City Analogues

[Harrison]

I'd say Calgary is analogous to Denver, mainly due to geography. However, one could also say both of their international airports are nationally-significant.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by someone123

But their carefully preserved red brick downtowns and heavily gentrified low density heritage residential districts don't remind me of Halifax much at all. And New England cities don't have analogs to Halifax's suburban highrise residential buildings. These days it seems Halifax is sort of dumpier looking than most of the New England cities but more flexible and vibrant.

That's true, but I think being messier/shabbier, but also more flexible and in some ways more interesting, is a Canadian characteristic overall (see Chicago v. Toronto, for example). Same with the suburban high-rises, which obviously are at their zenith in Etobicoke/Scarborough, but are really all over the country.

It reminds me of discussions on decadence and dynamism; I think Portland and Boston have slipped into decadence territory.

Boston for sure. Incredibly impressive city from an urban and aesthetic perspective, but strangely listless and boring in a lot of respects.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by savevp

Woolongong NSW is like Hamilton as a steel town with changing economics, and in terms of its relationship to Sydney/Toronto.
.

Geelong in Victoria also might fit for Hamilton. It's about 75 km from a much larger city (Melbourne), but isn't really a suburb of it. It's industrial and blue collar with some steel industry I think but it's mostly known for the automobile sector.

Like Hamilton it's also home to a legacy football team (Aussie rules in their case) that's an important part of the character of the city.

[SignalHillHiker]

Australia is great for comparisons. Hobart for St. John’s and Perth for Vancouver and Canberra for Ottawa all make some sense.

Isolated island city, not particularly special in any way but removed enough from the rest of the country to maintain its own identity.

Isolated west coast city, one of the country’s largest, with minimal connections to the other primary cities in the opposite side of a continent.

A compromise capital between the two historical settlement regions.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Like Hamilton it's also home to a legacy football team (Aussie rules in their case) that's an important part of the character of the city.

Good point about the football, I actually became something of a casual Cats fan myself after travelling to Australia some years ago. I didn't feel the same prideful blue collar vibe in Geelong as in Hamilton or Woolongong, though it may well be there. Geographically, Geelong is at the west end of a large bay and west of the larger city, like Hamilton is.

As for Perth/Vancouver, I didn't really see those as analogous despite the West coast connections. Perth is sprawling, even compared to the already-sprawly Australian standard, which is generally worse than in Canada. And Perth doesn't really have the luxury, foreign money aspect of Vancouver, nor the mountain identity.

I can't really think of a Canadian analogue to Perth based on my own brief experience there. It's defined by heat, sprawl, and the coastal setting, as well as by isolation and perhaps it's nearby wine country and resource-rich hinterlands. It does have a massive and developed harbour with some nice residential alongside, and the new stadium in the one corner. It's sort of like False Creek with BC Place and the Olympic Village.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Australia is great for comparisons. Hobart for St. John’s and Perth for Vancouver and Canberra for Ottawa all make some sense.

Isolated island city, not particularly special in any way but removed enough from the rest of the country to maintain its own identity.

Isolated west coast city, one of the country’s largest, with minimal connections to the other primary cities in the opposite side of a continent.

A compromise capital between the two historically settlement regions.

Canberra makes sense for Ottawa in some ways as you mention, but in terms of the general feel of the city Adelaide is probably the place in the world I've been to that most felt like Ottawa.

It's about the same size (Canberra is much smaller), plus like Ottawa it's a traditional style city with industries and such. Canberra is a purpose-built government town.

Adelaide being the state capital has some stately government buildings like Ottawa. It was the focus of a city master plan at one point but like Ottawa most of those elements were not fully followed and largely abandoned since that time.

It's got lots of greenery, with an outdoorsy white collar vibe but still has a more subtle blue collar industrial vibe too.

Like Ottawa it has a downtown pedestrian mall (or at least it did) and as a bonus it even has a decently expansive bus rapid transit system!

It has a meh skyline for a city of its size, and going off in a couple of directions is kind of civilization's last stand before an archipelago of small towns quickly gives way to wild, largely unpopulated areas. Whereas if you go in another direction it is connected to the country's continuously settled most populated region.

It has a large hilly wilderness and recreation area just outside the city similar to Gatineau Park and Gatineau Hills, which is peppered with small exurban settlements or cute alpine style towns. Hahndorf is basically Adelaide's Wakefield, QC.

IMO Adelaide wins this hands down, though in terms of "feel" Oslo and Helsinki are also similar to Ottawa, though perhaps a step up in terms of sophistication. Neither of them really look much like Ottawa, however.

[MonctonRad]

My reasons why I think Boston is a better analogue for Halifax than Portland:

- Both cities have city commons
- Both cities have public gardens
- Both cities are regional "capitals" (New England vs Maritimes)
- Both cities have multiple high quality institutions of higher education.
- Both cities have a long complex historical relationship.

[ue]

Originally Posted by esquire

I'd agree with that.

