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Denver seems to get the benefit of the doubt that it is somewhat of a dense, urban city, but I don't think I"ve seen the same good faith extended to Calgary.
Calgary is a much larger city, Denver is a much larger metro.
Calgary appears to have a much more built up downtown.
Calgary's light rail ridership is greater than any system in the United States and over 2X of Denver, while having a much smaller system.
I haven't been to Calgary but it certainly seems more urban than Denver based on street view. Canadian cities across the board are more urban than US size equivalents.
I haven't been to Calgary but it certainly seems more urban than Denver based on street view. Canadian cities across the board are more urban than US size equivalents.
If the only pieces of information I had was a photo of Calgary's skyline and their light rail numbers, I"d assume they'd take it easily. After watching some YT videos of each, I think this actually could go to Denver though I haven't decided yet.
Downtown Denver is the core of metro more than 2X that of Calgary, and is obviously going to trickle down to urban core activity.
Most of Calgary feels like suburban DFW. Don’t let the photos and some speculative condo high rises fool you.
To be fair, Denver isn't any better.
At parity Calgary is definitely the more urban built city, Denver is larger on absolute scale due to having MSA 2x its size with secondary and trinary office districts. Calgary proper 95% of its MSA/UA population so its offerings start and stop in the city.
Most of Calgary feels like suburban DFW. Don’t let the photos and some speculative condo high rises fool you.
I agree, it is Denver. I also agree on the Calgary deal (minus the weather and some other things).
Honestly, the Calgary area looks like one of the most boring places you could hope to be. And city size doesn't mean much of anything compared to metro area size.
Most of Calgary feels like suburban DFW. Don’t let the photos and some speculative condo high rises fool you.
Looking at street view videos of Calgary, it does look surprisingly suburban. Maybe like Austin where you have big impressive buildings, but then you get down at street level and its just not happening.
It's fashionable to favor foreign cities (regardless of merit) in these matters, so I'm guessing that explains the poll results. It would be interesting if someone could articulate the case for Calgary, as it is winning by a wide margin.
Calgary actually is quite vibrant at ground level and not just downtown but in the very high population density areas adjacent to it. Pre-war areas of Calgary are very walkable and enjoy excellent transit and there are constant streets of nothing but restaurants, cafes, and shopping.
Downtown Calgary's population is soaring and the amount of residential construction going on right now in the inner city is a numbing. This is a city that is growing by over 4% a year.................and yes, you read that right. In 20 years it will be the size of Denver. I would say they are probably equal right now but in 20 years Calgary will win hands-down.
Now if you want a truly dead downtown all you have to do is drive 300km north on the freeway to find Edmonton. It's Canada's least urban city by a long shot. They don't call it Deadmonton for nothing.
They look about equal, with the nod to Denver just for being bigger, or Calgary for having better transit.
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