Specialization in services: a Canadian example

Povzetek

In modern urban systems the economic growth of cities is largely driven by services. In many regions employment growth in primary and secondary activities is close to zero, or even negative. Growth depends on the ability to attract jobs in the services. This study explores the pattern of specialization in various service activities for 159 Canadian urban areas in 1996, as the basis for a series of maps for the Atlas of Canada. The hierarchical specialization is evaluated for each service sector by computing a regression model of ser-vice employment as a function of urban population and income per capita. The rapidly growing business and financial services are the most strongly oriented to larger cities. The horizontal specialization is measured as residuals from the regressions. Strong regional differences contrast the central place roles of agricultural communities with the more loca-lized markets of resource and manufacturing centres. Public sector decisions about the loca-tion of major health and education facilities complement the choices of the private sector.