Image source: Flickr, Laval.

So, for some unknown reason you find yourself in Laval and for plain entertainment, you call yourself a cab to illustrate a point.  The taxi driver asks you for your destination, and you simply reply: "Downtown please".  Intrigued, the driver frowns and responds: "Pardon me sir?"  This awkward situation explains itself by the uncontestable fact that Laval has no center.  Thus, there isn't any "downtown" to be brought to.  In the past years, I have traveled in Europe and all over North America, and visiting cities is really my cup of tea.  For instance, it's always interesting to see how cultural trends and architectural masterpieces emerge from urban centers such as Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, Paris or even Vancouver.   Now, if we think of these "real" cities around the world, isn't it true that they are all built around a core center?  Wouldn't this hub be one of the main conditions into attributing a "city" status to a given area?  When comparing Montreal and Laval, it is easy to realize that the latter is not a city: Laval is an outer core with no core.