A Comparative Geography of Guildford and Cloverdale

A Comparative Geography of Guildford and Cloverdale

Cities are residents of several individuals comprising the entire population of the world who are attracted by the infrastructural and economic resources that sustain the well-being of the people. Infrastructure and cities drive many people to have developed them for the future they mainly foresee due to the rapid innovation in communication and information technologies that enable the cities to remain intelligent, clean, and potentially more equitable and inclusive (McDonald et al., 2023). The aspirations that people have to access services that are essential for their well-being, like healthcare mobility and education, make them drawn to cities. Although there is a lot of interconnectedness being witnessed in urban hubs due to the internet (virtual) and roads (physical) infrastructure investments, access to essential services and opportunities still exists (COS, 2020). However, many people prefer living in the cities instead of the rural areas where access to these services has enormous disparities. Surrey city in British Colombia is among those cities that humans would prefer, particularly those aspiring to live in Canada. British Columbia is among the most beautiful Canadian provinces, with diverse geographical topographies, populations, and a thriving economy.

In the twentieth century, the province emerged as one of the leading Canadian provinces in terms of economic wealth, population, and overall growth. Vancouver, Victoria, Abbotsford, and Kelowna, including Surrey, B.C., comprises seven neighborhoods (PFC, 2022). They include City Center, Cloverdale, Fleetwood, Newton, South Surrey, and Guildford. In eighteen seventy-nine, the city was incorporated and acquired its name after Surrey, a word of an England town with geographical looks like those of it. They started expanding after the completion of Pattullo Bridge in nineteen thirty-seven. It acquired its city status in nineteen ninety-three after significant population growth was witnessed in the nineteen eighties through the nineties (PFC, 2022). In the 2021 census, the population of Surrey was 568, 322 individuals which was an increase of more than fifty thousand people within a period of five years. A 9.7 percent population increase (PFC, 2022). This research paper will compare two neighborhoods in Surrey, Guildford and Cloverdale, regarding their physical geography, main economic sectors, and transportation and communication patterns.

Research Question

Why would an individual prefer to live and build a family in the future in either Guilford or Cloverdale neighborhoods of Surrey, British Colombia?

General Description

I am planning to live in Canada and raise my family there in the future. I want to research the best neighborhood between Cloverdale and Guildford in Surrey city.

Specific Issues

I intend to reside in a thriving neighborhood with an economy that has been doing so throughout. It has proved that it is secure economically wise, and mobility is good. The physical geography is excellent, where the land is slant/flat, and the essential services are easily accessed.

Temporal Scope

The preferred data for research will be the one containing the recent developments in the neighborhood. I want to live and consider looking into the past to see how the entire province, city, and community has grown and developed.

Spatial coverage

My research is solely based on a city. I chose to research the best neighborhood in the cities because disparities of physical, economic, socioeconomic, and others, including education, household, transport infrastructure, household income, and social status, are small compared to rural areas.

Method

The study will review information and data on physical geographic/demographic, economic sector, communication, and transport patterns. I will obtain information from the internet from published articles, books, business associations, blogs, and annual reports from the city, among other internet sources. The data will be in maps, charts, and spreadsheets. I will not limit my research to specific years of publication. Still, the study included in the analysis will be the most relevant in those three areas of specification. I will summarize the data using maps, charts/tables that show the physical geography of the neighborhoods of interest, and tables that show or summarize the cons and pros of the areas’ current and proposed large infrastructures.

The research

Physical Geographic of Guildford and Cloverdale.

Guildford is a neighborhood in Surrey that is well known by many Canadians and other people worldwide who are interested in the country’s developments. Guildford is located in the northeast Surrey corner, with its northern edge bordering the Fraser River; on the west, the neighborhood is bordered by Whalley, and to the east, Langley is on the border. The southern border of the Guildford neighborhood stretches to the eighty-fourth avenue from the ninety-sixth avenue. The map below shows the communities bordering Guildford, with the entire northern edge bordered by the river, making it among the Surrey neighborhoods that enjoy the considerable area with easy access to water in the north.

