From my own experience working in Institutional Research for the past seven years, there is not a proper, reliable, and comprehensive model for forecasting student enrolment quickly. In many funding formulas, enrolment is the main driver of government grants and student tuition fees, which are sources of income to the university. Existing enrolment management tools developed within Institutional Research departments tend to be “ad hoc” spreadsheets with multiple individuals manipulating them with the result that the output comes too late for departments to take remedial action in terms of their budgets and does not provide multiple scenarios in support of strategic decision-making. The purpose of this study is to describe a functional automated enrolment projection system methodology I developed from scratch through a case study of the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto. My primary research was to actually build the model. The model in effect, is the thesis. The system provides multiple scenarios that allow senior management in a multi-campus university system to generate multiple income scenarios, enabling them to make well-informed decisions concerning the operation of their institution and timely calculation and allocation of resources to academic departments. The study then shows how this addresses the problems of “ad hoc” approaches, and how it may be applied in other situations.

From my own experience working in Institutional Research for the past seven years, there is not a proper, reliable, and comprehensive model for forecasting student enrolment quickly. In many funding formulas, enrolment is the main driver of government grants and student tuition fees, which are sources of income to the university. Existing enrolment management tools developed within Institutional Research departments tend to be “ad hoc” spreadsheets with multiple individuals manipulating them with the result that the output comes too late for departments to take remedial action in terms of their budgets and does not provide multiple scenarios in support of strategic decision-making. The purpose of this study is to describe a functional automated enrolment projection system methodology I developed from scratch through a case study of the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto. My primary research was to actually build the model. The model in effect, is the thesis. The system provides multiple scenarios that allow senior management in a multi-campus university system to generate multiple income scenarios, enabling them to make well-informed decisions concerning the operation of their institution and timely calculation and allocation of resources to academic departments. The study then shows how this addresses the problems of “ad hoc” approaches, and how it may be applied in other situations.

Interest in school transportation has emerged in response to concern over the reduced levels of physical activity among children and youth. Recent Canadian policies emphasize population health intervention to encourage active travel among this younger population; urban planners and public health professionals have also highlighted the importance of the neighbourhood built environment. However, this “child-youth friendly” turn in policy and planning practice, particularly in Canada, has arguably occurred in advance of conclusive and generalizable knowledge about the relationship between the built environment and children’s travel. Within this context, this thesis is the first quantitative research that examines school transportation mode choice behaviour in the largest Canadian city, the City of Toronto. At first, a Behavioural Model of School Transportation was outlined. This exercise was followed by three empirical studies that explored school travel by children and youth, using travel data from Transportation Tomorrow Survey. The first of these three studies investigated the association between the built environment and the likelihood of walking or being driven, for journeys to and from school. The next study focused on a measurement issue; the potential influence of the modifiable areal unit problem on statistical modelling of the built environment - mode choice relationship was examined. Lastly, the potential influence of travel interactions among household members, the built environment, and unobservable spatial dependency (i.e., spatial auto-correlation), on school travel outcome of children and youth, were examined. The results indicated that caregiver availability may influence travel mode choice. The built environment near both home and school locations was associated with the likelihood of walking. In addition, the correlates of mode choice were different between children and youth, which perhaps, reflects a child’s cognitive development with age as an independent traveller. These findings suggest the need for neighbourhood-wide improvement in the built environment, and age-specific population health interventions at schools and in the communities.

The Wilhelmsburg neighbourhood of Hamburg, Germany is characterized in local media as a problem neighbourhood. Many of its residents are racialized people struggling with low incomes, unemployment, and less formal education than average in the city as a whole, exemplifying what Razack (2002, p. 6) calls the “spatiality of the racial order in which we live.” Wilhelmsburg is also the focus of a massive urban planning and architectural project, the Internationale Bauaustellung (International Building Exhibition, or IBA) Hamburg 2007-2012, comprising 50 building projects that aim to transform the neighbourhood. In this thesis I use Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore IBA Hamburg’s public education materials, arguing that IBA Hamburg produces Wilhelmsburg and its residents as racialized, problematic, and in need of intervention to bring them into the future metropolis. Residents are targeted for integration through education, the effects of which are disciplinary and reproduce an unequal racial order of citizenship.

