Urban Land Use and Living

Outcome: 4.2

Review:Where do Canadians Live? Communities come in all shapes and sizes: hamlets,

villages, towns, small cities, and large cities.

Community Population

Hamlet Fewer than 200 people

Village 200-800 people

Town 1000-10 000 people

City Greater than 10 000 people

CMA Greater than 100 000 people

Urban vs Rural Urban describes an area where a lot of people live at a

high density.

Rural describes an area where people are spread out at a low density.

Very large densely populated city areas known as census metropolitan areas (CMAs).

Statistics Canada introduced the term population centre to more specifically define urban areas.(p.198)

Population Centres

For example, the city of Toronto is closely surrounded by several municipalities including Markham, Oakville, and Mississauga. A CMA has a total population of at least 100 000 with an urban core of at least 50 000 people. Toronto ranks No. 1 in population among the country’s 33 CMAs.

Population centres are divided into three groups: small population centres - between

1000 and 29 999 people; medium population centres - between

30 000 and 99 999; and large population centres -100 000

people and over.

City Wise 81% of Canadians live in large population centres

The three largest, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver contain 35% of Canada’s population

A similar pattern occurs in other countries

Urban Land Use

The activities and events that you experience on a daily basis use the land in different ways.

Land Use: A term that geographers and community planners use to identify the different areas where people live, shop, work, play, and go to school.

There are 6 major designations for urban land use

Residential Land Residential Land Use:

land that has been allocated to living space.

This includes a variety of housing such as single family houses, apartment buildings, town houses, and etc.

Transportation Land Use Transportation Land Use: land that

is used for transportation systems including parking lots and airports.

Proper transportation land use is important for urban area. It allows people and goods to be transporting easier and more efficiently.

Commercial Land Use Commercial Land Use:

land that has been assigned to business activities, or the buying and selling of products and services.

This land could be seen on a main street or even a shopping mall.

Industrial Land Use Industrial Land Use: land allocated to factories

(where goods are manufactured), warehouses, and other secondary industries.

Usually located along major transportation routes.

Institutional Land Use Institutional Land Use: land that is occupied by schools,

hospitals, places of worship, and Government offices.

Open Space and Recreational Land Use Open Space Land Use: Land that has been left in its

natural state.

Recreational Land Use: Land that is used for recreational events such as sports, playgrounds, and parks

Canada’s Booming Urban Centers In the 19th century with the completion of Canada’s

railway city centers would begin to prosper.

After WWII there was an explosion of urban centers across Canada. This was a very prosperous time economically.

Canada’s Booming Urban Centers Your average Canadians were now starting families and

were able to afford automobiles.

Suburbs began to emerge with this new found prosperity.

People began migrating out of the core of the city to opt and leave within these suburbs.

With that migration pattern, service industries would begin to do the same.

Geo-lab Challenge pg. 212 Read the lab.

Relative location – near; next to; west of etc…

Absolute Location – latitude and longitude

Answer questions 1, 2, 4 and 5 in stretch your thinking on page 213.

#’s 1 and 2 in Activate your learning.