This thesis is an exploration in redefining the existing railway corridor in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, to become a shared transit path as a mechanism to reinvigorate the urban fabric. Study of Halifax’s urban landscape identifies key points of reconnection in the urban network, with particular focus on the bounded areas of the railway cut. Two sites, Flynn Park and the Oaks, are studied for their inherent contribution to the urban landscape, and their potential to engage the community, street and city dweller. Both sites provide public access to the shared transit path, and transform the interstitial land of the rail cut, currently derelict, to a place of civic importance. The redesigned sites work in synergy with the shared transit path not only by increasing physical and community activity in their respective sites, but also their role in revitalizing the link between the rail cut and the urban landscape.

Thesis (M. Env. St.)--University of Adelaide, Mawson Graduate Centre for Environmental Studies, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

The ferry terminal in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada is located in an important public place for the city of Halifax. This area has been subject to planning decisions that have led to its current state of reduced functionality. This project is intended to activate and restore this central, damaged urban public site through integration with the existing buildings, reconnection of the city to the waterfront, and increased amenity offered by new design and architecture. Rethinking the design of the ferry terminal and its adjacent public spaces aims to create a model for future development along the currently undeveloped Halifax waterfront.

The purpose of this study is to present a survey and examination of the political developments in the West Yorkshire industrial centre of Halifax between 1890 and 1914. It is produced within the context of the debate concerning the timing and reasons for the change-over of national support from Liberal and Conservative to Labour and Conservative in the first quarter of the twentieth century, and the impact of the emergence of the Labour Party in the 1890s. The main objective is to determine if the local Liberal Party was already in decline before 1914. There are two major questions. First, was the party able to sustain its working-class support and predominant local position by introducing • progressive , policies? Or, secondly, did it lose support because it failed to change its traditional emphasis and was undermined by the incursions from the vigorous working-class Labour and business-directed Conservative parties? A further objective is to discover the reasons for the establishment and growth of the local Labour movement, together with its consequent political implications, and to establish the causes for the advance of Halifax Conservatism. Several local political features are studied including the changes in socio-economic and political structures, party policies, organisation and tactics - at both general and local elections. This was a vital period for Halifax politics in which the entrenched, formerly • paternalistic , and employer-run Liberal Party received challenges from both the left and the right. Possibly the most important local event was the emer.qence of a trade-union dominated Labour movement in 1892, which arose as a response to the divisive strike situation of the late nineteenth century and was underpinned by a rising working-class consciousness. Thereafter, the new party began to erode the Liberals' working-class Radical support and, as a side-effect, benefited the Tories through· the split-vote system. At the same time, Conservatism began to advance slowly, though fitfully, drawing in the middle-class business vote by its patriotic, protectionist and municipal retrenchment policies. On the 'other hand, Liberalism proved to be increasingly unattractive to both the working classes and the middle classes. The former voters were disillusioned by the continued traditionalistic emphasis of the party which widened its policies but did not fully embrace 'progressive' principles. The latter, conversely, viewed Municipal Liberal 'advanced' initiatives to be too extreme and expensive, particularly on the rates. Therefore, although the Liberals applied political tactics, they could not prevent the party's gradual political decline before 1914.

