Quote:
Originally Posted by Chadillaccc
I just did a calculation of the theoretical metropolitan population of both Red Deer and Lethbridge.
Included in the Red Deer area are:
(populations are approximate)
The City of Red Deer: 97 000
The City of Lacombe: 13 000 (25 km from Red Deer City Hall)
The City of Sylvan Lake: 13 000 (25 km from Red Deer)
The Town of Innisfail: 8 000 (31 km from Red Deer)
The Town of Blackfalds: 8 000 (14 km from Red Deer)
The Town of Penhold: 2 500 (16 km from Red Deer)
The Town of Eckville: 1 200 (45 km from Red Deer)
Total population: 142 000
This number does not include the thousands of rural people in the region, and the thousands of people living in suburbs located just outside of the border of Red Deer city limits.
Included in the Lethbridge area are:
(populations are approximate)
The City of Lethbridge: 91 000
The Town of Coaldale: 8 000 (18 km from Lethbridge City Hall)
The Town of Fort Macleod: 3 200 (49 km from Lethbridge)
The Town of Magrath: 2 400 (37 km from Lethbridge)
The Town of Coalhurst: 2 300 (11 km from Lethbridge)
The Town of Picture Butte: 1 700 (29 km from Lethbridge)
The Village of Stirling: 1 100 (35 km from Lethbridge)
The Village of Nobleford: 1 000 (34 km from Lethbridge)
The Hamlet of Diamond City: 200 (16 km from Lethbridge)
Total population: 111 000
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Having lived in the Lethbridge area in the past, never would anyone in Fort Macleod or Picture Butte or Magrath or Nobleford or Stirling or Coalhurst would consider themselves a metropolitan part of Lethbridge. Even Coaldale would be stretching it - that 6 miles of farmland between Coaldale and Lethbridge is going to take 50 years if not more to fill up with development.
So Lethbridge is 91,000 for all purposes - it's not a metropolitan area by any means and won't be for a long time. Same goes for Red Deer and even for Calgary where I would only consider Chestermere and Airdrie to maybe pe a part of Calgary's metropolitan area. Okotoks and Cochrane are still too far out. Edmonton, on the other hand, has a considerable metropolitan area what with many smaller cities/towns right on it's borders - something that Calgary doesn't have with possibly the exception of Chestermere. Even Airdrie's developed area is 6-7 miles from the nearest developed areas of Calgary.
Never the less, too many people get too hung up on metropolitan populations when it comes to many Canadian cities when there's only a few that probably should qualify as true metropolitan areas.