Demographic Inversions of North American Cities

The New Republic is discussing the demographic inversion of Chicago, and I wonder if the same can be applied to Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.

TNR writes:

In the past three decades, Chicago has undergone changes that are routinely described as gentrification, but are in fact more complicated and more profound than the process that term suggests. A better description would be “demographic inversion.” Chicago is gradually coming to resemble a traditional European city–Vienna or Paris in the nineteenth century, or, for that matter, Paris today. The poor and the newcomers are living on the outskirts. The people who live near the center–some of them black or Hispanic but most of them white–are those who can afford to do so.

I don’t know why this is the case, but my general impression of Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary is that the three cities share a similar layout. You have Chinatown bordering the scuzzy areas just off the east/northeast regions of downtown, and the cities become progressively more affluent as one travels westward. West Van is akin to Jasper West in Edmonton (affluent urbanites), and even Calgary’s downtown west end is full of condos. I suppose Vancouver doesn’t have a comparable northeast region of the city, but Surrey is comparable to northeast Calgary.

I was going through the City of Calgary’s community profiles index, and came across several communities in northeast Calgary that are declining in population (see p. 119 of the civic census - pdf). As can be seen from the graph, many of the increases in population are happening near the city core and south of Calgary, although not concentrated in any one area of Calgary.

Nevertheless, it’s interesting to think that, as energy prices climb higher, the suburbs could become the new ghettoes. Right now, it’s the granola-eating DINK yuppies who have the bucks to spend on things like Net Zero Energy homes in Edmonton’s brickyard, or Calgary’s Ramsey area.

I’m not so sure the racial component of the demogrpahic argument will hold so much in Calgary and Edmonton as much as it does in the US. The racial divide down there is much more in-your-face than we see up here. Arguably, though, city-wide migration patterns may follow income. Mid-to-upper class Boomers will settle closer to downtown in an attempt to downsize, with the ultra-rich people living in their enclaves like Priddis, St. Albert and similar areas.