Comments on nezroy was here: The Reality of Edmonton Urban Sprawl

I take your point. We should look at the "urb...

2012-02-04T21:00:03.938-07:00

I take your point. We should look at the "urbanized area" within a city's boundaries to determine population density. However, taking the "Greater Golden Horseshoe" to measure the Toronto area's population density would be absurd in the extreme. It would be an area of land that would have easily four or five times as much farm land as "urbanized area". The picture of Edmonton city limits indicates there is more "urban area" than farm land within city limits - and yes parkland within an "urbanized area" should be considered part of the "urban area".

Mcdedmonton is prob the most clued out unprogressi...

2011-06-23T00:36:01.829-06:00

Mcdedmonton is prob the most clued out unprogressive and unsustainable urban plan known to woman

I think the author makes a valid point. Some resea...

2010-12-18T08:12:17.924-07:00

I think the author makes a valid point. Some research uses urban areas, which provides densities somewhat intermediate between using a city's boundaries or its CMA boundaries.

In any event all of this numerology glosses over the fact that these boundaries have a certain arbitrariness. Moreover, contrary to what evangelists tell us, sprawl (I'd rather call it suburbanization) lies much in the eyes of the beholder.

For example a city can have more parks, more parkland, larger school areas, huge industrial areas for refiners, lumber yards, cement factories, etc. Very often these commercial factors dictate the form of cities. Sometimes, cities have a monocentric pattern, but often cities such as Edmonton have distributed services. For example, over 90% of retail trade does not exist in its central business district (CBD). The CBD does not have industrial space, which the city locates primarily in the northwest and south east sectors, and has about 60% of office space. Often industrial sectors sprout up around airports (Nisku and the muni).

Anyway, this distribution eases transportation problems as people living in the suburbs can often reach work quickly and easily from both peripheral areas withing the city, but also from nearby municipalities/counties (St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Beaumont, Leduc, Strathcona county, etc.)

Finally, one comment perpetuates a myth that suburbanization uses up farm land. In the last 5 decades North America has lost about 50% of its farmland, not to urban areas, but rather through the phenomenon that farmers leave their farms and move to the cities, because they cannot compete with highly efficient conglomerates that now produce more food in much less space than farmers did decades ago.

I am a resident of Northern Illinois, about 35 mil...

2010-07-23T17:22:55.294-06:00

I am a resident of Northern Illinois, about 35 miles west of the farthest out suburb of Chicago (which just recently tripled its population). I am terribly concerned about what may happen to my quaint farming community, as I have seen what has happened to our neighbors to the east. I hope that the government takes immediate action by protecting the excellent farmland and natural areas before any more towns get consumed by the monster.