[The_Cat]

I used the measure distance tool

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

I calcullated an approximate residential area of 433 square km, which is less than 60% of the 765 sq km. The other 332 sq km is either industrial or agricultural.

Using the residential area, the populatiion density (2023) is 1,128,811/433 = 2607 pop/sq km

 

[policyenthusiast]

I think the problem for Edmonton is criterion #2. Since our employment is more decentralized, the share of non-car commutes is smaller for most, if not all, neighborhoods.

Not to mention the residential distribution. Most non-retail folks work in the industrial zones or downtown, and there aren't houses in the industrial zones. Downtown is better for live-work, but downtown central is too expensive, Boyle Street is too high in crime.

At least we have Oliver.

 

[kcantor]

Not to mention the residential distribution. Most non-retail folks work in the industrial zones or downtown, and there aren't houses in the industrial zones. Downtown is better for live-work, but downtown central is too expensive, Boyle Street is too high in crime.

At least we have Oliver.

As noted elsewhere,Unfortunately, with the exception of WEM our transit system pretty much ignores all of our other core non downtown employment bases. This is a larger driver (no pun intended) of the attractiveness of new suburban housing that is closer to those centres. Unfortunately, those new subdivisions aren’t initially provided with transit service either so two car households are a necessity and once established don’t revert to transit.

The city should consider early introduction of transit in industrial areas and in new subdivisions as an investment in future ridership the same way they do for LRT construction that takes decades - if ever - to recoup.

 

[policyenthusiast]

As noted elsewhere,Unfortunately, with the exception of WEM our transit system pretty much ignores all of our other core non downtown employment bases. This is a larger driver (no pun intended) of the attractiveness of new suburban housing that is closer to those centres. Unfortunately, those new subdivisions aren’t initially provided with transit service either so two car households are a necessity and once established don’t revert to transit.

The city should consider early introduction of transit in industrial areas and in new subdivisions as an investment in future ridership the same way they do for LRT construction that takes decades - if ever - to recoup.

Would be nice, but with the budget shortfall I doubt expanded transit is anywhere near the podium. I just want more walkability in West Edmonton, it seems like all of the infrastructure is car-centric to accommodate the mall.

 

[Yeggy]

A video from urbanist youtubers Oh The Urbanity provides some perspective/insights. They ranked the top 20 cities in North America based on the number of neighbourhoods in a city that meet these two criteria.

View attachment 591920

Edmonton did not make the top 20 - but Canadian cities that did have more neighbourhoods than us that met those two criteria above were:

#20 - Calgary
#19 - Winnipeg
#15 - Victoria
#14 - Quebec City
#11 - Ottawa
#8 - Vancouver
#4 - Montreal
#3 - Chicago
#2 - Toronto
#1 - New York

Once Toronto did those major amalgamations, they lost significant population density. But they still have a significant number of neighbourhoods that met the above criteria of density and active transportation usage.

Yes, Edmonton may have a large amount of industrial land and our river valley bringing down our overall density, but digging in deeper to specific districts people live in within Edmonton and it appears we don't stack up as well as other Canadian cities on those two important metrics.

You have to remember Calgary is also often a stand in for Edmonton as well.
A lot of these “lists” treat us as the same.

 

[TAS]

You have to remember Calgary is also often a stand in for Edmonton as well.
A lot of these “lists” treat us as the same.

Not in this case.

 

[ChazYEG]

,Unfortunately, with the exception of WEM our transit system pretty much ignores all of our other core non downtown employment bases

Ken, not sure I agree with you there.
All of our major hospitals, major education insititions (MacEwan, U of A, NAIT) and the other two largest malls (Southgate and, as poorly as it is served, Kingsway) are served by the LRT.
If you're referring to the industrial areas of the city, serving those with the LRT in an efficient way would be prohibitively expensive, and probably pointless, considering that a commute there would probably include at least two bus transfers, since they're all very spread out, so at best you'd only be able to get the LRT to a terminal where workers would then take buses to be able to actually get to work.

 

[The_Cat]

Some of these industrial areas have dead-end streets, which often means a return trip from a bus terminal. Even then, it might be only for peak hours. Is it possible to have roads that connect to at least two arterial roads? For example, the extension of Roper Road now connects 34 and 50 Street.

 

[SarcasticMarmot]

Edmonton unemployment rate rises to second highest in Canada: StatCan​

MSN

Sigh.

 

[David A]

Edmonton unemployment rate rises to second highest in Canada: StatCan​

MSN

Sigh.

I wonder if this is mainly driven by the number of people moving here now, because I haven't heard about big local layoffs recently or anything like that which would explain this increase.

It may take a while to absorb the all the newcomers into the local labour market.

 

[MacLac]

Edmonton unemployment rate rises to second highest in Canada: StatCan​

MSN

Sigh.

This means absolutely nothing.....next month it'll be 2 points lower......I guess we could use some "fintech" jobs up here like YYC....or as they said in the 90's - call center jobs. I find it so amusing that these jobs went over seas to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, now a company called MPhasis (India) gets $2sq/ft lease at YYC's old DT Bay building - throws in a few thousand cramped cubicles and voila!!! Now YYC has a burgeoning "Fintech" scene....too funny!

 

[David A]

This means absolutely nothing.....next month it'll be 2 points lower......I guess we could use some "fintech" jobs up here like YYC....or as they said in the 90's - call center jobs. I find it so amusing that these jobs went over seas to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, now a company called MPhasis (India) gets $2sq/ft lease at YYC's old DT Bay building - throws in a few thousand cramped cubicles and voila!!! Now YYC has a burgeoning "Fintech" scene....too funny!

Wasn't there a time decades ago when we were putting call centres in a downtown mall here too? I put that into the 'it sort of seemed like a good idea at the time' category. I believe they are gone now.

In addition to not being great, those jobs seem to go to places where rent for space or other costs are lowest - so maybe Calgary has a bit of temporary advantage there now with all their empty downtown office space.

 

[The_Cat]

I imagine that part of the unemployment could be new people entering the workforce.

 

[IanO]

I imagine that part of the unemployment could be new people entering the workforce.

Agreed. The COVID holiday is most certainly over... and given the number of folks who decided to become 'independent consultants', I suspect we are seeing quite a few of them returning to the workforce.

 

[policyenthusiast]

Edmonton unemployment rate rises to second highest in Canada: StatCan​

MSN

Sigh.

Silver medal, let's go for the gold. Here's a chart of employment across Alberta.

It is down, sure - but that's partly because we're just now leaving the COVID employment recovery phase. I've heard from some HR folks that hiring is actually harder than ever because of ChatGPT, and I've heard from recruiters that they're getting more clients right now than they ever have before.

Circumstantial evidence, but the labour market seems to be in a very weird spot this year.