Calgary population to hit 2.4M by 2041

[Locke]

Thats too many people.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

My spouse and I moved to Edmonton last year. We're both professionals. Housing costs more in Calgary (especially way more near the core). Traffic is worse in Calgary. I really like the river valley and I go to FC Edmonton pro soccer games. I sure as hell don't go to the West Edmonton Mall.

I don't have a problem with Calgary, but aside from being closer to the mountains (if you care about that) and having a more impressive downtown (which is nice to look at, I suppose) what difference is there in the cities? This moral superiority is puzzling. It's not like Calgary is New York City or Chicago, it's just a really sprawling city of a millionish isolated in the middle of nowhere, just like Edmonton.

Edmonton isn't as bad and Calgary isn't as great as Calgarians think. I still think overall Calgary is the superior city but Edmonton is pretty close behind if you are just talking about life within the city. Outside the city it's a different story as ff you want to travel to other destinations Calgary is simply better as when people travel on holidays in this province they are generally going west or south (lol at anyone that goes to Saskatchewan for holidays) and being in Edmonton adds 3 hours to wherever you are driving which sucks.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

That's ok, doesn't matter how many people come to live in Calgary, Airdrie is always only 15 minutes away from downtown.

Oh an airdire to downtown joke. I love when these happen.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Igster

Traffic, bad drivers, too many people, better festivals in Edmonton, family in Edmonton, work....I'm sure there are a ton of reasons.

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

My spouse and I moved to Edmonton last year. We're both professionals. Housing costs more in Calgary (especially way more near the core). Traffic is worse in Calgary. I really like the river valley and I go to FC Edmonton pro soccer games. I sure as hell don't go to the West Edmonton Mall.

I don't have a problem with Calgary, but aside from being closer to the mountains (if you care about that) and having a more impressive downtown (which is nice to look at, I suppose) what difference is there in the cities? This moral superiority is puzzling. It's not like Calgary is New York City or Chicago, it's just a really sprawling city of a millionish isolated in the middle of nowhere, just like Edmonton.

Lots of reasons.

[Chill Cosby]

The reasons people give for preferring Edmonton always seem to boil down to:

I don't like strangers/crowding.
I don't care about nice looking things
I am poor.

[lazypucker]

Edmonton to me is that the town overall looks more rundown, grundgy. Seems like they are 30 years behind in upgrading.

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by Codes

I also enjoy living in Lethbridge. Of course it's less exciting than larger cities, but, I like the relatively laid back atmosphere. There is a lot of natural wonder around Lethbridge, and Calgary is only 2 hours away.

But it is curious to know why they project it to grow so much. There are tons of new houses being built here, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why?

It's a real cutthroat housing market for Lethbridge with regards to new homes for some reason. Supply way outstrips demand. Yet new housing builds are thriving. It is odd.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

I don't have a problem with Calgary, but aside from being closer to the mountains (if you care about that) and having a more impressive downtown (which is nice to look at, I suppose) what difference is there in the cities?

Pretty much nothing and that's why there is a "twin city" rivalry.

Mano a mano - suburb a suburb - they're the same city. But as you said Calgary has the trump card with it's location to the mountains so since location is everything Calgary wins this battle yet again.

Edit:
It's also a brilliantly written rivalry:
North vs. South
White collar vs. Blue collar
Private industry vs. Government (Capitalist vs. Communist)

I'm obviously generalizing but realistically it's a beautiful Springfield/Shelbyville rivalry!

[getbak]

Something to keep in mind is that these projections are for the Census Divisions in the province. There are only 19 CDs province-wide, so some of them include a great number of communities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ons_of_Alberta

Where it says "Drumheller", it's actually referring to a CD that stretches as far south as Vulcan. Strathmore is now actually the largest community in that CD. The "Banff" CD is the same, it stretches from Jasper National Park to Crowsnest Pass, and Canmore is the largest community in the CD.

