IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v39y2002i13p2531-2552.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Density Gradients in Canadian Metropolitan Regions, 1971-96: Differential Patterns of Central Area and Suburban Growth and Change

Author

Listed:
  • T. Bunting

    (School of Planning, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada, tbunting@fes.uwaterloo.ca)

  • P. Filion

    (School of Planning, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada, pfilion@fes.uwaterloo.ca)

  • H. Priston

    (School of Planning, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada, hepristo@fes.uwaterloo.ca)

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that over the 25-year period, 1971-96, the majority of Canadian cities have undergone transition towards an increasingly decentralised urban form. The trends, however, are quite diverse, pointing to fundamental differences in the respective importance of growth in central and outer parts of the metropolitan area. On the whole, the relatively high densities observed in Canadian central cities, in comparison with US ones, appear to reflect residual centralisation rather than continued growth in metropolitan regions' innermost parts. Only Vancouver, and to a lesser extent Toronto and Victoria, exhibit indisputable evidence of post-1971 central-area growth. The predominant trend has been towards suburban-style, low-density expansion, albeit with considerable intercity variation regarding changes in central-area and suburban density. Findings presented here point to previously unidentified trends towards recentralisation in a few CMAs and, in about half of the surveyed metropolitan areas, densification of suburban tracts.

Suggested Citation

  • T. Bunting & P. Filion & H. Priston, 2002. "Density Gradients in Canadian Metropolitan Regions, 1971-96: Differential Patterns of Central Area and Suburban Growth and Change," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(13), pages 2531-2552, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:39:y:2002:i:13:p:2531-2552
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098022000027095
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/0042098022000027095
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0042098022000027095?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frankena, Mark W., 1978. "A bias in estimating urban population density functions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 35-45, January.
    2. Stern, David I, 1994. "Historical Path-Dependence of the Urban Population Density Gradient," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 28(2), pages 197-222.
    3. Papageorgiou, Yorgos Y. & Pines, David, 1989. "The exponential density function: First principles, comparative statics, and empirical evidence," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 264-268, September.
    4. Richardson, Harry W, 1988. "Monocentric vs. Policentric Models: The Future of Urban Economics in Regional Science," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 22(2), pages 1-12, July.
    5. McDonald, John F., 1989. "Econometric studies of urban population density: A survey," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 361-385, November.
    6. William Levemier & Brian Cushing, 1994. "A New Look at the Determinants of the Intrametropolitan Distribution of Population and Employment," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 31(8), pages 1391-1405, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sridhar, Kala Seetharam, 2004. "Cities with suburbs: Evidence from India," Working Papers 04/23, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    2. Sridhar, Kala Seetharam, 2007. "Density gradients and their determinants: Evidence from India," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 314-344, May.
    3. Genevieve Giuliano & Christian Redfearn & Ajay Agarwal & Chen Li & Duan Zhuang, 2005. "Not All Sprawl: Evolution of Employment Concentrations in Los Angeles, 1980-2000," Working Paper 8589, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    4. repec:npf:wpaper:23 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Joan Carles Martori & Rafa Madariaga & Ramon Oller, 2016. "Real estate bubble and urban population density: six Spanish metropolitan areas 2001–2011," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(2), pages 369-392, March.
    6. Doug Ramsey & Alex Michalos & Derrek Eberts, 2016. "Community Changes and Growth in Small Cities: Resident Perceptions of Growth in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 682-699, December.
    7. repec:ind:nipfwp:23 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hugh Millward & Trudi Bunting, 2008. "Patterning in Urban Population Densities: A Spatiotemporal Model Compared with Toronto 1971–2001," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(2), pages 283-302, February.
    2. Gershon Alperovich & Joeseph Deutsch, 1992. "Population Density Gradients and Urbanisation Measurement," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 29(8), pages 1323-1328, December.
    3. Shunfeng Song, 1994. "Modelling Worker Residence Distribution in the Los Angeles Region," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 31(9), pages 1533-1544, November.
    4. Ilenia Epifani & Rosella Nicolini, 2013. "On The Population Density Distribution Across Space: A Probabilistic Approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 481-510, August.
    5. Joan Carles Martori & Rafa Madariaga & Ramon Oller, 2016. "Real estate bubble and urban population density: six Spanish metropolitan areas 2001–2011," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(2), pages 369-392, March.
    6. Marion Girard, 2017. "Organisation spatiale et densités urbaines : une application à l'agglomération du Grand Dijon," Working Papers hal-01630439, HAL.
    7. Anas, Alex & Arnott, Richard J. & Small, Kenneth A., 2000. "The Panexponential Monocentric Model," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 165-179, March.
    8. repec:npf:wpaper:23 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Fahui Wang & Yixing Zhou, 1999. "Modelling Urban Population Densities in Beijing 1982-90: Suburbanisation and its Causes," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 36(2), pages 271-287, February.
    10. Alex Anas & Richard Arnott & Kenneth A. Small, 1998. "Urban Spatial Structure," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1426-1464, September.
    11. Sridhar, Kala Seetharam, 2004. "Cities with suburbs: Evidence from India," Working Papers 04/23, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    12. Alain Bertraud & Stephen Malpezzi, 2001. "The Spatial Distribution of Population in 35 World Cities: The Role of Markets, Planning, and Topography," Wisconsin-Madison CULER working papers 01-03, University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economic Research.
    13. repec:ind:nipfwp:23 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. John F. McDonald & Paul J. Prather, 1994. "Suburban Employment Centres: The Case of Chicago," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 31(2), pages 201-218, March.
    15. Trudi E Bunting, 2004. "Decentralization or Recentralization? A Question of Household versus Population Enumeration, Canadian Metropolitan Areas 1971–1996," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(1), pages 127-147, January.
    16. Luis Suarez-Villa & Wallace Walrod, 1997. "Operational Strategy, R&D and Intra-metropolitan Clustering in a Polycentric Structure: The Advanced Electronics Industries of the Los Angeles Basin," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 34(9), pages 1343-1380, August.
    17. Sridhar, Kala Seetharam, 2007. "Density gradients and their determinants: Evidence from India," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 314-344, May.
    18. Xiao-Ping Zheng, 1991. "Metropolitan Spatial Structure and its Determinants: A Case-study of Tokyo," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 28(1), pages 87-104, February.
    19. Frederic Gilli, 2009. "Sprawl or Reagglomeration? The Dynamics of Employment Deconcentration and Industrial Transformation in Greater Paris," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(7), pages 1385-1420, June.
    20. Song, Shunfeng, 1992. "Spatial Structure and Urban Commuting," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt1962t3j6, University of California Transportation Center.
    21. Stern, David I. & Gerlagh, Reyer & Burke, Paul J., 2017. "Modeling the emissions–income relationship using long-run growth rates," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 699-724, December.
    22. Carozzi, Felipe & Roth, Sefi, 2023. "Dirty density: Air quality and the density of American cities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:39:y:2002:i:13:p:2531-2552. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.