Halifax Harbour is one of the world's largest natural harbours and has significant environmental and economic value. A good understanding of oceanographic processes is required for pollution control and sustainable development of the Harbour. A five-level nested-grid coastal ocean circulation model known as the Nested-grid Coastal Ocean Prediction System for Halifax Harbour (NCOPS-HFX) is used to reconstruct the three-dimensional circulation and hydrography and associated temporal and spatial variability of the Harbour. The NCOPS-HFX is driven by tides, meteorological forcing, and buoyancy forcing associated with river and sewage discharges. Model performances are assessed by comparing model results with available observations including sea level from tide gauges, CTD observations, current meter records and monthly mean climatology of temperature and salinity. Model results are also used to examine the main physical processes affecting circulation and hydrography in the Harbour. It is found that the near-surface currents in the Harbour are significantly affected by tides and wind forcing with an intense tidal jet in the Narrows and a salinity front in the upper layer of Bedford Basin. The time-mean circulation produced by the model is characterized by a typical two-layer estuarine circulation with seaward flow in the upper layer and landward flow in the lower layer. The model also reproduces reasonably well the seasonal changes of temperature and salinity in the Harbour. Dispersion and retention in the Harbour are studied based on numerical passive tracer and particle tracking experiments. The e-folding flushing time is about 40 and 90 days in the upper and entire Bedford Basin respectively, 2-5 days over the Inner and Outer Harbour, and about 1 day in the Narrows.

Popular historiography of the U. S. Civil War has traditionally underemphasized the war’s foreign dimension and the role outside support and potential recognition played in the conflict. Recent literature, however, has begun to reverse this trend. Building upon recent studies, this thesis examines public opinion in Halifax during the Civil War. In a period characterized by divided opinion – both within the United States and abroad – Haligonians overwhelmingly supported the South for most of the conflict. This thesis explores public opinion in Halifax by studying one of the city’s most prominent Confederate supporters, Dr. William Johnston Almon. By examining Almon and his community, the role certain factors played in influencing Haligonian support for the Confederacy – such as Northern provocations, sociopolitical ideology, and economic interests – can be better understood. This thesis contends that Almon’s involvement in the Civil War was ideologically motivated and that he was not necessarily an outlier in Halifax.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in History. / Typescript. Title on accompanying CD-ROM: Merchants and craftsmen. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 309-329). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR11604

Master of Science

A public-private interface is a dynamic threshold between the private residence and the public city. It can be critically examined in terms of social scales, defensibility and ownership of space. As cities densify, they face the challenge of providing dwelling space while intensifying community integration. Current approaches to housing often rarify cultural and social richness in the resultant communities. A new framework is needed for residential development, including an awareness of social dynamics, and building respectfully on positive patterns in existing contexts. This thesis proposes a densifying mixed-used residential scheme on the vacant site of Halifax’s St. Patrick’s-Alexandra School, governed by a framework of social scales and responding to typological and physical conditions in the community. It seeks to integrate public services into existing structures, and to articulate the threshold between public and private programs, making a case for a socially vibrant model of urban housing.

The most surprising outcome from the Victoria School of Art and Design's first half century is that it survived into its second. How it survived, and how it almost failed to, is the subject of this thesis. The main argument is that community support for the VSAD, or lack of it, was based more on pragmatic concerns, rather than on whether people liked the art being produced. Among those concerns, the most talked about was art training for employable skills. Led by Anna Leonowens, who later became the subject of the musical The King and I, well-to-do citizens in Halifax, Nova Scotia founded the VSAD in 1887. In 1925 the school changed its name to the Nova Scotia College of Art. Its current name, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, came in 1969, the year that the College became what was then the only autonomous degree granting art institution in Canada. As part of an international movement, the VSAD shared its late nineteenth century origins with similar art schools throughout North America, Europe, Britain and its colonies. Many of these schools also shared common purposes: to sharpen the graphic skills of industrial designers, to provide instruction in the fine and decorative arts, and to train drawing teachers for public and private schools. Of the different groups supporting the Halifax school, women and their organizations were the most consistent and consequential, especially Halifax's Local Council of Women. A properly funded art school, they argued, could generate jobs, stimulate economic gains, and foster higher standards of civic culture within the community. This study looks at the VSAD's supporters, teachers, and administrators during its first half century. It describes how the school, with its inadequate enrolment, budget, and space, played a limited role in generating art-related employment before the Great War. It is only with the principalship of Elizabeth Styring Nutt from 1919 to 1943, with her strong community connections and decades-long commitment to training artist-workers, that the school finally gained relative security and success.