The following thesis investigates parametric thinking and evolutionary solving principles in the creation of a framework for residential high rise design. Site specific parameters such as site access (pedestrian and vehicular), views, acknowledgement of neighbours, or climatic, such as natural day lighting and ventilation, should be used to inform the design. Parametric software is used as a tool to generate designs dynamically. With the help of an evolutionary solver component, the design potential is augmented by generating multiple iterations which are analyzed for their success or failure in an effort to provide an appropriate response within the context of the site. The framework is tested on a site located at the corner of Duplex Avenue and Eglinton Avenue West in Toronto, Canada.

This thesis explores the ways in which architecture can be used to enhance and support creativity in music by engaging with the urban environment. The investigation will take the form of designing a community scaled performing-arts incubator in downtown Toronto. The arts incubator program is familiar across North America, but often takes the form of either a pastoral retreat or an urban revitalization tool with a focus on community development. This thesis aims to combine both ideas and create an arts-focused facility within the urban environment. Elements of the creative process of music are translated to program-specific, arts-focused design elements that are then described by their relationship to each other and to the city. This thesis aims to create a series of spaces that will enhance the capability of urban musicians to practice their craft and in turn elevate the cultural identity of the place.

Infill development, including the reuse of vacant and derelict industrial buildings, is a desirable form of development as municipalities face the pressure of continuous growth. There have been numerous industrial sites in Toronto that have already been redeveloped through adaptive reuse, but there are still sites that remain underutilized, and additional sites continue to become vacant across the city. As the prior use can no longer be supported, these buildings are demolished in order to construct new buildings, or they undergo adaptive reuse. The purpose of this report is to explain how the environmental, locational, legislative, market and financial characteristics of industrial buildings located in Toronto affect whether they are chosen for adaptive reuse. Additionally the similarities and differences between public and private sector adaptive reuse projects will be studied. This report will complement existing research completed by others on the characteristics of adaptive reuse projects in Ontario, and provide more specific information regarding the industrial adaptive reuse market in Toronto. The case study approach used in this report consists of eight industrial adaptive reuse projects in the City of Toronto. Interviews with the developers were completed to gain valuable insight into the factors that were present and affected the selection of the building. The analysis involved reviewing the data from the interviews to identify the similarities and differences between the characteristics of the developers’ projects. Based on the analysis of the interviews, four recommendations were made. These recommendations are provided with the goal of assisting developers during the selection of industrial buildings in Toronto to undergo adaptive reuse. Each recommendation considers the characteristic that a building and site should or should not possess. Recommendation 1: The site should not contain ground water contamination Recommendation 2: Use concrete buildings if planning an addition Recommendation 3: Select a building with interior demising walls removed Recommendation 4: Select a building that has financial or development incentives promoting reuse / Thesis (Master, Urban & Regional Planning) -- Queen's University, 2010-04-16 17:16:07.105

This cross-disciplinary study extends existing theoretical and normative arguments regarding participatory democracy and adult informal learning by identifying the ways in which participation in community-based governance structures provides learning opportunities and builds individuals’ civic capacity. It also determines the functional characteristics of such schemes by analyzing the case of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation’s Tenant Participation System (TPS), a state-sponsored program to integrate principles of participatory democracy into the norms of public service delivery. As has been noted in the literature, people are motivated to participate for a variety of reasons, the most common being that they see a real need or potential for change in their community. However, in contrast to past research, tenants also got engaged out of a desire to learn – to learn more about local political procedures. Three conditions were noted as both sufficient and necessary to make participation happen. One was the desire to influence authority over decisions affecting tenants’ housing conditions. Second was the idea that participation has important benefits for the participants. Third was a sense of qualification, that those tenants who participate feel that they are qualified, more than others, thus they choose to step forward to represent their communities. Informal learning through the TPS had several key effects. Increased self-confidence and overcoming fear of authority helped to radically transform the traditional tenant-management relationship into a collaborative endeavour in which tenants get the opportunity to be part of the change they would like to see. In addition, the skills learned through the participatory process resulted in increased managerial efficiency – a self-reinforcing process whereby the participatory project improves through time and through the very act of participation. Learning, however, occurred through cooperation, competition and struggle as well. This study reveals two major challenges. First, the lack of discussion amongst stakeholders regarding the purpose of participation has, in some instances, resulted in confusing practices that complicate the process and eventually hinder the growth of a participatory culture within the organization. Second, conceiving community participation through competitive elections tends to move the collaborative approach to community governance closer to the hierarchical paradigm of property management.

This study explores the conceptions and practices of parent involvement in education that exist among Latin American families with students in Toronto Schools. The individual and collective life histories of 3 immigrant families from Latin America were collected in order to understand how parents and students conceive of parents’ role the education of their children. The findings of this research demonstrate that families’ conceptions are much broader and expansive than what is currently defined as parent involvement within policy and practice in Ontario and are informed by their educational trajectory in their home country and throughout the migration process and their ideas on education. This research serves to shed light on the experiences of Latin American families in their interactions with educational institutions and gives voice to their experiences, ideas and aspirations in their new home.

