A tale of two trails: Lessons from a comparative account of the Trans Canada Trail and the Sendero de Chile

A new generation of greenways has emerged in recent years, the most ambitious of which are nationwide, interconnected networks of multi-use, multi-purpose greenways and trails, clustered under a single national vision. However, because these initiatives have been the focus of so few research studies, opportunities to glean lessons from their planning and implementation have been limited. This paper contributes to addressing this knowledge gap by presenting a comparative account of two networks, the Trans Canada Trail in Canada and Sendero de Chile in Chile. Using document analysis and interviews with officials closely involved in their development, the evolution of both networks is documented over time, emphasizing similarities and differences related to their planning and implementation. Both initiatives have faced significant challenges in reaching their connection goals and have availed themselves of a diverse range of opportunities and strategies to advance their agendas. A simple model of a virtuous cycle is proposed to highlight the positive feedback—between political and public support, sustained funding, partnership development, accessibility for urban residents, and connectivity of the network—generated by sustained network expansion over time. It is hoped that the insights offered from this analysis may offer guidance to inform the development of similar scale projects elsewhere.     

Exploring the associations between cooling centre accessibility and marginalization in Montreal,Toronto, and Vancouver,Canada

Cooling centres provide respite, safety, and social support during extreme heat events for populations that do not have the resources to own or operate in-home air conditioning. The objective of this study was to measure the spatial accessibility of cooling centres and analyze the associations between cooling centre access and marginalization in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, Canada. The potential spatial accessibility of cooling centres within a 15-minute walk was measured at the dissemination area scale using the two-step floating catchment area method. A two-stage modelling approach was used to analyze the associations between cooling centre access and marginalization. Approximately 62%, 58%, and 54% of the populations in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver had access to at least one cooling centre. In Montreal and Vancouver, high marginalization areas were more likely to have cooling centre access than low marginalization areas. Of the areas with cooling centre access, smaller access scores were observed in areas with high residential instability. Approximately one-fifth of the areas in each city had no cooling centre access and high marginalization, and may be considered for future cooling centres or programs that improve accessibility to existing centres.     

Canadian geopolitical culture: Climate change and sustainability

Considering recent formulations of geopolitical culture in combination with concerns that environmental change be included in contemporary geopolitical analysis, this paper examines the implicit geopolitical formulations in recent Canadian federal political discourse both in Stephen Harper's Conservative government and the subsequent Liberal administration. Contrasting earth system science ideas about global transformations with Canadian nationalist rhetoric concerning petroleum production and notions of unlimited resource extraction as parts of national identity sharply highlights the contours of Canadian identity. If sustainability is to be taken seriously, the official nationalist formulation will have to be drastically changed, but as the widespread rejection of the LEAP manifesto suggests, such ideas of a sustainable mode of globalization have yet to substantially influence Canadian political discourse, despite the rhetorical support offered to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau.     

La métropolisation à l’aune de la ‘loi’ taille/rang : Le cas Canadien, 1971–2001

Metropolization and the rank/size ’law‘: the Canadian case, 1971–2001 There is currently considerable interest in the process of metropolization. One of the consequences of this process, observed by numerous researchers, is the slower growth and even decline of small and medium cities. From a theoretical point of view, this process is compatible with endogenous growth theory: metropolitan areas offer economic actors certain key factors (access to information, to global networks, etc.) that smaller cities cannot. Concurrently, however, there is a resurgence of interest in Zipf's law and, more generally, in the stability of urban hierarchies. These two bodies of work appear to be in contradiction. However, using Canadian data from 1971 to 2001, we show that whilst metropolization is indeed occurring, this is not necessarily incompatible with a regular urban hierarchy. Indeed, if it is assumed that Zipf's rank‐size rule applies to urban systems in stable socio‐economic contexts, and that this regularity can be disrupted by fundamental social and economic changes, then the current wave of metropolization can be interpreted as a re‐ordering of cities in the face of the major social and economic changes of the 1980s and 1990s, which may eventually lead to a new equilibrium compatible with Zipf's law.     

