[someone123]

I think part of what's going on is that what we think of as "city" stuff is very specific and a tiny portion of what most North American metropolitan areas offer. When there are a bunch of million-plus areas that are 98% suburban it's not hard for a 500,000 person area to match that 2%. In Halifax the geography also encourages certain areas to develop more.

There are some bigger-city-feeling changes I've noticed in Halifax:

- Higher land/space costs and buildings and businesses get packed in more tightly in the urban core.
- New building quality is better and designs are more urban.
- Enough holes have filled in that there are now areas of many blocks to walk around in with ~0 major holes. To me, gaps like the parking lots just south of Spring Garden Road used to make the city feel small. In the best urban areas you can walk in any direction and find interesting stuff.
- There are more random highrises scattered around the metro and they are more impressive looking.
- More immigration and more of a mix of people/businesses from a wider range of places.