Canadian Counterparts of American Cities? (better, comparison, bigger, population)

[Acajack]

I think there is a big difference between the actual appearance and feel of a city, and the role it plays within the country.

Calgary is most like Denver on the first front (setting, appearance, etc.), but in the role that it plays on a national level it is more like Houston or Dallas.

And there are some cities for which there is no equivalent in the other country. For example, perhaps on an aesthetic level Montreal is somewhat similar to some northeastern U.S. cities like Boston and Philadelphia, but the role Montreal plays as a city in Canada does not really exist in the U.S. for any city.

[SouthmoreAve]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think there is a big difference between the actual appearance and feel of a city, and the role it plays within the country.

Calgary is most like Denver on the first front (setting, appearance, etc.), but in the role that it plays on a national level it is more like Houston or Dallas.

And there are some cities for which there is no equivalent in the other country. For example, perhaps on an aesthetic level Montreal is somewhat similar to some northeastern U.S. cities like Boston and Philadelphia, but the role Montreal plays as a city in Canada does not really exist in the U.S. for any city.

Spot on.

[MplsTodd]

A few more possibilities:

Victoria = Portland, ME (port cities with attractive downtowns)
Calgary = Denver (possibly Mpls) (for Denver:Energy oriented economies, boom-bust tendency, proximity to Rocky Mtns); (for Mpls: Dense downtowns with skyways (+ 15's), lots of corporate HQ's, clean cities)
Winnipeg = Omaha (this may be a reach)
Kingston = Annapolis, MD (historic towns w attractive settings)
Quebec = Charleston, SC (obviously Charleston is on a smaller scale)
London = Grand Rapids or Des Moines?

[ThroatGuzzler]

Victoria - Portland OR
Vancouver - Seattle
Halifax - Providence
Montreal - Boston
Winnipeg - Minneapolis
Calgary - Denver
Toronto - Chicago

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think there is a big difference between the actual appearance and feel of a city, and the role it plays within the country.

Calgary is most like Denver on the first front (setting, appearance, etc.), but in the role that it plays on a national level it is more like Houston or Dallas.

And there are some cities for which there is no equivalent in the other country. For example, perhaps on an aesthetic level Montreal is somewhat similar to some northeastern U.S. cities like Boston and Philadelphia, but the role Montreal plays as a city in Canada does not really exist in the U.S. for any city.

Great comments as usual. I was mostly going with the OP's question "Which Canadian cities are similar to these, in terms of architecture, crime, culture, urban decay, etc.?", which seemed to be about appearance/feel.

On that front I must say, I can't think of any similarities between NYC and Toronto.

[lndigo]

Vancouver = Seattle
Edmonton = Austin
Calgary = Denver
Saskatoon = Madison
Winnipeg = Worcester
Thunder Bay = Duluth
Toronto = Chicago
Ottawa = Harrisburg
Montreal = San Juan
Halifax = Portland, ME

[NatashaH]

Montreal = San Juan, what?

[justme02]

In terms of how they play out in the same role nationally, its hard to compare just one American city to a Canadian one because there are so many more American cities. So Im going to take a different approach and compare one canadian city to several American ones:

Toronto: New York
Montreal: DC, Chicago, Los Angeles
Vancouver: San Francisco, Boston, Philly
Calgary: Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Detroit
Edmonton: Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Seattle
Winnepeg: Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Charlotte
Regina: Salt Lake City, Tucson, St. Louis

As for which cities are most similar:

Toronto: Chicago
Montreal: Boston
Vancouver: San Francisco
Calgary: Denver
Edmonton: Phoenix or maybe Salt Lake City
Winnepeg: St. Paul

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by lndigo

Vancouver = Seattle
Edmonton = Austin
Calgary = Denver
Saskatoon = Madison
Winnipeg = Worcester
Thunder Bay = Duluth
Toronto = Chicago
Ottawa = Harrisburg
Montreal = San Juan
Halifax = Portland, ME

Edmonton and Austin, really? I lived in Edmonton for 4 years and it seemed far more conservative than Austin for the most part--although maybe based on the outside appearance(and both are state/provincial capitals and river cities) there might be a few similarities.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by NatashaH

Montreal = San Juan, what?

Different predominant language spoken from the rest of the country, I guess...