INTRAMETROPOLITAN EMPLOYMENT DISTRIBUTION IN MONTREAL, 1981-1996

Abstract

A major theme in the recent urban literature concerns the intrametropolitan distribution of economic activities. In North American metropolitan areas, the most recent phase of post-World War II employment decentralization has involved high-order services and has culminated in the creation of “suburban downtowns” or “edge cities” that often are direct competitors to the central business district (CBD). In this paper, we examine (1) the extent to which Montreal has undergone a decentralization of employment over the period 1981-1996 and (2) whether the observed decentralization involves a reconcentration in a limited number of employment poles (polycentricity) or a more generalized dispersion (scatteration). Our analysis is based upon place-of-work employment data at the census tract level (n = 613) for total employment, service employment, business services, consumer services, and manufacturing. The results indicate that decentralization is indeed a reality in Montreal, and that it tends to be of a polycentric nature, rather than the more widely dispersed form that appears to be characterizing many United States metropolitan areas. Business services and, somewhat surprisingly, manufacturing play major roles in the process of multinucleation. [Key words: employment decentralization, employment centers, metropolitan structure, multinucleation.]