Journal articles on the topic 'Urban transportation – Ontario – Toronto Region'
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1
Li, James, and Peter McAteer. "Urban Oil Spills as a Non-Point Pollution Source in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario." Water Quality Research Journal 35, no. 3 (August 1, 2000): 331–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.2000.023.
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Abstract Being the economic engine of Canada and the home of 5 million people, the environmental health of the Golden Horseshoe is very important. Among various pollution sources into the lake, urban oil spills as a non-point pollution source have not caught the attention of most residents. These spills can cause terrestrial impacts by poisoning animals and plants, groundwater contamination by infiltration, and surface water pollution by algal bloom and fish kills and destruction of freshwater invertebrates and vertebrates. In order to investigate the significance of this pollution source, 10 years of spill records in the Golden Horseshoe have been compiled. On the average, about 1050 L per day of oil escaped to the land, water and air environment in this region. About one-third of these spills eventually entered Lake Ontario. Among various types of spilled oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel and furnace oil accounted for the highest reported volume. The former Metropolitan Toronto led the frequency and volume of spills, while Hamilton-Wentworth followed closely. Spills frequently occur on roads, at service stations and at electrical transformers, while the highest spill event volumes occur at bulk plants/terminals/depots and at refineries. The predominant causes of spills are related to leaks from containers, pipes and hoses, and cooling systems. However, the principal reasons for oil spills are human error and equipment failure. The transportation, public and petroleum sectors are responsible for 60% of the reported spill cases, while the petroleum sector alone accounts for nearly 50% of the reported spill volume. Given the significant volume of spilled oil, it is important that all levels of government and private industries increase their effort to promote pollution prevention such as preventive maintenance, improved employee training and/or retraining, and proper vigilant supervision. Additionally, control devices such as oil-water interceptors should be sized properly and implemented at strategic location across the Golden Horseshoe.
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Helferty, Natalie. ""Localization": A means to reduce negative transportation impacts in the "natural city"." Ekistics and The New Habitat 71, no. 427-429 (December 1, 2004): 233–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.53910/26531313-e200471427-429193.
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The author runs "Natural Heritage Consulting" in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. She is a former Adjunct Professor at Ryerson University having taught Applied Ecology as a joint program between the School of Occupational and Public Health and the School of Urban and Regional Planning. She has provided environmental policy input on government initiatives such as the formation of the Greenbelt around the City of Toronto in her capacity as a member of the Province of Ontario's Greenbelt Task Force. The text that follows is a revised and edited version of a paper presented by the author at the Natural City conference - "Success Stories" - organized by the Centre for Environment, University of Toronto from 31 May to 2 June, 2006.
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Hadayeghi, Alireza, Amer S. Shalaby, and Bhagwant Persaud. "Macrolevel Accident Prediction Models for Evaluating Safety of Urban Transportation Systems." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 1840, no. 1 (January 2003): 87–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/1840-10.
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A series of macrolevel prediction models that would estimate the number of accidents in planning zones in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as a function of zonal characteristics were developed. A generalized linear modeling approach was used in which negative binomial regression models were developed separately for total accidents and for severe (fatal and nonfatal injury) accidents as a function of socio-economic and demographic, traffic demand, and network data variables. The variables that had significant effects on accident occurrence were the number of households, the number of major road kilometers, the number of vehicle kilometers traveled, intersection density, posted speed, and volume-capacity ratio. The geographic weighted regression approach was used to test spatial variations in the estimated parameters from zone to zone. Mixed results were obtained from that analysis.
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Filion, Pierre. "Balancing Concentration and Dispersion? Public Policy and Urban Structure in Toronto." Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 18, no. 2 (April 2000): 163–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/c2m.
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By North American standards Toronto is a concentrated agglomeration. Its downtown has enjoyed spectacular growth since the 1960s; most inner-city neighbourhoods are perceived as desirable; and public transit patronage is high relative to that of same-size North American metropolitan regions. Still, it is within dispersed, car-oriented, suburbs that most post-1950 development has taken place. This agglomeration is composed of two realms—a concentrated and a dispersed realm—differentiated by their respective land-use-transportation dynamic. The concentrated realm is defined by a considerable reliance on walking and public transportation, a mixing of land uses and overall higher employment and residential densities than elsewhere in the metropolitan region. Meanwhile, the dispersed realm is car dependent, dominated by large monofunctional zones and developed at a relatively low density. The author links the coexistence and respective importance of these two realms in the Toronto agglomeration both to the nature of urban policies implemented since 1950 and to the circumstances that have led to their adoption. The construction of expressways, suburban type land-use planning, and a generous provision of open space have abetted dispersion. By contrast, the construction of a subway system and measures encouraging the redevelopment of underused land have promoted growth within the concentrated portion of the agglomeration. It is noteworthy, however, that these measures have failed in their attempts to induce concentration beyond the prewar urbanized perimeter. The author examines the positive and negative aspects of the presence of these two realms within a given agglomeration and highlights the threat newly adopted policies represent for the concentrated realm.
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Chan, T. W., J. R. Brook, G. J. Smallwood, and G. Lu. "Time-resolved measurements of black carbon light absorption enhancement in urban and near-urban locations of southern Ontario, Canada." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 11, no. 20 (October 20, 2011): 10407–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-10407-2011.
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Abstract. In this study a photoacoustic spectrometer (PA), a laser-induced incandescence instrument system (LII) and an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer were operated in parallel for in-situ measurements of black carbon (BC) light absorption enhancement. Results of a thermodenuder experiment using ambient particles in Toronto are presented first to show that LII measurements of BC are not influenced by the presence of non-refractory material thus providing true atmospheric BC mass concentrations. In contrast, the PA response is enhanced when the non-refractory material is internally mixed with the BC particles. Through concurrent measurements using the LII and PA the specific absorption cross-section (SAC) can be quantified with high time resolution (1 min). Comparisons of ambient PA and LII measurements from four different locations (suburban Toronto; a street canyon with diesel bus traffic in Ottawa; adjacent to a commuter highway in Ottawa and; regional background air in and around Windsor, Ontario), show that different impacts from emission sources and/or atmospheric processes result in different particle light absorption enhancements and hence variations in the SAC. The diversity of measurements obtained, including those with the thermodenuder, demonstrated that it is possible to identify measurements where the presence of externally-mixed non-refractory particles obscures direct observation of the effect of coating material on the SAC, thus allowing this effect to be measured with more confidence. Depending upon the time and location of measurement (urban, rural, close to and within a lake breeze frontal zone), 30 min average SAC varies between 9 ± 2 and 43 ± 4 m2 g−1. Causes of this variation, which were determined through the use of meteorological and gaseous measurements (CO, SO2, O3), include the particle emission source, airmass source region, the degree of atmospheric processing. Observations from this study also show that the active surface area of the BC aggregate, which is measured by the LII as the PPS, is an important parameter for inferring the degree of particle collapse of a BC particle. In addition, PPS could be a useful measurement for indicating the importance of recently emitted BC (e.g. from gasoline or diesel engines) relative to the total measured BC in the atmosphere.
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McMullin, Richard Troy, Katherine Drotos, David Ireland, and Hanna Dorval. "Diversity and conservation status of lichens and allied fungi in the Greater Toronto Area: results from four years of the Ontario BioBlitz." Canadian Field-Naturalist 132, no. 4 (July 11, 2019): 394–406. http://dx.doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v132i4.1997.
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Bioblitzes are typically 24-hour biological surveys of a defined region carried out by taxonomic specialists, citizen scientists, and the general public. The largest in Canada is the Ontario BioBlitz, an annual event held in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Between 2013 and 2016, we examined the feasibility of including lichens and allied fungi in the Ontario BioBlitz. These taxa are often overlooked, understudied, and taxonomically difficult. We completed a bioblitz in each of the four major watersheds in the GTA and recorded 138 species in 72 genera which, combined with all previous collections, totals 180 species in 88 genera in the area. Thirteen of the species we collected are provincially ranked as S1 (critically imperilled), S2 (imperilled), or S3 (vulnerable). We collected Lecanora carpinea for the first time in Ontario. Our results provide a baseline list of GTA lichens that can be used for monitoring. This is one of the first detailed lichen surveys of a major North American urban area and it demonstrates that rapid bioblitz surveys are proficient in capturing lichen diversity despite their inconspicuous nature and the advanced microscopy and chemical analyses required for their identification.
