Browsing by Author "Keough, Noel"

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    A Triple-Bottom Line Decision-Analysis Framework Using Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment: The Case of Large Greenhouse Gas Emitters in Alberta, Canada
    (2018-08-28) Hannouf, Marwa Bassam; Assefa, Getachew; Keough, Noel; Herremans, Irene M.; Gates, Ian Donald; Ugaya, Cassia Maria Lie
    In light of the increased environmental awareness and stringent environmental regulations, there is need to guide businesses to stay competitive while meeting environmental compliance. Sustainability strategies will reduce the environmental burden of companies while increasing their economic and social benefits. However, integrating the three dimensions of sustainability in companies’ decision-making (DM) to develop sustainability strategies is associated with complexity. This thesis takes the context of large greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters given the urgency of the climate change problem and the awareness of reducing GHG emissions to fulfill expectations from global climate change agreements such as the Paris Agreement. Using case studies among large GHG emitters in Alberta, Canada, the objective of this research was to examine the potential utility of the life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) approach to guide companies’ DM in developing sustainability strategies that can reduce their environmental impacts while achieving the remaining of sustainability goals. As LCSA approach is still an emerging field, the first part of this thesis has focused on the method of LCSA following UNEP/SETAC guidelines by addressing some of its challenges. The research has applied two LCSA case studies among large GHG emitters in Alberta, where a new subcategory assessment method for social life cycle assessment approach is developed and starting holistic analysis of LCSA results is presented. The second part has focused on the application of LCSA to support sustainability-oriented DM, where an LCSA-based decision-analysis framework is developed to guide decision-makers in systematic and structured way to analyze the interrelationships between LCSA results and propose potential sustainability solutions. The thesis contributes to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the development of LCSA approach by addressing some of its challenges. The evaluation conducted in this research for LCSA-based decision-analysis framework has indicated that LCSA with its systematic and life cycle perspective has the potential to provide improved information on the sustainability problems in product systems, which is going to increase the potential to develop sustainability solutions. The framework presents different advantages, but is as well associated with challenges especially regarding its application in real world.
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    An Exploration of how Energy-Related Ecosystem Services Provided by Extensive Green Roofs in Alberta may be Quantified Using Life Cycle Assessment Tools
    (2015-12-24) Mtshiya, Fikile; Wondimagegnehu, Getachew Assefa; Ghitter, Geoff; Keough, Noel
    This thesis explores ways to assign values to an ecosystem service provided by extensive green roofs: indoor temperature regulation of commercial buildings. The objective is to quantify this service from three perspectives; energy, environmental impacts and cost. A representative green roof, the AEI, is used along with roof evaluation modules. A 0.4 °C indoor temperature increase in winter results in no reduction in heating load. In summer, a 3.3°C indoor temperature decrease results in a cooling load decrease of 5 427.42 kWh (four-storey building) and 12 883 kWh (thirteen-storey building). From an LCC perspective, the AEI's simple payback period exceeds its 20 year lifespan. The NPV and IRR are calculated as highly negative numbers which indicates that the financial cons of the AEI outweigh the pros. In summary, from an indoor energy reduction lens the AEI will not reduce heating loads but will reduce cooling loads.
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    Assessing urban form in high pedestrian collision location
    (2010) Miller, Allison Leigh; Keough, Noel
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    Collective Action and Sharing Space Across Difference: A Participatory Case Study at the Old Y Building
    (2016-02-04) Edworthy, Son; Miller, Byron; Tretter, Eliot; Draper, Dianne; Keough, Noel; Ngo, Hieu
    In the context of increasing global tension, racialized violence and Islamaphobia, with significant local impacts, one of the most important questions humans face is how to share space across difference? Linking network theory with frameworks of equity and access, this participatory case study explores spatialities of network formation across socially constructed difference. The study nested a Participatory Action Research process in a case study of a nonprofit centre known as the Old Y building, which houses over 70 diverse nonprofit organizations. Through the participatory process of the research, involving iterative cycles of action and reflection, co-researchers recognized socio-spatial patterns of exclusion from networks, and generated ideas for practical solutions. Results of this research contribute to both academic and community-based practice, providing insights into how space can facilitate connections across difference, and could lead to more equitable access to resources and decision-making.
