ;)
Ahhhhhhh, that's what happened. I'll admit, at first glance I was ticked off but the fact that a little gerrymandering is all that aided Ottawa to pass us helped lower my blood pressure. It is nice to know we'd smoke em with Foothills included in our CMA.
 
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I also think it doesn't make any sense to compare downtowns that are substantial employment centres against those that are suburban malls/apartment nodes on the basis of population density alone; the secondary centres have population, but very little employment.
I didn't see any job numbers for 2021 yet, but here are the 2016 job density numbers for the top 5 downtowns. I'm actually surprised Vancouver is ahead of Calgary. Unfortunately Mississauga's "downtown" was not included in the 2016 numbers, but I would guess they would be quite low on the list for job density.

CityPop DensityJob Density
Toronto
14319​
30336​
Vancouver
18309​
26402​
Calgary
6444​
22838​
Montréal
6679​
22670​
Ottawa
6466​
12873​
 
I was playing around with the Census Viewer and these are the 5 densest dissemination areas in Calgary. They're all over 36,000 people per square km and 4 of them are in the West End. The middle of the 4 in the West End tops out at 73,000 people per square km.

1644599410604.png
 
I was playing around with the Census Viewer and these are the 5 densest dissemination areas in Calgary. They're all over 36,000 people per square km and 4 of them are in the West End. The middle of the 4 in the West End tops out at 73,000 people per square km.

View attachment 379706
Interesting. I wonder what areas will be the next dissemination area over 36K. I would have to think the area around Park Central will be up close once the second tower is built. also the area right around Macleod Trail Beltline, once Curtis block is occupied.
@kora do you have a link to those dissemination area maps?
 
Does anyone know why Okotoks and High river are still not included in Calgary's CMA? Hate seeing Calgary slip to number 5 while Ottawa gets new municipalities thrown into their CMA. Also, is there a detailed comparison of how much our growth occurred in existing communities versus greenfield communities?
There are formulas and metrics for determining whether a CSD gets added to a CMA. Mostly it's related to commuting and places of work, and Foothills MD doesn't quite make it in. In the end it's all related to invisible borders and in many ways is arbitrary. For example if Foothills MD was originally two smaller MDs where High River was in a different MD, Okotoks could very likely have been part to Calgary's CMA.

A few pages back there is a discussion on Foothills MD and why it's not added. It's trending toward being added, but not for a bit, maybe not even next census.
 
Interesting. I wonder what areas will be the next dissemination area over 36K. I would have to think the area around Park Central will be up close once the second tower is built. also the area right around Macleod Trail Beltline, once Curtis block is occupied.
@kora do you have a link to those dissemination area maps?

Census Program Data Viewer​


Click on Geographic Level. Select Dissemination Area from the menu. There are a few steps to go through. It's a bit clunky to use. I recommend searching by postal code rather than city.
 

Census Program Data Viewer​


Click on Geographic Level. Select Dissemination Area from the menu. There are a few steps to go through. It's a bit clunky to use. I recommend searching by postal code rather than city.
Thanks Kora!
 

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