Ambitious deep energy retrofits of buildings to accelerate the 1.5°C energy transition in Canada

Scientists advise limiting global warming to 1.5°C with substantial actions by 2030. Our viewpoint argues that climate response strategies in Canada have underemphasized and underestimated the potential contribution deep energy retrofits can make to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, leading to inadequate responses in the building sector, and that Canada can (and should) be ambitious with building retrofits over the next decade. GHG savings from building retrofits can be realized more quickly than GHG reductions from other sectors, and either deliver net cost savings or are cost‐effective when compared to other mitigation measures. Retrofits can also provide social and economic benefits, such as improved health and comfort, and lower energy costs. This paper reviews energy use and building retrofits in Canada and argues the following should be implemented: (1) focus innovation on deep energy retrofit processes, not singular retrofit actions; (2) maximize both social and environmental benefits; (3) improve data gathering and availability for analysis and delivery; (4) innovate for a process of decisions and to avoid “dropouts” during the retrofit process; and (5) focus innovation on business models that maximize benefits.     

La mise en forme d'un pôle de haute technologie en proche banlieue: d'un aménagement fonctionnaliste à un urbanisme de créneau.Le cas de Saint-Laurent dans la région métropolitaine de Montréal

De nouvelles formes de développement sont privilégiées dans certains espaces de la proche banlieue des principales métropoles canadiennes. Cette évolution est liée à la maturation de ces espaces sur le plan économique. Par l'étude d'un cas représentatif de cette maturation économique à l'échelle métropolitaine de Montréal, l'arrondissement de Saint-Laurent, nous mettons en valeur l'évolution des stratégies d'aménagement des acteurs du développement pour les deux principales phases de développement du territoire (1950–1980 et 1980–2000). Nous relions l'évolution sur le plan économique du cas étudié et les stratégies d'aménagement des acteurs du développement en nous référant à la thèse de la régulation. Par une méthode de collecte de données de type qualitatif basée sur une analyse documentaire et l'usage d'entretiens avec les acteurs du développement (du secteur privé et municipal), nous comparons les pratiques d'aménagement pour les deux périodes étudiées. En faisant appel à la distinction entre le fordisme et le post-fordisme pour caractériser la maturation économique, nous concluons que l'évolution sur le plan morphologique du territoire est marquée par le passage d'un aménagement fonctionnaliste à un urbanisme de créneau.     

Giving new meaning to religious conversion: Churches,redevelopment, and secularization in Toronto

Research on secularization has increased in recent years, particularly amongst urban geographers. Yet the debate is still dominated by competing theories that generally fail to account for the many institutions that impede and facilitate religiosity on the urban landscape. This article is about the role that land use planning regulations have had on changes to the religious landscape in Toronto. The empirical focus is on former churches that have recently been converted to residential uses. The larger conceptual goal is to explore the extent to which these transitions affect the religious landscape in the city and to determine what they can tell us about broader processes of secularization.     

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.     

Long-term trends in health status and determinants of health among the off-reserve Indigenous population in Canada, 1991–2012

The Indigenous population in Canada totals approximately 1.6 million individuals, representing about 5% of the total population. The off-reserve Indigenous population represents the fastest growing segment of the Indigenous population, with over 50% living in urban settings. Despite the size of the off-reserve population, research on the health of Indigenous peoples tends to remain focused on reserve-based populations. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of health and social determinants of health among off-reserve Indigenous peoples in Canada. Using data from the 1991 and 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Surveys this paper examines changes in health status and the social determinants of health over a 20-year time span. Results show a decline in health care use and self-reported health status in the period between 1991 and 2012. The results may be related to urbanization, aging, and increased prevalence of some chronic conditions. The findings may also be tied to barriers to achieving adequate off-reserve health care—jurisdictional disputes, disjointed program coverage, systemic racism, and a lack of equity-oriented health services. There remains a pressing need for Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments, researchers, and policymakers to build new relationships that bridge these gaps in health and access to timely care.     

