1 / 15

Putting a finger on urban Yves Bourgeois, PhD Director , Urban and community studies institute University of New Br

Putting a finger on urban Yves Bourgeois, PhD Director , Urban and community studies institute University of New Brunswick Saint John, 3 October 2013. Is this a village, town or city ?. Main argument. Never take scale for granted in your research or projects.

ave
Download Presentation

Putting a finger on urban Yves Bourgeois, PhD Director , Urban and community studies institute University of New Br

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Putting a finger on urban Yves Bourgeois, PhD Director, Urban and communitystudiesinstitute University of New Brunswick Saint John, 3 October 2013

  2. Is this a village, town or city ?

  3. Main argument • Never take scale for granted in your research or projects. • Existing boundaries may be the wrong scale in understanding the problem or finding solutions.

  4. 1. Urban vs rural… a false dichotomy • Is NB a rural province ? • In 2011, 47% of NB’s population lived in rural areas (<1000; <400 sqkm)

  5. The idyllic nirvana of rural NB ?

  6. No, rural growth in NB occurred as employment shifted to post-industrial economy

  7. What is really at play in NB is that urban-(post)industrial growth has been extending onto suburbs and countryside • Saint John’s population has been in decline, but CMA steady • …Quispamsis tripled in size 1981-2011 • NB has been urbanizing 100 years + • NBers have been following jobs (Mass, TO, Alberta) • Low density communities are being urbanized from within • While 53% urban where they sleep, but 63% in 8 cities(MIZs) • Work and play (?) • http://users.humboldt.edu/mstephens/hate/hate_map.html#

  8. Why should I care ? (Will this be on the exam?) • Where do we locate schools, hospitals, arenas? • Who pays for amenities and roads to get there? Free riders? (water treatment? roads? aquatic centre?) …funding formula • We underinvest in amenity quality and overinvest on quantity and roads • Tim’s, McDonald’s, Costco • Do municipal boundaries reflect optimal level of planning and provision? Finance & HR capacity • Regional service commissions (RSC) solution or another layer of government? • Real issue is connected vs remote (…MIZs)

  9. Results – Adoption % of firms using internet-based technologies • Firms in rural areas use internet-based technologies significantly less

  10. 2. Urban systems • RSCs an attempt to create critical mass and better plan and provide localservices among connected communities, urban core and rural hinterland • When it comes to economic opportunities, scale can be global (not just markets, but networks) • DERN: where we fit in global production networks • Export activities we want: http://www.gnb.ca/inb/en/index-e.html • Export activities we have…

  11. NB adds very little value to its exports

  12. Sometimes biggers is better • NB small-town north vs bigger-city south debate disconnected from broader global reality • Canada’s demographic and economic growth driven by cities, and very large cities in particular. 2009-2012 CMAs 100-350k grew 2.1%, which is lower than for all of Canada 3.4%, and compared to 3.3% for 350-1M and 5.1% for cities 1M+ • Global phenomenon • Why? ISRN hypotheses… innovation infrastructure? creative workers?

  13. Critical mass matters • Small-city penalty? • Immigration, air connections, VC …are scale-dependent • NB individual CMAs don’t have much size (94-140k), but can borrow size off each other • Polycentric regions: NB, Sask, NC, Randstadt… • No dominant centre can create duplication but can also inhibit critical mass • Kumbayah ? All’s fun til someone loses an xport • NFPs are doing it, so why aren’t cities ? Parochialism, tax base • How do we plan economic infrastructure beyond municipal boundaries? • 5-yr Development grant

  14. Summary Need to do a better job understanding • how “urban-rural” connects • how city-regions connect in urban system Or we’ll keep fighting over shrinking pie

More Related