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Articles 1 - 30 of 41
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
What Is The Role Of Public Participation In Planning Development Applications For Infill And Intensification: Evidence From Cambridge, Kitchener And Waterloo, Ontario, Deanne Friess
MPA Major Research Papers
The Ontario Planning Act makes public participation a requirement for most municipal planning decision. The intent of the legislated public process is to create a transparent public participatory process. However, the potential impact of the public participation is limited for certain types of applications as approvals are dependent on existing municipal planning policy and provincial direction. The province directs a large portion of new growth be accommodated through infill and intensification. Local municipalities apply the provincial direction in policies, plans, guidelines and regulations which encourage infill and intensification through land use permissions. Planning documents recognize that infill development protects agricultural …
Quality Strategic Planning – Are We There? A Comparative Evaluation Of The Current State Of Strategic Planning With Ontario’S Smaller Municipalities, Mike Macauley
MPA Major Research Papers
Strategic planning for municipalities is a common undertaking to identify goals and objectives to improve the quality of life of their residents. Research has shown that strategic planning offers many benefits to organizations, and allows them to strategically identify, implement and achieve top priorities. The strategic plan itself is the product of the strategic planning process, though evaluating the final published plan often does not occur and a lack of academic research exists to understand if strategic planning is producing quality strategic plans.By evaluating strategic plans in Ontario using a plan quality framework designed from a newly published study (Evaluating …
Harmonizing Agricultural Growth And Nighttime Sky: Municipal Strategies For Mitigating Commercial Greenhouse-Related Light Pollution In Ontario, Canada, Adam Betteridge
Harmonizing Agricultural Growth And Nighttime Sky: Municipal Strategies For Mitigating Commercial Greenhouse-Related Light Pollution In Ontario, Canada, Adam Betteridge
MPA Major Research Papers
This comprehensive research investigates the intricate interplay between the thriving commercial greenhouse industry and the pressing concern of nocturnal light pollution in a focussed area of Ontario, Canada, and the Netherlands. The study addresses the multifaceted challenge of managing greenhouse-related light pollution, which emerges as an unintended consequence of employing supplementary lighting to extend growing seasons and enhance crop yields. The analysis of jurisdictional approaches reveals the complexities and the varied success achieved in addressing this issue.In Ontario, particularly in and near the County of Essex, the response to greenhouse-related light pollution has primarily been reactive, with municipalities passing light …
Algorithmic Improvements In Deep Reinforcement Learning, Norman L. Tasfi
Algorithmic Improvements In Deep Reinforcement Learning, Norman L. Tasfi
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Reinforcement Learning (RL) has seen exponential performance improvements over the past decade, achieving super-human performance across many domains. Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), the combination of RL methods with deep neural networks (DNN) as function approximators, has unlocked much of this progress. The path to generalized artificial intelligence (GAI) will depend on deep learning (DL) and RL. However, much work is required before the technology reaches anything resembling GAI. Therefore, this thesis focuses on a subset of areas within RL that require additional research to advance the field, specifically: sample efficiency, planning, and task transfer. The first area, sample efficiency, refers …
Executive Functioning Deficits Following Acquired Right Hemisphere Brain Damage: A Systematic Review, Ghalia Albakri
Executive Functioning Deficits Following Acquired Right Hemisphere Brain Damage: A Systematic Review, Ghalia Albakri
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Executive functioning (EF) abilities are compromised subsequent to right hemisphere brain damage (RHD). EF supports communication including understanding and using pragmatics and discourse. Consequently, if EF abilities are impaired, communication challenges may occur. Accordingly, the objectives of the current study were to examine the RHD literature to identify: (a) EF deficits reported; (b) standardized EF assessments; (c) type of participant data reported and, (c) quality of the prior studies. Several electronic databases were searched between 1980 and March 2018. Results (71 articles) indicated that the most commonly assessed EF abilities were: (a) working memory, (b) verbal fluency, and (c) awareness …
Monitoring & Evaluation Content In Municipal Official Plans: An Assessment Of Plan Quality & Implementation Actions, Owen Mccabe
Monitoring & Evaluation Content In Municipal Official Plans: An Assessment Of Plan Quality & Implementation Actions, Owen Mccabe
MPA Major Research Papers
Municipal official plans are important tools in the Province of Ontario’s land use planning system. As documents that guide how communities manage change, they are a central element of planning practice and important objects of research. Official plans are not static – they are updated regularly as part of a plan-making cycle that includes issue identification, policy development, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. This research paper is focussed on the monitoring and evaluation aspect of the plan-making cycle, and specifically, the content in municipal official plans that addresses and guides these practices. It builds on the existing plan quality and …
