How do you define a city?
In 2019, I drove back from my spring semester in London, Ontario, to my hometown Calgary, Alberta. Accompanying me was my friend, who was born and raised in suburban Toronto and had never been west of London.
For those who have not traversed the continent by car, it is much faster to go through the United States, passing through Chicago and Minneapolis before crossing the border in Estivan, SK, and continuing through Regina and onward to Calgary.
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”…
