Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Kevin Blake / With their windswept ridges and wind-rent skies, prairies and plains have often been denigrated as nothing but nothing—empty, meaningless, valueless space. Mountains and forests, oceans and deserts have been praised and protected while vast expanses of undulating grasslands have been plowed under, grazed over, used, abused, maligned. Once the largest ecosystem on the North American continent, wild prairies now persist mainly in overlooked or unwanted fragments. In part, it’s a matter of psychology; some people see plains as visually unpleasing (too big, too boring) or physically alienating (too dry, too exposed). It’s also part economics; prairies seem more productive, more valuable as anything but tangles of grass and sage. But at heart, it’s a matter of sociocultural and individual biases; people seeking bucolic or sublime landscapes find “empty,” treeless skyscapes flat and dull, forgettable. Scientific, social, and especially aesthetic appreciation for plains requires a different perspective—a pause in place—an exploration of the horizon as well as an examination of the minutiae, few people have strived to understand and appreciate undifferentiated, untrammeled space. This research seeks to change that by example, using conscientious, systematic reflection on first-hand experience to explore questions fundamental to phenomenology and geography—how do people experience the world? How do we shape places and how do places shape us?—in the context of plains landscapes. Written and illustrated from the perspective of a newcomer, a scholar, a National Park Service ranger, a walker, a watcher, a person wholly and unabashedly in love with wild places, the creative non-fiction narratives, photoessays, and hand-drawn maps address themes of landscape aesthetics, sense of place, and place-identity by tracing the natural, cultural, and managerial histories of and personal relationships with Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, South Dakota’s Badlands National Park, Kansas’s Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research Station, and Wyoming’s Fossil Butte National Monument. Prosaic and photographic meditations on wildness and wilderness, travel and tourism, preservation and conservation, days and seasons, expectations and acceptance, even dreams and reality intertwine to evoke and illuminate the inspiring aesthetic of spacious places—Zen of the plains.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le champ des psychologies environnementale et sociale. Elle est introduite par une réflexion épistémologique promouvant le paradigme de la Pensée Complexe (Morin, 1977) et questionnant la place de la psychologie environnementale sur la scène scientifique. Les travaux exploratoires portent sur l'appréhension psychosociale des infrastructures de transport, une question pertinente au regard des revendications des populations vis-à-vis de l'aménagement du territoire. Les représentations sociales (Moscovici, 1961), l'implication personnelle (Rouquette, 1997) et les dimensions de la relation Homme-Environnement que sont le sens du lieu (Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001) et l'appropriation de l'espace sont mises en perspective avec les attitudes en vue d'analyser les paramètres suscitant l'accueil favorable des aménagements par les populations. La thèse présente plusieurs développements méthodologiques : la traduction d'une échelle de sens du lieu (Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001) et l'élaboration d'une échelle d'appropriation de l'espace ; puis fait état de quatre études de cas menées dans des régions françaises où des infrastructures de transport étaient en projet ou récemment mises en service. Enfin, une modélisation rassemblant l'ensemble des données a été réalisée. Ces différentes analyses ont révélé l'aptitude de l'implication personnelle, de l'appropriation de l'espace, et des éléments représentationnels revêtant un enjeu spécifique, à expliquer les attitudes. La discussion pose les jalons d'une bonne intégration des infrastructures dans le contexte socio-économique des régions, en montrant un recul critique vis-à-vis du concept « NIMBY ». / This thesis was conducted within the fields of environmental and social psychologies. It is introduced by an epistemological reflection promoting the Complex Thought paradigm (Morin, 1977), and questioning the position of environmental psychology on the scientific arena. After that, we expose a work dealing with psychosocial apprehension of transport infrastructures, a pertinent question according to populations' demands towards landscape planning. Social representations (Moscovici, 1961), personal implication (Rouquette, 1997) and some Man-Setting relationship dimensions, among which sense of place (Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001) and space appropriation (Vidal & Pol, 2005) were put in perspective with attitudes, in the aim of analyzing parameters enabling social acceptance of these infrastructures. The thesis presents several methodological developments: the translation of a sense of place scale (Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001), and the elaboration of a space appropriation scale. Then, it describes four case studies which were carried out in French regions where transport infrastructures were either in project, or recently put in service. Finally, a model gathering all the data was realized. These different analyses revealed the capacity of personal implication, space appropriation and representational elements with a specific stake, to explain attitudes. Discussion exposes some conditions for a good integration of transport infrastructures in the social and economic context of the studied regions, taking some critical distance with the “NYMBY” concept.

