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  #141  
Old Posted Oct 30, 2020, 2:52 AM
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PFloyd PFloyd is offline
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A fundamental fact that is being missed or not acknowledged (or perhaps it's not very well known in this forum about Toronto, but I suspect it is also the same for the other major cities in Canada), is that in addition to the wealthy, the middle class, never left the city centre.

There really wasn't a need nor an existential threat (real or not) to do so, unlike in the US, as previously described.

It certainly was one of the first things I noticed when I visited the city for first time, coming from the US in the mid 90's - how normal, safe and relaxed it felt to be in such urban environment. It wasn't about the super wealthy hanging on to their abodes in the upper east side, so to speak, but regular middle class families being able to live in a safe, diverse and cultural enriching urban environment within walking distance to mass transit, good public schools, parks, restaurants, work, entertainment, etc and nobody even being surprised or conceited about it (in that stereotypical low key Canadian way).

It really felt something more akin to what you would find in European cities, in that respect.
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Last edited by PFloyd; Oct 30, 2020 at 6:18 PM.
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  #142  
Old Posted Oct 30, 2020, 2:44 PM
iheartthed iheartthed is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rsbear View Post
Portland was built out by World War II (or, mid-century, as you say).

The city annexed a large area east of Interstate 205 in the 1980s. The newly annexed land was low-density post-war suburbia with lots of infill opportunities (not fully built-out).
Yeah, I didn't check the annexation history, but I suspected that this happened. Portland had a slight population decline in the 1950s that coincided with the population drops in other major cities of the time, and another larger decline in the 1970s. The city then experienced a big population jump in the 1980s.

So Portland was similar to other cities in that as soon as the land area became thoroughly built out, it went into population decline. And its subsequent growth, pre-21st century, came through annexation. The lack of racial polarization probably made annexation easier, but that only masked the de-densifying of developed areas.
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