Match a Canadian city with a European city. (employment, places to live)

[green_mariner]

With the inspiration from other threads involving matching U.S. cities with European cities, I have decided to try this with Canadian cities.

Victoria, BC - London, UK: British influence, similar climate

Vancouver, BC - Glasgow, UK: Similar climate, similar scenery, influences including British and Scottish.

Montreal, Quebec - Paris, France: Montreal is the second largest Francophone metropolis in the world. Basically lots of French influence. Both cities are on rivers, they might even lok alike(but no Arc de Triomphe for Montreal).

Edmonton, Alberta - Moscow, Russia: Cold metropolis with oil

Feel free to add more.

[Acajack]

Interesting idea for a thread. Not sure about your comparisons, on which I would like to make the following comments just for fun:

Victoria, BC - London, UK: I’ve heard this often always found these comparisons a bit clichéd. Victoria to me is more akin to a provincial UK city of comparable size than to the teeming metropolis that is London. aybe somewhere in south/south west england along the coast like Southampton or Bournemouth.

Vancouver, BC - Glasgow, UK: Some points you made are good, though Vancouver lacks the significant post-industrial decline/blight of Glasgow. There is also a huge Asian dimension to Vancouver that isn’t really present in Glasgow.

Montreal, Quebec - Paris, France: Another oft-heard comparison. Paris has a uniformity in its architecture that Montreal lacks. Sure, there are areas of Montreal like Rue St-Denis down by Sherbrooke and Ste-Catherine that are very reminescent of Paris streets lined with cafés with big windows. I also find that Autoroute Décarie in Montreal reminds me of some parts of the Boulevard Périphérique autoroute around Paris, with its high walls and buildings peeking out from the top. But in many other areas Montreal actually resembles London, especially in the Golden Square Mile area west of downtown and areas of Westmount and the west end. Rue Sherbrooke Ouest through the downtown near McGill and the Ritz-Carlton is quite New York-esque I find, as is Boulevard René-Lévesque and environs with all the skyscrapers. Old Montreal is more typical of small provincial French cities or towns than it is of Paris. And then there’s the huge part of the city (perhaps most of it) that is filled with duplexes featuring spiralling outdoor staircases that are typical of Montreal and nowhere else really.

Fun stuff. Hope it takes off.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Interesting idea for a thread. Not sure about your comparisons, on which I would like to make the following comments just for fun:

Victoria, BC - London, UK: I’ve heard this often always found these comparisons a bit clichéd. Victoria to me is more akin to a provincial UK city of comparable size than to the teeming metropolis that is London. aybe somewhere in south/south west england along the coast like Southampton or Bournemouth.

Vancouver, BC - Glasgow, UK: Some points you made are good, though Vancouver lacks the significant post-industrial decline/blight of Glasgow. There is also a huge Asian dimension to Vancouver that isn’t really present in Glasgow.
Montreal, Quebec - Paris, France: Another oft-heard comparison. Paris has a uniformity in its architecture that Montreal lacks. Sure, there are areas of Montreal like Rue St-Denis down by Sherbrooke and Ste-Catherine that are very reminescent of Paris streets lined with cafés with big windows. I also find that Autoroute Décarie in Montreal reminds me of some parts of the Boulevard Périphérique autoroute around Paris, with its high walls and buildings peeking out from the top. But in many other areas Montreal actually resembles London, especially in the Golden Square Mile area west of downtown and areas of Westmount and the west end. Rue Sherbrooke Ouest through the downtown near McGill and the Ritz-Carlton is quite New York-esque I find, as is Boulevard René-Lévesque and environs with all the skyscrapers. Old Montreal is more typical of small provincial French cities or towns than it is of Paris. And then there’s the huge part of the city (perhaps most of it) that is filled with duplexes featuring spiralling outdoor staircases that are typical of Montreal and nowhere else really.

Fun stuff. Hope it takes off.

Victoria would be kind of like an old provincial UK town once you look at the fact that it is small.

As for Vancouver, that was the closest European equivalent I could come up with when it came to Glasgow. London also has an Asian dimension, but Glasgow and Vancouver look similar.

[green_mariner]

Toronto,ONT - London,UK: Both are cosmopolitan, English-speaking port cities with Asian and Afro-Caribbean elements.

Calgary, AB - St. Moritz, Switzerland: Both cities are known for winter sports.