Pourquoi seules les villes sont-elles qualifiées d'intelligentes? Un vocabulaire du biais urbain

Since 2010, the term “smart city” has become a buzzword, used in a vague way to denote the increasing integration of information technology into city management processes and to describe the social and community processes they enable. The adjective “smart” is, however, only applied to cities: by implication non-cities (i.e., rural and peripheral regions) are not smart. In this paper we describe how the term “smart city” is used, and show that processes similar to those that make cities smart also occur outside cities. Reserving the term “smart” for cities therefore reflects a bias, similar to the bias that associates creativity and innovation with cities. As geographers we have become aware of our colonial and sexist biases: in this paper we argue that our urban bias is alive and well, and call attention to it.     

Fringe explosions: risk and vulnerability in Canada's new in‐between urban landscape

This article argues that a new landscape of urbanization takes shape in Canadian cities. In‐between the old downtowns and the new suburbs of urban Canada, a hitherto underexposed and under‐researched mix of residential, commercial, industrial, educational, agricultural and ecologically protected areas and land uses has become the home and workplace, and increasingly also the playspace of most people in Canada. The article examines this new landscape through the lens of the specific risks and vulnerabilities experienced by its inhabitants and users. Using a propane gas explosion in Toronto in the summer of 2008 as an example, we demonstrate that the ‘in‐between city’ is a space of great complexity, which has grown haphazardly and in a contradictory fashion, where, in contrast to the archetype of inner city and suburb, no clear spatial imaginary has been guiding urban development. This leads to always uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous proximities between various and competing uses and social practices. This is nowhere as clear as it is in the splintered urban infrastructures that service this landscape or use the in‐between city's space to service other adjacent or distant purposes.     

Indigenous health organizations,Indigenous community resurgence,and the reclamation of place in urban areas

Research around the world has been nearly unanimous about the positive impacts of Indigenous‐led health organizations on Indigenous peoples' qualitative experiences in health care, in the face of often negative experiences in non‐Indigenous‐led health care settings. Urban environments, including health care environments, are areas of increasing attention with regard to Indigenous peoples' health in Canada. In this study, which took place in the northern city of Prince George, British Columbia, 65 Indigenous community members and health services workers participated in interviews and focus groups, describing their experiences with urban Indigenous‐led health organizations—defined in this study as non‐governmental organizations that prioritize the values and practices of local Indigenous communities. Employing perspectives on place and relationships drawn from Indigenous critical theory and Indigenous community resurgence to analyze the findings of this qualitative study leads to a focus on how relationships impact and can even constitute places, enabling new understandings of the roles of Indigenous‐led health organizations in urban Indigenous community resurgence.     

Urban Aboriginal health: Examining inequalities between Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal populations in Canada

Cet article a pour but de contribuer à la littérature en émergence portant sur la santé des Autochtones en milieu urbain, en comparant l’état de santé et les déterminants de la santé de la population autochtone et non‐autochtone en milieu urbain au Canada. L’étude s’appuie sur des données tirées de l’Enquête auprès des peuples autochtones (EPA) de 2001 et de l’Enquête sur la santé dans les communautés canadiennes (ESCC), cycle 1.1. Préconisant une approche axée sur la santé de la population, nous explorons les différences de l’état de santé et des déterminants de la santé entre les populations autochtones et non‐autochtones en milieu urbain. Trois variables sont utilisées pour décrire l’état de santé : l’auto‐évaluation de l’état de santé, les maladies chroniques et la limitation d’activités. Si l’existence de disparités en matière de santé entre la population autochtone et non‐autochtone en milieu urbain est démontrée, celles‐ci ne sont pas aussi importantes que les disparités qui caractérisent la population non‐autochtone et autochtone vivant dans une réserve. Les déterminants sociaux de la santé sont comparables pour les deux populations, mais les résultats illustrent à quel point des facteurs culturels peuvent également intervenir en faveur ou au détriment de la santé parmi la population autochtone en milieu urbain. Cette étude exploratoire fait ressortir la nécessité de tenir compte des facteurs culturels propres aux déterminants de la santé dans les recherches ultérieures afin d’identifier des pistes d’explication des disparités en matière de santé entre les individus autochtones et non‐autochtones en milieu urbain.