Growing Metropolitan Areas Research Articles

Occupation and Job Location Patterns: an Analysis of the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area

SUMMARY The main findings of this analysis of the job location patterns by occupational groups in the Toronto CMA are as follows: 1 The geographical distribution ofjobs of the different occupational groups varied considerably in the Toronto CMA, the principal pattern being relative centralization of white-collar jobs and relative decentralization of blue-collar jobs. Skilled clerical-sales-services workers faced the greatest degree ofjob concentration in the cbd. 2 The jobs of similar occupational groups by collar type were located near one another, so that relatively homogeneous work areas were created. These conclusions, of course, apply specifically to the Toronto CMA in 197 1. But, although the urban structure of the Toronto CMA will have changed to some extent since 1971, the process of structural change is a fairly slow one, even in rapidly growing metropolitan areas. We suggest, therefore, that our findings should be relevant to the Toronto CMA of today.

The Challenge of Implementing Federally Assisted New Communities

the rights of the citizens who are residents and/or property owners in these new communities. The issue is primarily ideological. Every citizen has a right to participate in the governance of his community. The developer, however, is not responsible in a political sense to the people who are or have been consumers of his products and services. His rights to control and profit from his property may well conflict with the vision or aspirations which his consumers have for the community they jointly inhabit. The developer controls most of the levers. He can resist incorporation of his property should the residents decide to incorporate as a village or municipality. He can offer or withhold financial support for a fledgling village government. He can overwhelm the laymen with the expertise of his planning staff. He can wield more influence with other governmental entities by virtue of better contacts, greater sophistication, and economic power. The state's policy should be to seek a balance. The developer's property rights must be respected and the useful purposes he may be serving should be supported. The consumer/residents' property rights are equally important. Their rights as citizens to the joys and sorrows of self-government should be forthcoming as quickly as possible. The extant situation is that the legal tools and authority for conferring these rights upon the residents are inadequate to the task. Many would argue that the state must become directly involved in land-use planning and management in order to protect its interests in the growing metropolitan area. The underlying assumptions for this argument are that the state has greater competence, is less vulnerable to local political pressures, and can meet the large developers on more equal terms. In my opinion, none of these assumptions is fully valid. A much sounder basis for state participation would be in setting policies which establish the conditions under which state capital investments will be made.

Metropolitan migration efficiency

Abstract The migration efficiency ratio of an area is defined as the net migration of the area (in-migrants minus out-migrants) divided by the total number of moves whose origin or destination is that area (in-migrants plus out-migrants) multiplied by 100. This paper investigates variations in migration efficiency from 1955 to 1960 among Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas with populations of 250,000 or more. Regional variation in migration efficiency was evident, ranging from an average of −9.7 in the Northeast to 19.6 for SMSA’s in the Western region. Nonwhites tended to have higher migration efficiency than whites. Rapidly growing metropolitan areas had higher migration efficiency ratios than areas growing at a lower rate or losing population. The educational level of a metropolitan area, as measured by the percent of the population 25 years old or over with at least a high school education, was positively related to migration efficiency. The composition of the migrant population, both in- and outmigrants for a given area, was related to the value of the migration efficiency ratio. If the migrant population contained a large proportion of persons aged 20–34, migration efficiency was low, regardless of the direction of the major migration stream. Region was found to have a major effect. Variables that had a strong and positive relationship with migration efficiency in one region were usually found to have no relation, or a negative relation, with it in other areas. Obviously, further research is needed for the identification of factors producing these strong regional effects.

The Diverging Paths of American Urban History

increased interest in urban themes. As succeeding census reports show growing metropolitan areas and as urban problems attract America's attention, the city looms larger and larger. Historians share in the increased awareness of the city; in the years since 1945 the number of urban histories has increased and the number of historians specializing in urban history has grown commensurately.1 The trend at the present seems irreversible; more not less effort will be devoted to the history of the American city. However, urban historians have not yet agreed upon an all embracing theory, one that would provide an organizing principle upon which the history of the city could be based. Several approaches have been suggested; each approach has had its disciples. No single theory has gained the universal approbation of urban historians. Each is based upon different assumptions and value systems; each has its drawbacks and its virtues. The purpose of this essay is to explore the paths that are now most heavily used by scholars of the city. Part of the dilemma of the urban historian is the dilemma of the recent historian, whether to remain a humanist or become a social scientist, whether to turn to aesthethics or to sociology. More specifically, the problem of the urban historian begins with the subject to be studied. Is the historian to study the city or urban civilization?2 Is urban history to attempt the formulation of a general law of urbanization, or is it to essay a comparative study of persisting institutions? Is the city itself the source