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    Community Development through Tourism: Identifying Communities for Implementing a Community Visitor Management System
    (2015-07-08) Dupuis Zorrilla, Alexandro; Keough, Noel
    Identidad y Desarrollo, a Mexican consultancy firm focused on promoting sustainable development through tourism, has generated a methodology to work with local communities in Mexico to improve host-visitor relationships: the Community Visitor Management System (CVMS). However, the vast universe of localities throughout the country that receive tourists and could potentially acquire benefits from CVMS application makes it difficult to determine which localities could obtain better results. This situation, added to the limited amount of resources and the necessity to obtain the best possible results led to the question: Can localities be assessed for their readiness to implement the CVMS? As a framework for the research I explore the concepts and trends in tourism and sustainability, such as the transition from mass or traditional tourism to more specialized and locally respectful activities such as alternative tourism, eco-tourism and cultural tourism and the evolution from a value chain perception to a value network of tourism with multiple linkages amongst stakeholders involved in the tourism system. The importance of participatory planning at the scale of individual localities is outlined, as well as its relevance on tourism planning to achieve positive impacts on host-visitor relationships during tourism interactions. To tackle the research question, an exploratory approach was used and a pilot assessment tool was designed to evaluate CVMS readiness by comparing a series of factors related with sustainable tourism development which are presented as indicators of existing or non-existing elements at a local scale. These indicators were aggregated into themes and sub-themes and a weighted value method was used to assign a quantitative value to each of the indicators and themes, which were used to calculate the CVMS readiness score of each locality. Expert informants were interviewed about the relevance and design of the assessment tool, which was later tested in two localities in Mexico: Temoaya and Malinalco. The pilot application involved the participation of three local stakeholders in each community related with tourism planning and operation, who evaluated their localities and the relevance of the tool for tourism development. Finally, this research concludes that the assessment tool is applicable and could provide a first step for CVMS implementation as it engaged local stakeholders and helped to gather important information about the localities and their development conditions related with the proposed system. On the other hand, further research lines were identified to increase the certainty of the assessment related with the application of the tool in a larger sample of localities, the possibility of including qualitative analysis through a Likart scale, include an assessment of conflict and power relations and compare the obtained results with the implementation of CVMS and its actual impacts in communities.
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    Conceptual design of transit oriented development for Sunalta
    (2008) Basnet, Aradhana; Keough, Noel
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    Design by activism
    (2010) Juan, Lourdes M.; Keough, Noel
    With communities facing unprecedented challenges of sustainability, there is a need for the planning profession to redefine the terms of public participation. This work explores the use of participation; directly connecting people, politicians and the broader community to create sustainable spaces. This MDP identifies opportunities to adopt robust guidelines and recommendations for a participatory public involvement process for new communities in the Calgary context. The recommendations will help to redefine participatory processes in Calgary to enhance sustainability in communities. It will argue for changing the conventional way of planning new communities by engaging the public more rigorously in creating sustainability in new communities. This work argues that the use of public participation has the potential of creating sustainable developments and how the public can complement the planning process. This MDP begins with a discussion of Communicative Action and Dialogical Planning approach to planning and legitimizes public participation as a tool for community planning. It reviews and examines two best-practice case studies in Freiburg and Calgary, discussing methodologies, sustainability, and details of the participatory processes used. The studies aid in understanding how participation and sustainability are connected. Lessons from both case studies are developed into practical recommendations for the Calgary context to be utilized as a strategy to improve the participation process. The recommendations speak to the use of independent organizations helping to facilitate the planning process and the incorporation of education for all participants. The recommendations conclude with a discussion of integrating the independent organizations with the collaborative education sessions, and how political will is essential to implement meaning participation. This work argues that the use of participation has the potential of creating sustainable communities to achieve success in the planning of a community's future. Keywords Public Participation, Collaboration, Engagement, Communicative Action, Freiburg, Calgary, Sustainable Communities.