This thesis investigates the relationship between access to public gathering spaces and self-reported health with indicators of community life as the intervening variables. This study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between the access to public space and self-rated health status in multicultural communities. A survey of 785 randomly-selected households was conducted across four low-income Toronto neighbourhoods. The investigation is framed by the 'production of healthy public space' model, which conceptualizes the pathways between the lived experience of space and health as impacting an individual’s likelihood of establishing place attachment. The results support the hypothesis that there is a relationship between the lived dimension of space and health. Mental health appears to be the outcome most affected by indicators of place attachment. Several of the aforementioned relationships were found more commonly in the densest of the four neighbourhoods and variations were found between foreign- and Canadian-born subpopulations.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / Human happiness is often overlooked in urban revitalization. Many studies have proven the benefits of regular exercise for overall health and happiness. Active transportation adopted as a major form of transportation has the potential to provide similar benefits. Wichita, Kansas, like many other mid-sized, American cities, prioritizes the car over the pedestrian. Currently, the plans for Douglas Avenue, the major thoroughfare, includes only minimal bicycle infrastructure, shared lane symbols (City of Wichita 2013). Lack of focus on the pedestrian and bicyclist only reinforces the auto-dominated downtown. Douglas Avenue is a missed opportunity and needs a re-envisioned strategy based upon current needs. I hypothesized that better understanding the lived biking experience of Downtown Wichita would help me to develop design recommendations that address current streetscape issues as they occur in daily life. This exploratory study documents the experiences of a small group of people who bicycle in or through downtown Wichita on a regular basis. First, participants recorded their experience visually and verbally by using GoPro cameras during a typical bike ride. Next, each participant reviewed their video with me, clarifying their comments and the overall experience. Dominant themes included: urban environment, bicycling infrastructure, road/traffic, safety and motorist behavior. The analysis of the bike rides and follow-up reflections were mapped over each participant’s route to reveal positive, negative, and neutral experiences categorized by theme. Final design strategies for selected areas (determined through analysis of experiences) were then produced based upon feedback and streetscape best practices. Bicyclists of Wichita are faced with many stressful situations during their daily routes. I have realized that downtown Wichita has more than a design problem to fix—an entire bicycle culture must be developed. I learned that while each participant was unique, they wanted the same things: safety, a pleasurable ride, and to be respected by motorists. Not all bicyclists’ needs can be answered through design; however, this proposal can help to create a safer and more pleasurable bicycling experience in downtown. An improved bicycle network provides humans with increased health, freedom to move, encourages and strengthens social connections, and provides a resilient form of transportation.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Ray B. Weisenburger / This research explores the challenges related to the visual image of a city situated in a developing country. Originated as the colonial capital of British India, Kolkata faces new urban challenges in the post colonial world. This report intends to answer questions of imageability of the city as relevant to the Third World countries. Empathizing on the issues of scarcity of land, traffic congestion, accumulation of the urban poor, inadequacies in infrastructure and the organic expansion of fluid city boundaries under the neo-ideological globalization and liberal economic policies – Kolkata faces a host of urban problems. Imageability of the city usually tries to define the positive image of a city. The question here is, should the notions of imageability be confined to cities that inherently have succeeded in maintaining an appealing public image or should it be applied to the potential qualities of visual appropriateness to cities that have historically remained unattractive? This research intends to explore the visual quality of an area surrounding the five point intersection at Shyambazar, Kolkata, India. This study will be based on a number of observations and the different visual analysis techniques applicable in critically analyzing the visual conditions of an urban street pattern of a megacity in India. The main objective of this study is to find an appropriate visual quality for Kolkata, a megacity in the tropics – considering various related factors like – historical significance, demographic trends, geographical and climatological influences, transportation pattern, existing land use, socio-economic structure and inherent or associated urban problems of planning in developing nations.