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Stroud, Craig, Shuzhan Ren, Junhua Zhang, Michael Moran, Ayodeji Akingunola, Paul Makar, Rodrigo Munoz-Alpizar, et al. "Chemical Analysis of Surface-Level Ozone Exceedances during the 2015 Pan American Games." Atmosphere 11, no. 6 (June 1, 2020): 572. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos11060572.
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Surface-level ozone (O3) continues to be a significant health risk in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA) of Canada even though precursor emissions in the area have decreased significantly over the past two decades. In July 2015, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) led an intensive field study coincident with Toronto hosting the 2015 Pan American Games. During the field study, the daily 1-h maximum O3 standard (80 ppbv) was exceeded twice at a measurement site in North Toronto, once on July 12 and again on July 28. In this study, ECCC’s 2.5-km configuration of the Global Environmental Multi-scale (GEM) meteorological model was combined with the Modelling Air-quality and CHemistry (MACH) on-line atmospheric chemistry model and the Town Energy Balance (TEB) urban surface parameterization to create a new urban air quality modelling system. In general, the model results showed that the nested 2.5-km grid-spaced urban air quality model performed better in statistical scores compared to the piloting 10-km grid-spaced GEM-MACH model without TEB. Model analyses were performed with GEM-MACH-TEB for the two exceedance periods. The local meteorology for both cases consisted of light winds with the highest O3 predictions situated along lake-breeze fronts. For the July 28 case, O3 production sensitivity analysis along the trajectory of the lake-breeze circulation showed that the region of most efficient O3 production occurred in the updraft region of the lake-breeze front, as the precursors to O3 formation underwent vertical mixing. In this updraft region, the ozone production switches from volatile organic compound (VOC)-sensitive to NOx-sensitive, and the local net O3 production rate reaches a maximum. This transition in the chemical regime is a previously unidentified factor for why O3 surface-level mixing ratios maximize along the lake-breeze front. For the July 12 case, differences between the model and observed Lake Ontario water temperature and the strength of lake-breeze opposing wind flow play a role in differences in the timing of the lake-breeze, which impacts the predicted location of the O3 maximum north of Toronto.
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Fung, Manson, and Christopher A. Kennedy. "An Integrated Macroeconomic Model for Assessing Urban Sustainability." Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 32, no. 5 (October 2005): 639–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/b31113.
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A macrolevel approach for integrating regional economic models with urban metabolism models is developed. Challenges with consistency and aggregation persist in the integration of urban models between socioeconomic and environmental systems, and between the micro and macro scale. Using an econometric model as a foundation offers a flexible structure, with low data requirements, that might potentially be integrated with microlevel process models. Such an econometric model is developed and verified for the economy of the Toronto region. The economic model is integrated with a greenhouse gas emission model that simulates emissions from the residential, transportation, and solid waste sectors. Emissions are simulated to 2010 for optimistic and pessimistic exogenous economic climates. In the absence of technological change, emissions will increase in the order of 30%, largely as a result of population growth (22%–23%), which is relatively insensitive to economic growth. The potential to decrease emissions through changing land-use development and increased recycling of solid waste is examined.
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Pugliese, Stephanie C., Jennifer G. Murphy, Felix R. Vogel, Michael D. Moran, Junhua Zhang, Qiong Zheng, Craig A. Stroud, Shuzhan Ren, Douglas Worthy, and Gregoire Broquet. "High-resolution quantification of atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> mixing ratios in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 18, no. 5 (March 8, 2018): 3387–401. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-3387-2018.
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Abstract. Many stakeholders are seeking methods to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in urban areas, but reliable, high-resolution inventories are required to guide these efforts. We present the development of a high-resolution CO2 inventory available for the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding region in Southern Ontario, Canada (area of ∼ 2.8 × 105 km2, 26 % of the province of Ontario). The new SOCE (Southern Ontario CO2 Emissions) inventory is available at the 2.5 × 2.5 km spatial and hourly temporal resolution and characterizes emissions from seven sectors: area, residential natural-gas combustion, commercial natural-gas combustion, point, marine, on-road, and off-road. To assess the accuracy of the SOCE inventory, we developed an observation–model framework using the GEM-MACH chemistry–transport model run on a high-resolution grid with 2.5 km grid spacing coupled to the Fossil Fuel Data Assimilation System (FFDAS) v2 inventories for anthropogenic CO2 emissions and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) land carbon model C-TESSEL for biogenic fluxes. A run using FFDAS for the Southern Ontario region was compared to a run in which its emissions were replaced by the SOCE inventory. Simulated CO2 mixing ratios were compared against in situ measurements made at four sites in Southern Ontario – Downsview, Hanlan's Point, Egbert and Turkey Point – in 3 winter months, January–March 2016. Model simulations had better agreement with measurements when using the SOCE inventory emissions versus other inventories, quantified using a variety of statistics such as correlation coefficient, root-mean-square error, and mean bias. Furthermore, when run with the SOCE inventory, the model had improved ability to capture the typical diurnal pattern of CO2 mixing ratios, particularly at the Downsview, Hanlan's Point, and Egbert sites. In addition to improved model–measurement agreement, the SOCE inventory offers a sectoral breakdown of emissions, allowing estimation of average time-of-day and day-of-week contributions of different sectors. Our results show that at night, emissions from residential and commercial natural-gas combustion and other area sources can contribute > 80 % of the CO2 enhancement, while during the day emissions from the on-road sector dominate, accounting for > 70 % of the enhancement.
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Ledsham, Trudy, Steven Farber, and Nate Wessel. "Dwelling Type Matters: Untangling the Paradox of Intensification and Bicycle Mode Choice." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2662, no. 1 (January 2017): 67–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2662-08.
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Urban intensification is believed to result in a modal shift away from automobiles to more active forms of transportation. This study extended the understanding of bicycle mode choice and the influence of built form through an analysis of dwelling type, density, and mode choice. Apartment dwelling and active transportation are related to intensification, but an understanding of the impact of increased density on bicycling is muddied by the lack of isolation of cycling from walking in many studies and by the lack of controls for the confounding effects of dwelling type. This study examined the relationship between dwelling type and mode choice in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In this study of 223,232 trips, 25 variables were controlled for, and multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to estimate relative risk ratios. Strong evidence was found that a trip that originated from an apartment-based household was less than half as likely to be taken by bicycle as a similar trip that originated from a house-based household in Toronto in 2011. Increased population density of the household location had a positive impact on the likelihood that a trip would be taken by walking and a negligible and uncertain impact on the likelihood that it would be taken by transit. However, increased population density had a negative impact on bicycling. Further analysis found that the negative impact of density did not seem to apply to those who lived in single detached housing but rather only to the likelihood that apartment and townhouse dwellers would cycle. Further research is required to identify the exact barriers to cycling that apartment dwellers experience.
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Moos, Markus. "Urban Planning and the Suburbs: Solutions for Sustainability from the Edges." Urban Planning 3, no. 4 (October 30, 2018): 1–3. http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/up.v3i4.1794.
