Academic literature on the topic 'Urban development – Ontario - Toronto'

Port authorities have been important presences in Canada's port cities, playing major roles in determining the physical form and land-use functions of urban waterfront lands. Their formative roles warrant attention from scholars concerned with the city-building process in Canada. This study focuses upon one such body, The Toronto Harbour Commissioners, and how and why it has functioned as a land development agency. An analysis of the commissions Outer Harbour project between 1912 and 1968 shows the commissions central concern with land development: ostensibly presented as a harbour facility, the project was actually intended to be a key component in the commissions proposed redevelopment of Toronto's central waterfront for profitable commercial and residential use. The project also reveals the significance of landfilling in the commissions urban development role, and, incidentally, explains the existence of the three-mile artificial headland projecting out into Lake Ontario from Toronto's waterfront. The role of the commission as a development agency is explained in terms of its original 1911 mandate, which in turn reflects the intentions of the Toronto Board of Trade, the body that had led the drive to create the commission.

The purpose of this paper is to respond to several new theories which, if accepted, could alter the historical perception of the role played by urban centres in the adjustment of Irish Catholics in nineteenth century Ontario. Donald Akenson, a rural historian, believes that the Canadian experience of Irish immigrants is not comparable to the American one. Akenson contends that the numerical dominance of Protestants within the national group and the rural basis of the Irish community, negated the formation of urban ghettos and allowed for a relative ease in social mobility. In comparison the American Irish were dominantly Catholic urban dwelling and ghettoized. In addition the new labour historians believe that the rise of the Knights of Labor caused the Orange and Catholic Irish in Toronto to resolve their generational hatred and set about to form a common working-class culture. This theory must presume that Irish Catholic culture was of little value to be rejected with such ease. The writer contends that neither theory is valid. In the ghettos of Toronto the fusion of an Irish peasant culture with traditional Catholism produced a new, urban, ethno-religious vehicle — Irish Tridentine Catholism. This culture, spread from the city to the hinterland and, by means of metropolitan linkage, throughout Ontario. Privatism created a closed Irish society, one they were born into and left when they died. Irish Catholics co-operated in labour organizations for the sake of their family's future, but never shared in the development of a new working-class culture with their old Orange enemies.

Sustainability transitions research has emerged as one of the most influential approaches to conceptualizing the potential and practice of transformative system change to avoid climate catastrophe. Evolving from work on socio-technical systems via Geels’ multi-level perspective (MLP), this conceptual framework has contributed to understanding how complex systems in the contemporary world can be transformed. This paper contributes to the sustainability transitions literature in three main ways. First, the paper develops a conceptual framework focused on the urban property systems which regulate and support urban property, infrastructure and governance that are historically produced, are densely institutionalized, and through which public norms of property and governance are deeply embedded in and continually inscribed in urban space. Second, the paper suggests that urban property systems are continually and vigorously contested and demonstrate different modes of institutional change than those recognized by the existing sustainability transitions literature. Third, the paper illustrates the approach with a case study of the contested governance of property development in Toronto, Ontario, long one of the fastest growing cities in North America. The Toronto case suggests that institutions embedded in urban property systems are consequential and deserve more attention by those concerned with low-carbon transitions.

The reuse of brownfields as locations for urban intensification has become a core strategy in government sustainability efforts aimed at remediating pollution, curbing sprawl and prioritizing renewal, regeneration, and retrofitting. In Ontario, Canada’s most populous, industrialized, and brownfield-laden province, a suite of progressive policies and programs have been introduced to not only facilitate the assessment and remediation of the brownfields supply, but to also steer development demand away from peripheral greenfields and towards urban brownfields in a manner that considers a wider regional perspective. This article examines the character and extent of brownfields infill development that has taken place in three Ontario cities (Toronto, Waterloo, and Kingston) since the provincial policy shift in the early 2000s. Using property assessment data and cleanup records, the research finds that redevelopment activity has been extensive in both scale and character, particularly in Toronto where the real estate market has been strong. While the results are promising in terms of government efforts to promote smarter growth that builds “in and up” instead of out, they also reveal that government could be doing more to facilitate redevelopment and influence its sustainability character, particularly in weaker markets.

The Cliff Ecology Research Group (CERG), Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, has been in existence since 1985 when its members began working on the ecology of the Niagara Escarpment (fig. 1). In 1988 they discovered a stand of ancient trees growing on the cliffs and in 1989 they discovered that in fact the escarpment cliffs support the oldest and least disturbed forest ecosystem in Canada. Individual living trees older than 1,300 years are still present and the forest appears to be in steady state. CERG's work on the ancient trees led to the idea that cliffs serve as refuges for many species including ancient humans. That observation led to the development of the Urban Cliff Hypothesis that is described in this paper and was presented at the international symposion on " The Natural City, " Toronto, 23-25 June, 2004, sponsored by the University of Toronto's Division of the Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, and the World Society for Ekistics, and also led to the recent book entitled The Urban Cliff Revolution.