Dynamic Planning Networks, Norman Tasfi, Miriam A M Capretz
Dynamic Planning Networks, Norman Tasfi, Miriam A M Capretz
Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications
We introduce Dynamic Planning Networks (DPN), a novel architecture for deep reinforcement learning, that combines model-based and model-free aspects for online planning. Our architecture learns to dynamically construct plans using a learned state-transition model by selecting and traversing between simulated states and actions to maximize information before acting. DPN learns to efficiently form plans by expanding a single action conditional state transition at a time instead of exhaustively evaluating each action, reducing the number of state-transitions used during planning. We observe emergent planning patterns in our agent, including classical search methods such as breadth-first and depth-first search. DPN shows improved …
Motor Planning Modulates Neural Activity Patterns In Early Human Auditory Cortex, Daniel J. Gale, Corson N. Areshenkoff, Claire Honda, Ingrid S. Johnsrude, J. Randall Flanagan, Jason P. Gallivan
Motor Planning Modulates Neural Activity Patterns In Early Human Auditory Cortex, Daniel J. Gale, Corson N. Areshenkoff, Claire Honda, Ingrid S. Johnsrude, J. Randall Flanagan, Jason P. Gallivan
Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications
It is well established that movement planning recruits motor-related cortical brain areas in preparation for the forthcoming action. Given that an integral component to the control of action is the processing of sensory information throughout movement, we predicted that movement planning might also modulate early sensory cortical areas, readying them for sensory processing during the unfolding action. To test this hypothesis, we performed 2 human functional magnetic resonance imaging studies involving separate delayed movement tasks and focused on premovement neural activity in early auditory cortex, given the area's direct connections to the motor system and evidence that it is modulated …
Decoding Motor Imagery And Action Planning In The Early Visual Cortex: Overlapping But Distinct Neural Mechanisms, Simona Monaco, Giulia Malfatti, Jody C. Culham, Luigi Cattaneo, Luca Turella
Decoding Motor Imagery And Action Planning In The Early Visual Cortex: Overlapping But Distinct Neural Mechanisms, Simona Monaco, Giulia Malfatti, Jody C. Culham, Luigi Cattaneo, Luca Turella
Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications
Recent evidence points to a role of the primary visual cortex that goes beyond visual processing into high-level cognitive and motor-related functions, including action planning, even in absence of feedforward visual information. It has been proposed that, at the neural level, motor imagery is a simulation based on motor representations, and neuroimaging studies have shown overlapping and shared activity patterns for motor imagery and action execution in frontal and parietal cortices. Yet, the role of the early visual cortex in motor imagery remains unclear. Here we used multivoxel pattern analyses on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to examine whether …
Inclusionary Zoning: Identifying Possible Legal Challenges Within Canada And How Best To Pre-Empt Them, Christina Pilatzkie
Inclusionary Zoning: Identifying Possible Legal Challenges Within Canada And How Best To Pre-Empt Them, Christina Pilatzkie
MPA Major Research Papers
The purpose of this research paper is to explore the legal issues that surround inclusionary zoning. More specifically, the question to be answered through this research is: How can Canadian municipalities shield themselves from legal challenges that may put inclusionary zoning policies at risk of being nullified? Through inductive research byway of qualitative content analysis of 16 American court cases, in which the legal challenges posed to inclusionary zoning ordinances are then extrapolated and applied to the Canadian context, the fundamental legal issues pertinent to Canadian municipalities become illuminated. What has been observed is that there have been a number …
Community Improvement Plans: An Analysis Of Content And Outcomes Of Community Improvement Plans In Ontario, Paul Pirri
Community Improvement Plans: An Analysis Of Content And Outcomes Of Community Improvement Plans In Ontario, Paul Pirri
MPA Major Research Papers
Community Improvement Plans are an often used, but seldom studied economic development and planning tool used to spur economic growth within an economically depressed area. But are they effective? This paper answers two questions concerning Community Improvement Plans. First, “How are Community Improvement Plans used in the Province of Ontario?”; and second, “Is the execution of these plans resulting in greater economic prosperity for the communities that have enacted them?”. This work is undertaken by reviewing the content of 202 Community Improvement Plans across the Province of Ontario. Regression tests on municipal assessments from 2001-2018 to determine what effect the …
Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud
Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud
2019 Cohort
Indigenous peoples experience poorer health outcomes on almost every measure of health and wellbeing, when compared to the rest of Canada. For decades researchers have been working independently on addressing health inequalities, yet little progress has been made on closing the gap. This Discipline-specific way of thinking is too narrow and neglects indigenous ideologies of holistic approaches to health. An interdisciplinary approach to indigenous health research provides a more collaborative and integrated opportunity to address the multidimensional aspects of health. This paper has the goals to contribute to the limited research on interdisciplinary indigenous health research.
Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud
Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud
Head and Heart Posters 2019
Indigenous peoples experience poorer health outcomes on almost every measure of health and wellbeing, when compared to the rest of Canada. For decades researchers have been working independently on addressing health inequalities, yet little progress has been made on closing the gap. This Discipline-specific way of thinking is too narrow and neglects indigenous ideologies of holistic approaches to health. An interdisciplinary approach to indigenous health research provides a more collaborative and integrated opportunity to address the multidimensional aspects of health. This paper has the goals to contribute to the limited research on interdisciplinary indigenous health research.
Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud
Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud
Learning with your Head & Heart
Indigenous peoples experience poorer health outcomes on almost every measure of health and wellbeing, when compared to the rest of Canada. For decades researchers have been working independently on addressing health inequalities, yet little progress has been made on closing the gap. This Discipline-specific way of thinking is too narrow and neglects indigenous ideologies of holistic approaches to health. An interdisciplinary approach to indigenous health research provides a more collaborative and integrated opportunity to address the multidimensional aspects of health. This paper has the goals to contribute to the limited research on interdisciplinary indigenous health research.
Stakeholder Participation In Land-Use Planning Processes: An Assessment Of London’S Official Plan Review Process- ‘Rethink London’ Using The Collaborative Planning Framework, Elmond Bandauko
MPA Major Research Papers
This paper assesses the extent to which Rethink London exemplifies the tenets of collaborative planning. Rethink London was an innovative, community driven approach to planning whose main objective was to collaboratively engage the London community in creating a shared vision for urban development. The assessment was done using the process criteria focusing on issues such as equal opportunities and resources, inclusive representation, self design, independent facilitation, effective process management, voluntary participation and commitment, accountability, high quality information, purpose and incentives and clear ground rules. These factors were operationalised into concrete interview questions that were used to collect data through semi-structured …
Levelling The Urban Playing Field: How Municipalities Can Increase Leverage From Sports Franchises During Sports Venue Public-Private-Partnerships Negotiations, Bipin Dhillon
MPA Major Research Papers
The modern era of sports venue funding (post-1984) has shown a shift toward downtown revitalization arena projects as a remedy to the costly nature of sporting venue public-private-partnerships between municipalities and major league franchises. Sports franchises use their advantage to request attractive funding packages from desperate municipalities because of factors such as the supply and demand of franchises, municipal competition, and growth in consumption-based economic development. In response, the purpose of this report is to determine how municipalities can maximize leverage when trying to secure downtown sporting venues funded by public-private-partnerships. More specifically, which set of “leverage variables” under municipal …
Chaos As Creativity, Catherine E. Wilkins
Chaos As Creativity, Catherine E. Wilkins
Western Libraries eBook Collection
Chaos and planning is integral to the creative process when planning for the future. The initial impetus for the writing was the author’s dissertation that provided a framework for planning future libraries. Chaos theory and chaos is reviewed broadly from a generalist perspective across multiple disciplines and over time from ancient times to the present. An abstract planning process is presented along with a diagram that facilitates mapping the current environment. Identifying intrinsic and extrinsic influences present in the environment provides a process to map a probable future environment. To illustrate how the planning process works music is used as …
Identification Of Factors For Successful Implementation Of The Incident Management System In Ontario Health Unit Emergency Management Programs, Dimitra Kasimos
Identification Of Factors For Successful Implementation Of The Incident Management System In Ontario Health Unit Emergency Management Programs, Dimitra Kasimos
MPA Major Research Papers
In 2008, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care released the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Protocol, which mandated local health units to develop emergency response plans consistent with the Incident Management System (IMS). The main purpose for implementing IMS was to provide a standardized approach to local and provincial government emergency response by providing a common framework. This paper identifies some of the factors present in health units that consistently implement IMS during incident and emergency response. A questionnaire was developed to collect data from 34 of the 35 health units in Ontario. The findings reveal that health units have …
The Effectiveness Of Using A Public-Private-Partnership Model For Urban Rail Transit: The Vancouver Case, Jie Bian
MPA Major Research Papers
