Urbanization in Canada

Over the past 150 years, the ratio of Canadians living in urban areas vs. rural areas has reversed itself:

Why has this happened? a) Push Factors: Mechanization of farms, forestry, mining, etc. meant fewer jobs available in rural areas. b) Pull Factors: Jobs & wealth are increasingly concentrated in the cities New immigrants are generally professionals and want to live in cities

What is the result? Canada's population is very unevenly spread out across our landscape:

Canada's settlement pattern has been described as an "archipelago" (a series of islands strung out in a row) Over 90% of Canadians live within a 6 hour drive of the United States Almost 90% of Canada is essentially empty of human settlement (less than 0.4 people / km2)

Population Density = Population ÷ Area A mathematical measure of the number of people living in each square kilometre of land. Essentially a measure of "how crowded" a place is. - It tells us nothing about where people live. Population Density = Population ÷ Area

Canada’s Population Density Brampton’s Population Density 33,099,000 people ÷ 9, 992,000 km2 = 3.3 people / km2 Brampton’s Population Density 420 000 people ÷ 266.53 km2 = 1575 people / km2

Population Distribution: Describes the pattern of where people live in a region or country. Environmental and human factors can affect the distribution (i.e. water bodies, hills, railways, resource deposits, etc.).

Population distribution can be drastically different, even though population density is the same: ☻ ☻ ☻☻☻☻ ☻☻ 1 km 1 km 1 km 1 km 1 km 1 km Each of these areas has a population density of 4 people / km2, but, their population distribution is different.

Population Settlement Patterns: 1. Scattered People / Settlements randomly scattered over landscape Equal distribution of all resources (water, land, minerals, etc.) ☻ ☻

People / settlements line up in row(s) on landscape 2. Linear People / settlements line up in row(s) on landscape Lines follow natural (shoreline, river) or human (railway, international border) feature ☻☻☻☻

3. Clustered People / settlements gathered together in small area(s) Clusters exist where resources or wealth is concentrated (gold mine, jobs, water) ☻☻