Paper Sample on Comparing Two Sub-Areas of Metro Vancouver City: An Analysis

Introduction

Vancouver metro city covers the region on the west coast of the British Columbia seaport. It is among the areas in Canada which are highly populated. The area also supports a wide range of ethnic groups. The area is also characterized by a spectacular area with beautiful mountains. Some of the most spectacular events, such as music, theatre, and art, make the region famous. The research compares two sub-areas located within the Metro Vancouver city. The two main areas to be analyzed are based on Vancouver and Burnaby cities. The Cities are located within Vancouver city, a British Columbia province in Canada. This paper aims at determining the most suitable City for human settlement.

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Research Objectives

The key objective of carrying out the research is to establish a comparison in the geographical analysis of Burnaby and Vancouver communities within the Vancouver Metro area. However, the specific objectives to be evaluated include:

1. To carry out Physical geography analysis of Burnaby and Vancouver communities

2. To compare Population characteristic analysis of Burnaby and Vancouver communities

3. To compare communication and transport patterns of Burnaby and Vancouver communities

Research Questions

The study uses several research questions to achieve the stated objectives. The research questions act as a guide throughout the study. The research questions for the study, therefore include:

What are the Physical geography comparison features that can be identified between Burnaby and Vancouver sub-areas?

What is the Population characteristics comparison for Burnaby and Vancouver sub-areas?

How does the communication and transport system compare in Vancouver and Burnaby compare?

Research Methodology

Several research methods were employed to obtain data for analysis and comparison between two sub-areas of Vancouver Metro city. Observation and interview methods were used to collect data for the study. The interview was useful to a certain strategic population to gain insight into the transport and communication methods used between the two communities. Observation, on the other hand, was used when evaluating physical features within the region using a map. Various geographical features were observed directly from the map on both Burnaby and Vancouver communities. The data used for the research encompasses both secondary and primary data. Secondary data was retrieved from the existing information archives, while primary data was collected directly from the field through the use of various defined methods. Information on the data population characteristics was obtained using secondary sources such as national demographic information provided. The information obtained was then analyzed and a comparison made for Vancouver and Burnaby sub-areas.

Results and Analysis

Physical Geography of Burnaby and Vancouver

According to the geographic location, Vancouver is situated within the British Columbia seaport waterfront within Burrard Peninsula western area. Vancouver sub-area is confined by Burrard and English Bay inlet towards the southern region by Fraser River (Affolderbach, Julia, and Christian, 676). Vancouver street layout is shaped by a standard grind. The street extends from street avenues and north to west elongating through east to west direction commonly referenced as 1st, 2nd, 3rd streets. However, King Edward Avenue is used instead of 25th avenue as well as Broadway being used in place of 9th avenue (Robertson, 171).

Vancouver can be located on the globe using 49° 15' 39.14" N, 123° 6' 50.23" W coordinates or GMT -8 time region of the pacific extending across 114 square kilometers in the region. The area climatic conditions are favorable, with a maximum of 21°C during the summer period. However, the temperature may drop to an average of 0.5°C during the winter (Affolderbach, Julia, and Christian, 676). From the Contour interpretation, Vancouver consist of flat and hilly terrain. The North Shore Mountains covering most areas of the City's landscape is situated near the City. Other physical features dominating the region are Vancouver Island and Mount Baker, usually visible certain periods (Sweet et al., 445).

On the other hand, Burnaby is situated within the Vancouver Metro City center. Vancouver region extends a region of 98.6 square kilometers. Burnaby borders Vancouver to the west, and the flowing River Fraser separates the region from Richmond City. However, the area has different physical geography features consisting of valleys, hills, and plains. The highest point is the Burnaby mountains, which rise to 365m above sea level. In certain periods of the day, when the weather is clear, coastal mountains extending on the Burnaby regions can be easily viewed in most regions in the area (Sweet et al., 445). According to Burnaby's geographical City, most of the areas are covered by green parks. There are a lot of green regions in the area. The area has over 160 parks, which distinguishes it from neighboring regions such as Vancouver. Both Vancouver and Burnaby sub-areas have the same climatic conditions with temperatures ranging from 210C during summer and as low as 0.50C during winter. The areas are also characterized by cloudy weather, which obscures most of the region's highest in the area.

Metro Vancouver map and the sub-areas of Vancouver and Burnaby

Population Characteristics of the Two Communities

The current population of Vancouver is estimated to be 2,581,079. Back in the mid-1950s, the city had a total population of 556,369. However, over the years, it has grown by an annual change of 1.16% since, in 2015, the population was estimated to have increased by 144, 112 (Vancouver Population 2020). According to UN World Urbanization Prospects, the population estimates were made in both the urban part of Vancouver together with its adjacent suburban areas.

