Human Geography Commons^™

The Dynamics Of Ethnic Residential Patterns In The Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (Ontario), Marinel Mandres

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Responding to contemporary urban changes and increasing social complexities, this research endeavours to determine whether recently arrived immigrants still follow residential configurations as prescribed by traditional urban ecological models or whether ethnic groups are displaying a new dispersed (i.e. ‘shot gun’) domiciliary pattern characterized by enclave scattering. A new conceptual model describing various spatial outcomes relative to primary destinations of initial immigrant settlement and subsequent relocation is developed according to propositions discussed in the literature review. Subsequent statistical analyses focus upon the hypothesized post-1980 areal placement of six ethnic groups (Greek, Jewish, Multiethnic, Aboriginal, Chinese, and Jamaican) using the British …

Labour Market Marginalisation Of Young Latinos In San Antonio, Texas: A Geographical Perspective Of Neighbourhood Processes, Harald Sven Bauder

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Latinos cluster in the lower segments of the U. S. labour market and therefore suffer disproportionately from labour market marginalisation and poverty. This dissertation examines supply side forces of the ethnic division of labour. Expanding upon structuration theory and realism, the research investigates the role of place in shaping career decisions of Latino youth. A case study of greater San Antonio, Texas, uses quantitative analysis of U. S. Census data to examine the patterns of youth labour market marginalisation in census tracts. In addition, qualitative in-depth interview analysis was conducted with twenty-nine youth and seventeen community-based institutions in two selected …

Issues In Representing Ethnic Residential Segregation, Wanda Teresa Gayle Smith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study will look at some of the issues involved in representing ethnic residential segregation. Segregation studies rely heavily upon indices and maps. However, both of these are sensitive to the spatial boundaries used. As well, maps have a visual element which affects the nature and degree of representation. Toronto has been chosen as the area of study because of its high degree of ethnic diversity. Five indices that describe the five dimensions of segregation (Massey and Denton, 1988) will be calculated at four standard levels of aggregation. As well, several types of maps will be produced to illustrate the …

Obstetrical Care In The Baffin Region, Northwest Territories: Geographical, Medical And Cultural Perspectives, Christine Clara Earnshaw

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In the Baffin Region, and other regions of the Canadian Arctic, geographic impediments and the history of southern-based health care delivery have influenced the present health care delivery and service. This is especially the case for obstetrical care since the whole process of childbirth has been transformed into a medical issue administered mainly by southern, non-Inuit health care workers and policy makers. Using 350 maternal and infant health records from the Baffin Regional Hospitals from September 1993 to September 1994, variables such as maternal age, fertility rates and low birth weight rates were calculated for communities in the region to …

Higher-Order, Multiplicatively Weighted Voronoi Diagrams: A New Approach To Trade Area Analysis, Robert William South

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Trade area models have traditionally been classified into one of two groups: spatial monopoly models or market penetration approaches. Spatial monopoly models define trade areas in a deterministic manner, while market penetration models construct market areas that are probabilistic. Past research has grouped Voronoi diagram models exclusively with the spatial monopoly approach. However, the research contained within this thesis demonstrates that Voronoi diagrams can be used to generate trade areas that are consistent with market penetration models. This thesis introduces two new Voronoi diagrams: the order-k, multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram (OKMWVD) and the ordered order-k, multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram (OOKMWVD). …

Internal And External Commuting And Their Role In Explaining Demographic Change In Nonmetropolitan Areas: A Case Study Of Simcoe County, Ontario, 1971-1991, Robert Gregory Atkinson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Since the 1970's, nonmetropolitan areas have grown at rates in excess of those experienced by metropolitan areas. Two opposing arguments have been put forth in attempting to explain such a trend. Such arguments focus on the processes of counterurbanisation and metropolitan overspill. This paper ascertains to what extent these processes determine population change in Simcoe County, Ontario, between the years of 1971 and 1991. Associated physical factors, such as metropolitan distance and accessibility, settlement size, and settlement form, are all assessed. Emphasis, however, is placed on an examination of internal and external commuting patterns and their role in explaining recent …

Economic Development And Local Agency In Pond Inlet: A Community In Baffin Region, Northwest Territories, Paul Emile Blais

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In Canada over the last decade, economic development policy-makers have emphasized the role that localities can play in creating or capitalizing on their own capacities for development. Through an investigation of the situation in Pond Inlet, Northwest Territories, the author defines the role that local agency has played in the economic development process in that community. This investigation, based upon interviews of the role players and a broad literature search, involved an examination of the evolution of the economic development organizational structure over the last decade. More specifically, the author evaluated how the individual roles of the different development institutions …

