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Planning

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/9923

This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's School of Planning.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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Browsing Planning by Author "Casello, Jeffrey"

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    Establishing baseline travel patterns from smart-phone and spatial data
    (University of Waterloo, 2018-10-19) Mikkila, Andrea; Casello, Jeffrey; Feick, Robert
    Investment in public transit infrastructure and services is essential to providing effective transportation alternatives, and it is important to monitor the progress of key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure goals of major transit projects are being achieved. These key performance indicators provide replicable measurements related to different aspects of transportation and mobility. Through this thesis, data were collected and analyzed in relation to a set of key performance indicators in the context of Downtown Kitchener in the Region of Waterloo with the implementation of the ION Light Rail system to assess the current state of Downtown Kitchener, and its progression toward goals outlined in the Region of Waterloo’s Community Building Strategy and the Kitchener Planning Around Rapid Transit Stations plan. Data related to transit ridership, modal splits, and active transportation networks were summarized from a collection of datasets to establish a baseline of data prior to the introduction of light rail. This thesis investigated the process to collect and analyze these types of data through smart-phone GPS data collection during February and March of 2017 and Python scripts, alongside demographic surveys and other datasets for Downtown Kitchener. Overall, a sample of baseline indicators have been gathered and assessed for Downtown Kitchener that demonstrated a high propensity for transit and active transportation usage, supported by public policy, with some exceptions or areas of improvement. The process taken in this thesis may be applied to additional areas throughout the Region of Waterloo prior to and following commencement of ION Light Rail operation.
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    Exploring the Accessibility Gap: Quantifying Transport Disadvantage in the City of Toronto
    (University of Waterloo, 2019-07-19) Lee, Janelle; Casello, Jeffrey; Mitchell, Carrie
    Researchers and policymakers have become increasingly interested in understanding the intersection between transportation and equity. Many scholars argue that it is important to understand transportation through an equity lens insofar as transportation provides the basic capability of access, which is the freedom and ability for people to reach destinations that are important for participating in society. However, not all transportation systems provide everyone with comparable levels of access. Different groups and individuals may experience different socioeconomic constraints that inhibit their ability to use or afford different modes of travel. This combination of limited accessibility with different socioeconomic constraints that impede one’s ability to travel is referred to as transport poverty, transport disadvantage, or transport-related social exclusion. The purpose of this thesis is to help planners and policymakers identify, analyze, and understand existing accessibility conditions to non-work destinations and to measure the impacts of different interventions on accessibility for transport disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The City of Toronto is used as a case study. Overall, transport disadvantage in Toronto tends to be concentrated in the city’s suburbs, namely in North York, Scarborough, and the northern parts of Etobicoke. The results suggest that improving transit service is the most effective intervention for increasing accessibility for transport disadvantaged zones and reducing the disparity in accessibility levels between zones with higher and lower transport disadvantage.
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    Transit-oriented federalism: Policy ideas and dynamics in Canada's urban transit policy regime
    (University of Waterloo, 2016-09-28) Towns, William; Woudsma, Clarence; Casello, Jeffrey
    Canada remains the sole G8 country lacking a national-scale policy and institutional framework for funding and planning urban transit projects and operations, largely due to a constitutional division of powers granting transit responsibilities to provinces and municipalities. However, Canada’s growing municipal infrastructure deficit and the benefits of predictable senior-level transit funding on ridership, urban productivity, and equitable mobility observed internationally have led civic organizations, scholars, and politicians to advocate for the adoption of such a framework in Canada. Rather than develop a “best-case” national-scale framework for urban transit in Canada, this thesis focuses on the history of federal involvement in urban transit policy-making. This work begins to fill gaps in Canada’s planning and federalism literature about the role of “policy ideas” (referring to the organized principles and causal beliefs in which policy alternatives are embedded) in Canada’s urban transit “policy regime” (referring to coalitions of actors and institutions from multiple disciplines and jurisdictions sharing tangible interests in a complex policy problem). The overarching research question asks: How have the policy ideas informing the role of the Government of Canada in Canada’s urban transit policy regime changed over time? Via a review of historical literature, components of the policy regime in three discrete historical periods are described. These temporal divisions also structure a thematic content analysis of 60 documents produced by federal agencies and their representatives. In this analysis, the policy ideas invoked by federal agents on the subject of urban transit in Canada from 1968 to the present are characterized in accordance with a framework developed by Campbell (1998), involving paradigms, programs, frames and public sentiments. The specific modes of policy change at critical historical junctures in the analysis are also classified in relation to Howlett and Cashore’s (2009) framework for understanding policy dynamics. Key findings emerging from this analysis relate to the links between the role of paradigmatic ideas and federal policy change; the unintended consequences of a capital-funding focus in federal programs; an overriding respect for provincial jurisdiction and priorities evidenced in program descriptions and framing statements across analytical periods; and the growing influence of municipal actors in federal transit agenda-setting. This thesis offers urban planners grappling with transit-related issues insight into the intricacy of federal-municipal relations in Canada, an important consideration given the transit priorities of Canada’s newly-elected government. It characterizes the conditions under which policy has shifted in the past, providing a platform to determine how the federal role might evolve to reflect Canada’s changing sociopolitical, economic, and environmental landscapes. Indeed, a number of recommendations regarding the appropriate role for the federal government in Canada’s urban transit policy regime are presented, including: the creation of a permanent intergovernmental “transit council” with responsibility for overseeing long-term federal programs; the establishment of more stringent funding criteria to limit political influence on project selection; the development of a system for providing ongoing operational support; and the expansion of individual transfers and benefits.