Living on the Edge: Conditions of Marginality in the Canadian Urban System

Abstract

All spatial systems, by definition, have margins or peripheries. Many, but not all, of these peripheries also display particular properties as a result of their isolation—uncertainty, vulnerability and exploitation—in short, conditions of marginality and dependence. This chapter outlines the conditions that typify the peripheries of urban systems during a period of economic restructuring and global integration. It then examines the expressions of these conditions at different spatial scales—continental, national and regional—and critically evaluates their consequences for economic well-being, social inequalities and public policy. Examples drawn from ongoing research on changes in the Canadian urban system are then used to illustrate the multiplicity and complexity of contemporary peripheries and the increasing inadequacies of existing theoretical frameworks to account for the new conditions of marginality. The chapter concludes with a call for a rethinking of the processes underlying these conditions, but set within the context of an increasingly integrated global economy and prevailing neo-conservative ideologies.KeywordsUrban GrowthUrban SystemCity SizeEconomic RestructuringUrban PlaceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.