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    Design of a Youth Electoral Audit
    (2014-05-02) Ing, Jasmine; Keough, Noel
    The voter turnout of Canadian youth ages 18 to 34 is estimated to be 20% lower than those born between 1945 and 1959. Young adults were more than twice as likely to cast a ballot during the first election in which they were eligible in the 1960s when compared with 2004. Low youth voter turnout is concerning because electoral participation is an indicator of the legitimacy and health of democratic systems. Further, voting and abstention behaviours are habit forming, which means citizens who begin adulthood as non-voters are likely to stay that way. While a number of best and promising practices to improve youth voter turnout have been identified, no central means for evaluating the implementation of these practices in Canadian municipal government elections currently exists. This thesis describes the design process for the Youth Electoral Audit, an audit methodology intended to fill this gap. Apathy is Boring (AiB), a Canadian non-governmental organization, conducted a pilot Youth Electoral Audit during the 2013 municipal election in Grande Prairie, Alberta. The Youth Electoral Audit was found to be a practical methodology for evaluating Canadian municipal election practices and facilitating concrete recommendations for improving youth electoral participation.
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    The divergent diffusion of district energy systems in France and Alberta: state politics and the socio-material and socio-spatial construction of low-carbon transitions
    (2018-12-20) Nciri, Aïda Shéhérazade; Miller, Byron; Coutard, Olivier; Keough, Noel; Rutherford, Jonathan
    How do different state structures and urban and energy socio-material contexts explain the uneven diffusion of district energy systems (DES) in urban areas of France and Alberta between 2000 and 2014? To answer this question, this thesis analyses the processes inherent to low-carbon energy transitions through socio-spatial and socio-material lenses, considering power relations and state structure. At the intersection of urban planning and energy systems, DES proves practical to explore the nexus between low-carbon governance, energy governance, and urban governance. Theoretical frameworks employed in the analysis include 1) recent contributions from (urban) transition studies and socio-technical systems; 2) a Lefebvrian conceptualisation of socio-space and social changes; and 3) Jessop’s (1990, 2008) strategic-relational approach of state power. An original inter-scale comparative research allows for examining the uneven construction of low-carbon energy policies in France and Alberta, and their relations with state structures, and existing urban and energy systems. Jessop et al.’s Territory-Place-Scale-Network (TPSN) framework is mobilised to overcome the issues of commensurability and spontaneous comparison. These theoretical and methodological approaches provide a robust demonstration that the provincial scale in Canada, and the national scale in France, are the scales dominating the construction of low-carbon energy transitions and urban governance. Despite similar state powers, French and Albertan governments developed different state policies on low-carbon transition, highlighting selectivity in the exercise of state capacities. They differently engaged and enabled local urban governments and developed different state interventions on DES. In France, state-sponsored DES activated new channels of growth compatible with existing dominant socio-materialities; in Alberta, state-funded DES experiments failed to activate new channels of growth compatible with dominant socio-materialities. This thesis posits that selective construction of low-carbon policies depends on the material interests of dominant energy and state actors. In other words, the state does not seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by all means. Rather, it seeks to reproduce dominant socio-material status quo, adapting low-carbon policies to existing socio-material configuration. Ultimately, this thesis validates how the concepts of state structure and the TPSN framework can enrich the theorisation of space and power relations for (urban) transition studies.
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    Forms of Capital in the Process of School Ground Greening
    (2016) Lowan-Trudeau, Kathleen; Keough, Noel; Lysack, Mishka; Shanahan, Marie-Claire
    This constructivist grounded theory study takes a socio-critical approach to the process of school ground greening by examining how people in a western Canadian urban centre manipulate forms of capital to initiate and maintain school ground greening projects. Key findings that emerged during the study include how social capital played a significant role in participants’ ability to successfully initiate school ground greening sites, as well as the gains both in and from social capital during the process. Participants’ experiences also illustrated how forms of cultural, human, and economic capital were accessed, used, and/or gained during the process of school ground greening. Informed by theories such as Bourdieu’s forms of capital, this study explores how forms of capital are interconnected and overlap in their definitions. This study also advances recommendations that respond to problematic issues in the school ground greening process; for example the issues of socio-spatial disparity and maintenance.
