도시를 어떻게 정의합니까?

2019년, 나는 온타리오주 런던에서 봄학기를 마치고 고향인 앨버타주 캘거리로 차를 몰고 돌아왔습니다. 나와 동행한 친구는 토론토 교외에서 태어나고 자랐으며 런던 서쪽에서 한 번도 본 적이 없었습니다.

자동차로 대륙을 횡단하지 않은 사람들은 미국을 거쳐 시카고와 미니애폴리스를 거쳐 에스티반(SK) 국경을 넘어 계속해서 레지나를 거쳐 캘거리로 가는 것이 훨씬 빠릅니다.

Having strolled down the Magnificent Mile in Chicago and visited the Mall of America in Minneapolis over the previous few days, my friend began to question the validity of Regina’s claim to city status as we were stretching our legs around Wascana Lake at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building.

Preposterous.

Of course, Regina is a city… right?

Regina is the capital of Saskatchewan, was once the hub of western Canada, and formerly the seat of government for the Northwest Territories. Certainly, a place of such significance qualifies as a city.

But, to my friend from Toronto, Regina, absent of massive skyscrapers and a population of only 228,000, didn’t make the cut. The suburban neighbourhood where they grew up in the GTA probably rivalled Saskatchewan’s capital’s population and architectural design.

This is a story I always think about when defining what city means.

As discussed, many factors influence what is defined as a city. Population, architecture, land use, economic power, governance, and culture all influence the what may define a city.

The UN defines a city based on if a one-kilometre square grid, sustains a population of 1,500 for enough continuous boxes, and adds up to over 50,000 people.

Regina qualifies, by the way.

But that is just one way of doing it and perspective makes a difference depending on background. A person from Estivan, SK, population 13,615, where we crossed the border, would definitely consider Regina a city. Whereas a person from Toronto might consider Regina as a nice quiet getaway.

Despite arguments over city status, we could agree that Regina was at least urban.

Urban issues affect the city, and multiple levels of government are required to collaborate to solve these issues. Housing, transportation, and local business are just as much issues in Regina as in Toronto. So, for policymakers, the exact definition of the area might not impact the policy space as much as we think.

Despite differing opinion on what is considered as a city or not a city, urban policy connects Toronto and Regina.

Keeping an open mind about cities is important for urban policy practitioners to develop creative policy options. Different perspectives help, especially when cities can very in so many ways.

Luckily for me, upon arrival in Calgary, there was no argument over whether it was a city or not.

Now I just have to stop them from referring to the Calgary Tower as “Baby-CN”…