Recent Changes In Domestic Accessibility In The Canadian Airline Industry: The Pre- And Post-Deregulation Situation, Ruben Jose De Castro Furtado

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In 1987 the Canadian National Transportation Act was amended. Airlines became free to enter/exit markets as they saw fit, and a network-wide reform of airline services began. This thesis examines the extent of network development since 1970, and attempts to determine the some of the spatial effects of the 1987 deregulation of the airline industry on nodal accessibility. Accessibility is a relative term and difficult to define explicitly. While it can be measured in distance or time, it may also be measured as the frequency of links between places over time. In this thesis the connectivity among places is used …

Urban-Rural Socio-Economic Links In African Countries: The Case Of Accra, Ghana, Edmund Nkansah Okoree

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

One of the most significant spin-offs of migration in developing countries is the remittance of cash and other resources from migrants to their family members remaining in the area of origin. Through remittances, income is redistributed from urban areas to rural areas. This results in an extension of social, economic, cultural and political fruits of urban life to rural households and communities. This study examines the types of links migrants in Accra, Ghana, maintain with their kin back home. Through a study of the flow of cash remittances and other resources between migrants in Accra and their area of origin, …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Multiple Distance Measures In Regression Modeling: Predicting House Prices, Dawn Maire Porter

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In today’s society people’s locational residential preference is no longer dependent on the distance from the Central Business District. With the demise of the concept of the friction of distance other accessibility nodes, besides the central business district, such as retail and suburban employment are necessary attributes towards the determination and influence of land rents. Where this is the case, the hedonic regression methods analysis to explain house prices should employ distance variables corresponding to each of the urban nodes. However, these distance measures may be highly intercorrelated, thereby posing a problem of “spatial collinearity.” Two authors have examined and …

An Analysis Of Canadian International & Interprovincial Manufacturing Export Flows: 1974-1990, H. Lillian Kucsma

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examined the changing internal and external export patterns of Canadian manufactured products in the years 1974, 1979, 1984, and 1990. Hechscher—Ohlin's comparative advantage trade framework was used to guide the analysis. Internally, provincially biased shipping patterns were found over the four time periods analyzed. The percentage of intraprovincial shipments increased, and interprovincial shipments decreased through time. This suggests that the provinces exhibited signs of increasing provincialism. Externally, except for 1990, primary export flow destinations to the USA as a percentage of total exports increased over time while those to the other OECD countries decreased. Secondary export flow destinations, …

Pandemic Influenza: An Analysis Of The Spread Of Influenza In Kitchener, October 1918 (Ontario), Niall Phillip Alan Sean Johnson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Influenza remains one of the major killers in modern society. In addition to the mortality it causes, it exacts a huge medical, social and economic toll. Due to its propensity to undergo change, through antigenic drift and shift, this disease continues to torment humankind. These changes are the driving force that enables influenza to periodically become epidemic and pandemic. The study of past pandemics thus may provide useful insight to comb-it the disease now and in the future. The 1918-19 pandemic is one of the three worst outbreaks of disease in recorded history, with only the Justinian plagues and the …

Agro-Climatic Hazards And The Political Economy Of Food Insecurity In West Africa: A Case Of A Rural Food Economy, Raphael Lawer Djabatey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Variability and declining food production and accessibility in West Africa have characterised the food system in the region’s rural economy. These phenomenon have contributed to the fluctuation and declining per capita food supply and calorie intake, falling wages of farmers, rising food prices and increasing reliance on food imports and food aid by the governments and people of West Africa. The cause of the problem still remains an illusion and continues to baffle policy makers. Very often the problem is attributed to drought. However, to reduce the problem of household food insecurity to natural forces is to miss the centre …

Rapid Population Growth And Its Impact On Residential Land Use In Ghana: The Case Of Madina-Adenta In The Accra Metropolitan Area, Louis Awanyo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Rapid population growth rates coupled with low levels of economic development in developing countries have created among others immense obstacles to the provision of adequate housing to the majority of residents. Population growth rates are growing faster than the provision of new housing and housing infrastructure. This has resulted in intensive usage of the existing stock of housing and deterioration of housing environments. Some of the manifestations of housing and residential land use intensification are increasing room occupancy levels, in—situ housing adjustments involving physical changes in housing space and housing space conversions. Intensification of residential land use also has environmental …

The Energy Crisis: The Case Of The Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas), With Special Reference To Nigeria, Ghana And Burkina Faso, Francis Bliss Lagbo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The energy crisis of West African countries has assumed major importance over the past few decades. The oil price increases of the 1970s have posed innumerable problems to these countries. But that is hardly the entire story. The vegetation cover of most places have been stripped so bare that people must walk for hours to find the day's supply of firewood, the traditional energy source. Doing something about the problem involves, first of all, understanding what the situation really is. This study provides an analysis of the spatial, sectoral and social inequalities in energy production and consumption in BCOWAS. Scrutiny …

