Tag: Alberta

  • Cross-Province Municipalities

    Usually towns that rest upon a border are distinct entities. They may have the appearance of a single contiguous municipality but often that’s deceiving. Two separate local governments actually administer the two separate portions. Kansas City along the Missouri/Kansas border comes to mind: one metropolitan area; same name; different municipal governments. However there are two…

  • Smallest Largest Provincial Island in Canada

    You read that right. Perhaps I can rephrase it better: Each Canadian Province or Territory has a largest island. When considering that list, which one is the smallest? Today’s totally trivial topic comes courtesy of the confluence of many competing thoughts that pinged around my mind lately: I’m “-est” fixated (you know, things ending in…

  • New Urbanism Viewed through Maps

    An urban design movement began to coalesce in the early 1980’s as a counterbalance to what planners and architects viewed as the sprawl of modern suburbs arising from the postwar environment. Practitioners called it “New Urbanism“. Organizations such as the Congress for the New Urbanism began to promote its hallmarks. Some of the features typical…

  • Canada Draining to the Gulf of Mexico

    Several distinct continental divides cross through Canada. Water flows eventually to one of five different bodies of water depending on its point of origination. Huge portions of Canadian territory rest within watersheds draining to the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, and Hudson Bay. However one small corner of Alberta and Saskatchewan drains to the Gulf…