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This thematic issue of Urban Planning includes five articles that engage critically with the debates regarding the sustainability of suburbs. Contributions include a long-term perspective of the persistence of automobile-based planning and culture in Canada; an assessment of transportation modes among high-rise condominium apartment residents in Toronto’s outer suburbs; an evaluation of policy prescribed social-mix in France’s banlieues; a study of hyper-diversity in Peel Region in the Greater Toronto Area, which positions suburbs as centers of diversity; and an analysis of how the implementation and governance of new urbanist designs in three US communities has generally failed to achieve social objectives. The articles put into question the common approach of implementing suburban sustainability policy via urbanization and social mix. Together, the contributions point to the need for more stringent restrictions on automobile use, enhanced transit service in the suburbs, emphasis on bottom-up, community-driven policy-making, recognition of multiple dimensions of diversity, and strong political leadership to drive sustainability policy forward.
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Fay, Terence J. "Winnipeg and Minneapolis Bank Resources Compared, 1876-1926." Articles 14, no. 1 (August 13, 2013): 23–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/1017879ar.
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By 1926 Manitoba had a population one-third that of Minnesota, and yet the bank resources it accumulated to that year represented only one-tenth that of Minnesota banks. What can explain the much higher generation of banking resources in Minnesota and Minneapolis as compared with a much lower generation of resources in Manitoba and Winnipeg? A study of the number of branches in Manitoba and the level of cheque clearances in Winnipeg reveal that these branches were as vigorous as the number of unit banks and cheque clearances in Minnesota. However, by comparing the growth of Minneapolis industries with those in Winnipeg, it becomes apparent that Winnipeggers did not, as Minneapolis entrepreneurs did, develop the specialized manufacturing for export, the consequent company head offices, and the transportation services necessary to generate endogenous capital resources. Rather Winnipeg branches were the result of a banking system transported from Montreal and Toronto which, at the same time, it supplied financial resources for Manitobans, also served the goals of its Central Canadian directors and shareholders, and therefore, proceeded to integrate Winnipeg commercial resources into this central urban network. The Minneapolis industrial entrepreneurs, by contrast, established banks which generated their own financial resources and banking procedures. This meant that the Minneapolis bank owners were determined to shape the investment and growth of their metropolitan region. In Winnipeg, however, the branches served their Montreal and Toronto owners who were determined to encase Winnipeg businesses firmly within that Central Canadian urban system.
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Ganguli, Poulomi, and Paulin Coulibaly. "Does nonstationarity in rainfall require nonstationary intensity–duration–frequency curves?" Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 21, no. 12 (December 18, 2017): 6461–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6461-2017.
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Abstract. In Canada, risk of flooding due to heavy rainfall has risen in recent decades; the most notable recent examples include the July 2013 storm in the Greater Toronto region and the May 2017 flood of the Toronto Islands. We investigate nonstationarity and trends in the short-duration precipitation extremes in selected urbanized locations in Southern Ontario, Canada, and evaluate the potential of nonstationary intensity–duration–frequency (IDF) curves, which form an input to civil infrastructural design. Despite apparent signals of nonstationarity in precipitation extremes in all locations, the stationary vs. nonstationary models do not exhibit any significant differences in the design storm intensity, especially for short recurrence intervals (up to 10 years). The signatures of nonstationarity in rainfall extremes do not necessarily imply the use of nonstationary IDFs for design considerations. When comparing the proposed IDFs with current design standards, for return periods (10 years or less) typical for urban drainage design, current design standards require an update of up to 7 %, whereas for longer recurrence intervals (50–100 years), ideal for critical civil infrastructural design, updates ranging between ∼ 2 and 44 % are suggested. We further emphasize that the above findings need re-evaluation in the light of climate change projections since the intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation are expected to intensify due to global warming.
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Jahangiriesmaili, Mahyar, Sina Bahrami, and Matthew J. Roorda. "Solution of Two-Echelon Facility Location Problems by Approximation Methods." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2610, no. 1 (January 2017): 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2610-01.
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The two-echelon delivery structure is a strategy that can be implemented in urban areas to lower delivery costs by reducing the movement of heavy goods vehicles. In a two-echelon delivery structure, large trucks deliver shipments from a consolidation center to several terminals, where packages are transferred to smaller trucks for last-mile deliveries. This paper formulates a model that solves the two-echelon delivery structure by the use of approximation techniques. Several potential terminal locations and demand areas were identified, and the optimal number and locations of the terminals were examined, as the model evaluated the most cost-effective routes between the consolidation center, potential terminals, and demand areas. Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was chosen as the case study area to assess the model, and a cost analysis of the number and locations of the terminals was performed. The experiments showed that the number and the locations of the terminals were greatly influenced by the opening cost of the terminals and the transportation cost of the delivery trucks. It was also discovered that the likelihood of selection of terminals that were positioned near both the consolidation center and the center of the service area was higher than the likelihood of selection of terminals at any other location.
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Slowik, J. G., D. J. Cziczo, and J. P. D. Abbatt. "Analysis of cloud condensation nuclei composition and growth kinetics using a pumped counterflow virtual impactor and aerosol mass spectrometer." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions 4, no. 1 (January 17, 2011): 285–313. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amtd-4-285-2011.
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Abstract. We present a new method of determining the size and composition of CCN-active aerosol particles. Method utility is illustrated through a series of ambient measurements. A continuous-flow thermal-gradient diffusion chamber (TGDC), pumped counterflow virtual impactor (PCVI), and Aerodyne time-of-flight mass spectrometer (AMS) are operated in series. Ambient particles are sampled into the TGDC, where a constant supersaturation is maintained, and CCN-active particles grow to ~2.5±0.5 μm. The output flow from the TGDC is directed into the PCVI, where a counterflow of dry N2 gas opposes the particle-laden flow, creating a region of zero velocity. This stagnation plane can only be traversed by particles with sufficient momentum, which depends on their size. Particles that have activated in the TGDC cross the stagnation plane and are entrained in the PCVI output flow, while the unactivated particles are diverted to a pump. Because the input gas is replaced by the counterflow gas with better than 99% efficiency at the stagnation plane, the output flow consists almost entirely of dry N2 and water evaporates from the activated particles. In this way, the system yields an ensemble of CCN-active particles whose chemical composition and size are analyzed using the AMS. Measurements of urban aerosol in downtown Toronto identified an external mixture of CCN-active particles consisting almost entirely of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate, with CCN-inactive particles of the same size consisting of a mixture of ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, and organics. We also discuss results from the first field deployment of the TGDC-PCVI-AMS system, conducted from mid-May to mid-June 2007 in Egbert, Ontario, a semirural site ~80 km north of Toronto influenced both by clean air masses from the north and emissions from the city. Organic-dominated particles sampled during a major biogenic event exhibited higher CCN activity and/or faster growth kinetics than urban outflow from Toronto, despite the latter having a higher inorganic content and higher O:C ratio. During both events, particles were largely internally mixed.
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Slowik, J. G., D. J. Cziczo, and J. P. D. Abbatt. "Analysis of cloud condensation nuclei composition and growth kinetics using a pumped counterflow virtual impactor and aerosol mass spectrometer." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 4, no. 8 (August 30, 2011): 1677–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amt-4-1677-2011.
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Abstract. We present a new method of determining the size and composition of CCN-active aerosol particles. Method utility is illustrated through a series of ambient measurements. A continuous-flow thermal-gradient diffusion chamber (TGDC), pumped counterflow virtual impactor (PCVI), and Aerodyne time-of-flight mass spectrometer (AMS) are operated in series. Ambient particles are sampled into the TGDC, where a constant supersaturation is maintained, and CCN-active particles grow to ~2.5 &pm; 0.5 μm. The output flow from the TGDC is directed into the PCVI, where a counterflow of dry N2 gas opposes the particle-laden flow, creating a region of zero axial velocity. This stagnation plane can only be traversed by particles with sufficient momentum, which depends on their size. Particles that have activated in the TGDC cross the stagnation plane and are entrained in the PCVI output flow, while the unactivated particles are diverted to a pump. Because the input gas is replaced by the counterflow gas with better than 99 % efficiency at the stagnation plane, the output flow consists almost entirely of dry N2 and water evaporates from the activated particles. In this way, the system yields an ensemble of CCN-active particles whose chemical composition and size are analyzed using the AMS. Measurements of urban aerosol in downtown Toronto identified an external mixture of CCN-active particles consisting almost entirely of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate, with CCN-inactive particles of the same size consisting of a mixture of ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, and organics. We also discuss results from the first field deployment of the TGDC-PCVI-AMS system, conducted from mid-May to mid-June 2007 in Egbert, Ontario, a semirural site ~80 km north of Toronto influenced both by clean air masses from the north and emissions from the city. Organic-dominated particles sampled during a major biogenic event exhibited higher CCN activity and/or faster growth kinetics than urban outflow from Toronto, despite the latter having a higher inorganic content and higher O:C ratio. During both events, particles were largely internally mixed.