Consumer Spatial Shopping Behaviour Analysis: A Case Study Of The Kitchener Cma (Ontario), Yalin Wu

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Many marketing geographers concern themselves with the study of consumer spatial choice behaviour. Addressing some of the concerns, this thesis provides an evidence of customers’ spatial shopping behaviour at the study region of Kitchener Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). A customer’s spatial choice decision-making in the study area was first assumed to be a two-levelled process: regional and subregional level. This study was to identify the factors motivating consumers’ choice on where to shop at these two levels. A previous 804 households’ shopping behaviour survey conducted by Dr. A. Hecht in 1986 was used as the data basis of this study. …

Population Concentration Or Deconcentration In Ontario? An Examination Of Recent Patterns And Probable Causal Factors, Sinisa Aleksa

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The process of population deconcentration has received little attention from a methodological and causal perspective. In the early 1970’s, most western and industrialized nations including Canada experienced an intense movement of the population away from the larger metropolitan and urban areas. As a result, much of the growth during this time period was taking place at lower levels of the settlement hierarchy. In fact, much of the growth in those areas had in the past been characterized by heavy out-migration and overall population losses. Research in the 1980’s has been of a critical nature. There have been two main criticisms. …

Pioneers Of Modern Geography: Translations Pertaining To German Geographers Of The Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries, Robert C. West

GreyZone

This collection of English translations samples the writings and/or critiques thereon of six important German geographers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: those of August Meitzen, Eduard Hahn, Otto Schliiter, Alfred Hettner, Siegfried Passarge, and Karl Sapper. Each of these scholars influenced in various ways the course of modem geographical thinking and instruction in German universities, and their methodologies were also adopted in part by professional geographers in other European countries and in the United States. Four of them—Hahn, Schliiter, Hettner and Passarge— were students of Ferdinand von Richthofen, often considered the “father” of professional geography in Germany. …

High Technology Industry And Material Linkages In The Toronto Region, Jim Torretto

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examines the material linkage patterns of a sample of 80 high technology establishments located in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). The main focus of the research is to relate the spatial spread of linkages to aspects of plant structure, most notably ownership. In addition, an attempt is made to compare linkage arrangements of firms in Toronto with other regional studies of high technology industry. The results reveal the expected linkage patterns with respect to ownership. Foreign owned companies show much lower levels of purchasing and selling within the Toronto economy than domestic firms. Further dimensions of plant …

Elderly Housing Choice: A Case Study Of Brantford, Ontario, David Owen Diegel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As Canada’s population ages, policy analysts are increasingly concerned with issues related to housing the elderly. Addressing some of these concerns, this thesis provides evidence of the characteristics of the elderly who choose to move to Senior Citizens’ Apartments (SCAs), as opposed to staying in their own homes. Choice based sampling and binary logit analysis are used to investigate the connection between the choice made and the characteristics of the elderly. The results indicate that being married and owning a car increase the odds of elderly persons staying in their own homes as opposed to moving to an SCA, while …

The Changing Canadian Inventive Spatial Economic Pattern: An Urban And Regional Analysis Between 1881 And 1986, S.L. Brian Ceh

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Canadian urban and regional patent and trademark data was analysed between 1881 and 1986 in an attempt to distinguish spatial inventive patterns in Canada over time. Inventive activity, as a pre—condition for economic development, is a viable indicator for predicting future economic growth in an inventive spatial economy. As such, it will be possible to extend the description of spatial inventive patterns in Canada after 1986. The percentage and relative level of inventive activity in urban centers and regions in Canada will help distinguish spatial inventive patterns in Canada over time. This information was based on a 25 percent systematic …

The Extent To Which The Geographic Proximity, Quantity And Quality Of Contact Predicts Dimensions Of Social Support Given To Elderly Women By Their Adult Children, Lori Ann Johnson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which the frequency of contact, geographic proximity, and the quality of the relationship between elderly women and their most supportive adult child accounted for the degree of social support obtained by these women, and to evaluate the applicability of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) (Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979) as a measure of the affectional and controlling aspects of the relationship between the two populations. One hundred noninstitutional elderly women from the City of Waterloo were interviewed in their homes and were asked to designate their most supportive adult …

Housing Policy And Housing Satisfaction In The People’S Republic Of China: A Behavioural Approach Applied In The City Of Xian, Jidong Zhang

