As soon as I posted it, i was regretting the comparison.

Kitchener has more of its own industry than Bryan, which is mostly a satellite community supported by the university.

CS doesn't really have it's own town center, though - the closest we come is Northgate, which is really more the restaurant/bar district pretty much right outside of campus where the residences are, hmmm... The real 'downtown' area is in Bryan (I think - I've been there all of twice :p). Bryan is a bit more ghetto (cheaper housing attracting more students, older neighborhoods, etc) in some ways, maybe, but not as bad as Kitchener!