During the first great burst of urban growth in Canada from the beginning of the 20th century and on into the 1920s it was generally the municipalities, either singly or collectively, which fostered policy innovation and new services. Provinces generally did little at that time, either to foster new policies or rein in local autonomy. It was only after the economic setbacks of the depression and a renewed spirit of urban development after 1945 that provincial direction over municipalities became much more significant. This paper is a case study of two major policy crises which threatened the viability of the whole municipal system in Ontario. In the 1930s the Border Cities (Metropolitan Windsor) faced bankruptcy and economic collapse and placed in jeopardy the credit of the province. In the early 1950s the inability of Metropolitan Toronto to create area-wide solutions to severe servicing problems threatened to stall the main engine of provincial growth. The case study demonstrates how a reluctant provincial government intervened to create new metropolitan arrangements for the two areas and accompanied this with a greatly expanded structure of provincial oversight including a strengthened Ontario Municipal Board and a specific department to handle municipal affairs. The objective of the policy was to bolster local government rather than to narrow municipal autonomy.

This paper describes the development of safety performance functions (SPFs) for 1,950 urban signalized intersections on the basis of 5 years of collision data in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Because Toronto has one of the largest known, readily accessible, urban signalized intersection databases, it was possible to develop reliable, widely applicable SPFs for different intersection classifications, collision severities, and impact types. Such a comprehensive set of SPFs is not available for urban signalized intersections from data for a single jurisdiction, despite the considerable recent interest in use of these functions for analyses related to network screening, and the development, prioritization, and evaluation of treatments. The application of a straightforward recalibration process requiring relatively little data means that the SPFs calibrated can be used by researchers and practitioners for other jurisdictions for which these functions do not exist and are unlikely to exist for some time. The value of the functions is illustrated in an application to evaluate a topical safety measure—left-turn priority treatment for which existing knowledge is on a shaky foundation. The results of this empirical Bayes evaluation show that this treatment is quite effective for reducing collisions, particularly those involving left-turn side impacts.

Research in the area of sustainable urban infrastructure reflects the need to design and manage engineering systems in light of both environmental and socioeconomic considerations. A principal challenge for the engineer is the development of practical tools for measuring and enhancing the sustainability of urban infrastructure over its life cycle. The present study develops such a framework for the sustainability assessment of urban infrastructure systems. The framework focuses on key interactions and feedback mechanisms between infrastructure and surrounding environmental, economic, and social systems. One way of understanding and quantifying these interacting effects is through the use of sustainability criteria and indicators. A generic set of sustainability criteria and subcriteria and system-specific indicators is put forward. Selected indicators are quantified in a case study of the urban water system of the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Key words: sustainable infrastructure, sustainability criteria and indicators, energy use, urban water systems.

Dr Stefanovic is Director of the Centre for Environment and Professorof Philosophy at the University of Toronto. She is also a member of the World Society for Ekistics and served as Chair of the Natural City symposion, a meeting co-organized by the University of Toronto and the World Society for Ekistics in June 2004, and was guest-editor for the special volume of Ekistics (vol. 71, no. 424-432, 2004) reporting on this symposion. A book of essays is in preparation for the University of Toronto Press, entitled The Natural City: Re-Envisioning the Built Environment. Dr Stefanovic's main area of research interest relates to how values and perceptions affect decision making relating to environment and human settlements. Projects have included work on evaluative images of the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail (reported in Ekistics,vol. 69, no. 415/416/417, July-December 2002) and, more recently, a research grant investigated risk perceptions underlying urban development in designated floodplains. She has published many articles on interdisciplinary issues affecting human settlements and a number of books, including the recent Safeguarding Our Common Future:Rethinking Sustainable Development (SUNY, 2000).

This thesis is a comparative, data-based analysis of the labour market experiences of the Italian and Jewish populations of Toronto at the end of the 1970s, beginning of the 1980s. It also provides historical and empirical information on the emergence and development of ethnic enclaves, and assesses whether such distinct enclave economies constitute channels for upward mobility for the Italian and Jewish individuals who participate in them.
The historical findings provide evidence for the distinctiveness of an enclave labour market within these two ethnic communities. The empirical evidence reveals however, that participation in the enclave economies is quite low for Toronto's Jewish and Italian communities. The evidence does not indicate that participation in the enclave is associated with either economic benefits or losses. However, informal networks and ethnic ties have strong positive effects on enclavic participation.