This five-paper thesis explores office workers perceptions of green roofs and how this influences their health/well-being in Toronto and Chicago. Paper 1 examines the underlying paradigms and world-views of major research programs that look at the human relationship to nature and health/well-being, showing that despite some convergence between their methods and integration of different paradigms, continued differences and lack of clarity on the normative assumptions underlying each approach leads to confusion in the specification of ‘nature’ in health/well-being and place research. Paper 2 is a comparative analysis of the implementation of green roof policies in Toronto and Chicago. Paper 2 demonstrates the importance of ‘selling’ green roofs by linking them to larger environmental programs and of the municipal power structure that influences how and if environmental programs are implemented. Paper 3 examines the awareness, attitudes, and feelings towards green roofs by office workers with access to them (visual or physical) from their workplace in Toronto and Chicago. Using a phenomenological analysis of semi-structured interviews (n=55), Paper 3 shows that the hinterland, expectations of different kinds of ‘nature’ and aesthetics in the city, and access all influence perceptions of green roofs and sense of place. Paper 4 explores office workers awareness of and attitudes towards green roofs and the possible influence on their well-being in Toronto and Chicago from a large survey (n = 903). Participants showed a high literacy on the environmental benefits of green roofs. Chi-square analysis showed mixed results for health, but a significant association between visual access to a green roof and improved concentration. Paper 5 tests whether the relationship found in Paper 4, improved concentration with visual access, was still significant when other confounding variables were added to the model. Using a logistic regression on the same survey population (subset n =505), results found that concentration was no longer significant but that there was a trend towards improved concentration.

In the United States, there is a growing trend towards livable cities that facilitate physical, psychological, and social well-being. According to Congress of the New Urbanism, the great American suburb served by the automobile, does not fulfill all these functions. Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg points out three realms of satisfactory life as work, home and the ‘great good place’ as the third. The third place is one that facilitates barrier free social interaction, for example the American main-street, the English pub, French coffee house etc. Despite the ever existing need for such places, greater travel distances and the ever expanding needs of the automobile era have stripped our urban fabric of these. The Charter of the New Urbanism points out that in the American suburbs, neighborhood parks have the potential to serve as ‘third places.’ The twofold purpose of this research was to examine Steeplechase dog-park using Oldenburg’s Third Place construct as a starting point; and then to operationalize third place by establishing relationships between social characteristics and physical environment. Participant observation, casual conversations and ethnographic interviews were methods used to examine how residents use Steeplechase Park. The observation phase was used to understand on-site behavior, user interests and then establish contacts with participants for recruitment. In-depth interviews were then conducted to examine user history, relationships and attitudes toward the place. Data was coded and analyzed in NVivo 10 utilizing Oldenburg’s framework as a reference, the components of which were then examined for correlations to the physical elements. The findings of suggest that Steeplechase Park functions as a somewhat unique third place in terms of user motivation, companion animal/social lubricant, neutrality and inclusiveness of the place. Findings also establish useful links between the physical design of the space and the social activity; prospect-refuge supported by vegetation and layout, topography, shade, edges and access being the most important aspects. Additionally, lack of maintenance was established as a major concern to sustained use.