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Based on the behavioural approach, this thesis examines housing satisfaction in Xian, The People’s Republic of China, and its implications for housing policy. A conceptual framework of housing satisfaction along three dimensions, housing environment system, social structure, and housing policy, is presented and discussed. From this framework a set of hypotheses are stated and subsequently tested. The strongest factor found to affect housing satisfaction is people’s living space and housing condition is another important factor. Through examining housing policy and housing satisfaction, the centrally controlled Chinese housing policies are shown to need modification and changes in housing supply should be …

An Analysis Of The Spatial And Economic Variations Of Ethnic Groups, Ontario, Jayati Ghosh

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study is concerned with six ethnic groups in the province of Ontario: the British, considered the “core group”, and the French, Italian, Indo-Chinese, Indo-Pakistani and Caribbean, the “peripheral groups.”

The principal interest of the research has been to study the ethnic mosaic in two ways, both in a core-periphery context. It was hypothesised that there has been persistence of socio-economic stratification between the British core and the peripheral groups. This thesis analyzes variation in the occupation-income between and within the ethnic immigrant groups.

The secondary objective is to examine these groups spatially, that is, in terms of a southern …

Towards The Measurement Of Regional Inequities Through Patterns Of Ideally Generated Socio-Economic Indicators, Richard C. Campbell

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Regional disparities are commonly described in terms of only one criterion when in fact they can be characterized by a number of social and economic variables. The objective of this study is to define regional data according to specific socio-economic indicators, and measure the disparities associated with them in comparison to those from ideally generated groupings. Socio-economic data from the Federal Republic of Germany was obtained from the West German Federal Institute for Regional Analysis and Planning. The variables will be grouped by factor analysis to create the indicators, and variation will be measured using analysis of variance. The ideal …

Communities In Transition Elmira And St. Jacobs, Ontario : A Study Of Resident And Retailer Attitudes Toward Tourism, Frances Hohol

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present thesis examines the changes which tourism development has brought to two Canadian communities, Elmira and St. Jacobs, Ontario. They are "communities in transition". The research focusses on the local resident and retailer attitudes toward this development, and the possibility and desirability of further tourism development. Following analysis of the data collected through questionnaires, nine recommendations are presented.

Arson In Toronto: A Geographical Perspective (Ontario), James Richards

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis is an empirical study of the crime of arson in Toronto from a geographical perspective. Although empirical in nature there is a framework of analysis that hopefully provides a starting point for theoretical development. The study is loosely organized around the framework of four areas of arson research which include: antecedent environmental conditions, organismic variables, actual firesetting behavior, and the consequences of firesetting. To each one of these areas of research geographical analysis is possible. In most cases it was necessary in this study to incorporate the findings from the psychological and sociological literature into the geographical analysis. …

Regional Variations Among Ethnic Groups In Ontario A Core-Periphery Model, Robert George Sharpe

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis performs a spatial analysis of Ontario’s structure of ethnic stratification. It examines several spatial manifestations of the contrasts in socio-economic well-being—income, education, and occupation—between Ontario’s British majority and seven ethnic minority categories. The major data source for this analysis includes published Canadian Census data and special tabulations of the 1971 Census. Regional patterns of spatial distribution shown by the various ethnic categories are described and compared using location quotients and the centrographic statistical technique. Applying a core-periphery model of regional structure and development, a tendency was found for ethnic categories of subordinate socio-economic status to be disproportionately concentrated …

An Examination Of The Geographic And Socioeconomic Spaces Of Ethnic Groups In Toronto A Core-Periphery Perspective, Amy Chor Yee Wong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The main interest of this study is the urban ethnic mosaic within the context of the core-periphery concept: its historical and spatial expressions of ethnic groups in Toronto. The study will focus on the socioeconomic contrasts—income, education, and occupation—between the major ethnic group and the subgroups. Two dimensions, those of ethnic mobility and socioeconomic characteristics, have been set up to inquire into geographic changes in ethnic groups over time and into the degree of socioeconomic polarity between the ethnic groups at one time. The basic data sources relevant to this study are both published and unpublished Canadian census data, from …

An Analysis Of Spatial Trends And Factors Associated With Population Growth For Small Towns In Southwestern Ontario, 1961-1976, Michael Lloyd Schnare

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

An attempt to discover and analyze the emerging trends of urban growth represents a problem of immediate concern for geographers. However, much of this research has been concerned primarily with large urban areas. This thesis is an attempt to learn more about the dynamics of small town population change and thus, concerns itself with determining trends of small town population growth.

Specifically, this thesis investigates the differential growth patterns for selected small towns in Southwestern Ontario for the 1961–1971, and 1971–1976 periods to ascertain precisely some of the factors associated with population growth and decline, and for presenting findings that …