Application of Landsat satellite imagery to monitor land‐cover changes at the Athabasca Oil Sands,Alberta, Canada

A major advantage of satellite remote sensing is that the imagery acquired provides a synoptic view of the landscape. Thus, repeat coverage by the satellite on a regular basis permits the detection of changes in land‐cover over time. This study demonstrates the application of remote sensing technology to the monitoring of mining activities at the Athabasca Oil Sands region of Alberta, Canada. First, we describe the techniques used to match a time sequence of Landsat imagery, both spatially and spectrally, to ensure that the spectral changes through time are due to land‐cover variations. A series of spectral trajectories were then extracted to assess changes in land‐cover through time. Secondly, a land‐cover classification was produced from the baseline 1984 imagery and, using historic and future mine extents, the classification was analyzed to determine the proportion of each land‐cover type affected through development. Results of the analysis indicate that since 1984 there has been a larger reduction in mixedwood dense and broadleaf vegetation classes than mixedwood sparse or dense conifer stands in the area. Based on the delineations of mine‐site activity, the area of woodland and wetland habitat subject to development has increased from approximately 2,520 hectare (ha) in 1984 to 32,930 ha in 2005.     

La représentation de l’espace public par la photographie : Une étude de cas dans la région de Montréal (Québec,Canada)

Beyond the material forms that constitute public space, it is subject to representations or images that shape the types of use, forms of appropriation, and general perception that people have of it. Following a centre‐periphery gradient that allows us to compare three zones of the Montreal region (pericentral, periurban, and the northern ring), we analyzed photographs available within cyberspace (from different municipalities and boroughs, local newspapers, and social media) to draw out representations of public space. What can photographs available online tell us about how space is perceived? We have established a typology of images of public space (idyllic nature, urban scene, festive space, empty space, family portrait) that are representative of the overall corpus studied. We have compared these results with a correspondence analysis to clarify the structure of interaction between the variables. The analysis demonstrates that the representations are more differentiated between neighbourhoods than between regions, and that while newspapers and municipalities represent more themes of sociability and family life, social media shows more empty spaces, whether they be monumental spaces, or spaces of daily life.     

Functional specialization across space: a case study of the Canadian Electricity Industry, 1971–2001

This article examines the location of functions within the electricity sector in Canada from 1971 to 2001, using a centre‐periphery model. Power generation, distribution and retailing are generally carried out by multiestablishment crown corporations. Location patterns of different functions—management, scientific, production, etc.—are analyzed via the use of occupational groups. The spatial distribution of functions is found to be generally consistent with centre‐periphery relationships, with evidence of a growing functional specialization between large metropolitan and nonmetropolitan locations. However, differences emerge depending on power generation sources: fossil fuels, hydro, nuclear, solar or biomass. The choice of a power generation source has consequences for local economies.     

Economic growth and restructuring in Canada's heartland and hinterland: From shift‐share to multifactor partitioning

The geography of the Canadian economy has long been dominated by heartland‐hinterland contrasts, with manufacturing identified as the dominant function of most heartland cities in analyses of the 1961 and 1971 census data. However, the proportion of employment in manufacturing has been declining in the heartland provinces of Ontario and Quebec over the past fifty years and some geographers argue that the heartland‐hinterland dimension of the regional economy is being overridden by city‐regions that are integrated into global networks of production and trade. The heartland‐hinterland trends are examined using multifactor partitioning (MFP), an advanced shift‐share methodology, for the period of 2001–2006. This is the first intercensal period in which Canadian business has faced the full impact of the removal of North American tariff protection and the increased globalization of the Canadian economy. The data covers employment by eighteen industry sectors for the seventy‐three economic regions defined by Statistics Canada. MFP measures the region and industry‐mix effects, which are interpreted as in the traditional shift‐share model (though they are derived more accurately) and, in addition, an interaction effect. The results demonstrate that the broad heartland‐hinterland differences in the distribution of population and employment growth are increasing not decreasing and that the hinterland is in fact falling further behind the heartland in employment growth. However the Calgary‐Edmonton corridor and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia are emerging as a western heartland. The population size of cities does affect their rates of employment growth, but so too does their location: the growth of heartland cities is outpacing those in the hinterland. The Appendix provides the equations for two‐variable multifactor partitioning.     

Regional restructuring of industrial sport: The case of elite hockey player production in British Columbia

Although ice hockey has been characterized as a “people's sport,” since the 1980s neoliberalism has stimulated elite hockey to take on industrial characteristics, driven by: the commodification of sport; a growing scale of hockey performance; the branding of teams and cities; a strategic coupling with media; and the privatization of training and facilities. In British Columbia, elite hockey players are being produced in new regional settings. Formerly, many elite players came from smaller resource-hinterland towns offering strong local support. With neoliberal commodification of the sport, the Lower Mainland has emerged as the main centre of elite player production in British Columbia. This has occurred very rapidly as costly private training programs located mostly in larger metropolitan areas have become the main source of young players aspiring to elite status. High-performance training companies and private hockey academies offer costly routes to elite player status, with new class relations that exclude low-income families. A range of internal and external scale economies lead to these new facilities being concentrated in larger conurbations, particularly in Greater Vancouver.     

Une histoire de résidus : à propos des facteurs généraux et locaux de croissance régionale au Canada,de 1971 à 2001

Starting from an econometric model of local employment growth, applied to Canada (1971–2001), residuals—relative to model predictions—are analyzed over time and over space, in turn allowing us to draw a distinction between general explanatory variables and factors of a more local, cyclical or accidental nature. The model's explanatory power grows over time, founded on variables such as urban size, market access and industrial structure, allowing us to conclude that local employment growth in Canada follows an increasingly geographically predictable pattern. However, an examination of the residuals reveals more localized processes. Growth volatility is most manifest in Alberta and British Columbia, home to the most erratic local economies. Emerging patterns are visible in the last period, most notably the underperformance of Northern Ontario and of non‐metropolitan communities between Windsor and Québec City, lying along the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence. The over‐performance—compared to model predictions — of small and mid‐sized towns in south‐eastern Québec can, on the other hand, be interpreted as a sign of truly local social processes, generally associated with a particularly dynamic local entrepreneurial class.