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    Freestyle Urbanism: A Collaborative Approach for Healthy Public Space Design
    (2017) Junnila, Leanne; Keough, Noel; Boutin, Marc; Soto-Rubio, Mauricio; Morrow, Gregory
    In order to explore how the socio-political determinants of health in the built environment might inform the design of public space, major works of literature on the socio-politics of space and public health were reviewed. Tactical Urbanism and Integral Urbanism were selected as key models, which formed the basis of my theoretical framework. Data from the Active Neighbourhoods Project offered citizen input on areas for improvement in the selected community of Bridgeland, in Calgary, Canada. The key themes from the lilterature were laid out as a ‘thematic grid’, which was applied to selected neighbourhood sites in order to identify site-specific opportunities. These opportunities formed site-specific design objectives for the proposed redevelopment of a demonstration site: the Luke’s Drug Mart Plaza site in NorthEast Calgary.
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    From Social Equity to Spatial Equity in Urban Space Case Study: Olympic Plaza
    (2020-05) Pourmojib, Dorsa; Boutin, Marc; Keough, Noel; Miller, Byron A.
    Inclusivity is an important concept within social practices. However, in many urban spaces which are the platform for social interactions and behaviors, opportunities and resources are not distributed equally among urban dwellers. A diverse range of urban dwellers everyday use urban spaces. Nevertheless, in some cases, marginalized groups such as those with low incomes, immigrants from diverse cultures, and those with special needs may not be considered. Numerous research studies address the importance of establishing equitable urban spaces. But there is a knowledge gap; few studies focus on design strategies that manifest social equity. Put another way, there is a need for research that bridges the study of social equity and the provision of spatial equity. Therefore, this research proposes a spatial approach to inclusive urban design by using a four-step methodology. Firstly, a research framework based on the literature review and factors of successful urban spaces from different urban scholars' points of view is presented and analyzed. Afterward, various urban spaces are analyzed in terms of specific key research questions as precedent studies. By combining extracted design considerations from the precedent studies and literature review, several design strategies and criteria for inclusive and equitable urban design are introduced as a foundation for this research. Finally, an urban space in Calgary is chosen as a case study that has the challenge of social inequity and is analyzed both in terms of its spatial context and its stakeholders' needs. The outcome of this research is a new design for the case study that bridges the gap between social equity and spatial equity.
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    Hybrid Ethnicity in the Urban Built Environment
    (2018-06-29) Hassonjee, Insia; Monteyne, David; Keough, Noel; Smart, Alan
    The interface of one ethnicity with another has always resulted in an exchange of ideologies, lifestyles and architecture (Wood, 2008). This phenomenon is an integral part of history and ethnic landscapes were and are part and parcel of the urban environment (Krase, 2002). Today, this exchange of ethnic identities is associated with globalization and migration in an urban scenario. This research explores ethnic expression and inhabitation in the northeast neighbourhoods of Calgary and the impact of this on people, their perceptions and experiences of the built environment, and on city planning and policies. The built environment of northeast Calgary is compared to the parameters of interculturalism, evaluating the area for evidence of intercultural place making. The immigrant populated northeast neighbourhoods of Falconridge, Castleridge, Taradale, Martindale, Coral Springs and Saddle Ridge are explored in this study. The enquiry is done through detailed qualitative interviews and cognitive mapping exercises with residents of the neighbourhoods, out of which a set of themes are derived and discussed. The principles of interculturalism are compared to the social and physical environment of these neighbourhoods. The evaluation reveals themes favourable to both ethnic clustering and intercultural placemaking. Multicultural experiences of residents of the northeast neighbourhoods are evaluated in their international and Canadian context. Based on this analysis, recommendations are provided for revised policies and urban planning practices to be reviewed to accommodate the hybrid intercultural urban environment of today’s Canadian cities with participatory planning as a fundamental tool in consultation processes.
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    Implementing change
    (2009) O'Neill, Sara Jane; Tyler, Mary-Ellen; Keough, Noel
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    Informal settlement intervention in Morocco: moving forward
    (2009) Alaoui, Zachary; Keough, Noel
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