Title The myth of the North American city : continentalism challenged / Michael A. Goldberg and John Mercer

Published Vancouver [B.C.] : University of British Columbia Press, 1986

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Description 1 online resource (xx, 308 pages) Series desLibris. Books collection Contents On Comparing American and Canadian Cities -- Values and Culture: A Context for Comparing American and Canadian Cities -- Social and Demographic Structures in Canada and the Unites States -- Economic Organization and Economic Institutions in Canada and the United States: The Fuel for Urban Growth and Change -- Political Structure, Culture and Institutions in Canada and the United States -- Urban Form and Institutions in Canada and the United States -- Urban Form and Social Characteristics -- Urban Local Government: Structure and Finance -- A Multivariate Approach to Metropolitan Differences -- Making Plain the Difference Summary The continuing tendency to "continentalize" Canadian issues has been particularly marked in the area of urban studies where United States-based research findings, methodologies, and attitudes have held sway. In this book, Goldberg and Mercer demonstrate that the label "North American City" as widely used is inappropriate and misleading in discussion of the distinctive Canadian urban environment. Examining such elements of the cultural context as mass values, social and demographic structures, the economy, and political institutions, they reveal salient differences between Canada and the United States. One of the most important of the many contextual differences is the strong collective sense in Canada which accepts more public intervention in social and economic matters in contrast to the American commitment to individualism. Canadians, consequently, expect a livable central city which is compact and well-served by public transit and which has a fiscally sound local government. To demonstrate these issues, the discussion includes a detailed cross-national empirical analysis of over 300 North American metropolitan areas along some three dozen dimensions, including density, transportation, household change and structure, income and fiscal disparities, and economic structure. Since much urban planning in Canada is based upon the continentalist assumption, this volume should generate a reassessment of policy and encourage the development of a research base to suit the distinctiveness of the Canadian experience. With growing pressures to take a North American view of Canadian policies it is vitally important that the differences delineated in this book are understood, not just for their urban policy implications but for broader purposes as well Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-298) and indexes Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL Print version record digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Subject Cities and towns -- Canada Cities and towns -- United States National characteristics, Canadian. National characteristics, American. Urban policy -- Canada Urban policy -- United States Canadians. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Sociology -- Urban. Urban policy Canadians Cities and towns National characteristics, American National characteristics, Canadian Stadt Stadtentwicklung Canada United States Nordamerika Kanada USA Form Electronic book Author Mercer, John, 1942- ISBN 0774802383 9780774802383 077485703X 9780774857031

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