This thesis stems from a general interest in press coverage of culture industries and products and the ways in which it links them to contemporary social and political concerns. The present project specifically takes The Globe and The Toronto World, two of the major daily newspapers of Toronto, as its combined object of analysis. It selects particular events and periods during the emergence of early film as popular amusement as the contexts for the study of articles, reports, columns, and editorials that centred around urban cultural issues as well as cinema. It explores the extent to which these particular events and periods figured in the papers' attention upon the new medium and its place in the everyday life of the city. These contexts were selected with an assumption of their newsworthiness for the daily press. However, upon examination it became evident that, while the majority of them did produce a concentrated attention in both dailies, not all of them did. Still, because they instantiated profound shifts in urban entertainment at the turn of the century, they were kept as historical backgrounds for the analysis of the newspapers's construction of modern culture. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2018.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 162-169).
Studies suggest autonomous vehicles can enable a more equitable, efficient, and sustainable transportation network. Yet, experts point out this outcome is not guaranteed, and that without outside policy intervention autonomous vehicle (AV) use might actually exacerbate congestion, sprawl, and inequitable access to travel. These challenges will be most acutely felt in areas under the purview of local governments-such as transportation congestion, land use, and impacts on public transit. As such, the goal of this thesis is to assist municipal policymakers with mitigating these impacts by answering the question: How can local governments effectively regulate autonomous vehicles? Looking at Toronto, Canada, specifically, this thesis addresses the following issues: - When is a contract, and when is a regulation, the most appropriate tool to encourage AV companies to act in ways that help foster a sustainable and equitable transportation network? - What does the City of Toronto require to develop effective AV regulation? - How can the City of Toronto codify broad AV policies into specific, enforceable regulations? This thesis employs three research methods: a literature review, a document analysis, and qualitative interviews with relevant experts. The primary literature review looks at the possible benefits and harms that might come from AV development and the policies local governments can enact to correct for these externalities. Interviews were conducted with 23 experts from the public and private sectors and academia, with responses analysed and themes drawn out to develop answers to the above research questions. Finally, analysis of Toronto's Official Plan and Municipal Code helped inform the creation of a proposed Article 10-A of the code to regulate AV rideshare companies. Chapters three to five of this thesis develop a framework (laid out in Figure 0.1) for thinking about how best to design effective AV regulation. Firstly, the government needs legal capacity to regulate in a given area. Toronto, for example, is responsible for overseeing local rideshare company activity. The remaining four elements all relate to human resources. Interviews show Toronto's bureaucrats believe they have a responsibility and ability to craft effective and ambitious regulations that advance the city's goals. These willing civil servants need the time and the expertise to design good policy, and the Toronto government has an AV working group that provides a forum for such a discussion. To see regulations enacted effectively, however, the mayor and council must not only support rules eventually proposed by the working group; they may also need to approach the provincial government to convince them to craft their own complementary AV legislation. Figure 0.1. The five elements to effective regulation [illustration] Chapter six explores how broad AV policy can be applied concretely. Along with Article 10-A (Appendix C), it offers an example of the specific legal language for AV regulation. Divided into two broad categories--'Equity' and 'Urban Form and Street Space'-the article addresses some of the anticipated issues that might arise with AV rideshare operations including a need to allow citizens without a smartphone are able to use the service, limit AV rideshare travel on local roads, and ensure all neighbourhoods enjoy a relatively similar level of service (accounting for geography and density). Beyond the proposed article itself, chapter six provides feedback from Toronto officials as to the challenges the provisions in the article might face were the government to attempt their ratification. Positively, none of the regulations were unanimously viewed as infeasible, with staff seemingly eager to act boldly when it comes to addressing the challenges of AV activity. As such, this thesis can be used both by Toronto policymakers and their counterparts elsewhere as the basis for discussion in designing the specific rules for AV operations that will be incorporated into a future version of the Municipal Code.
by Benjamin M. Gillies-Podgorecki.
M.C.P.

Urban Renewal activity can be attributed to the reuse and intensification of tertiary areas. Past research suggests areas of regeneration can perform at par and/or better then prime property sectors. Policy initiatives lowering perceived risk, attracting investment is conditional to the unique characteristics of renewal areas. As a progressive area of research there still remains insufficient data to quantify related returns and associated risks. Financial institutions tend to favor prime property and neglect tertiary areas. Local, smaller developers can comprehend the holistic nature of renewal investment. A comparative analysis of past urban renewal investment behavior with actors of renewal investment in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, were evaluated leading to empirical possibilities of investment alternatives.

This paper considers the quantitative and qualitative observation-based assessment of neighbourhoodhealth in three Toronto neighbourhoods. In so doing, the paper addresses prevailing challenges andopportunities in a range of forms of neighbourhood health. The Bay Street Corridor, Kensington-Chinatown,and Regent Park were studied as exemplar cases of neighbourhoods in varying degrees of degradation. Theresearch involved a robust evaluation of raw statistical analysis, census data, anecdotal evidence, and annualreports to demonstrate the spatiality of crime, real estate, and socio-economic opportunity. Results from thisanalysis have demonstrated that certain neighbourhood characteristics are prone to higher or lower crime rates,structural neglect, real estate speculation, and proprietary action. ‘Fear proves itself’ in as far as neighbourhoodaction provides impetus to create defensible spaces to increase neighbourhood engagement and ownership and toprotect against neglect and crime. What is clear from these descriptions is that neighbourhood health issignificantly associated with endogenous behaviour; positing the important role that community advocacy playsin stewarding neighbourhood health. Understanding neighbourhood health requires an appreciation of localsocial assets, and how these indigenous resources articulate opportunities for sustainable urban development.The longevity of cities involves building neighbourhoods for people and providing a stable structure thatpromotes and perpetuates sustainable city living. By exploring themes in urban sociology, psychology of place,and place belonging, the investigation highlights

