Calgary Construction XXVI

[Western Spaghetti]

Unfortunately those formal definitions were probably defined 100 years ago, and don't really apply anymore. Sunnyside or Crescent Heights would easily be described inner city and not inner sprawl - a term used by nobody.

Originally Posted by suburbia

I suspect you're referring to some official City of Calgary map of inner city, but it got me thinking, what exactly is "inner city" and if there is more formal definition.

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_city


Dictionary - https://www.dictionary.com/browse/inner-city


Collins English Dictionary


New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3rd Edition


Dictionary - https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ghettos


Based on all of the above, I think Calgary's actual inner city is much smaller than what many consider. As an example, Crescent Height or Upper Mount Royal are neither slum'ish or high density. In fact, most of the SFH in what till now we've been calling inner city are 1,000sf or less bungalows on 6,000 sf lots. That's not inner city, that's inner sprawl.

So we have the Beltline, which for certain should be included in the "inner city" based on virtually all of the actual definitions, and only a few small areas beyond the core and Beltline. Then we have a band of what we've now coined as inner sprawl. The absolute lowest density parts of the entire city. And then the outer city. If you look at US cities, they don't think of things as suburbs till you're past our Stoney trail, and of course then you have commuter communities way out beyond that.