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Casello, Jeffrey M., Adam Fraser, Alex Mereu, and Pedram Fard. "Enhancing Cycling Safety at Signalized Intersections: Analysis of Observed Behavior." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2662, no. 1 (January 2017): 59–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2662-07.
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Urban transportation systems tend to operate most effectively when common expectations exist about all user travel behavior under various conditions. A wide range of behavior among cyclists presents a significant challenge to the achievement of safer and improved designs at intersections. In this research, cyclists were observed (i.e., through the use of video at fixed-camera locations) as they made left turns at six intersections in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The intersections were classified into five types on the basis of their physical designs and operational characteristics. Cyclist behavior was assessed to determine the propensity to traverse the intersection legally, designated as “rule compliance.” Further, the analysis determined the likelihood that a cyclist would traverse an intersection in a path that was consistent with the design; this outcome was defined as “facility compliance.” The results revealed that the presence of bike boxes, two-phase lefts, and turning lanes with advanced green phases positively influenced cyclists by increasing the likelihood that left turns would be legal and consistent with the behavior intended through the design. The results also suggested that the highest rates of rule and facility compliance existed under the condition in which cyclists approached an intersection during a green signal. On the basis of the observations in the research, design recommendations were made to accommodate cyclists better and produce more consistent behavior and presumably to enhance safety.
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Hossain, R., I. Burcul, J. Dai, R. Hossain, S. Strobel, Z. Ma, and S. Jamani. "LO70: Emergency department use and migration patterns of people experiencing homelessness." CJEM 22, S1 (May 2020): S33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cem.2020.125.
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Introduction: Understanding how homeless patients interact with healthcare systems can be challenging. The nature of the population is such that identifying and following these persons can be severely limited by data. Previous studies have used survey data which relies on self-reporting and selected samples such as those persons admitted to homeless shelters (Gray et al. 2011). Other studies have been able to leverage administrative data but only for selected local geographic areas (Somers et al. 2016, Tompkins et al 2003). It is possible that the current literature has not examined a large proportion of homeless persons and their healthcare use. This is concerning because this population can have higher associated medical costs and greater medical resource utilization especially with regards to psychiatric and emergency department (ED) resources (Tulloch et al. 2012, Forchuk et al, 2015). Methods: Administrative health data (2010 to 2017) is used to analyze ambulatory care records for homeless individuals in Ontario, Canada. Uniquely, we are able to use ED contacts as a way of identifying homeless migrations from region to region within Ontario. Using a network analysis we identify high impact ED nodes and discrete hospital networks where homeless patients congregate. We are also able to more fully characterize this population's demographics, health issues, and disposition from the ED. Results: We provide a more complete understanding of migration patterns for homeless individuals, across Ontario and their concomitant ED use and hospitalizations. The three most frequented regions in Ontario (n = 640,897) were Toronto Central (35.96%), Hamilton Niagara Halimand Brant (8.9%) and Champlain (7.84%). In subsequent visits, the majority of patients presented to different EDs, however a subgroup who always presented to the same site was present. Over the 7 year period, migration between visits occurred most often between urban areas, and increased as a whole. Conclusion: The results of the study allow for the enhancement care coordination for vulnerable populations and enhance the availability and delivery of services for sub-groups of homelessness whose care needs may differ based on migration patterns. Services can be coordinated between jurisdictions for homeless individuals, and appropriate referrals can be made across the health care system. Further evidence is provided for a novel method of mapping migration among the homeless and its associations and effects on ED use.
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Casello, Jeffrey M., and Pedram Fard. "Automated Tool for Geographic Information Systems That Supports Transit Network Design by Identifying Urban Activity Centers." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2651, no. 1 (January 2017): 12–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2651-02.
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Public transit is central to sustainable multimodal transportation systems; however, designing an effective transit network remains an analytically challenging and complex task. Given the spatial nature of the problem, geographic information systems (GISs) can support transit network design by identifying subsections of urban areas within and between which very high travel demand exists. Once these corridors are identified, local knowledge and expertise may be used to develop routings that satisfy these demands. This paper presents a spatial approach to assist in designing transit networks and describes the development and application of an automated, spatial multicriteria aggregation algorithm implemented as a user-friendly GIS tool coded by using the Python scripting library (ArcPy). Using population and employment densities, spatial adjacency, and geographic and administrative boundaries, the GIS tool leverages readily available demographic data to classify and merge traffic analysis zones into larger urban activity centers. The tool then aggregates regional origin–destination matrices to visualize only the flows associated with the activity centers. The results show that this approach significantly reduces the number of origins and destinations to be considered in designing the network but retains a large proportion of regional trips. This paper demonstrates how the tool can be applied through an example from the region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where the local transit agency is developing a transit network to support a central light-rail transit line.
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Tovilla, Edgar. "Mind the Gap: Management System Standards Addressing the Gap for Ontario’s Municipal Drinking Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Ecosystem of Regulations." Sustainability 12, no. 17 (August 31, 2020): 7099. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12177099.
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The research finds evidence in support of and wide recognition of the practical value of management system standards (MSS) by assisting municipalities in meeting their human health protection, environmental objectives, addressing environmental and property damage risks, and providing an additional mechanism of public accountability and transparency. Semi-structured interviews were applied to assess perceptions with practitioners and environmental non-governmental organizations on whether a similar approach to the legally required drinking water quality management standard (DWQMS) could be applied for the municipal wastewater and stormwater sectors. Twelve Ontario municipalities have adopted or are in the process of adopting an ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) standard for their wastewater and/or stormwater systems, which represents 66% of Ontario’s population. With the large urban centres (e.g., Toronto, York Region, Durham Region, Halton Region and Peel Region) adopting the standard, this is likely to influence small to medium-sized cities to follow a similar approach. Although, resources might be a factor preventing the cohort of smaller utilities voluntarily taking this path. Regulations governing Ontario’s municipal drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities were compared via gap analysis. Gaps on management of the system, performance monitoring, auditing and having minimum design criteria left the municipal wastewater and stormwater sectors behind in comparison with recently updated (2004–2008) regulatory framework for the drinking water sector. Based on the identification and review of significant gaps in wastewater and stormwater regulation (compared with the drinking water sector), environmental MSS should be incorporated to strengthen the regulatory framework of these sectors. These phenomena also depict a form of sustainable governance with the use of MSS, which are initiated, developed and regulated by non-state actors, recognizing the value of non-state rule instruments in the water, wastewater and stormwater sectors.
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Soukhov, Anastasia, Antonio Páez, Christopher D. Higgins, and Moataz Mohamed. "Introducing spatial availability, a singly-constrained measure of competitive accessibility." PLOS ONE 18, no. 1 (January 20, 2023): e0278468. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278468.