La modélisation intégrée du système d’assainissement urbain offre la flexibilité nécessaire pour développer des solutions qui bénéficient le plus au système global, en mettant l'accent sur la quantité et la qualité de l'eau, Les modèles intégrés offrent des avantages par rapport aux modèles traditionnels des sous-systèmes individuels en facilitant l’analyse efficace des interactions entre ces différents systèmes individuels (c.-à-d. les bassins versants, les égouts, les stations d’épuration et les eaux réceptrices) dans une seule plateforme de modélisation. La complexité réduite de ce type de modèle diminue le fardeau de calcul par rapport à leurs homologues détaillés, ce qui permet une plus large gamme d'évaluations telles que l'analyse de scénarios, l'optimisation par contrôle en temps réel et l’analyse d'incertitude par approche Monte Carlo. Le potentiel de créer ces types de modèles intégrés représentatifs a été démontré dans de multiples études, mais les méthodes existantes pour développer ces modèles ne sont pas bien établies ni bien documentées et nécessitent donc un grand effort pour chaque nouveau cas d’étude. De plus, l'absence d'une méthode standardisée pour représenter la partie du modèle qui simule la quantité d'eau limite l'application de ces modèles pour des études de qualité de l'eau. Bien que la recherche soit nécessaire pour développer et optimiser toutes les méthodologies impliquées dans le développement de modèles intégrés de systèmes d'eaux usées urbaines, ce projet se concentre sur les modèles conceptuels simplifiés des bassins versants et des égouts pour la quantité d'eau. L'objectif de cette étude était de développer une procédure structurée pour traduire des modèles hydrologiques et hydrauliques détaillés en modèles conceptuels simplifiés utilisés dans la modélisation du système intégré des eaux usées urbaines. L'objectif était d'améliorer la répétabilité, la flexibilité et l'efficacité de l'approche générale, indépendamment de la plateforme de modélisation choisie. Cette tâche a été réalisée en extrayant les principales étapes et considérations tout en construisant deux modèles conceptuels simplifiés d'une étude de cas au centre d'Ottawa, au Canada. La partie urbaine centrale (6 400 ha) d'un modèle détaillé PCSWMM de la Ville d'Ottawa, contenant une combinaison d'égouts séparés, partiellement séparés et combinés, a été utilisée comme modèle de référence dans cette étude de cas. La tâche principale consistait à déterminer comment traduire ce modèle détaillé en modèle conceptuel simplifié de manière structurée, systématique et répétable en utilisant WEST comme plateforme. La procédure développée suit une séquence similaire à celle des protocoles examinés dans la revue de la littérature, tout en tenant compte des spécificités liées à l'agrégation des bassins versants et des égouts. Les quatre phases principales sont la définition du projet, le développement du modèle, la calibration et la validation. Deux versions du modèle conceptuel ont été créées : le premier a d'abord été créé avec un certain niveau d'agrégation, tandis que le deuxième était plus agrégé que le premier modèle, avec environ la moitié du nombre de bloques et de réservoirs. Les deux modèles ont été calibrés et comparés au modèle détaillé. Les résultats des simulations ont montré que le volume total et la dynamique des débits calculés par les modèles conceptuels ont bien émulé ceux du modèle détaillé (< < 10% de différence), tout en fournissant une réduction significative du temps de calcul (10 à 80 fois). La réduction du temps de simulation pour le modèle le plus agrégé n'était pas équivalente au niveau d'agrégation augmentée, principalement parce qu’il y a une quantité de code qui est présente dans les deux codes et prend donc le même temps de calcul. Comme généralement anticipé, des différences plus grandes, mais acceptables, ont été observées en validation. Ces différences ont été attribuées à plusieurs facteurs, tels que le manque de calibration avec des données sur une période longue, les représentations simplifiées des structures spéciales, les différences entre les mécanismes utilisés dans les modèles détaillés et conceptuels pour représenter le durée de pluie, et la configuration du code de modèle. Dans l'ensemble, la validation a été une réussite étant donné que la calibration a été effectuée à l'aide d'événements de courte durée alors que la validation a utilisé une longue série de données. En général, la procédure conçue a permis de réduire le travail manuel associé à la construction d'un modèle et à bien structurer la façon de construire des modèles conceptuels. Des connaissances pour chacune des différentes phases de modélisation ont également été acquises tout au long du processus du développement des deux modèles. Dans la phase ‹‹ Définition du projet ››, les objectifs du modèle conceptuel ont guidé la méthode de développement et de calibration du modèle. Les bassins versants et les égouts ont été délimités simultanément dans la phase de ‹‹ Développement du modèle ››, tout en tenant compte des emplacements des structures hydrauliques clés, des pluviomètres et des structures de débordement. La phase de ‹‹ Calibration ›› a permis l'avancement le plus systématique étant donné qu'un bon ordre de calibration a été défini et un ensemble limité de paramètres a été ciblé pour chacune des étapes de calibration. La phase de ‹‹ Validation ›› s'est révélée essentielle pour repérer des lacunes dans les hypothèses de base et les valeurs calibrées, afin de déterminer si le modèle est prêt à être utilisé ou doit être modifié. Une procédure efficace et structurée qui traduit les représentations des bassins versants urbains et des égouts de modèles détaillés en modèles intégrés conceptuels a été développée et appliquée avec succès à une étude de cas. Comme démontré dans ce projet, l'application de la procédure structurée mènera au développement efficace de modèles intégrés représentatifs, ce qui augmentera leur utilisation potentielle pour tester des scénarios réalistes. Pour raffiner et améliorer la procédure formulée, il est recommandé de l'appliquer à d’autres études de cas.