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / En tant qu'urbanistes, nos préoccupations des modes d'occupation de l'espace nous amène à nous intéresser aux rapports entre formes urbaines et valeurs sociales. Nous avons choisi d'examiner ces rapports dans la ville d'Alep (Syrie) dont l'espace urbain a deux caractéristiques : espace évolutif et de longue durée. À la lumière d'une analyse des différentes étapes de l'évolution de cet espace urbain, à différentes échelles, nous avons pu rendre claires ces rapports entre formes urbaines et valeurs sociales sujets aux rythmes de changement de ces dernières. Dans notre examen de la forme de la ville d' Alep au cours de son évolution, que nous lions aux valeurs socioculturelles, nous nous penchons sur deux domaines de l'espace liés l'un à l'autre: l'habitat et le quartier et leurs rapports mutuels, et leur transformation sur une période s'échelonnant du début du xvr siècle jusqu'à nos jours. Nous examinons, d'une part, leur sensibilité aux changements qui se produisent dans le système de valeurs de la société, dont les rythmes furent plus ou moins variés, et comment ces changements ont modelé leur configuration dans l'espace. D'autre part, nous explorons le rôle de l'habitat dans la définition de la structure et de l'identité du quartier et sur lequel nous portons une attention plus particulière. Sa spécificité liée à sa capacité de refléter sensiblement, dans chaque quartier et dans différentes phases du développement de la ville, les valeurs du groupe social ou de la communauté qui l'ont produit. Son rôle émane de la particularité de la société alépine traditionnellement marquée par la ségrégation entre ses différentes communautés marquant l'occupation de l'espace et manifestant à travers l'aspect architectural dont chacune d'elle projette sur sa part de l'ensemble urbain, voire son quartier. La spécificité de l'habitat sera examinée en vue de déterminer dans quelles conditions l'habitat peut jouer un rôle si déterminant dans la configuration de l'espace du quartier et, par conséquent, de la ville, et comment sa matérialité comme objet permet au modèle culturel d'y opérer ses effets. Nous examinons, dans un premier temps, les dispositions essentielles de l'habitat et du quartier, voire leurs morphologies, dans leur contexte socio-économique au cours de différentes périodes, et le type de rapports qui lient les différents éléments à l'intérieur de chacun des deux systèmes spatiaux. Dans un deuxième temps, nous examinons dans ses plans successifs et à partir de son plan initial, la forme de la ville à travers l'agencement de ses dispositifs élémentaires. Notre objectif est de déceler la logique par laquelle la forme de la ville évolue, sa permanence ou sa rupture, et d'identifier les forces matrices qui résistent aux changements et autour desquelles se dessinent les transformations au cours de différentes époques, qui contribuent à perpétuer un certain dessin de la ville et à reproduire plus ou moins le même type d'espace. Après avoir constaté une permanence de la forme à différentes échelles de la ville, qui sous-tend une cohérence dans le type de rapports entre les différents éléments du système spatial, nous dégageons les éléments à travers lesquels se manifestent ses différents caractères. Le caractère cosmique qui permet la production dans l'espace des formes, y compris les formes symboliques à l'échelle de la ville et celle de l'habitat, et le caractère cyclique qui consiste dans la production, à travers des mécanismes propres à l'organisme, d'un espace dynamique et harmonieux dont chaque partie est distincte, mais fonctionne avec l'ensemble. Ce caractère permet de générer d'autres types d'espaces sans affecter le fonctionnement de l'ensemble de la ville dont les parties restent liées par des rapports de hiérarchie, de juxtaposition, de complémentarité, qui résultent des caractéristiques de l'espace, sa ségrégation et sa spécialisation. Dans un troisième temps, nous examinons les traits du modèle culturel en matière d'aménagement dans la société alépine, les moments de rupture ou de permanence de ce modèle et les aspects socioculturels et leurs changements qui ont favorisé ces moments. Le repérage d'une part, des éléments d'architecture dans l'habitat traditionnel alépin incompatibles avec l'Islam, religion de la majorité, tels la coupole et le plan cruciforme de la grande salle, et d'autre part d'une particularité du système de l'organisation spatiale de cet habitat soumettant ses différents éléments à une hiérarchie nettement perceptible tant au niveau de la dimension ou du traitement architectural de chaque élément, espaces fermés et espaces ouverts, selon l'importance de la fonction assignée à chaque espace, nous amène à examiner la signification de ces éléments architecturaux et de cet ordre hiérarchique de l'espace habité et sa cohérence avec l'idée de l'espace et du cosmos dans la chrétienté. La permanence de l'habitat traditionnel avec ces dispositions pendant au moins quatre siècles nous amène ensuite à examiner les conditions qui ont permis aux premières communautés chrétiennes la diffusion de leurs idées sur l'espace qui sont celles d'une minorité et son inclusion dans un système plus général de représentation de la ville. Nous entamons à la fin de cette étude une brève analyse de la structure urbaine de la ville d' Alep à partir d'une analyse de son «irnagibilité» inspirée de la méthode proposée par Lynch (1971). Cette méthode nous éclairera un aspect important du rapport entre la structure urbaine et la structure sociale. Autrement dit, les rapports entre les propriétés syntaxiques de l'espace et les pratiques habitantes.