{"id":1839,"date":"2013-08-28T11:20:12","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T17:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2025-03-04T14:48:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T21:48:55","slug":"the-scale-of-two-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scale of Two Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edmonton and Manhattan<\/h2>\n

It’s no secret that Edmonton has a reputation for low density development. \u00a0There is a lot of contemporary<\/a>\u00a0debate<\/a> surrounding urban sprawl here, with disagreement over the degree to which it’s a real or perceived\u00a0problem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Conversations on sprawl always tend to to gravitate toward a direct comparison of the size and density of two cities. Given the immense proportions cities can take, perhaps only relative differences render their true scale tangible. \u00a0Just as two shades of a colour reveal their difference more strongly side-by-side, two cities similarly describe their physical attributes.<\/p>\n

\"manhattan\"<\/a>In this ongoing conversation on cities, none seems to serve as a barometer for\u00a0urban comparison more than New York, and particularly the borough of Manhattan. \u00a0It is a paragon of urbanity in many ways, but is often\u00a0cited in comparisons for its high density.<\/p>\n

Conversations like this typically resemble a claim like\u00a0“City X is 10 times as big as New York with 1\/10th the population”<\/em>. \u00a0In Vancouver the West End is its densest neighbourhood and it’s not uncommon hear the exclaimation: “The West End is the densest neighbourhood in North America, denser than Manhattan.” \u00a0<\/em>The myth of the West End’s density has been demonstrated to be untrue<\/a>, but shows the way Manhattan or New York serves as a superlative in density conversations.<\/p>\n

Comparison of Edmonton and New York has been made before<\/a>, but a different understanding is had with visual proportion. \u00a0The conclusion may be obvious but still of visual interest.<\/p>\n

Roughly, Edmonton could fit Manhattan inside itself over eleven times and at the same density would contain 18.4 million people.<\/p>\n

Edmonton and Phoenix<\/h2>\n

\"phoenix\"<\/a>In stark contrast to Manhattan and with greater similarity to Edmonton, Phoenix Arizona illustrates a different end of a density spectrum. \u00a0Less cited for its urban qualities, Phoenix and its metro area are well known to many Albertans as a retirement destination, a winter escape, and a golf holiday.<\/p>\n

Since 1990 Phoenix has experienced explosive growth, going from a population just under 1 million to just under 1.6 million in 2009. \u00a0One of the hardest hit cities by the crash of the American\u00a0housing market, its population retreated over 100,000 people to where it sits today\u00a0at roughly 1.5 million. \u00a0Without accounting for pre-crash numbers, in 20 years Phoenix has added a phenomenal 50% to its population since 1990. \u00a0Its rate of growth over the period far exceeded the national average to be one of the top two fastest growing metros in America.<\/p>\n

Weather and climate aside, Edmonton and Phoenix share many urban characteristics. \u00a0While Edmonton has a greater population density they are not in completely different ballparks. \u00a0Edmonton like its counterpart is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada<\/a>. \u00a0Both cities lack an urban growth boundary, and have accommodated high rates of growth by rezoning agricultural land on the perimeter.<\/p>\n

If you line the south edge of Phoenix up with the south edge of Edmonton, it’s boundary would extend well past Morinville.<\/p>\n

So What?<\/h2>\n

People will criticize a comparison between Edmonton and Manhattan as apples to oranges and unfair. \u00a0They are correct. \u00a0Edmonton is not Manhattan and most Edmontonians would never desire it to be.<\/p>\n

What Manhattan demonstrates is how a small island constrained to growth has highly optimized its land use and became a world economic and cultural powerhouse, containing a highly dense population who pay exorbitant housing prices out of a desire to live and work there. \u00a0Amazingly, Manhattan’s population steadily decreased for a century – in 1910 it contained 2.3+ million people. \u00a0Today it’s at roughly 1.6 million and started to increase again only in the new millenium.<\/p>\n

Phoenix on the other hand is a much closer approximation of the scale Edmonton would come to realize should it continue its current style and pace of growth. \u00a0This pattern<\/a>\u00a0has impacted the\u00a0economic resiliency<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Phoenix, \u00a0and fear\u00a0looms over impending environmental limits<\/a>. \u00a0While Edmonton has its plan to densify<\/a>\u00a0it continues to propose annexation<\/a> and approve development at low density on the urban perimeter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It has been said that\u00a0there is no good design without constraint.\u00a0<\/em>Is it time for Edmonton to embrace constraint, stop growing out, and start growing up?<\/p>\n

\n

Jason Pfeifer is an Edmonton based Landscape Architect and Urban Designer, and Principal of PD+A Studio<\/a>, a boutique service-oriented interdisciplinary design firm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edmonton and Manhattan It’s no secret that Edmonton has a reputation for low density development. \u00a0There is a lot of contemporary\u00a0debate surrounding urban sprawl here, with disagreement over the degree to which it’s a real or perceived\u00a0problem. Conversations on sprawl always tend to to gravitate toward a direct comparison of the size and density ofContinue reading “The Scale of Two Cities”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6031,"featured_media":2093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infrastructure","category-urban-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Scale of Two Cities - Spacing Edmonton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Pfeifer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/\",\"name\":\"The Scale of Two Cities - Spacing Edmonton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/08\/edmonton_manhattan1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-28T17:20:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-04T21:48:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/e71b029daaddb8ba3d271cc6ce6a6d5e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/08\/edmonton_manhattan1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/08\/edmonton_manhattan1.png\",\"width\":1296,\"height\":759},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/08\/28\/the-scale-of-two-cities\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Scale of Two Cities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Edmonton\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Edmonton Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/e71b029daaddb8ba3d271cc6ce6a6d5e\",\"name\":\"Jason Pfeifer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/657244ac6b6620bc7400f249691736c7?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/657244ac6b6620bc7400f249691736c7?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jason Pfeifer\"},\"description\":\"Jason Pfeifer is an interdisciplinary designer and photographer with a background in architectural and communication design. 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