Measuring Population Growth in Canada’s Central Living Neighborhoods

Francois Sergerie , Statistics Canada
Dylan Saunders, Statistics Canada

Using data from the 2006, 2011 and 2016 short-form censuses, this paper aims to delineate the downtown areas of 12 Canadian census metropolitan areas (CMA) to compare the population growth of their surrounding neighbourhoods against their respective CMA. Job-density levels of census dissemination areas were calculated to replicate the methodology of the Local Employment Dynamics to correspond to the irregular and idiosyncratic shapes of commercial areas to produce downtowns and their surrounding one-kilometer buffer area termed the central living neighbourhood (CLN). Preliminary findings indicate that the CLN’s population in some of Canada’s largest CMAs, most notably Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver, were increasing at a faster rate than their respective CMAs. In contrast, the population of the CLNs in some of the least populated CMAs studied were declining, while the CMA population still rose.

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 Presented in Session 3. Population, Development, & the Environment; Data & Methods; Applied Demography