Edmonton, Alberta

:Edmonton redirects here. For other cities with the name Edmonton, see Edmonton (disambiguation)

Geography and location

Edmonton is located at ({{coor dm|53|34|N|113|30|W|region:CA_type:city(707271)}}, near the geographical centre of the province at an elevation of 668 m, or 2192 feet. At 670 km², Edmonton is one of the largest cities in North America, by area — larger in area than Chicago, Illinois, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Detroit, Michigan. However, Edmonton also has the one of the lowest population densities in North America — about 67 times less than New York.

Related Topics:
Chicago, Illinois - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Detroit, Michigan - Population densities - New York

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The city is bisected by the North Saskatchewan River, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Banff National Park and empties into Hudson's Bay. It runs SW to NE through the city and is fed by numerous creeks throughout the city such as Mill Creek and Whitemud Creek. This creates numerous ravines adding to the urban park. Edmonton is situated at the boundary between prairie to the south and boreal forest to the north, in a transitional area known as aspen parkland.

Related Topics:
North Saskatchewan River - Columbia Icefield - Banff National Park - Hudson's Bay - Prairie - Boreal forest - Aspen parkland

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Edmonton's river valley constitutes the longest stretch of connected urban parkland in North America, and Edmonton has the highest per capita amount of parkland of any Canadian city. The public river valley parks provides a unique urban escape area with park styles ranging from full fledged urban parks to campsite-like roasting pits. This main 'Ribbon of Green' is supplemented by numerous parks located throughout the city, to give a grand total of 111 km 2 of parkland. Most of the city has excellent bike and walking trail connections.http://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_286_221_0_43/http%3B/CMSServer/COEWeb/roads+and+traffic/cycling+in+the+city/Cycle+Edmonton+Map.htm Edmonton's streets and parklands are also home to one of the largest remaining concentrations of healthy American Elm trees in the world unaffected by Dutch Elm Disease (this disease has wiped out vast numbers of such trees in eastern North America).

Related Topics:
North America - Dutch Elm Disease

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Several golf courses, both public and private, are also located in the river valley. The long summer daylight hours of this northern city provide for extended play well into the evening. Golf courses and the park system become a winter recreation area during this season. Cross country skiing and skating is popular during the long winter. Four downhill ski slopes are located in the river valley as well, two within the city and two immediately outside.

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Neighbourhoods

Edmonton has numerous distinct neighbourhoods.

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The downtown core, which has seen massive redevelopment since the 1997 Capital City Downtown Plan was introducedhttp://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_653261_0_0_18/Welcome+to+the+Capital+City+Downtown+Plan+Update+Project.htm, is home to the Central Business District (CBD) as well as over 12,000 residents http://www.edmonton.com/portal.asp?page=1&highlightid=630. Downtown proper consists of the Commercial Core, Arts District, Rice Howard Way Pedestrian Mall, MacKay Avenue, Jasper West, Warehouse District, and Government Precinct. To the west of Downtown are the areas of Grandin and Oliver which comprise the overall highest density area in all of Alberta.

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Radiating from the core are numerous inner city neighbourhoods such as Glenora, Westmount, Queen Mary Park, Central McDougall, McCauley, and Boyle Street on the north side of the river while Windsor Park, Garneau, Strathcona, Bonnie Doon, and Strathern line the south side of the river. Several communities survived attempts by the municipal governments of the 70s to rid the valley proper of all residents: these are Riverdale, Rossdale, Walterdale and Cloverdale.

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As with any city of its size, the inner communities give way to a collection of suburbs, generally classified as being outside the inner ring road and in extreme cases, outside of Anthony Henday Drive. The most well known of these is Mill Woods, which is home to approximately 85,000 residents. (If Mill Woods were a separate municipality, it would be Alberta's third largest city after Calgary and Edmonton.) Several new neighbourhoods are currently in formative stages in the South and Southwest, such as MacEwan, Terwillegar, and Rutherford.

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Several Transit Oriented Developments (TOD) have begun to appear along the LRT line at Clareview with future developments planned at Belvedere (part of the Old Town Fort Road redevelopment projecthttp://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_284_220_0_43/http%3B/CMSServer/COEWeb/infrastructure+planning+and+building/current+and+future+projects/Old+Town+Fort+Road+Redevelopment.htm). Another TOD called Century Park http://www.centurypark.ca/ is already under construction at the site of what was once Heritage Mall (now demolished) at the southern end of the future South LRT line. Century Park will eventually house up to 5,000 residents.

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An overview of neighbourhoods can be found at the City of Edmonton's map website http://maps.edmonton.ca or at the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues' website http://www.efcl.ca

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