Research Papers
Links to Research Papers will be added to this site as they become available.
Canadian Suburbs Atlas 2023
Canada is a suburban nation – two thirds of our national population lives in some form of suburb. In our metropolitan regions, over 85% of the population live in some kind of suburb, which are mapped in the new Canadian Suburbs Atlas. The Atlas classifies all 6247 neighbourhoods in Canada’s 41 Census Metropolitan Areas, using the latest 2021 census data.
We are still growing Out way faster than we are growing Up – the population of the suburbs of Canadian Metropolitan Areas is growing 3-4 times faster than the cores of the cities, despite all the highly visible new apartment towers in the biggest cities. Check out the growth statistics for your region in the new Canadian Suburbs Atlas.
More information to come…
Suburban Growth in Canada’s Midsize Cities
Although Canada is a suburban nation, mid-sized cities are different. We can now compare all of Canada’s mid-sized metro areas to structure and growth trends throughout the nation. Two-thirds of the country’s total population lives in some form of suburb and it has been known for some time that the structure of many of Canada’s mid-sized metropolitan areas are strongly dispersed.
The purpose of this working paper is to update and add national context to the “Suburban growth and downtown decline in Ontario’s Mid-Sized Cities” 2017 Evergreen Working Paper. The 2017 Working Paper was based upon 2006 and 2011 census data, while this working paper updates the research using the 2016 census data that was released in late 2017.
Download the paper here.
Gordon, D. : Still Suburban? Growth in Canadian Suburbs, 2006-2016
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Gordon, D. & Janzen, M. 2013 : Suburban Nation? Estimating the size of Canada’s Suburban Population
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Gordon, D. & Shirokoff, I. : Suburban Nation? Population Growth in Canadian Suburbs, 2006-2011
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Goldney, E. : Estimating suburban population growth: A Study of Ottawa-Gatineau CMA, 1996-2016
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Hindrichs, L. : Victoria’s Suburban Sprawl as a Barrier to Sustainable Development, 2018
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Vandyck, C. : Looking for the Suburbs: A Pilot Study of the Ottawa-Gatineau Census Metropolitan area
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Sandham, J. : Defining the Suburbs: A Case Study of the Thunder Bay Census Metropolitan Area
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