Winnipeg is similar in feel to Regina and Edmonton, maybe less so Saskatoon. But that's not a controversial take as cities in the same region tend to have a lot in common.

I can't say I've visited any cities abroad that feel just like Winnipeg. I've been to cities with certain elements that make you fee like you're in Winnipeg, but not really the whole city or even downtown area. I haven't spent too much time in the midwestern US states but I suppose places like Omaha or Des Moines might fit the bill.

Interestingly, I’d say that while Edmonton and Winnipeg are analogous, Winnipeg is more similar to Regina while Edmonton is more similar to Saskatoon. Calgary is the true outlier on the Prairies, and its analogue is probably best seen as Denver or Perth. Winnipeg or Edmonton could be Adelaide, I suppose (but so could Ottawa).

[kool maudit]

Yeah, Boston is big Halifax for sure. Southie looks like the North End, scaled up.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I can see Pitsburgh, as Molson says, but that is also one of the only analogues I can think of for Toronto in a strictly vernacular architecture sense (obviously the scale, setting and landscapes are totally different). Streets like this just subtly hint 'Toronto' to me.

Came here to say this after seeing Molson's initial post. The topography is obviously VERY different, but there's something about Pittsburgh's messy urbanism that felt a bit Toronto when I visited. Much moreseo then I get when I'm in Chicago tbh.

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Canberra makes sense for Ottawa in some ways as you mention, but in terms of the general feel of the city Adelaide is probably the place in the world I've been to that most felt like Ottawa.
...

Having lived in Ottawa and Canberra and spent a fair bit of time in Adelaide, I fully concur on the Ottawa-Adelaide analogy. Other than being capitals and Dows Lake being a smaller version of "Hurley-Burley" there is really little in common between the two.

IMHO in aspects like built form, topography, culturally, economy, etc there is nothing in common.

[shreddog]

Further to the Calgary-Denver analogue
Calgary - Harvey Passage
SOURCE
Denver -Confluence Park
SOURCE

FWIW if you took the Calgary picture from the east side of the island, the DT would look very similar to the Denver angle.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Having lived in Ottawa and Canberra and spent a fair bit of time in Adelaide, I fully concur on the Ottawa-Adelaide analogy. Other than being capitals and Dows Lake being a smaller version of "Hurley-Burley" there is really little in common between the two.

IMHO in aspects like built form, topography, culturally, economy, etc there is nothing in common.

Here is Adelaide's equivalent to the Sparks Street Mall, Rundle Mall!

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/34%...!4d138.6037737

[shreddog]

And they both have parking garages tucked in behind historical bldgs in their respective "Markets"!
Ottawa
Adelaide

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by shreddog

And they both have parking garages tucked in behind historical bldgs in their respective "Markets"!
Ottawa
Adelaide

Bless their hearts!

[Acajack]

Even freakier when it comes to Australia and Canada, all AFAIK of the major Australian cities have downtown enclosed shopping malls anchored by large national department store chains, either Myer or David Jones.

In several cities, the mall is even known as the Myer Centre. Shades of the Eaton Centres that existed back in the day in Canada. (Ottawa's Rideau Centre actually was an Eaton Centre without the name. At one point they wanted to rename it the Rideau-Eaton Centre, but the idea was scrapped.)

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Even freakier when it comes to Australia and Canada...

Alas, one major divide that is never to be reconciled is that I have yet to find anyone in Canada who serves a "coat of arms" pizza

(I was always partial to the one served at the Lord Nelson in Sydney, since the bldg is quite cool)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Alas, one major divide that is never to be reconciled is that I have yet to find anyone in Canada who serves a "coat of arms" pizza

(I was always partial to the one served at the Lord Nelson in Sydney, since the bldg is quite cool)

LOL!

If we were to do one for us... I suppose we could find lion meat. Though unicorn meat would be a bit more of a challenge!

[lio45]

Quebec City doesn't have many analogues on this continent, but there's one city that does have a well preserved old town with narrow streets and an almost "museum" feel. Compare:

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.8128...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7767...7i16384!8i8192

[JHikka]

Hong Kong and Vancouver seem pretty analogous.

Recently I heard a feng shui saying about Hong Kong which outlined that facing the sea means opportunity and your back facing the mountains means support.

In one place, the mountains halt before a tongue of flat land, then dive below the sea, to emerge again as an island, an island the local fung shui men say is a dragon, turned to face its distant ancestor. Here, say the fung shui men, the mix of mountains, plain and sea forms a dragon's lair; a place where the earth's benevolent forces can concentrate. This place is Hong Kong.
http://www.drmartinwilliams.com/fungshui/fungshui.html

I think most will note the geographic similarities between HK and Vancouver and also note the prevalent Cantonese population in the latter. Vancouver, as they say, has good feng shui.

In HK they also do a lot of neat feng shui with their architecture, including buildings with gaping holes in the middle so that spirits of dragons may pass through, and buildings with tall, wide atriums so that qi (wind) may be free to move.