Guilford is an area with mature urban neighborhoods that have developed due to their proximity to the shopping mall, Guildford Town Center, and Fraser Heights, a new subdivision that has been recently established, slopping down toward the river on the northeast side. Fraser River and Port Mann bridge are other geographical features that make the region incredible and attractive. The two of them can be viewed easily by individuals in the neighborhood along the community’s northern edge. The Surrey City Centre is also strategically located such that the area is accessed using the highway, especially for individuals living in Guildford.

Heritage and History line the Guildford passageways and streets with several buildings that date many ago. The neighborhood dates from the times of Saxon in the 500AD when the pagans settled there for the first time, and Guilden ford was the name given to those settlements due to the golden sands on the river banks and the riverside growing flowers (COS, 2020). The neighborhood is the home to Guildford Museum, which people living in the area can visit during their free time, as boat trips are also provided.

On the other hand, Cloverdale, shown below in figure 2, is the community or neighborhood that stands as the third largest in Surrey. The southern border of Cloverdale is 48 Avenue, which connects with the western boundary at 160 Street, which borders the community in the south of part (Cloverdale, 2019). Langley is bordering it in the east while Fleetwood and Guildford are on the north, separated by seventy-six avenue and eighty-fourth avenue (Cloverdale, 2019). The new central community hub, the Clayton Community Centre, integrates recreation, library, and recreation in Cloverdale (Cloverdale, 2019). People are welcomed in Cloverdale annually to celebrate the most significant Day in Canada hosted in western Canada, and the families are provided with free activities, food, and music. According to Cloverdale (2019), the neighborhood is the home to the most recognizable Surrey Street, along with the Surrey Archives and Surrey Museum, as well as other unique heritage buildings. The community is also located in a very strategic place whereby it is connected to the railway for easy use, making it a busy commercial activities hub.

Main Economic Sector of Guildford and Cloverdale

When the first market at Guildford took, the place was unknown, although around 1276, people would meet in the High Street to trade every Saturday. Every week would later have three markets for trading purposes where cattle, household, and general produce were sold along with corn which was known to make the highest profits during those times (Morton, 2018). Gild Hall became the first building to hold a market house that was built beneath it, and grains sold there in 1626 could not be stored in it, forcing the market trading with corn to move to the High Street’s south side to the Tun Inn. The market relocated in eighteen sixty-five to northern Street and later to Woodbridge Road in eighteen ninety-five. The economic prosperity of Guildford began during the wool trading era. The grazing land became sufficient due to enough water in the neighborhood and the entire Surrey province, with mills’ fulling power also being sufficient. Fuller’s earth deposits became enough, and the city began Kersey manufacturing a coarse cloth sold after dying in it. The neighborhood continued to grow economically, although it experienced tough times and declines later in the 1900s, the business was established near Woodbridge Hill, and a new factory was built.

Currently, Guildford has everything that an individual would like to trade within a town where the train station is the busiest thing that provides easy means of commuting to multitudes of restaurants, boutiques, and a thriving craft and art community (Morton, 2018). Guildford is a shopaholic and was rated among the best place to live and considered the “best commuter hotspot” (Morton, 2018). It is a productive and picturesque hub with several tech companies within the Surrey area, especially gaming companies. The 5G important innovation center is based in Guildford in Surrey University Campus, which is a driving force in IoT applications and future mobile technologies.

Outside London, the economy of Guildford is considered the most vibrant, featuring the top five in different economic league tables. Due to the neighborhood’s good connectivity to Gatwick and Heathrow airports in London, it attracts influential investors and entrepreneurs’ networks. The economy is now based on cyber security, gaming, telecoms, and sciences compared to when it was a manufacturing and public sector-based economy. Borough has a total number of jobs which is more than seventy-thousand and 7440 established businesses (Morton, 2018). The business base between 2012-2017 grew by fifteen percent, with reasonable survival rates (Morton, 2018).