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Accessibility indicators are widely used in transportation, urban and healthcare planning, among many other applications. These measures are weighted sums of reachable opportunities from a given origin, conditional on the cost of movement, and are estimates of the potential for spatial interaction. Over time, various proposals have been forwarded to improve their interpretability: one of those methodological additions have been the introduction of competition. In this paper we focus on competition, but first demonstrate how a widely used measure of accessibility with congestion fails to properly match the opportunity-seeking population. We then propose an alternative formulation of accessibility with competition, a measure we call spatial availability. This measure relies on proportional allocation balancing factors (friction of distance and population competition) that are equivalent to imposing a single constraint on conventional gravity-based accessibility. In other words, the proportional allocation of opportunities results in a spatially available opportunities value which is assigned to each origin that, when all origin values are summed, equals the total number of opportunities in the region. We also demonstrate how Two-Stage Floating Catchment Area (2SFCA) methods are equivalent to spatial availability and can be reconceptualized as singly-constrained accessibility. To illustrate the application of spatial availability and compare it to other relevant measures, we use data from the 2016 Transportation Tomorrow Survey of the Greater Golden Horseshoe area in southern Ontario, Canada. Spatial availability is an important contribution since it clarifies the interpretation of accessibility with competition and paves the way for future applications in equity analysis (e.g., spatial mismatch, opportunity benchmarking, policy intervention scenario analysis).
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Mendolia, D., R. J. C. D'Souza, G. J. Evans, and J. Brook. "Impact of NO<sub>2</sub> horizontal heterogeneity on tropospheric NO<sub>2</sub> vertical columns retrieved from satellite, multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy, and in situ measurements." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions 6, no. 1 (January 25, 2013): 825–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amtd-6-825-2013.
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Abstract. Tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities were retrieved for the first time in Toronto, Canada using three methods of differing spatial scales. Remotely-sensed NO2 vertical column densities, retrieved from multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy and satellite remote sensing, were evaluated by comparison with in situ vertical column densities derived using a pair of chemiluminescence monitors situated 0.01 and 0.5 km above ground level. The chemiluminescence measurements were corrected for the influence of NOz, which reduced the NO2 concentrations at 0.01 and 0.5 km by 8 ± 1% and 12 ± 1%, respectively. The average absolute decrease in the chemiluminescence NO2 measurement as a result of this correction was less than 1 ppb. Good correlation was observed between the remotely sensed and in situ NO2 vertical column densities (Pearson R ranging from 0.68 to 0.79), but the in situ vertical column densities were 27% to 55% greater than the remotely-sensed columns. These results indicate that NO2 horizontal heterogeneity strongly impacted the magnitude of the remotely-sensed columns. The in situ columns reflected an urban environment with major traffic sources, while the remotely-sensed NO2 vertical column densities were representative of the region, which included spatial heterogeneity introduced by residential neighbourhoods and Lake Ontario. Despite the difference in absolute values, the reasonable correlation between the vertical column densities determined by three distinct methods increased confidence in the validity of the values provided by each of the methods.
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Gajewski, Rafał, and Iwona Sagan. "Władze regionalne w zarządzaniu metropolitalnym. Polskie doświadczenia w odniesieniu do Kanady i regionu metropolitalnego Toronto = Regional authorities in metropolitan governance. Polish experience in the context of Canada and Toronto city-region." Przegląd Geograficzny 92, no. 4 (2020): 591–607. http://dx.doi.org/10.7163/przg.2020.4.7.
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The article attempts to present dilemmas related to shaping metropolitan policy in Canada, and then relate them to problems occurring in Poland. It is a part of the debate on seeking the right governance configurations and discourses in response to the communities’ needs. Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of the scales of governance and socio-spatial relations in the Toronto metropolitan area. The article has been divided into four main parts. Part one outlines the theoretical framework and the context of the conducted analyses. Part two describes the structures and processes of regional and metropolitan governance in Southern Ontario, with the earlier reference to the institutional conditions and directions of reforms characteristic of the whole of Canada. Part three of the study concerns the governance arrangements that may constitute important reference points for the scientific and political discourse taking place in Poland. Part four is an attempt to capture the similarities and universal premises that have a decisive influence on the processes of forming metropolitan structures and policies, both in Canada and in Poland. The assumption was made that, despite different historical and socio-cultural conditions, comparing Canadian and Polish experiences is justified, necessary and possible. Firstly, due to the reason that socio-spatial relations in various territorial systems are subject to the same development processes and the accompanying processes of transformation and adaptation. Secondly, residents (members of local, metropolitan, regional, national and supranational communities) have similar needs and expect a high quality of life. Decision-makers and actors of political scenes in different geographical spaces have (or may have) the same technologies, ways of information processing, access to knowledge and knowledge of socio-economic processes. They also face challenges related to the inclusion of citizens in decision-making processes. The analysis of metropolitan processes in both countries emphasizes the differences resulting from various historical and economic contexts of development and also makes it possible to identify universal mechanisms and regularities independent of these contexts. The practice of metropolitan policy proves that the process of re-territorialization of power structures and governance is shaped as a resultant of the impact of forces and interests at all levels of territorial authorities: central, regional and local. Based on the analysis of the processes of the formation of metropolitan structures in Canada and Poland, it can be stated that the rank and position of regional authorities play a key role in it. In Canada, strong regional authorities initiate actions for the shaping of metropolitan structures and formulate the scope of their competence and organization. The importance of central authorities for the dynamics of metropolitan processes is secondary in this case. The weakness of regional authorities in Poland leads to the inability to give metropolitan processes the dynamics of development and the legislative rank adequate for the role played by urban regions in the socio-economic development of the country. As evidenced by the example of Toronto, the evolution of the governance system in practice initiates the process of self-learning the system which goes from one to another phase of development, improving the quality of its operation. In Poland, however, the process of creation of governance structures adequate for realistically existing functional metropolitan areas has been stopped, notably, due to the unfavourable political decisions at the central level.
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Mendolia, D., R. J. C. D'Souza, G. J. Evans, and J. Brook. "Comparison of tropospheric NO<sub>2</sub> vertical columns in an urban environment using satellite, multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy, and in situ measurements." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 6, no. 10 (October 31, 2013): 2907–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2907-2013.
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Abstract. Tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities have been retrieved and compared for the first time in Toronto, Canada, using three methods of differing spatial scales. Remotely sensed NO2 vertical column densities, retrieved from multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy and satellite remote sensing, were evaluated by comparison with in situ vertical column densities estimated using a pair of chemiluminescence monitors situated 0.01 and 0.5 km a.g.l. (above ground level). The chemiluminescence measurements were corrected for the influence of NOz, which reduced the NO2 concentrations at 0.01 and 0.5 km by an average of 8 ± 1% and 12 ± 1%, respectively. The average absolute decrease in the chemiluminescence NO2 measurement as a result of this correction was less than 1 ppb. The monthly averaged ratio of the NO2 concentration at 0.5 to 0.01 km varied seasonally, and exhibited a negative linear dependence on the monthly average temperature, with Pearson's R = 0.83. During the coldest month, February, this ratio was 0.52 ± 0.04, while during the warmest month, July, this ratio was 0.34 ± 0.04, illustrating that NO2 is not well mixed within 0.5 km above ground level. Good correlation was observed between the remotely sensed and in situ NO2 vertical column densities (Pearson's R value ranging from 0.72 to 0.81), but the in situ vertical column densities were 52 to 58% greater than the remotely sensed columns. These results indicate that NO2 horizontal heterogeneity strongly impacted the magnitude of the remotely sensed columns. The in situ columns reflected an urban environment with major traffic sources, while the remotely sensed NO2 vertical column densities were representative of the region, which included spatial heterogeneity introduced by residential neighbourhoods and Lake Ontario. Despite the difference in absolute values, the reasonable correlation between the vertical column densities determined by three distinct methods increased confidence in the validity of the values provided by each measurement technique.
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Mitra, Raktim, and James Schofield. "Biking the First Mile: Exploring a Cyclist Typology and Potential for Cycling to Transit Stations by Suburban Commuters." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2673, no. 4 (April 2019): 951–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0361198119837229.