Currently, Vancouver is the most densely populated city in Canada since each square kilometer represents 5, 249 people. It is also the 4th most populated city in North America (Vancouver Population 2020). The biggest percentage of the total population in metropolitan Vancouver live outside the city. 74 % of these people live outside the city proper. The city has participated in Canada’s overall growth and development by 5.5%.

Estimated population of Vancouver (Vancouver Population 2020).

However, the most recent census took place in 2016. The recorded population was different from the estimations made in 2020. At the time, the city recorded a population of 603,502 people. Through that, it had increased by 4.4% from the one recorded in the 2006 census. The total area of the city is 114.97 kilometers.

The area is convenient to give a population density of 5249.1 individuals in each square kilometer (Robertson, 176). According to the 2016 census, the total population in Vancouver totaled 264,573 people. The total number of households and families were 151, 330 (Sweet et al., 445). The total number of families represented a percentage growth of 3.9% while comparing to the 2009 census. From the research conducted about families living in the city, 68.1% of them were married lawfully. The percentage of single parents was 16.3%, and 15.6% were just common-law couples (Focus on Geography Series, 2018).

Characteristics of Vancouver’s population (Vancouver Population 2020)

The population of Burnaby city is 232, 755, according to the 2016 census. The city is composed up of 90.61 square kilometers (Vancouver Population 2020). According to the 2016 census, its population density was at 6380 persons in each square kilometer. The largest population percentage is made up of the Chinese and the Arabs. Both of these races total to 63.6% (Vancouver Population 2020). The 63.6% is made up of the minority. However, the Chinese take the lion’s share as they total to 34%.

Burnaby’s population characteristics (Vancouver Population 2020).

Transportation and Communication Patterns in Both Cities

The transportation system in Vancouver is diversified since it is made up of both land, water, and air transportation. The dominant are the rapid transit, buses, sea buses, and hand DART. Vancouver is known for having the longest sky train in the world. The streets of Vancouver are well distributed, making a grid network system (Jackson, 298). Due to this, it is simpler to establish various transportation nodes in the city streets, especially green and bikeways. The fact has played a big part in the improvement of Vancouver’s transportation systems. Most residents of the city have developed a tendency to walk to work. As a result, it has led to a decrease in the number of vehicles and entering the city (Jackson, 298).

However, Burnaby enjoys selected connections of roads to specific places. There is only a good connection of roads to the regional district, Metro Vancouver. Its sky train connects to other major cities such as Surrey, Vancouver, and Westminster. Due to this, the total time is taken while traveling from Burnaby to Vancouver totals to about 20 minutes. It is an evergreen extension since it acts as a millennium line, connecting the city to others such as Coquitlam and Port Moody (Jackson, 298). The sky train is efficient since it is fitted with intrusion and tracking alarm systems. It uses moving-block automatic train controls that enable it to adjust in terms of rapid capacity per demand, both peak and off-peak hours. The communication and transport systems within the city are very efficient.

Conclusion

According to this research, the two communities differ in terms of population densities, with Vancouver recording a higher percentage population growth. In both communities, their transportation systems are efficient. However, Vancouver has various transportation systems. Burnaby has a great implementation of environment conservation techniques. It has green parks in its municipality too. Another research carried out in northern Vancouver, which is in Richmond and west of Vancouver, showed that they are the cheapest localities to live in a while in Vancouver. For an individual seeking to dwell in a less crowded and a fresh environment, Burnaby would be the perfect place to settle. On top of that, Burnaby is cheaper to settle in terms of renting costs. However, there should be extensive research on both communities in terms of their cultural and social patterns, settlement patterns, and the main economic sectors within the two communities. Also, other communities such as Surrey, which are in the Metro Vancouver, should be researched. Therefore, further research concerning the two communities should be conducted.

Work Cited

"Vancouver Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs)." 2020 World Population by Country, worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/vancouver-population/.

Affolderbach, Julia, and Christian Schulz. "Positioning Vancouver through urban sustainability strategies? The greenest city 2020 action plan." Journal of cleaner production 164 (2017): 676-685. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652617314038

Jackson, Jeffrey E. ""[M]easuring from the Standard": Barnaby Rudge's Post-Enlightenment Reading Geography." CEA Critic, vol. 79, no. 3, 2017, pp. 298-303.

Robertson, Gregor. "CITY VIEW: Vancouver, Canada." State of the World, 2016, pp. 171-176.

Sweet, Matthias N., Bronson Bullivant, and Pavlos S. Kanaroglou. "Are major canadian city-regions monocentric, polycentric, or dispersed?." Urban Geography 38.3 (2017): 445-471. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02723638.2016.1200279