Modelling urban wastewater networks within integrated systems, focusing on both water quantity and quality, introduces flexibility to develop solutions with greatest benefit to the overall system. Integrated models provide benefits over traditional single sub-system models by facilitating efficient analysis of interactions between the individual components of urban water systems (i.e. catchments, sewers, treatment plants, and receiving waters) within a single modelling platform. The reduced complexity of this type of model decreases the computational burden compared to their detailed counterparts. This allows for a wider range of assessments such as scenario-testing, RTC optimization, and Monte Carlo uncertainty analyses. The potential to create these types of representative integrated models was proven in multiple studies, however, the current methods to develop these models are not well-established nor well documented, and therefore require significant work for each case study. Furthermore, the lack of a standardized method to represent the water quantity portion limits the wide-scale application of such models for water quality studies. Although research is required to further develop and optimize all methodologies involved with building Integrated Urban Wastewater System (IUWS) models, this project focuses on the simplified catchment and sewer conceptual models for water quantity. The objective of this study was to develop a structured procedure to translate detailed hydrologic and hydraulic models into the simplified conceptual models used in IUWS modelling. The aim was to improve repeatability, flexibility and efficiency of the general approach, regardless of chosen modelling platforms. This task was achieved by extracting the key steps and considerations while building two simplified conceptual models of a case study in central Ottawa, Canada. The central urban portion (6,400 ha) of a calibrated detailed PCSWMM model of the City of Ottawa, containing a mix of separated, partially-separated and combined sewer areas, was used as the reference model in this case study. The main task involved determining how to translate this detailed model into simplified conceptual models, using WEST as the platform, in a structured, systematic and repeatable way. The resultant developed procedure follows a similar sequence as the protocols reviewed in the literature review, while taking into consideration specifics related to aggregating catchments and sewers. The four main phases of this thesis are Project Definition, Model Development, Calibration and Validation. Two versions of the lumped model were created; the first was created with a certain level of aggregation, while the second was a further aggregation of the first model, resulting in about half the number of blocks and reservoirs. Both models were calibrated and compared to the detailed model as well as to each other. The simulation results showed that the volume and dynamics (ie. the shape of the hydrographs) of the conceptual models emulated those of the detailed model well (< < 10% differences), while providing a significant reduction in simulation-time speed-up (10 to 80 times faster than the detailed model). The simulation time reduction in the more aggregated model was not equivalent to the increased level of aggregation, mostly due to the fixed amount of basic calculation required in each model. As generally expected, larger but acceptable differences were found during the validation period compared to the calibration period. These differences were attributed to several factors, such as the lack of a long-time series calibration, oversimplified representations of special structures, the different mechanisms in the detailed and conceptual models used to represent wet weather flow, and the configuration of the model code. Overall, the validation was successful given the fact that the calibration was performed using events whereas the validation used an extended time series of 45 days. In general, the devised procedure helped reduce the manual labour associated with building a model and structured the approach to build the conceptual models. General findings from the various identified phases were also documented throughout the model building process. In the Project Definition phase, the conceptual model’s objectives guided the method of model development and calibration. The catchments and sewers were delineated concurrently in the Model Development phase, while taking into consideration the locations of the key hydraulic structures, raingauges and overflows. The Calibration phase allowed for the most systematic advancement of the model build, given that a good calibration order was defined and a limited set of parameters was targeted in each successive run. The Validation phase proved critical in pinpointing deficiencies in the initial assumptions and calibrated values, thus determining whether the model is ready for use or needs to be modified through one of the preceding phases. An efficient and structured procedure that translates catchment and sewer representations from detailed to conceptual models in IUWS was developed and successfully applied to a case study. As demonstrated in this project, applying the proposed structured procedure will lead to the efficient development of representative IUWS models, thus increasing their potential use to test real-life scenarios. To challenge and improve the formulated procedure, applying it to multiple case studies is recommended.

