Testing the Elastic-Cities Concept within a Nonmetropolitan Environment: Evidence from British Columbia, Canada, 1971 to 2001

Abstract

In this study I tested the elastic-city hypothesis within a nonmetropolitan environment. Elastic cities are defined as employing aggressive annexation strategies that result in more effective planning control over the city-region, higher population increases, stronger tax bases, and healthier urban-regional economies than those of nonelastic cities. Principal component analysis was used to analyze and model the elasticity of British Columbia's approximately 100 municipal governments for a thirty-year period, 1971–2001. The findings do not completely support the correlation between a municipality's elastic boundary and growth or development. In fact, the picture is more complex than suggested by Rusk's elastic-cities concept. Annexing municipalities do not exhibit stronger population growth, newer dwellings, or economic development when compared with nonannexing municipalities. Annexation may be contributing to rural-urban sprawl rather than more-compact development patterns.