Conversely, Cloverdale can be seen as a growing commercial activity hub thanks to the neighborhood’s railway connection and strategic location. Celebrations held at Cloverdale annually are also a good way of growing and developing businesses because food, free activities, and music are served. Although they are free, they are bought from the neighborhood, contributing to the area’s economic growth. The attendees can also contribute to the growing economy since they eventually buy other items after or before the celebrations. The Cloverdale small-town charm attracts TV and movie makers and has remained the shows ‘ backdrop, such as Sabrina, Smallville, and Supernatural (Cloverdale, 2019). The industrial area of Cloverdale has five hundred companies concentrated in the manufacturing, wholesale/distribution, and construction sectors. The industrial zone in Cloverdale offers different business services, including shopping and dining options at the Cloverdale Town Center commercial nodes—the new community recreation center, the Fraser Downs-Casino and Racetrack, and Coverdale Fairgrounds. Mason (2016) claims that even tourism has boomed in Cloverdale, and it is currently a beautiful and friendly place for families.

Communication and Transportation Patterns

Servicing or utilities is more concerned with transport patterns. The servicing and infrastructure, including water, sanitary sewer, and transportation infrastructure in Cloverdale, have been built to support future opportunities for growth and to satisfy the people’s needs in the neighborhood (COS, 2010). The table below shows how businesses were distributed in Cloverdale, along with the transport infrastructure.

Figure 3

The town center transport package is one of the Guildford infrastructure systems that unblocks several neighborhood areas. It has seven infrastructural schemes that were built between 2017 and 2020 with the aim of making it easier for individuals to get around the town center in Guildford by foot, public transport, and bicycle. Another package is the “unlocking Guildford” six-scheme project that was constructed to expand the transport network in the area. According to Surrey (2023), Guildford has a lot of transport and communication infrastructure that makes life for families very comfortable.

Results.

This research paper has compared two neighborhoods in Surrey, Guildford, and Cloverdale, regarding their physical geography, main economic sectors, and transportation and communication patterns. According to the study, I have decided that the best place for my future family will be Guildford. The area has a good economy with its close connection to London, about 30 miles, and the railway allowing families and businesses to traverse the area quickly. Although Cloverdale is also well connected and has good companies and an economy, I found that Guildford has more facilities to provide my future family with the best essential services.

References

Cloverdale. (2019, December 12). Cloverdale. The City of Surrey. https://www.surrey.ca/about-surrey/our-communities/cloverdale

COS. (2010). Cloverdale Industrial Area & Business Park.

COS. (2020, February 14). Guildford. The City of Surrey. https://www.surrey.ca/about-surrey/our-communities/guildford#:~:text=Guildford%20is%20located%20in%20the,96%20Avenue%20to%2084%20Avenue.

Mason, C. (2016, December 24). Cloverdale sees economic rebound and growth in tourism. Santa Rosa Press Democrat; The Press Democrat. https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/cloverdale-sees-economic-rebound-growth-in-tourism/

McDonald, R., Johnston, H., & Lawrence, J. (2023). British Columbia | History, Facts, Map, & Flag | Britannica. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Columbia

Morton, K. (2018, August 14). Town profile – Guildford – Platinum Media Group. Platinummediagroup.co.uk; https://www.platinummediagroup.co.uk/surrey-chambers-of-commerce-magazine/2018/08/guildford/

PFC. (2022, May 11). What to Know About Living in Surrey, British Columbia. Prepare for Canada. https://www.prepareforcanada.com/choosing-a-city/surrey/living-in-surrey-british-columbia/

Surrey. (2023). Guildford major transport schemes – Surrey County Council. Surreycc.gov.uk. https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/policies-plans-consultations/major-transport-projects/guildford