<p> The main focus of this paper is to investigate retail found in designated industrial districts within the City of Mississauga. Specifically, it will concentrate on the high order goods retailing or retail warehousing, its location and the planning policies that seek, in theory, to control its development. This is a new trend in retailing that should be investigated in more detail.</p> / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

According to the United Nations’ report, State of World Population 2008, humankind has come to a turning point; more than 50% of the earth’s population now lives in urban centres. Along with considerations for housing, employment, and public health, this shift changes the way we design roads and streets; it escalates the number of automobiles in urban areas with finite room for road expansion. Space constraints, along with intense development of alternative transportation fuels, and the burden of sprawling suburbs on municipal infrastructures suggest the hypothesis that before we run out of energy alternatives for personal mechanized transport, we will run out of space in which to use it. This thesis explores how Toronto, a city largely designed for automobile use, is being re-adapted into a city wherein public and active transportation can once again be the primary means of urban mobility and the opportunities inherent in the development of interregional multi-modal transit stations for the cultivation of civic space, local commerce, urban form, and commercial transportation.

According to the United Nations’ report, State of World Population 2008, humankind has come to a turning point; more than 50% of the earth’s population now lives in urban centres. Along with considerations for housing, employment, and public health, this shift changes the way we design roads and streets; it escalates the number of automobiles in urban areas with finite room for road expansion. Space constraints, along with intense development of alternative transportation fuels, and the burden of sprawling suburbs on municipal infrastructures suggest the hypothesis that before we run out of energy alternatives for personal mechanized transport, we will run out of space in which to use it. This thesis explores how Toronto, a city largely designed for automobile use, is being re-adapted into a city wherein public and active transportation can once again be the primary means of urban mobility and the opportunities inherent in the development of interregional multi-modal transit stations for the cultivation of civic space, local commerce, urban form, and commercial transportation.

There is a tendency within both literature and practice to conceive of colonialism and decolonization as state-centric structures or events. Such an approach to colonialism and decolonization, however, ignores or overshadows the integral roles played by non-indigenous, non-state actors within both colonial and de-colonial processes. This thesis identifies and explores specifically how non-indigenous Canadian citizens, as settler denizens, contribute to colonialism within the country. Through the exploration of settlement stories (both those provided and those silenced), it is argued that, non-indigenous Canadians can come to understand the roles they play within ongoing process of colonialism within Canada today. It is only after these settler actors have identified and explored these roles and recognized their responsibilities to act in de-colonial ways that decolonization can begin. This thesis is, therefore, concerned with identifying and exploring the first step in the process towards decolonization – identifying the settler denizen within settler colonialism. / Graduate / 0334 / 0615 / deanne.am.leblanc@gmail.com

There is a tendency within both literature and practice to conceive of colonialism and decolonization as state-centric structures or events. Such an approach to colonialism and decolonization, however, ignores or overshadows the integral roles played by non-indigenous, non-state actors within both colonial and de-colonial processes. This thesis identifies and explores specifically how non-indigenous Canadian citizens, as settler denizens, contribute to colonialism within the country. Through the exploration of settlement stories (both those provided and those silenced), it is argued that, non-indigenous Canadians can come to understand the roles they play within ongoing process of colonialism within Canada today. It is only after these settler actors have identified and explored these roles and recognized their responsibilities to act in de-colonial ways that decolonization can begin. This thesis is, therefore, concerned with identifying and exploring the first step in the process towards decolonization – identifying the settler denizen within settler colonialism. / Graduate / 0334 / 0615 / deanne.am.leblanc@gmail.com

This thesis considers the potential of the suburban periphery to become an ecologically, socially and culturally productive site which supports local and regional public programs. It explores ways of creating connectivity across the hard boundaries of a suburban development, an expressway and an agricultural area in order to stimulate biological and cultural diversity in this typically neglected, “leftover” environment. The site is the Ninth Line Corridor at the suburban edge of Mississauga, Ontario. The investigation of boundary occurs at the urban, building and experiential scales, and considers how the intersection of landscape, ecology, architecture and program can generate activities and events which foster engagement with the site and within a community.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2009. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, page: .

This thesis addresses resilience for the future of Canadian suburbs, through the lens of buildings and food, particularly against the backdrop of peak oil and climate change. Food access is an integral part of how a city sustains itself. There is growing evidence that the current global food system, the one that feeds many cities today, is “broken” or at least at risk. It has, in the past, produced an abundance of food. It has also brought along a number of unintended consequences, has neglected to embed equitable distribution patterns, and when faced with peak oil and climate change, risks some form of collapse. This thesis focuses on the food distribution question. It suggests a new food system model for the City of Mississauga that couples the region's local systems with global networks in a set of local/global relationships. The research portion of this work provides an overview of the dynamic historical and present relationship between food and city infrastructure, touches on the issues facing suburban resiliency today, and investigates the challenges facing the food retail industry. It then draws lessons from large-scale typologies of urban agriculture being proposed in recent years by architects and urban designers. This work, specifically at the design stage, identifies the suburban supermarket as a local catalyst for transformation. Today, the City of Mississauga is not food secure – that is, it does not rely on a safe, adequate, sustainable, or appropriate food supply. This thesis investigates how local and sustainable food systems can be integrated into the urban fabric and systems sustaining suburbs today. It further seeks to build on existing conditions, and answer how the suburban big-box typology, preferred by retailers, can contribute to food security.

This thesis addresses resilience for the future of Canadian suburbs, through the lens of buildings and food, particularly against the backdrop of peak oil and climate change. Food access is an integral part of how a city sustains itself. There is growing evidence that the current global food system, the one that feeds many cities today, is “broken” or at least at risk. It has, in the past, produced an abundance of food. It has also brought along a number of unintended consequences, has neglected to embed equitable distribution patterns, and when faced with peak oil and climate change, risks some form of collapse. This thesis focuses on the food distribution question. It suggests a new food system model for the City of Mississauga that couples the region's local systems with global networks in a set of local/global relationships. The research portion of this work provides an overview of the dynamic historical and present relationship between food and city infrastructure, touches on the issues facing suburban resiliency today, and investigates the challenges facing the food retail industry. It then draws lessons from large-scale typologies of urban agriculture being proposed in recent years by architects and urban designers. This work, specifically at the design stage, identifies the suburban supermarket as a local catalyst for transformation. Today, the City of Mississauga is not food secure – that is, it does not rely on a safe, adequate, sustainable, or appropriate food supply. This thesis investigates how local and sustainable food systems can be integrated into the urban fabric and systems sustaining suburbs today. It further seeks to build on existing conditions, and answer how the suburban big-box typology, preferred by retailers, can contribute to food security.