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Regional commuter rail has become an important means of traveling to urban employment centers across North America, but planners are faced with the challenge of connecting commuters from their origin or destination locations to a train station. Cycling may be an efficient and low-cost way of taking these transit-access trips. However, cycling behavior of rail commuters, particularly in a suburban context, remains understudied. This research examined perceptions of cycling and current cycling behavior of 257 transit users from three suburban commuter rail stations in the Toronto region, Canada. Using a cluster analysis approach, four distinct cyclist types were identified, namely: recreational cyclists (29%), all-purpose cyclists (10%), safety-conscious occasional cyclists (33%), and facility-demanding occasional cyclists (28%). Differences between these groups included different mode-choice motivations, tolerance for adverse weather conditions, comfort bicycling in various hypothetical traffic/infrastructure conditions, and current frequency of cycling for transportation and recreational purposes. The safety-conscious group included a higher percentage of women compared to other groups. Overall, 32.5% of regional transit users would be interested in cycling more often to rail stations. A higher proportion of recreational cyclists (compared to other groups) were “interested first-mile cyclists”, whereas the safety-conscious group had a significantly greater proportion of “uninterested” respondents. With careful planning of bicycle infrastructure and awareness campaigns targeting perceptions of cycling, there is much potential for cycling to accommodate a greater proportion of transit-access trips in suburban communities, reducing demand for automobile parking at transit stations.
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Whaley, Cynthia H., Elisabeth Galarneau, Paul A. Makar, Michael D. Moran, and Junhua Zhang. "How much does traffic contribute to benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon air pollution? Results from a high-resolution North American air quality model centred on Toronto, Canada." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 20, no. 5 (March 11, 2020): 2911–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2911-2020.
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Abstract. Benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic air pollutants that have long been associated with motor vehicle emissions, though the importance of such emissions has never been quantified over an extended domain using a chemical transport model. Herein we present the first application of such a model (GEM-MACH-PAH) to examine the contribution of motor vehicles to benzene and PAHs in ambient air. We have applied the model over a region that is centred on Toronto, Canada, and includes much of southern Ontario and the northeastern United States. The resolution (2.5 km) was the highest ever employed by a model for these compounds in North America, and the model domain was the largest at this resolution in the world to date. Using paired model simulations that were run with vehicle emissions turned on and off (while all other emissions were left on), we estimated the absolute and relative contributions of motor vehicles to ambient pollutant concentrations. Our results provide estimates of motor vehicle contributions that are realistic as a result of the inclusion of atmospheric processing, whereas assessing changes in benzene and PAH emissions alone would neglect effects caused by shifts in atmospheric oxidation and particle–gas partitioning. A secondary benefit of our scenario approach is in its utility in representing a fleet of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), whose adoption is being encouraged in a variety of jurisdictions. Our simulations predicted domain-average on-road vehicle contributions to benzene and PAH concentrations of 4 %–21 % and 14 %–24 % in the spring–summer and fall–winter periods, respectively, depending on the aromatic compound. Contributions to PAH concentrations up to 50 % were predicted for the Greater Toronto Area, and the domain maximum was simulated to be 91 %. Such contributions are substantially higher than those reported at the national level in Canadian emissions inventories, and they also differ from inventory estimates at the subnational scale in the US. Our model has been run at a finer spatial scale than reported in those inventories, and furthermore includes physico-chemical processing that alters pollutant concentrations after their release. The removal of on-road vehicle emissions generally led to decreases in benzene and PAH concentrations during both periods that were studied, though atmospheric processing (such as chemical reactions and changes to particle–gas partitioning) contributed to non-linear behaviour at some locations or times of year. Such results demonstrate the added value associated with regional air quality modelling relative to examinations of emissions inventories alone. We also found that removing on-road vehicle emissions reduced spring–summertime surface O3 volume mixing ratios and fall–wintertime PM10 concentrations each by ∼10 % in the model domain, providing further air quality benefits. Toxic equivalents contributed by vehicle emissions of PAHs were found to be substantial (20 %–60 % depending on location), and this finding is particularly relevant to the study of public health in the urban areas of our model domain where human population, ambient concentrations, and traffic volumes tend to be high.
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Lembcke, David, Bill Thompson, Kaitlyn Read, Andrew Betts, and Dilan Singaraja. "REDUCING ROAD SALT APPLICATION BY CONSIDERING WINTER MAINTENANCE NEEDS IN PARKING LOT DESIGN." Journal of Green Building 12, no. 2 (March 2017): 1–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.3992/1943-4618.12.2.1.
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INTRODUCTION Winter snow and ice can have a significant impact on our mobility, whether on foot or by car. Alongside plowing, arguably the greatest tool in combating snow and ice is salt. The most commonly used salt for winter maintenance is Sodium Chloride (NaCl), the same salt used in food and water softeners, is applied to roads, sidewalks, and parking lots as it is an effective deicer when temperatures are between 0°C and −12°C. Studies have shown that deicing with salt reduces accidents by 88% and injuries by 85% (Salt Institute 2017). The effectiveness of road salt, as well as its relative affordability, means that as much as four million tonnes may be applied annually in Canada for deicing (Environment Canada 2012). However, while salt is relatively inexpensive to purchase, there are a number of external costs that are becoming increasingly apparent. These include corrosion of vehicles and infrastructure like concrete, bridges, and water mains; damage and staining to the interior and exterior of buildings; impacts to roadside vegetation and soils; and the contamination of fresh water. In fact, the environmental impacts are such that it prompted Environment Canada to propose that winter salt be considered a toxic substance primarily due to the quantity that is applied annually (Environment Canada 2001). The Lake Simcoe watershed, approximately 3,400km2 in size, is situated just 20km north of Toronto, Ontario, with the southern portion of the watershed being considered part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the most populous metropolitan area in Canada. As part of the GTA, the Lake Simcoe watershed has experienced and continues to experience considerable growth, and with this growth comes an increase in the amount of impervious surfaces requiring winter salting. Indeed, chloride has been showing a strong increasing trend in the urban creeks and in Lake Simcoe itself over the last 30 years. Even rural creeks are showing an increasing trend, albeit not as severe, nor are the concentrations of chloride reaching the same levels (LSRCA 2015). The highest chloride level recorded in a Lake Simcoe tributary was 6,120mg/l in the winter of 2013. Chloride guidelines for the protection of aquatic ecosystems utilize a guideline of 120mg/L for chronic exposure and 640mg/L for acute exposure (CCME 2011). While the high value recorded in the Lake Simcoe tributary greatly exceeds these guidelines, it is still drastically lower than values being recorded in larger, intensively urbanized catchments such as Cooksville Creek in Mississauga, Ontario, which sees concentrations in excess of 20,000 mg/L, the concentration of sea water, nearly every winter (Credit Valley Conservation personal comm). Similarly, in July of 2011 a small population of Atlantic blue crabs, a marine species, was found surviving in Mimico Creek in Toronto (Toronto Star: May 26, 2012). That a marine species was able to survive in this fresh water creek in summer demonstrates that the impacts of winter salt are not just limited to winter but are impacting shallow groundwater and thus summer baseflow, maintaining high chloride concentrations year round. The same is being seen in some urban creeks in the Lake Simcoe watershed, with summer baseflow concentrations exceeding the chronic guideline and trending upwards (LSRCA unpublished). While not yet as extreme as rivers in the more densely urbanized parts of the GTA, these examples foreshadow what is in store for Lake Simcoe rivers if current winter salt practices continue along with the projected urban growth. During the winter of 2012 an estimated 99,300 tonnes of salt was applied in the Lake Simcoe watershed, an amount that equals nearly 250kg of salt per capita, or ~3 times the average person's body weight in salt. This estimate was generated through a survey of local road agencies along with the total area of commercial/institutional parking lots within the watershed. The exercise served to highlight a knowledge gap around application practices and rates in commercial/institutional parking lots. The majority of road agencies were found to record annual volumes, application dates and rates whereas literature values range from 10–40% of the salt applied in a catchment come from commercial/institutional parking lots (Perera et al, 2009; Trowbridge et al, 