ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION AND GROUP STABILITY IN AN URBAN SYSTEM - THECASE OF CANADA, 1951-86

Researchers have shown relatively little recent interest in the study of the economic diversification and classification of urban systems. I f we are to understand contemporary urban structures, older studies mu st be brought up to date. This study of the economic character of town s greater than 30 000 in Canada demonstrates the degree of diversifica tion of the centres between 1951 and 1986 and provides a succinct clas sification of the centres. The expected decrease in the general level of diversification between the two dates is complemented by the findin g that differences in this single summary measure between the regions of Canada can no longer be found. Cluster analysis procedures are used to derive seven groups of places in 1986, which are very similar to t he categories found in 1951, even though there has been a transformati on in the size and economy of the places. This relative stability in t he categories of places is parallelled by similarities in the membersh ip of the groups. However, at the most fundamental level the urban sys tem can be still be separated into service as opposed to production ce ntres, a rather surprising dichotomy in view of the changes in urban e conomies.