Right now, the "Drumheller" CD has a population of 56,317, and the "Banff" CD has 39,831 people, so the projections for those CDs aren't as extreme as they first appear.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by Chill Cosby

The reasons people give for preferring Edmonton always seem to boil down to:

I don't like strangers/crowding.
I don't care about nice looking things
I am poor.

There are simply too many people and too much traffic in Calgary. It takes a half hour to get somewhere, when it used to take 5 minutes.

There are lots of nice looking things in Edmonton.

There are plenty of poor people everywhere and there are plenty of wealthy people in Edmonton.

(and around we go again...)

[Chill Cosby]

Originally Posted by Igster

There are simply too many people and too much traffic in Calgary. It takes a half hour to get somewhere, when it used to take 5 minutes.

There are lots of nice looking things in Edmonton.

There are plenty of poor people everywhere and there are plenty of wealthy people in Edmonton.

(and around we go again...)

I can change the last one to "I am cheap" if it's less of a sticking point for you.

[DOOM]

40K + in Banff? I sure hope not.

[Calgary14]

Isn't the population of Banff federally-regulated? I thought it was capped at a specific level by the gov to prevent it from becoming over developed. Not sure how it could reach 46k if its regulated

[psicodude]

So nobody read Getbak's post then?

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Edmonton isn't as bad and Calgary isn't as great as Calgarians think. I still think overall Calgary is the superior city but Edmonton is pretty close behind if you are just talking about life within the city. Outside the city it's a different story as ff you want to travel to other destinations Calgary is simply better as when people travel on holidays in this province they are generally going west or south (lol at anyone that goes to Saskatchewan for holidays) and being in Edmonton adds 3 hours to wherever you are driving which sucks.

This perfectly articulates why Calgary is good and Edmonton is no good

[V]

That's the only reason I miss Calgary, TBQH. 45 minutes from my door to scrambling a mountain. A few times I showed up at work, just didn't feel like working and drove out to the mountains instead. I just can't do that here in Edmonton.

What's funny, however is how many Calgary residents don't visit the mountains, even once a year. It's the best part of the city, and makes all the miserable driving and overpriced housing worth it, and people just don't take advantage.

[V]

Originally Posted by Chill Cosby

The reasons people give for preferring Edmonton always seem to boil down to:

I don't like strangers/crowding.
I don't care about nice looking things
I am poor.

I'd say the number one go-to reason Edmontonians use is the world-class river valley.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by V

That's the only reason I miss Calgary, TBQH. 45 minutes from my door to scrambling a mountain. A few times I showed up at work, just didn't feel like working and drove out to the mountains instead. I just can't do that here in Edmonton.

What's funny, however is how many Calgary residents don't visit the mountains, even once a year. It's the best part of the city, and makes all the miserable driving and overpriced housing worth it, and people just don't take advantage.

I don't go to the mountains regularly, maybe once or twice a year. But growing up in BC it's just reassuring to be able to look outside and see them. Driving on the highways north or east of the city and seeing nothing but flatness ahead always depresses me

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by V

What's funny, however is how many Calgary residents don't visit the mountains, even once a year. It's the best part of the city, and makes all the miserable driving and overpriced housing worth it, and people just don't take advantage.

Interesting observation. A friend of mine is in town (grew up here) for the first time in many years and getting to the mountains was a top priority. It dawned on me that in all the time he was gone, I only played in the mountains a handful of times (excluding motorcycle trips....which is why the Rockies were created, of course).

Don't know why the mountains don't attract me (or other locals) more. I don't think I've ever had a bad outdoor experience, yet the mountains just don't hit the radar when I'm looking for something to do.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by V

I'd say the number one go-to reason Edmontonians use is the world-class river valley.

I don't have much to say about Edmonton (just feel it's a substandard city), but I can understand why the locals are proud of the river valley - it is pretty terrific/beautiful. I prefer Prince's Island and the connected pathways, but that's not a slight against the river valley.