2010; Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, 2015), and a survey of winter maintenance contractors cite an average value of approximately 58g/m2/application (Fu et al, 2013) ( Figure 1 ). [Figure: see text] While these values were used in the estimation as they were the best available, observational data suggested these may be on the conservative side ( Figure 2 ). [Figure: see text] Therefore, monitoring of a 14 ha commercial lot was undertaken for the winters of 2014/15, 2015/16, and 2016/17 to better quantify the amount of salt coming from this type of land use. The winters of 2014/15 and 2016/17 saw similar applications of 1,067 and 1,010 tonnes applied respectively, while the mild winter of 2015/16 saw 556 tonnes applied. While the amounts varied somewhat each winter, the impacts downstream were consistent. Maximum concentrations recorded in the melt water reached 3.5 to 4 times the salt concentration of sea water every winter, equating to chloride concentrations of 70,000mg/L to 85,000mg/L; two orders of magnitude above the water quality guideline. As with most parking lots constructed in the last two decades, the runoff from this parking lot is captured in a stormwater pond prior to entering the receiving watercourse. Interestingly, the winter salt also caused persistent chemical stratification in the permanent pool of the pond. The pond was monitored with continuous monitors for the ice free period of 2015 and 2016 (April to December) during which the bottom water chloride concentration remained distinct from the surface chloride concentration, indicating stratification ( Figure 3 ). This has two significant implications; first of which is that this pond, and therefore many other ponds like it, may not be functioning as designed which is leading to diminished performance (McEnroe 2012, Marsalek 2003). Second is that ponds are acting as salt reservoirs, slowly releasing salt year round and contributing to river chloride concentrations that continually exceed the chronic exposure guideline and thereby exposing aquatic life to harmful concentrations during sensitive life cycle stages. [Figure: see text] To determine the extent to which the catchment land use type impacts stormwater ponds, chemical profiles were measured on three ponds in February 2017. The catchments included the 24.6 ha commercial catchment with 14 ha of salt application surface, an institutional catchment (14.3 ha) with 6 ha of salt application area that includes parking lots and roads, and a 16.4 ha residential catchment with 3 ha of salt application area comprised of tertiary municipal roads. Interestingly, all three ponds showed chemical stratification, with the severity of the stratification and highest chloride concentrations relating to the amount of salt application area in the catchment. The residential pond yielded a maximum chloride concentration of 3,115mg/L in the bottom waters, the institutional yielded 16,144mg/L, and the commercial yielded 25,530 mg/L with chloride concentrations in the bottom 0.5m of the pond exceeding that of sea water. The maximum chloride concentration recorded in the receiving watercourse downstream of the commercial lot was measured at 5,406 mg/L, well in excess of the acute guideline of 640 mg/L. These results highlight that commercial parking lots are not only receiving a significant volume of salt but are also having the most dramatic impacts on receiving stormwater infrastructure and watercourses.
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Qing, Liyuan, Hasti A. Petrosian, Sarah N. Fatholahi, Michael A. Chapman, and Jonathan Li. "Quantifying Urban Expansion Using Landsat Images and Landscape Metrics: A Case Study of the Halton Region, Ontario." Geomatica, November 24, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/geomat-2020-0017.
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Urbanization is considered as one of the main factors affecting global change. The Halton Region as part of the Great Toronto Area (GTA), is regarded as one of the fastest growing regions in Canada, generating 20% of national GDP. It is also one of the most desirable places for living and thriving business. This research attempts to assess the urban expansion in the Halton Region, Ontario, Canada from 1989 to 2019 using satellite images, analysis approaches and landscape metrics. Multi-temporal Landsat images, and the supervised learning algorithms in GIS software were used to explore the dynamic changes, and to classify the urban and non-urban areas. The temporal urban expansion in the Halton Region experienced a dramatic rise, and mainly occurred from the centre of the area. The analysis of landscape metrics based on different methods, including Land Use in Central Indiana (LUCI) model, Vegetation-Impervious Surface-soil (V-I-S) model, and the census data of Canada was carried out to understand the transition mode of the urbanization in the Halton Region. Also, the population growth in the centre of the Halton Region was considered as one of driven forces affecting urban expansion. The results showed that most of the landscape metrics rose between 1989 and 2019, indicating leapfrog pattern of urbanization occurred over the entire period. The contribution of this research is to evaluate the urbanization in the Halton Region, and give the city managers a clear mind to make appropriate decisions in further urban planning.
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Chowdhury, Tufayel, James Vaughan, Marc Saleh, Kianoush Mousavi, Marianne Hatzopoulou, and Matthew J. Roorda. "Modeling the Impacts of Off-Peak Delivery in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, April 22, 2022, 036119812210895. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/03611981221089552.
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Off-peak-hour delivery (OPHD) has the potential to reduce congestion in busy urban areas and at the same time improve the efficiency of logistics providers, shippers, and receivers. There has been growing interest in OPHD in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), an important freight hub in Canada. The Government of Ontario is considering permanently relaxing noise by-laws to promote OPHD throughout the province. The purpose of this study is to provide quantitative assessments of the impacts of region-wide adoption of OPHD for the GTHA. A recently developed commercial vehicle (CV) model for the GTHA is presented in the paper. Various OPHD scenarios have been tested with the CV model. The impacts of induced passenger demand have also been demonstrated. Modeling outcomes indicate that OPHD could result in 5,530 vehicle-hours saved in a day after induced demand is accounted for. Light truck carriers would benefit the most by shifting to off-peak hours and prioritizing Toronto and Peel Region customers would yield the highest travel time savings during the off-peak hours.
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Thompson, Calum, Michael Branion-Calles, and Anne Harris. "Translating risk to preventable burden by estimating numbers of bicycling injuries preventable by separated infrastructure on a Toronto, Ontario corridor." University of Toronto Journal of Public Health 2, no. 1 (May 26, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.33137/utjph.v2i1.35209.
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Objectives: Bicycling is a form of active transportation with a number of health benefits but carries a high risk of injury compared to other transportation modes. Safety intervention evaluations often produce results in the form of ratios, which can be difficult to communicate to policy-makers. The primary objective of this study was to estimate the number of bicycling injuries on an urban corridor preventable by separated bicycling infrastructure.
Methods: Stakeholders identified a key corridor with multiple segments having bicycling infrastructure but most of the corridor lacking similar infrastructure. We counted bicyclist volume along this route and used secondary data to supplement counts missing due to COVID-19. We used two reference studies including local bicycling population to estimate benefit of separated bicycling infrastructure and applied this to a city-wide estimate of baseline risk of injury per kilometre bicycled, which used a combination of secondary data sources including police, health care and travel survey data. Finally, we adjusted baseline risk to account for increased bicyclist volume during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: We estimated installation of fully separated cycle tracks along one Toronto corridor would prevent approximately 152.9 injuries and 0.9 fatalities over a 10-year period.
Discussion: Our results underscore the benefits of separated bicycling infrastructure. We identify several caveats for our results, including the limitations of studies used to estimate relative risk of infrastructure. Our method could be adapted for use in other cities or along other corridors. Finally, we discuss the role of preventable burden estimates as a knowledge translation tool.
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Buajitti, Emmalin, Tristan Watson, Todd Norwood, and Laura Rosella. "Spatial epidemiology of premature mortality in Ontario, Canada." International Journal of Population Data Science 3, no. 4 (September 3, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v3i4.820.
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IntroductionGeographic disparities in health indicators, such as premature mortality, may reveal area-level weaknesses in health system performance. Monitoring geographic trends can therefore have powerful implications for system evaluation and planning. However, attempts to understand patterns of population health can be complicated by underlying regional differences in demographics and behaviours.
Objectives and ApproachThis study aimed to identify regional disparities in premature mortality (defined as death before age 75), and to investigate how fully these disparities can be explained by population-level characteristics. Ontario’s 76 administrative Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) sub-regions, which vary in geographic and population size, were analyzed using linked population-level data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Cancer Care Ontario.