This five-paper thesis explores office workers perceptions of green roofs and how this influences their health/well-being in Toronto and Chicago. Paper 1 examines the underlying paradigms and world-views of major research programs that look at the human relationship to nature and health/well-being, showing that despite some convergence between their methods and integration of different paradigms, continued differences and lack of clarity on the normative assumptions underlying each approach leads to confusion in the specification of ‘nature’ in health/well-being and place research. Paper 2 is a comparative analysis of the implementation of green roof policies in Toronto and Chicago. Paper 2 demonstrates the importance of ‘selling’ green roofs by linking them to larger environmental programs and of the municipal power structure that influences how and if environmental programs are implemented. Paper 3 examines the awareness, attitudes, and feelings towards green roofs by office workers with access to them (visual or physical) from their workplace in Toronto and Chicago. Using a phenomenological analysis of semi-structured interviews (n=55), Paper 3 shows that the hinterland, expectations of different kinds of ‘nature’ and aesthetics in the city, and access all influence perceptions of green roofs and sense of place. Paper 4 explores office workers awareness of and attitudes towards green roofs and the possible influence on their well-being in Toronto and Chicago from a large survey (n = 903). Participants showed a high literacy on the environmental benefits of green roofs. Chi-square analysis showed mixed results for health, but a significant association between visual access to a green roof and improved concentration. Paper 5 tests whether the relationship found in Paper 4, improved concentration with visual access, was still significant when other confounding variables were added to the model. Using a logistic regression on the same survey population (subset n =505), results found that concentration was no longer significant but that there was a trend towards improved concentration.

This thesis is based on two observations. First, that conventional buildings cause two major losses that involve non-human nature – the loss of native biodiversity and the loss of non-human nature experience for the buildings’ human inhabitants – and that these losses both contribute to a perceived separation between humans and the rest of nature. Second, that there appears to be a growing interest in connecting buildings with nature but there is little agreement on what it actually means to ‘design with nature’. As such, the purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) to describe the meaning of ‘designing with nature’ in current architectural practice and provide a working definition of nature-based design, and (2) to explore how this can be interpreted to encourage human connectedness with non-human nature, while addressing the two major losses mentioned above. It is thus an attempt to reframe the role of building as one that provides for all inhabitants of a site, both human and non. A framework was developed that captures and summarizes the dominant ways in which design draws on nature. The framework emphasizes the importance of using ecosystems not only as models, but foremost as context. The core concepts of the framework can thus be discussed from the perspective of buildings that act like an ecosystem and that interact with their ecosystem, and are described as: ecological sense of place, regenerative ability, ecosystem health, mutually beneficial relationships, context, appropriate management, functions, ecosystem principles, values, patterns, conditions, and adaptations. Although the concepts presented in the framework are themselves not new, the way in which they are organized does contribute a new perspective on the field of nature-based design. In addition to providing a graphic model that summarizes the essence of an evolving field, the research highlights the role of scale and place in linking building design, native biodiversity, nature experience and connectedness with nature. It thus acts as a backdrop on which to bring a discussion of ecological citizenship into the architectural dialogue.

This thesis is set in St. Catharines Ontario, a mid-sized city of 132,000 people, situated in the heart of the Niagara Region. Once a thriving manufacturing centre, St. Catharines has experienced two decades of traumatic economic contraction due to the collapse of the local automotive industry. Like other cities that have experienced the loss of their predominant industry, St. Catharines is struggling not only with unemployment, economic uncertainty and environmental degradation, but also with issues concerning the city’s very identity. As industrial activity played a critical role in shaping the form and character of the city, its steady disappearance has left both a functional and symbolic void in the community. The challenges associated with deindustrialization and decentralized urbanization have had a devastating impact on St. Catharines. The city’s historic core has not only lost its role as the symbolic centre of the community, unrelenting suburban expansion has also led to the destruction of some of Canada’s most productive agricultural terrain in the surrounding vicinity. This thesis argues that the current economic crisis offers a unique opportunity to radically reconsider St. Catharines’ urban environment. The thesis looks to the earth – the terroir – as the basis for the development of a robust vision to transform the city’s underappreciated historic core into a hub for the Niagara Region’s expanding wine industry. Essential to this vision is the extensive cultivation of urban vineyards and the planning of key pieces of urban armature around which future development will occur. The design aims to improve the overall quality-of-life offered in St. Catharines, and build a broader sense of community by enhancing the unique experience of the place and engaging citizens in the local wine enterprise.