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / L'application de système d'aide à la décision à référence spatiale se développe progressivement en aménagement du territoire. Étant destiné à des utilisateurs et à un domaine d'application précis, ce type de système nécessite une approche d'implantation particulière. Par l'étude de cas du SIAD­Environnement de la CUM, nous avons tenté de déterminer si la diversité des besoins, de gestion ou de planification, a un impact sur l'élaboration d'un tel outil. Nous avons d'abord observé la méthode d'implantation choisie par les intervenants afin de vérifier si les différentes étapes d'implantation d'un tel système ont été suivies. Ensuite, nous avons confronté notre modèle sur les visions de la géomatique (celle du planificateur, du gestionnaire et de l'informaticien) au cas du SIAD. Par ce modèle, nous tentions de montrer l'importance d'une concertation entre les intervenants, lors de l'élaboration d'un système, pour l'identification des besoins, des objectifs et des décisions à prendre. Ceci correspond à la principale hypothèse. Enfin, le SIAD-Environnement ne nous semblait pas permettre d'assister la prise de décision, C'est au moyen d'une étude de cas unique et d'un modèle que nous avons tenté de vérifier ces hypothèses. Afin de mieux comprendre le contexte d'élaboration du système à l'étude, nous avons combiné le procédé des entrevues avec la recherche documentaire. Le mémoire se divise en deux parties : la première présente les éléments théoriques et propose un cadre opérationnel ; la seconde présente l'étude de cas et répond aux hypothèses. Notre étude de cas a clairement démontré que le SIAD-Environnement n'est pas un système d'aide à la décision tel que défini par la littérature. En fait, il propose seulement, comme fonctionnalité, la mise à jour d'inventaires et de sensibilités. De plus, les intervenants, en privilégiant l'approche par les données, n'ont pas défini les besoins et les décisions auxquels devaient répondre le système. Cette situation rend impossible la validation de notre modèle sur les visions, qui est basé sur l'émergence des besoins et la confrontation de ceux-ci lors de l'implantation du système. Malgré les limites posées par un cas unique et la validation partielle de la principale hypothèse, l'étude de cas du SIAD-Environnement, à travers l'analyse de la littérature et les propos des intervenants rencontrés, permet en définitive de souligner l'importance, lors de l'élaboration d'un projet de système d'aide à la décision, que tous les intervenants, utilisateurs et concepteurs, s'unissent pour déterminer les besoins et les problèmes auxquels le système devra répondre. De plus, les intervenants devraient confronter le problème afin d'obtenir une approche et une vision globale, sans ambiguïtés et contradictions, du phénomène sur lequel ils tentent d'intervenir. Par ailleurs, il aurait été intéressant de vérifier, par d'autres études de cas, la justesse du modèle sur es visions de la géomatique pour l'aménagement du territoire, afin de voir s'il synthétise bien l'ensemble des enjeux reliés aux besoins en matière de système d'aide à la décision.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Laszlo Kulcsar / Retirement age migration is not new. However, it has recently been garnering the attention of both researchers and local policy makers. Older migrants present the possibility of economic stimulus without creating additional pressure on the labor market. That said, a majority of works on retirement migration come to the same conclusions. Conventional theories state that older people move to places based on natural amenities and recreation opportunities. Further, these findings are often utilize a binary dependent variable based on whether a county has achieved a certain level of growth from inmigration of all people age 60+. I argue that this view is too narrow. Older age migrants move for a variety of reasons. These motives also vary across different age, sex, and race-ethnicity characteristics of the migrants in question. Further, not all counties that attract older migrants have bountiful natural or recreation amenities. Not only have these unconventional retirement destinations (URDs) had different historical trajectories, they also possess a different kind of amenities that appeal to older people who have relocated to the area. Finally, a focus on binary retirement classifications misses both diversity in retirement patterns and fails to explicitly account for the influence of space in county desirability. The goal of this work is to address these issues. First, I discuss the history and theories of retirement migration. Second, I develop models accounting for variation across older age migrant groups with varying demographic characteristics. Third, I identify and describe URD counties. Fourth, I present the results of a small-scale survey, community leader interviews, and a new model with additional variables to get at what other kinds of things should be labeled as “amenities.” Finally, I examine the role of space in migration research. My analysis demonstrates that there is much to be learned from looking at spatial models, micro-regional effects, and relative advantage between neighboring counties. Results indicate that conventional theories of retirement migration, while not necessarily wrong, are at least incomplete. The addition of diversity, new amenities, and space may greatly enhance our understanding of older age migration and migration research as a whole.