While environmental and economic sustainability have been driving factors in the movement towards a more resilient built environment, social sustainability is a factor that has received significantly less attention over the years. Federal support for low-income housing has fallen drastically, and the deficit of available, adequate, affordable homes continues to grow. In this thesis, I explore one way that architects can design affordable housing that is intrinsically sustainable. In the past, subsidized low-income housing has been built as if to provide a short-term solution—as if poverty and lack of affordable housing is a short-term problem. However, I argue that adaptable architecture is essential for the design of affordable housing that is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. Further, architects must balance affordability, durability, and adaptability to design sustainable solutions that are resistant to obsolescence. I conclude by applying principles and processes of adaptability in the design of Apto Ontario, an adaptable affordable housing development in the low-income historic downtown of Ontario, California (Greater Los Angeles). Along a new Bus Rapid Transit corridor, Apto Ontario would create a diverse, resilient, socially sustainable community in an area threatened by the rise of housing costs.

This chapter critically reflects on the origins and developments of recent currents in academic literature dealing with technology-led urban development and planning. It shows, how planning ideas over the last 30 years have changed the mode of institutionalizing platforms within urban politics and planning. From smart to platform urbanism to platform municipalism, this contribution unveils the values, programmatic ideas, and policies that these different planning ideas incorporate. Using Vienna and Toronto as two examples of different institutionalization processes of platforms for urban planning agendas, the chapter embeds the concept of platform municipalism as a progressive approach to platform development into wider debates on smart and platform urbanism to look beyond a techno-dystopian vision of urban futures and carve out the scope for action for urban governance in the digital age.

AbstractRecently, the display and use of the rainbow flag in historically defined gay neighborhoods has grown even as gay residents and businesses have been driven away by gentrification, rising real-estate costs, and cultural homogenization. At the same time, prevelence and use of the rainbow flag and the rainbow motif has increased in areas not usually considered part of recognized gay neighborhoods. This chapter explores the prevalence and persistence of the display of the rainbow flag and rainbow motif in nine neighborhoods across Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The visual assessment of rainbow flag use across these neighborhoods serves as a potential model for examining the rate of spread of rainbow flags and visual rainbow motif symbols as a means for tracking the movement of the LGBTQ+ community across urban neighborhoods. Initial results suggest potential significance of the prevalence and persistence of the rainbow flag and the rainbow motif. These include; (1) a possible diaspora of LGBTQ+ residents from traditionally defined gay neighborhoods to newly emerging gay or LGBTQ-friendly neighborhoods, (2) a newfound inclusivity or pride among residents of other neighborhoods, and (3) “rainbow washing” due to overuse of the rainbow motif by non-LGBTQ businesses and organizations connected with pride celebrations. While overuse of the rainbow flag may diminish historically coded meaning of the rainbow, that well-intentioned use of the rainbow flag is a positive and welcoming indicator for LGBTQ+ individuals and it may lead to the emergence of additional LGBTQ-friendly enclaves that, over time, could potentially emerge as new gay neighborhoods.

This chapter compares Buffalo, New York, and Toronto, Ontario, two urban areas located on the Great Lakes with similar populations (one million) in 1950. Toronto has since passed the six million mark, while Buffalo seems trapped in a seemingly irreversible cycle of economic decline. The diverging destiny of the two cities has many roots (e.g., the St. Lawrence Seaway, the collapse of Big Steel) but invariably sends us back to the different political cultures of the United States and Canada. The government of Ontario stepped in early in the urbanization process to impose a model of metropolitan governance on the Toronto region, with the explicit aim of deterring the emergence of deep social divides, specifically between city and suburb, and ensuring the maintenance of a strong central core. The state of New York did no such thing in Buffalo, for which Buffalo continues to pay a price.

This chapter focuses on Lillian Wells's experience as a social worker in the early 1960s with older adults, in which she learned how to live her life and how to optimize life as she grew older. It discusses Wells' practice that deals with clinical work and community development, particularly in the areas of health and gerontology. It also refers to the development of an empowerment model of practice in long-term care with resident councils, initiatives with families, and staff training. The chapter talks about Lillian Wells' membership of the Toronto Council on Aging, where she aimed to raise awareness of the needs of older adults, improve their quality of life, foster their involvement in all aspects of community life, and support the experience of aging through education and leadership. It examines the reality that older people have often outlived family and friends, and it can be difficult to reach out on their own to new experiences, when familiar supports are unavailable.

This chapter describes the effects of availability of digital knowledge on teaching, learning, and assessment, and the emergence of pedagogy for conceptual thinking with meaning equivalence in different knowledge domains in early digital era. It includes three proof-of-concept implementations of meaning equivalent reusable learning objects (MERLO) in three different contexts: 1) Course ‘Risk management in the Supply Chain' at Material and Manufacturing Ontario (MMO) Centre of Excellence, in 2002, to evaluate the potential of MERLO to assess and improve learning outcomes in workplace workshops to be offered jointly by MMO and University of Toronto Innovation Foundation; 2) in 2004, secondary school courses in mathematics, physics, and chemistry at Russian Academy of Sciences, Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, Lycee ‘Physical-Technical High School' at St. Petersburg, to train teachers in administering MERLO formative assessments and evaluate learning outcomes in STEM courses (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics); 3) in 2006, implementing MERLO pedagogy, including development of MERLO databases for grades 9 – 12 mathematics courses at Independent Learning Center (ILC) of TVOntario.