Small businesses and small business networks have become increasingly important over the past two decades. However, limited empirical research has been carried out on the interactions of these small businesses, specifically within supportive networks. This research focuses on the interaction of firms and organizations within a successful small business innovation network, and how innovative business practices are developed. Innovation network theory was used as a lens to view the dynamics within an innovation network comprised entirely of small businesses and organizations. For this research, a qualitative case study was undertaken, with an emergent wine region in Southern California targeted as an ideal case in which to study a small business innovation network. This research showed that in this instance of a small business innovation network, a hub firm, as defined by innovation network theory does not exist to orchestrate and manage the interactions within the network. Thereby, an adapted model for small business innovation networks is proposed and the results from this qualitative case study are mapped using this adapted theory. The results show a constellation of firms and organizations at the core of the network composition, undertaking deliberate and emergent strategies that affect the outcome and success of all members of the small business innovation network. The research identified a significant sense of place embedded in the regional culture and the importance of effective regional planning in positively impacting the success of the small business innovation network.

This thesis is set in St. Catharines Ontario, a mid-sized city of 132,000 people, situated in the heart of the Niagara Region. Once a thriving manufacturing centre, St. Catharines has experienced two decades of traumatic economic contraction due to the collapse of the local automotive industry. Like other cities that have experienced the loss of their predominant industry, St. Catharines is struggling not only with unemployment, economic uncertainty and environmental degradation, but also with issues concerning the city’s very identity. As industrial activity played a critical role in shaping the form and character of the city, its steady disappearance has left both a functional and symbolic void in the community. The challenges associated with deindustrialization and decentralized urbanization have had a devastating impact on St. Catharines. The city’s historic core has not only lost its role as the symbolic centre of the community, unrelenting suburban expansion has also led to the destruction of some of Canada’s most productive agricultural terrain in the surrounding vicinity. This thesis argues that the current economic crisis offers a unique opportunity to radically reconsider St. Catharines’ urban environment. The thesis looks to the earth – the terroir – as the basis for the development of a robust vision to transform the city’s underappreciated historic core into a hub for the Niagara Region’s expanding wine industry. Essential to this vision is the extensive cultivation of urban vineyards and the planning of key pieces of urban armature around which future development will occur. The design aims to improve the overall quality-of-life offered in St. Catharines, and build a broader sense of community by enhancing the unique experience of the place and engaging citizens in the local wine enterprise.

This thesis is based on two observations. First, that conventional buildings cause two major losses that involve non-human nature – the loss of native biodiversity and the loss of non-human nature experience for the buildings’ human inhabitants – and that these losses both contribute to a perceived separation between humans and the rest of nature. Second, that there appears to be a growing interest in connecting buildings with nature but there is little agreement on what it actually means to ‘design with nature’. As such, the purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) to describe the meaning of ‘designing with nature’ in current architectural practice and provide a working definition of nature-based design, and (2) to explore how this can be interpreted to encourage human connectedness with non-human nature, while addressing the two major losses mentioned above. It is thus an attempt to reframe the role of building as one that provides for all inhabitants of a site, both human and non. A framework was developed that captures and summarizes the dominant ways in which design draws on nature. The framework emphasizes the importance of using ecosystems not only as models, but foremost as context. The core concepts of the framework can thus be discussed from the perspective of buildings that act like an ecosystem and that interact with their ecosystem, and are described as: ecological sense of place, regenerative ability, ecosystem health, mutually beneficial relationships, context, appropriate management, functions, ecosystem principles, values, patterns, conditions, and adaptations. Although the concepts presented in the framework are themselves not new, the way in which they are organized does contribute a new perspective on the field of nature-based design. In addition to providing a graphic model that summarizes the essence of an evolving field, the research highlights the role of scale and place in linking building design, native biodiversity, nature experience and connectedness with nature. It thus acts as a backdrop on which to bring a discussion of ecological citizenship into the architectural dialogue.