In recent years, public-private partnerships, which are commonly referred to as PPPs or P3s, have become increasingly popular in Canada. Within the context of public transit, PPPs involve the private sector designing, building, financing, and operating the facilities. This paper analyzes the potential benefits of P3s based on an in-depth case study of public transportation investment in Greater Vancouver. It compares a DBFO (design-build-finance-operate) project and two non-DBFO projects in Metro Vancouver using the three variables of efficiency, fulfillment of original purposes, and procedural transparency. Ultimately, there were very few apparent merits of PPPs in the Vancouver case and the …
Municipal And Developer Success Rates At The Ontario Municipal Board: A London, Ontario Case Study, Dan Scheid
Municipal And Developer Success Rates At The Ontario Municipal Board: A London, Ontario Case Study, Dan Scheid
MPA Major Research Papers
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) is a quasi-judicial tribunal with the authority to render decisions regarding land-use planning disputes. Using London, Ontario as a case study, this paper attempts to determine if municipalities or developers are generally more successful before the OMB when they are in direct opposition. The research seeks to highlight the underlying reasons why OMB makes its decisions, what it bases its decisions on, and any ramifications this may have for municipalities and developers. Through an extensive literature review, comparisons to other empirical studies of a similar nature, and a carefully selected research design, this paper provides …
The Role Of Local Government In China’S Urbanization: The Relationship Between Local Land Finance And Government-Led Urbanization, Ying Qiu
MPA Major Research Papers
Over the past several decades, dramatic growth and institutional reforms have taken place in the Chinese economy and society, which has been accompanied by accelerated urbanization. This paper examines the rationale behind the local government’s pursuit of urbanization and its deep relationship with fiscal reform, local land management, and the political performance evaluation system of local cadres by central officials. The findings reveal that, rather than being a natural consequence of economic development and a complex outcome of population urbanization and land urbanization, China’s urbanization in recent decades can be identified as a local government-led development deriving from the municipalities’ …
Toward Regional Resilience In Toronto: From Diagnosis To Action, Zack Taylor, Leah Birnbaum
Toward Regional Resilience In Toronto: From Diagnosis To Action, Zack Taylor, Leah Birnbaum
Western Urban and Local Governance Working Papers
Greater Toronto is recognized as a high-performing urban region. Over the past decade, however, negative social, economic, and environmental trends have emerged that threaten the region’s future. On the basis of documentary research and four focus group workshops with a diverse array of professional practitioners, this paper assesses the Toronto region’s current assets and vulnerabilities in relation to future risks.The discussion is framed by the concept of resilience—an increasingly popular, yet abstract, concept in urban planning and public administration. This paper proposes, first, that planning and policymaking be directed toward increasing the region’s resilience, understood as the diversity and redundancy …
The Impacts Of Land Use Growth Restrictions Upon Municipal Finances: A Comparative Study Of A Rural Municipality, An Urban Settlement Municipality, And A Primary Settlement Municipality, Douglas Herron
MPA Major Research Papers
This paper examines the impact of growth controls on the finances of local government. It focuses on the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and the growth controls imposed through the Growth Plan upon the County of Simcoe and the local municipal governments within the boundaries of the County of Simcoe. The impact of growth controls is analyzed using a detailed analysis of three sample municipalities, which include the Township of Tiny, a rural municipality, the Town of Wasaga Beach, a high growth municipality, and the Town of Collingwood, a high growth municipality designated for population intensification. The findings …
Strategic Asset Management In The City Of Hamilton: An Analysis Of The Integration Of Strategic Planning And Management Elements Into Municipal Infrastructure Asset Management Programs, Brent Kittmer
MPA Major Research Papers
This paper examines which elements of strategic planning and strategic management are associated with improved organizational performance and how these elements are practically implemented in a municipality’s asset management program. The four key elements of strategic planning and management identified include: developing formal plans and using planning tools; setting goals and implementing performance measurement systems; internal and external stakeholder involvement; and linking the strategic process to the organization’s budget. A qualitative case study of the City of Hamilton’s asset management program was completed to describe how these strategic elements are practically implemented. The findings reveal that each of the key …
Development Permit System Policy Development In Ontario: Factors That Contribute To Implementation, Natalie Stopar
Development Permit System Policy Development In Ontario: Factors That Contribute To Implementation, Natalie Stopar