[ajau]

Calgary, AB and Munich Germany. Both are culturally and socially conservative cities near mountain ranges with excellent world famous skiing. Both cities have dynamic economies that are leading for their respective nations. Both cities are considered colder cities in each respective country. Both cities have huge festivals that are world renowned (Oktoberfest/Stampede). Both cities are immaculately clean. Both cities are not known for their cultural attributes but "punch above their weight" as far as economics and corporate scenes are concerned. Both cities have similar socio-demographic profiles. Both cities are scenic. Both cities are known for being expensive places to live.

[Acajack]

This is a really interesting comparison Ajau. You make a lot of good points that I never would have thought of.

Other ones:

Toronto, I have always found to be similar to cities like Chicago and Melbourne, Australia. Although in light of its tremendous growth of late I find it is more and more similar to New York City.

Vancouver (the built city anyway) has always reminded me of a smaller version of Sydney, Australia. For example, suburban areas like North Vancouver and West Vancouver are reminescent of leafy north shore suburbs in Sydney.
The built form in Vancouver (and Victoria) has a different feel from the rest of Canada as well probably because building setbacks and dead spaces are generally smaller there because there is no need to set aside areas to stockpile mountains of snow in the winter.
The harbour setting is similar as well, although of course the huge mountain backdrop in Vancouver is absent from Sydney.

Quebec City inside the walls of the old city is strikingly similar to northern French cities like Saint-Malo (on which most of its older architecture was based).

Many cities in Atlantic Canada are reminescent of port towns in the UK and Ireland in their architecture, although they are generally less dense than their European counterparts.

Ottawa is often compared to Canberra, Australia, but I don’t really agree. Ottawa is much larger than Canberra and its economy is much more diversified. I know this thread refers to Europe but I find Ottawa resembles the Australian city of Adelaide. They are of similar size and were the focus of planning schemes that were partly implemented. Adelaide, though not the capital of Australia, has a significant government employment base as the state capital, as does Ottawa obviously as the federal capital of Canada. They both have modest, sober skylines and have expanses of rolling hill scenery (Gatineau Hills and Lofty Ranges) nearby.
Of course, Adelaide doesn’t have the interprovincial, English-French dichotomy that Ottawa has with Gatineau next door. In this respect, Ottawa bears a striking similarity to Brussels, Belgium.
I find also that in its situation as a capital that is not the country’s largest city, but that strives to be more than just the seat of government, Ottawa also has similarities with The Hague in the Netherlands.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Acajack

This is a really interesting comparison Ajau. You make a lot of good points that I never would have thought of.

Other ones:

Toronto, I have always found to be similar to cities like Chicago and Melbourne, Australia. Although in light of its tremendous growth of late I find it is more and more similar to New York City.

Vancouver (the built city anyway) has always reminded me of a smaller version of Sydney, Australia. For example, suburban areas like North Vancouver and West Vancouver are reminescent of leafy north shore suburbs in Sydney.
The built form in Vancouver (and Victoria) has a different feel from the rest of Canada as well probably because building setbacks and dead spaces are generally smaller there because there is no need to set aside areas to stockpile mountains of snow in the winter.
The harbour setting is similar as well, although of course the huge mountain backdrop in Vancouver is absent from Sydney.

Quebec City inside the walls of the old city is strikingly similar to northern French cities like Saint-Malo (on which most of its older architecture was based).

Many cities in Atlantic Canada are reminescent of port towns in the UK and Ireland in their architecture, although they are generally less dense than their European counterparts.

Ottawa is often compared to Canberra, Australia, but I don’t really agree. Ottawa is much larger than Canberra and its economy is much more diversified. I know this thread refers to Europe but I find Ottawa resembles the Australian city of Adelaide. They are of similar size and were the focus of planning schemes that were partly implemented. Adelaide, though not the capital of Australia, has a significant government employment base as the state capital, as does Ottawa obviously as the federal capital of Canada. They both have modest, sober skylines and have expanses of rolling hill scenery (Gatineau Hills and Lofty Ranges) nearby.
Of course, Adelaide doesn’t have the interprovincial, English-French dichotomy that Ottawa has with Gatineau next door. In this respect, Ottawa bears a striking similarity to Brussels, Belgium.
I find also that in its situation as a capital that is not the country’s largest city, but that strives to be more than just the seat of government, Ottawa also has similarities with The Hague in the Netherlands.

Good comparisons, but these were suppose to comparisons to European cities.

[Robynator]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Good comparisons, but these were suppose to comparisons to European cities.

Yes, but let's bend the rules...

[green_mariner]

I don't know.

I can always open a thread comparing Canadian cities with foreign cities.

[Cornerguy1]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

I don't know.

I can always open a thread comparing Canadian cities with foreign cities.

Stick with what you have.