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Which, US city do you feel has an urban scale that's most similar to that of Montreal? I would have to go with Philadelphia. The populations (within the city limits) are fairly similar. The CBDs seem similarly-sized and both seem to have the same level of urban contiguity between their respective CBDs and surrounding neighborhoods. I think Philadelphia has more office space in its core and Montreal has more retail. Also, Montreal has a bit more foot traffic in its core; all that aside, the two seem comparable in urban scale.
It is a bit closer to Boston in terms of metro size, although I don't think the Philly comparison is crazy either. It definitely felt more like an east coast city than anywhere else in the US when I visited
When I visited Montreal and actually explored the city, DC came to mind frequently. Think areas of DC like Adams Morgan, or maybe Dupont Circle. A good case could be made for Philly or Boston, too.
If you consider Boston's core to be made up of Boston proper/Cambridge/Somerville/Brookline then definitely Boston. Basically all my friends in Montreal and the Montreal folks who have relocated to Boston basically say these two are sister cities in many ways.
Philly definitely is a close second, Brooklyn also comes to mind.
The Montreal metro is 3.8 million, placing it just above San Diego, Minneapolis, and Seattle, and just below Detroit and Phoenix.
Montreal's urban population density is 5.7K per square mile, which is higher than San Diego, Detroit, and Phoenix, but lower than Minneapolis and Seattle.
Given geographic similarities, I'll say that Montreal is most similar to Minneapolis in terms of its urban scale alone. However, comparing other factors, Montreal has more in common with Boston and Philadelphia than in does with Minneapolis.
If you consider Boston's core to be made up of Boston proper/Cambridge/Somerville/Brookline then definitely Boston.
When referring to the urban scale in the OP, I'd originally intended to just compare the sections of the city where walking and taking public transit reign supreme; so in Montreal this would be virtually all of Ville-Marie, le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Cotes-des-neiges, Outremont. In Philly, I was guessing it'd include Center City, half of West Philly (including UCity), lower North and lower Northeast Philly (Northern Liberties,Brewerytown), and about half of South Philly. In Boston, it would include Downtown,Back Bay,South End, Fenway-Kenmore, parts of Allston/Brighton; also Cambridge around Harvard/Central squares and Somerville around Davis Square can be included.
I do think that Montreal's pedestrian/transit-dominant zone is quite a bit larger than Boston's. I'd be curious to see the population in Boston/Cambridge living above 30k/sq mile vs Montreal.
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