MPA Major Research Papers
In 2007, the Province of Ontario introduced a new planning tool called the Development Permit System (DPS) in order to increase the efficiency, certainty, and scope of the planning system. Despite these stated benefits, it has only been implemented in four municipalities. This paper examines the factors that could be limiting the implementation of the system in some municipalities, while encouraging implementation in others, using case studies conducted in five municipalities: the Township of Lake of Bays, the Township of Mulmur, the City of Kitchener, the Town of East Gwillimbury, and the City of Hamilton. Interviews were conducted with a …
Departmental Strategic Planning: Examining The Institutional And Organizational Linkages That Influence Departmental Strategic Planning Processes In Local Government, Adam Mobbs
MPA Major Research Papers
This paper examines the organizational and institutional factors that contribute to strategic planning efforts within the specific context of municipal government departments. It uses a mixed-methods approach consisting of a quantitative and qualitative analysis. The qualitative data was collected through interviews with department heads from two municipalities – Markham and Vaughan – that demonstrated enhanced strategic management processes, while the quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire that measured the perceptions of department heads employed by mid-sized Ontario municipalities. The findings reveal that each measure contained in the Strategic Management Processes Index demonstrates a relatively healthy level of management processes …
Landowner Behaviour In The Upper Thames And Grand River Watersheds: A Study Of Factors That May Explain The Conservation Behaviour Of Farmers, Jeffrey Brick
MPA Major Research Papers
This paper examines the factors that may explain why some farmers choose to remove conservation lands, while others choose to restore them. It uses a survey that was administered to rural landowners in the Upper Thames River and Grand River watersheds in Southwestern Ontario to collect information on landowner characteristics and behaviours, as well as literature reviews to provide insights into the value of conservation lands and the changing economic conditions in the study area. Eight independent variables that may explain the conservation behaviour of farmers were assessed. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between property size and the …
Utilising Indigenous Seasonal Knowledge To Understand Aquatic Resource Use And Inform Water Resource Management In Northern Australia, Emma Woodward, Sue Jackson, Marcus Finn, Patricia Marrfurra Mctaggart
Utilising Indigenous Seasonal Knowledge To Understand Aquatic Resource Use And Inform Water Resource Management In Northern Australia, Emma Woodward, Sue Jackson, Marcus Finn, Patricia Marrfurra Mctaggart
Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)
Indigenous ecological knowledge can inform contemporary water manage- ment activities including water allocation planning. This paper draws on results obtained from a 3-year study to reveal the connection between Indigenous socio-economic values and river flows in the Daly River, Northern Territory. Qualitative phenological knowledge was analysed and compared to quantitative resource-use data, obtained through a large household survey of Indigenous harvesting and fishing effort. A more complete picture of Indigenous resource- use and management strategies was found to be provided by the adoption of mixed methods. The quantitative data revealed resource-use patterns including when and where species are harvested. The …
Organizational Behavioural Obstructions Between Planners And Implementing The Development Permit System, Joseph Nethery
Organizational Behavioural Obstructions Between Planners And Implementing The Development Permit System, Joseph Nethery
MPA Major Research Papers
This study examines why few municipalities in Ontario have adopted the Development Permit System (DPS). In attempting to identify what relationships exist between organizational behaviours and the consideration of DPS, a survey pre-test and a full survey were administered to various municipalities in Ontario, in addition to a case study of DPS in Carleton Place. The findings reveal that larger municipalities and municipalities with a higher number of Registered Professional Planners tend to consider DPS more often, with statistically significant relationships found between the consideration of DPS and the individual interest of planners, challenging development projects, and male planners.
Public Participation In Canadian Local Government: A Study Of The Meadowlily Secondary Plan Process In London, Ontario, Michael Hurley
Public Participation In Canadian Local Government: A Study Of The Meadowlily Secondary Plan Process In London, Ontario, Michael Hurley
MPA Major Research Papers
This paper examines whether the facilitation of public participation in local government is a worthwhile objective, using public engagement in the Meadowlily Secondary Plan in London, Ontario as a case study. An online survey was administered to citizens who participated in the City’s land use planning process. The findings reveal that by participating in decision-making, citizens learned about the processes and responsibilities of municipal government, in addition to other forms of learning, which demonstrates that the facilitation of public participation in municipal government is indeed a worthwhile objective.