This cross-disciplinary study extends existing theoretical and normative arguments regarding participatory democracy and adult informal learning by identifying the ways in which participation in community-based governance structures provides learning opportunities and builds individuals’ civic capacity. It also determines the functional characteristics of such schemes by analyzing the case of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation’s Tenant Participation System (TPS), a state-sponsored program to integrate principles of participatory democracy into the norms of public service delivery. As has been noted in the literature, people are motivated to participate for a variety of reasons, the most common being that they see a real need or potential for change in their community. However, in contrast to past research, tenants also got engaged out of a desire to learn – to learn more about local political procedures. Three conditions were noted as both sufficient and necessary to make participation happen. One was the desire to influence authority over decisions affecting tenants’ housing conditions. Second was the idea that participation has important benefits for the participants. Third was a sense of qualification, that those tenants who participate feel that they are qualified, more than others, thus they choose to step forward to represent their communities. Informal learning through the TPS had several key effects. Increased self-confidence and overcoming fear of authority helped to radically transform the traditional tenant-management relationship into a collaborative endeavour in which tenants get the opportunity to be part of the change they would like to see. In addition, the skills learned through the participatory process resulted in increased managerial efficiency – a self-reinforcing process whereby the participatory project improves through time and through the very act of participation. Learning, however, occurred through cooperation, competition and struggle as well. This study reveals two major challenges. First, the lack of discussion amongst stakeholders regarding the purpose of participation has, in some instances, resulted in confusing practices that complicate the process and eventually hinder the growth of a participatory culture within the organization. Second, conceiving community participation through competitive elections tends to move the collaborative approach to community governance closer to the hierarchical paradigm of property management.

This study explores the conceptions and practices of parent involvement in education that exist among Latin American families with students in Toronto Schools. The individual and collective life histories of 3 immigrant families from Latin America were collected in order to understand how parents and students conceive of parents’ role the education of their children. The findings of this research demonstrate that families’ conceptions are much broader and expansive than what is currently defined as parent involvement within policy and practice in Ontario and are informed by their educational trajectory in their home country and throughout the migration process and their ideas on education. This research serves to shed light on the experiences of Latin American families in their interactions with educational institutions and gives voice to their experiences, ideas and aspirations in their new home.

L'objectif de ce mémoire est d'analyser les transactions d'initiés, effectuées sur la Bourse de Toronto, lors de la période 2008-2010. De façon plus spécifique, nous analysons les fréquences de transactions effectuées dans les jours entourant les annonces de surprise de bénéfice net trimestriel (BNT) et la profitabilité de celles-ci. Les études de Sivakumar et Waymire (1994) et Park et al. (1995) ont conclu que les fréquences moyennes quotidiennes des transactions d'initiés américains sont supérieures à la moyenne dans les premiers jours suivant la divulgation de rapports des résultats. L'hypothèse à vérifier, concernant les initiés canadiens, est de déterminer si leurs fréquences de transactions sont différentes de la moyenne lors des premiers jours suivant les surprises de bénéfice net trimestriel. Les résultats obtenus sont en accord avec cette hypothèse.- Selon Fama (1970), la forme forte d'efficience de marché implique que les initiés ne réalisent pas un rendement anormal moyen cumulé (RAMC) significativement différent de zéro. Les études de Basel et Stein (1979), Lee et Bishara (1989) et McNally et Smith (2003) ont tous rejeté l'efficience forte de la Bourse de Toronto. Cependant, Heinkel et Kraus (1987) ne rejettent pas l'efficience forte de la Bourse de Vancouver. L'hypothèse à vérifier concernant la profitabilité des transactions d'initiés est de déterminer si le marché canadien, représenté par la Bourse de Toronto, est efficient selon la forme forte. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé deux méthodologies pour calculer les RAMC, soit le modèle de marché utilisé par Basel et Stein (1979), Heinkel et Kraus (1987) et Lee et Bishara (1989), et le modèle simple utilisé par McNally et Smith (2003). Les résultats obtenus avec la méthode de marché nous permettent de rejeter cette hypothèse contrairement à ceux obtenus avec le modèle simple. Selon Park et. al. (1995), plusieurs études concluent que les surprises de BNT positives (négatives), sont suivies d'un RAMC positif (négatif). Grâce à leur connaissance, il est possible que les-initiés effectuent des transactions à des moments spécifiques entourant les surprises. L'hypothèse à vérifier est de déterminer si les transactions, effectuées à des moments précis relatifs aux surprises, obtiennent un RAMC différent que les transactions effectuées à d'autres moments. En général, les résultats obtenus rejettent cette hypothèse.

Ice crystals in clouds frequently form upon a subset of aerosol particles called ice nuclei (IN). IN influence cloud ice crystal concentrations, consequently affecting cloud lifetime and reflectivity. The present understanding of these effects on climate is hindered by limited data on the global distribution of IN. This thesis presents measurements of deposition-mode IN concentrations under conditions relevant to mid-level clouds, 238 K and 138% RHi. at two Canadian sites: Toronto, a major city, and Whistler, a pristine coniferous rainforest. In Toronto, chemically-resolved surface areas were estimated by single-particle mass spectrometry and regressed against IN concentrations to identify a significant relationship between IN concentrations and both carbonaceous aerosols (EC and/or OC) and dust. In Whistler, IN concentrations during a biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) event did not increase from background levels (0.1 /L), suggesting that biogenic SOA particles do not nucleate ice under these conditions.

Ice crystals in clouds frequently form upon a subset of aerosol particles called ice nuclei (IN). IN influence cloud ice crystal concentrations, consequently affecting cloud lifetime and reflectivity. The present understanding of these effects on climate is hindered by limited data on the global distribution of IN. This thesis presents measurements of deposition-mode IN concentrations under conditions relevant to mid-level clouds, 238 K and 138% RHi. at two Canadian sites: Toronto, a major city, and Whistler, a pristine coniferous rainforest. In Toronto, chemically-resolved surface areas were estimated by single-particle mass spectrometry and regressed against IN concentrations to identify a significant relationship between IN concentrations and both carbonaceous aerosols (EC and/or OC) and dust. In Whistler, IN concentrations during a biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) event did not increase from background levels (0.1 /L), suggesting that biogenic SOA particles do not nucleate ice under these conditions.