LANDSCAPE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CENTRAL CANADIAN ROCKIES DURING THE 20TH CENTURY

This paper reviews selected evidence of environmental changes in the central Canadian Rockies during the 20th century. The instrumental climate record shows that mean annual temperatures have risen ca. 1.4°C over the last 100 years but seasonal patterns of change are complex. The greatest increases have been in winter temperatures (3.2°C / century). Precipitation data, though limited, show variable patterns of change on decadal scales with generally higher levels of precipitation in the mid-20th century. The longest streamflow record also shows considerable variability, with highest flows in the 1950s. A tree-ring-based temperature reconstruction indicates summer and spring temperatures in the last half of the 20th century are higher than any equivalent period over the last 900 years. Although no accurate regional estimates exist, glaciers have probably lost ca. 25% of their area in the last 100 years and may be smaller now than they have been at any time in the last 3000 years. These two lines of evidence suggest that the climate of the late 20th century is exceptional in the context of the last 1000 to 3000 years. Small but significant vegetation changes are taking place at the upper treeline ecotone in response to climate changes over the 20th century (e.g., seedling establishment). However, the most significant landscape change in the last 100 years is the transformation of the character of the montane forest due to a reduction in forest fire frequency, largely due to an active policy of fire suppression. Dans cet article, on révise certaines manifestations des changements environnementaux qui se sont produits dans les Rocheuses canadiennes au cours du 20^ème siècle. Ce registre instrumental climatologique indique que les moyennes annuelles de température ont augmenté d'environ 1,4°C en 100 ans, mais les modèles de changements saisonniers sont complexes. Les plus fortes augmentations ont été notées dans les températures hivernales (3,2°C/siècle). Les données concernant les précipitations - bien que limitées - indiquent des tendances variables de changement selon les décennies et en général des niveaux plus élevés de précipitation au milieu du 20^éme siècle. Le plus long enregistrement des débits d'un cours d'eau indique aussi d'importantes variations, les débits les plus forts se situant dans les années 1950. La reconstruction des relevés des températures faite à partir des cernes montre que les températures estivales et printanières de la deuxième moitié du 20^ème siècle sont plus élevées qu'elles ne l'étaient durant les périodes correspondantes des 900 dernières annés. Même s'il n'existe aucune donnée règionale exacte, les glaciers ont probablement perdu à peu près 25% de leur superficie au cours du dernier siècle et ils ont atteint leur plus petite taille des 3000 dernières années. Ces deux preuves suggèrent que le climat de la fin du 20^ème siècle est exceptionnel dans le contexte des 1000 à 3000 dernières années. Des changements mineurs mais significatifs s'effectuent actuellement dans l'écotone supérieur de la limite des arbres à cause des changements climatiques du 20^ème siècle (ex. l'implantation de nouvelles pousses). Pourtant, pendant le dernier siècle, la transformation la plus significative s'est effectuée dans les forêts de montagne. Grâce à une politique active de suppression des incendies de forêt, ceux-ci sont beaucoup moins fréquents.     

L'«École de l'ETH» dans l'œuvre de Gaston Bachelard

We retrace here spectral presence in the work of Gaston Bachelard which we call «The School of the ETH». We have chosen three fundamental figures: hermann Weyl, Wolfgang Pauli and Gustave Juvet. For the first one, we consider his central and permanent place in the Bachelardian constitution of a philosophy which seeks to be at the height of the new «physical geometry» rigorously constructed in a Riemannian spirit. As for Pauli, we show an unsuspected affinity which is backed up by the remarkable analyses brought to it by philosophy: from the urgent construction of a «quantic metaphysics», founded on the implications of aPauli principle well understood, to the idea of a «metaphysical particle», going on to the decisive and so promising stakes of the «postulate of non-analysis». In the framework of this convergent polyconstruction of the «surrationalist», enterprise, we treat the third figure, less known but equally important, of the mathematician-philosopher Gustave Juvet.     

Placing the second generation: A case study of Toronto

We examine the social mobility of the second generation in the Toronto metropolitan area by analyzing whether the adult children of immigrants live in more affluent and desirable neighbourhoods than the first generation. Using 2016 census microdata, we compare the social characteristics of census tracts where immigrants and the second and third-plus (3+) generations concentrate. The index of dissimilarity indicates the degree of residential separation among generations and for five ethno-racial second-generation groups: Chinese, South Asian, Black, Southern European, and Northern and Western European. The empirical findings show that the neighbourhoods where the first generation is over-represented are less affluent than those where the second and 3+ generations concentrate, with the largest improvements in social status occurring between the first and second generations. Although they frequently live in more distant suburban neighbourhoods than the first generation, the second generation still tends to live in inner and outer suburbs more than the exurban 3+ generation. For the second generation, the degree of residential concentration varies across ethno-racial groups with persistent segregation marking the residential locations of racial minorities. The findings highlight the variegated geographies and social mobility of the second generation in Canada's largest metropolitan area.     

STATUTE LABOUR ON ONTARIO TOWNSHIP ROADS, 1849–1948: RESPONDING TO A CHANGING SPACE ECONOMY

Statute labour has been neglected in the existing literature on roads in 19th- and early 20th-century Canada, despite its being the fundamental mechanism of township road construction and maintenance. This paper clarifies the operation and role of statute labour, discussing its advantages and disadvantages. Analysis of the historical geography of the declining use of statute labour in later-19th- and early-20th-century Ontario argues that factors of local politics and the increasing strength of regional political institutions such as the Good Roads Association and the provincial government bureaucracy must be placed alongside more obvious technological explanations. Just as statute labour became increasingly inadequate in meeting the local road transport needs of a changing space economy by the turn of the century, individual action and local municipal politics found themselves increasingly constrained by the strengthening of the administrative and financial power of higher levels of government – part of the process by which rural Ontario became integrated into a regional and provincial economy. Parmi les études sur les systèmes routiers au Canada aux 19^ème et 20^ème siècles il n'existe que très peu de discussions sur la corvée – malgré le fait que la corvée était le mécanisme principal de la construction et de l'entretien des routes municipales. Cet article clarifie le fonctionnement et le rôle de la corvée, par une discussion sur ses avantages et ses désavantages. Nous examinons, du point de vue de la géographie historique, le déclin de la corvée qui est survenu au tournant du 20^ème siècle en Ontario, à cause de certains éléments politiques dans les municipalités et à cause de la force croissante d'institutions politiques régionales telles que « The Good Roads Association » et la bureaucratie du gouvernement provincial. Ces facteurs ont eu sur les systèmes routiers un effet aussi important que les changements technologiques. La corvée est devenue de plus en plus insuffisante pour maintenir les routes municipales de l'économie dynamique au début du 20^ème siècle, et en même temps, les individus et les conseils municipaux locaux ont perdu beaucoup de leur pouvoir face au pouvoir administratif et financier des échelons supérieurs gouvernementaux. Néanmoins, c'est par ce processus que l'Ontario rurale s'est intégrée aux économies régionales et provinciales.