Spatially structured, sex-stratified Bayesian hierarchical models were used to estimate standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for each LHIN sub-region in the 2011-2015 period. Models were adjusted for key population-level demographic and behavioural risk factors.
ResultsLarge disparities in premature mortality presented at the sub-region level in males and females. Low premature mortality clustered around large, urban population centers in Ottawa and Toronto. Premature mortality was comparatively higher throughout the rest of the province, particularly in northern and southeast Ontario.
Higher prevalence of material deprivation, overweight and obesity, sedentary behaviour, and smoking were all significantly (α=0.05) associated with elevated premature mortality risk, while increased alcohol consumption and immigrant population were associated with decreased risk.
Adjusting for model covariates reduced variance of sub-region SMR estimates by 87% in males and 89% in females. Population-level characteristics thus explain a large proportion of geographic inequality in premature mortality. However, residual spatial variation suggests that systematic regional differences in premature mortality extend beyond population-level traits.
Conclusion/Implications
This study represents a novel application of small-area analytic techniques to Ontario mortality data, made possible by comprehensive linkage of vital statistics. The findings highlight the importance of population composition to geographic disparities in health. Future work should investigate the influence of system-level factors in areas with elevated premature mortality.
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Mukhtar, Maria, and David Guillette. "Using Planning Data to Monitor the Health of Communities - The Healthy Development: Monitoring and Mapping Project." International Journal of Population Data Science 3, no. 4 (August 23, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v3i4.666.
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IntroductionThe impact of the built environment on health and chronic disease outcomes is increasingly being recognized. As Public Health develops interventions to transform the health-promoting potential of built environments, effective monitoring and evaluation will require the creation and baseline measurement of key health-promoting urban elements.
Objectives and ApproachThe Healthy Development Monitoring Project aims to assess health-promoting aspects of the existing built environment across the Region of Peel, a large region of 1.382 million people in Southern Ontario comprised of three local municipalities (the Cities of Mississauga, Brampton and Town of Caledon).
Project objectives include:
Produce evidence-informed indicators to measure health-promoting built form elements at a neighbourhood-scale across the region
Produce a GIS-based visualization that incorporates these indicators into a single model to measure their combined impact on the built form
Reproduce these indicators over time to monitor for changes in Peel’s built form
ResultsThe resulting Healthy Development Monitoring Map (HDMM) is an interactive online mapping tool that includes twenty built form indicators characterizing the region’s built environment, including: density, service proximity, land use mix, street connectivity, streetscape characteristics and efficient parking. These indicators were created through extensive cross-sectoral collaboration with regional and municipal staff in land-use and policy planning, transportation, internal data centers and academic institutions. This collaborative approach enabled the linking of data sets from land-use planning, urban design and transportation to allow the health-promoting potential of existing built environment conditions to be objectively described. The HDMM demonstrates considerable progress in producing precise, neighbourhood-level built environment indicators at a regional scale by integrating census and local data into a comprehensive set of empirically-derived measures.
Conclusion/ImplicationsThe HDMM is a novel approach to quantifying a social determinant of health through collaborative data acquisition and analysis. The HDMM benefits public health, planning and non-governmental decision-makers by creating a holistic presentation of key infrastructure and design elements that contribute to healthier urban environments.
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Blanchette, Sébastien, Richard Larouche, Mark S. Tremblay, Guy Faulkner, Negin A. Riazi, and Francois Trudeau. "Influence of weather conditions on children's school travel mode and physical activity in three diverse regions of Canada." Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, November 26, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2020-0277.
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Children who engage in active school transportation (AST) have higher levels of physical activity (PA). Climate and weather were shown to influence adults' daily travel behaviours, but their influence on children's AST and PA has been less examined. This study examined the influence of weather conditions on children’s active school transportation (AST) and overall physical activity (PA). Children in grades 4 to 6 (N=1,699; 10.2 ± 1.0 years old) were recruited in schools located in urban, suburban and rural areas, stratified by area-level socioeconomic status (SES), in three different regions of Canada (Trois-Rivières, Québec; Ottawa, Ontario; Vancouver, British Columbia). Mode of school travel was self-reported and physical activity was measured using a pedometer. We used publicly available data on total precipitation and early morning temperature. AST increased with temperature only among girls. Daily precipitation was negatively associated with boys’ and girls’ PA while warmer temperature was associated with increased PA on weekend days. We also observed that season and region moderated the relationship between weather conditions and children’s physical activity behaviors. Our results suggest that daily weather variations influence children’s AST and PA to a greater extent than seasonal variations. Interventions designed to help children and families adapt to weather-related barriers to AST and PA are needed.
Novelty bullets
• In Canada, weather conditions may influence children’s active behaviors daily.
• Associations between weather conditions, choice of travel mode and physical activity vary by gender, season, and region.
• Weather affects children's PA differently during the week than on weekends.
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Soukhov, Anastasia, and Antonio Páez. "TTS2016R: A data set to study population and employment patterns from the 2016 Transportation Tomorrow Survey in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area, Ontario, Canada." Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, January 9, 2023, 239980832211467. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23998083221146781.
Full textAbstract:
This paper describes and visualises the data contained within the {TTS2016R} data package created in R, the statistical computing and graphics language. {TTS2016R} contains home-to-work commute information for the Greater Golden Horseshoe area in Canada retrieved from the 2016 Transportation Tomorrow Survey (TTS). Included are all Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZ), the number of people who are employed full-time per TAZ, the number of jobs per TAZ, the count of origin destination (OD) pairs and trips by mode per origin TAZ, calculated car travel time from TAZ OD centroid pairs and associated spatial boundaries to link TAZ to the Canadian Census. To illustrate how this information can be analysed to understand patterns in commuting, we estimate a distance-decay curve (i.e. impedance function) for the region. {TTS2016R} is a growing open data product built on R infrastructure that allows for the immediate access of home-to-work commuting data alongside complimentary objects from different sources. The package will continue expanding with additions by the authors and the community at-large by requests in the future. {TTS2016R} can be freely explored and downloaded in the associated Github repository where the documentation and code involved in data creation, manipulation and all open data products are detailed.
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Rothman, Linda, Naomi Schwartz, Marie-Soleil Cloutier, Meghan Winters, Colin Macarthur, Brent E. Hagel, Alison K. Macpherson, Nisrine El Amiri, Pamela Fuselli, and Andrew William Howard. "Child pedestrian and cyclist injuries, and the built and social environment across Canadian cities: the Child Active Transportation Safety and the Environment Study (CHASE)." Injury Prevention, January 20, 2022, injuryprev—2021–044459. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2021-044459.
Full textAbstract:
IntroductionTraffic injury is a leading and preventable cause of child death and disability, with child pedestrians and cyclists particularly vulnerable. Examining built environment correlates of child pedestrian and cyclist motor vehicle collisions (PCMVC) in different settings is needed to promote an evidence-based approach to road safety.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study across multiple urban/suburban environments in Canada (Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Laval, Peel Region). All public elementary schools were included (n=1030). We examined the role of land use/social environments, road environments and traffic safety interventions on the rates of child PCMVC within 1000 m of schools. Multivariable negative binomial regression was conducted for all cities and by individual city. In a subset of schools (n=389), we examined associations when controlling for active school transportation (AST).ResultsMean PCMVC rate per school ranged from 0.13 collisions/year in Peel to 0.35 in Montreal. Child PCMVC were correlated with land use, social and road environments and traffic safety interventions. In fully adjusted models, social and land use features remained the most important correlates. New immigrant population had the largest positive association with child PCMVC (incidence rate ratio (IRR): 1.26, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.50), while old housing (pre-1960) density was most protective (IRR: 0.83, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.90). AST was associated with PCMVC, but it had no effect on the relationships between PCMVC and other social/environmental correlates.ConclusionThe built environment and social factors influence rates of child PCMVC. Opportunities to reduce child PCMVC exist through modifications to city design and road environments and implementing traffic safety interventions.