The lack of foresight by municipalities and others in preserving corridors for utilities means that there are increasingly fewer opportunities to locate linear facilities in large urban centers such as the City of Toronto. In those corridors that do exist, there are competing land uses that make it difficult to accommodate any new use. Many of these land uses are directly related to the people living adjacent to and in the vicinity of the corridors. In 2003, the Ontario Energy Board approved new “Environmental Guidelines for the Location, Construction and Operation of Hydrocarbon Pipelines and Facilities in Ontario”. The Guidelines include specific new requirements for planning pipelines in urban areas. Among other things, these new requirements involve the identification of indirectly affected landowners and a more detailed analysis of public issues and how they were resolved. Through the use of a case study, this paper identifies the public issues that were encountered in planning the location of a NPS 36 (Nominal Pipe Size 914 mm or 36 inch diameter) natural gas pipeline through residential neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto and the Town of Markham. It also describes how the public involvement requirements contained in the Ontario Energy Board’s new guidelines were incorporated into the planning process. The case study begins with a rationale for the study area selected. A description of the public issues follows. The techniques used to address these issues and the success of the public involvement program that identified 180 directly affected and 3,200 indirectly affected landowners is documented. The study results illustrate that it is possible to plan a right-of-way through an urban corridor in such a manner as to satisfy the general public, be compatible with existing development, conform to the new Ontario Energy Board Guidelines and minimize the amount of remedial work required to mitigate the impacts occurring on and adjacent to the right-of-way.

The Regional Municipality of York is located immediately north of the City of Toronto. It is the fastest growing municipality in Ontario. The rapid expansion of residential, industrial and commercial development in the municipality has led to a weakness in the electrical and gas infrastructure. The Ontario Power Authority (the agency responsible for managing the power requirements in the Province of Ontario) has recognized this weakness and has developed plans calling for a new gas-fired generating station and improvements to the electrical grid. The shortages of gas supply and electricity have not developed overnight. Hydro One, which runs the electrical grid, initiated a supply study in 2002. The study recommended upgrading a 115 kV transmission line to a double circuit 230 kV transmission line on the existing corridor. The ensuing public outcry resulted in the municipality passing a resolution against the upgrade. Similarly, a large gas-fired generating station proposal was abandoned as the result of citizen opposition. In 2003, the Ontario Energy Board approved new Environmental Guidelines for the Location, Construction and Operation of Hydrocarbon Pipelines and Facilities in Ontario. The guidelines include specific new requirements for planning pipelines in urban areas. Among other things, these requirements involve the identification of indirectly affected landowners and a more detailed analysis of public issues and how they were resolved. It became clear that in order to achieve regulatory success, not only would the public have to become actively engaged in the decision-making early in the process, the technical reviewers (federal, provincial and municipal agencies) would likewise have to be actively involved. Through the use of two case studies of proposed large-diameter natural gas pipelines initiated in York Region in 2005, this paper describes the techniques used to engage the public and the regulators. It also describes how the public involvement requirements contained in the Ontario Energy Board’s new guidelines were incorporated into the planning process. The case studies begin with a rationale for the study area selected. A description of issues follows. The techniques used to address these issues and the success of the program are documented. Techniques include face-to-face project initiation meetings, use of technical and citizens’ advisory committees, sub-committee meetings to resolve specific issues and site-specific field work. The study results illustrate that it is possible to plan a right-of-way in such a manner as to satisfy the general public and regulators, be compatible with existing development, conform to the new Ontario Energy Board guidelines and minimize the amount of remedial work required to mitigate the impacts occurring on and adjacent to the right-of-way.

It is a common fact that the confinement and to become unfunctional of the historical factories due to they have remained behind of technological improvement, not been managed effectively and polluted to the environment. However, their falling into disuse the demolition and the destruction of these buildings cannot be accepted. A lot of factories in Türkiye that have been able to reach today from the industrial background had been demolished for their land value, and a few of them had been re-functioned by transforming. These plants as contributes to the economic development of the countries and bears the stamp of the past, also could be re-evaluated and transferred to future generations by preserving their original identities. With the transformation of a historical plant, not only an industrial heritage would be protected but also this act would contribute to the economic development and cultural significance of the urban, and improve the quality of life. On this issue, there are lots of examples in Western countries. In this study, a succesful transformation sample from Canada-Toronto has been handled. In Distillery Region where has a significant role in the establishment, enrichment and physical embodiment of the city of Toronto, the regeneration/transformation process has been achieved thus the region has been redounded to tourism industry. In the study, the development of Distilery and its meaning for the urban is stated, the transformation process and its effect on urban is discussed and at this issue some suggestions are made while determining the deficiencies in Türkiye.

In recent years urban residential growth has created a serious encroachment problem to all industrial complexes including natural gas compressor stations. Union Gas Ltd. has recently been involved in the design of an acoustically treated compressor station. Noise emanating from a station into the environment outside the property perimeter is caused by mechanical equipment in operation and gas flowing through piping and valves. Noise generated from a turbine station varies in power level and frequency. The noises, varying from the high frequency startling type to the low frequency throbbing type, create a number of problems for surrounding residential homes. This paper describes the Parkway Compressor Station located near Toronto, Ontario, Canada at which various items of mechanical equipment were identified and acoustically treated with satisfactory results.

A variety of sites contaminated with legacy low-level radioactive (LLR) waste materials have been identified across Canada. Many of these sites, associated with former radium and uranium refining and processing operations, are located in urbanized areas of southern Ontario. However, other sites have been discovered at more remote locations in Canada, including northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. The diversity of waste froms, ranging from pitchblende ore and processing wastes, to discarded luminescent products, combined with construction and transportation logistical issues encountered at these sites, present ongoing challenges for the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO) to overcome in meeting its mandate to resolve these legacy problems. Since its establishment in 1982, the federal government’s LLRWMO has operated programs to characterize and delineate contaminated historic waste sites across Canada. These programs have included undertaking property decontaminations, waste consolidation and interim storage projects at many sites, and participating with federal and provincial government departments and local communities to consider long-term storage and disposal opportunities. This paper compares four specific environmental remediation programs conducted by the LLRWMO within diverse Canadian settings found at Port Hope and Toronto (southern Ontario), Fort McMurray (northern Alberta), and Vancouver (west coast of British Columbia). Contaminant characterization and delineation, and remediation plan design and implementation aspects of these individual programs span the time period from the early 1980s through to 2002. The individual programs dealt with a variety of legacy waste forms that contained natural radioactive materials such as radium-226, total uranium, total thorium and thorium-230, as well as coincidental inorganic contaminants including arsenic, barium, cadmium, cobalt, lead, mercury, vanadium and zinc. Application of the lessons learned during these individual programs, as well as the development of new and innovative technologies to meet the specific needs of these programs, have enabled the LLRWMO to effectively and efficiently implement environmental remediation solutions that address the variety of Canada’s legacy LLR wastes.introduction.

Roberta Gironi Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, UPV. Camino de Vera, s/n. 46022 Valencia Joint Doctorate Dipartimento di Architettura – Teorie e Progetto. “Sapienza” Università degli Studi di Roma. Via Gramsci, 53. 00100 Roma E-mail: roberta.gironi@gmail.com Keywords (3-5): Informal processes, dynamic transformation, new planning approach, flexible space, self-organization Conference topics and scale: Reading and regenerating the informal city Contemporary cities are affected by transformations that put in discussion the claim of control and stability to which the urban project aspires. All those gradual adjustments are manifested according to the demand, bring toward a less formal and more flexible spatial order, for which the traditional forms of the "static" city become the background of the "kinetic" landscape of informal cities. On the contrary of the formal processes of urban planning, informality process is configured as an organic development model and a flexible dynamic system opened to changes. The informal space is produced according to principles of spontaneity and self-organization. A consideration on the possibility to assume different approaches can be proposed. Those approaches should integrate in the design reasoning all the dynamics usually excluded by the discourse on the urban project, which processes can become catalysts to enrich the methods of planning and design of the urban space. Through the analysis of the case-study Previ Lima and the Living Room at the Border of St. Ysidro, the aim is to delineate in which way the contemporary architecture can absorb and metabolize these processes, triggering a different approach to a different method to intervene in the spaces of relationship among formal and informal. It is believed that the informal urban qualities cannot be eliminated and is impossible to ignore the inhabitants' practices, but rather to work on the intersection between collective and individual actions. References Brillembourg A., Feireiss K., Klumpner H. (2005), Informal City (Prestel Publishing, Munich) Cruz T. (2008), "De la frontière globale au quartier de frontière: pratiques d'empiètement", Multitudes, 31(1). Davis M. (2006), Planet of Slums (Verso, London). Hernandez F., Kellett P., Allen L.K. (2010), Rethinking the informal city: critical perspectives from Latin America (Berghahn books, New York, Oxford). McFarlane C., Waibel M., (2012), Urban Informalities: Reflections on the Formal and Informal (Ashgate, Farnham). Jacobs J. (1961), The death and life of great American cities(Random House, New York- Toronto). Roy A., Alsayyad N., (2004) Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America, and South Asia (Lexington Books, Lanham)

Prior to the introduction of plastic pipe many gas utilities used cast iron to build their gas distribution network. Currently, there is approximately forty thousand kilometres of cast iron pipe in service in North America and a further two hundred thousand kilometres in Europe. Mostly found in dense urban locations, the cost of replacing these systems can be significantly high, such that extending the life of these systems is now a common strategy. The main problem has been leakage from bell and spigot joints caused by road vibration, freeze/thaw cycles of the ground, and the swelling and drying of clay soils. Repair technologies have evolved from mechanical joint clamps, to elastomeric seals, to shrink sleeves, to encapsulants and finally to anaerobics. The most advanced of these technologies involve the use of anaerobic sealants which are injected into the jute packing by drilling into the pipe bells. These sealants have been studied at Cornell University for longevity, and are predicted to withstand many years of service. The use of anaerobics has been adapted to work with robotics that allows the injection to take place from the inside of the pipeline while the gas main is in operation. This technology allows 24 joints to be sealed from a single excavation. The robot is a tethered electro-mechanical device that allows visual location of the joint, internal drilling into the jute packing, and injection of the sealant. A semi-rigid umbilical cable contains the electrical, hydraulic, and communication lines, and a unique drive mechanism that allows for remote operation and positioning. The development of this prototype technology was conducted by Engineering Services Inc. (ESI) of Toronto at the request of Enbridge Consumers Gas and was co-funded by Consolidated Edison of New York. Over 2000 joints have been successfully sealed in the last two years and the system is expected to be commercially available within the next year. Internal robotic repair of live mains is an industry first and has the potential to significantly reduce both costs and disruption of road excavations in urban areas.