Department of Geography and Planning Graduate Theses

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL TRENDS IN RANGE-USE BY THE BATHURST CARIBOU DURING A POPULATION DECLINE, 1997-2019

Mennell, Robin

The Bathurst barren-ground caribou herd of Northwest Territories and Nunavut declined by 98% between 1986 and 2019; from an estimated population of 470,000 animals to just 8,200. Although caribou herds are known to fluctuate ...

An examination of the lived experiences of older people in Ghana

Braimah, Joseph

The number and proportion of older people (people aged 60 and over) in Ghana has grown steadily over the past few decades. Parallel to a growing older population in Ghana are changing social, economic, and environmental ...

THE INFLUENCE OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH LAND COVER, SCALE, AND SEASONALITY IN A LOW-DENSITY URBAN CENTER

Burnett, Michael

Land surface temperature (LST) and air temperature (Tair) are the primary metrics applied to measure and analyze urban heat island (UHI) effects, a thermal phenomenon caused by urbanization. This thesis aims to study the ...

The Infrastructure Trade: Built Relations of the Detroit River Border Region

Haffner, John

Infrastructure is a popular unit of analysis among geographers and planners. The broad field of infrastructure studies provides a means of exploring the ways in which we materialize certain aspects of our communities. This ...

Exploring measurement and ground thermal influences of snow depth in Nunatsiavut, NunatuKavut and Nitassinan

Tutton, Rosamond

Snow depth is an essential climate variable critical to global energy balance, basin scale hydrology, vegetation change and human livelihoods. It holds special significance in Indigenous northern communities such as those ...

Impact of Land Cover Change on Surface Water Temperature from 1985-2020 in Eastern Ontario

Senyshen, Matthew

Land Cover Change (LCC) has been shown to significantly impact the magnitude and trend of Land Surface Temperature (LST), locally where it occurs. Waterbodies serve as local climate moderators where nearby LCC has the ...

Assembling Zibi: How Profits, Property, and Policing Undermined Algonquin Urban Land Reclamation at Asinabka in Canada’s National Capital Region

Sylvestre, Paul

The product of three years of solidarity work with a group of Algonquin land defenders and settler allies struggling to reclaim Asinabka, an Algonquin sacred place in the heart of Canada’s National Capital Region, this ...

Quantifying and qualifying ecosystem services to enhance Natural Heritage System Planning: A case study in Halton, Ontario Canada

DeLoyde, Carolyn

This dissertation explores a means of enhancing current approaches to Natural Heritage System planning through the explicit recognition of the value of natural areas on the landscape. The identification of various landcover ...

Hydrological and Hydrochemical Responses From Thawing Permafrost in the Canadian Arctic

Lamhonwah, Daniel

The objectives of this research are to better understand: (1) how Arctic watersheds respond in terms of hydrological processes to deepening active layers, (2) what the short and long-term changes are to surface water ...

Microaggression and the Consumption of Poverty: A community's resistance to invasive walking tours in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

Skands, Seraphina

From 2014 to 2016, Jenn Potter ran a walking tour called Tours by Locals, leading hundreds of people through the poorest neighbourhood in Canada, Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). This tour focused on what she described ...

The Healthy Immigrant Effect on Older Chinese immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area

Deng, Xiaojun

In Canada, immigrants amount to approximately one-fifth of the total national population. They play significant roles in Canada’s economic and social development. From previous research, it has been observed that recent ...

'It is I Who Am Transforming': Mining, Capitalism, and the Conscious Earth

Westland, Robin

This dissertation is guided by one underlying research question: How does one transform an environmentally destructive society? The society in question is that of the capitalist Western world. I begin with a hypothesis: ...

Quantifying Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Potential with Socio-Economic Factors: A Case Study for Kingston, Canada

Alexander, Alyssa

This half thesis describes a proposed research project to explore how geographic information systems (GIS) can be used to find possible correlations between the physical requirements for rooftop solar photovoltaic (RSPV) ...

Firn Pack Changes on White Glacier, Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut

Stephenson, Dana

The near-surface processes and variability within the firn pack of Arctic glaciers are a significant source of uncertainty in estimating future glacier responses to climate warming. This study provides the first characterization ...

An Exploratory Analysis of Access to Specialist Dermatological Care in Ontario

Towle, Curtis

Access has been a significant issue within the discourse in health geography for decades (Wilson and Rosenberg, 2004; Harrington et al., 2013). In the Canadian healthcare system, access to dermatological services generally ...

Labour Geographies and the Digital Transformation of Work: Self-Employment, Collective Organizing, and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance

Johnston, Hannah

Built around a collection of four manuscripts, this dissertation focuses on the collective organizing strategies of non-standard workers. Multiple chapters focus on a case study of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a ...

Illuminating Community Experience and Perception of Modern Treaty Implementation Through Photovoice: Photography and Stories From Huu-ay-aht First Nations

Aarssen, Jonathan

Canada is currently operationalizing reconciliation efforts that stress the establishment of respectful and just relationships between Indigenous peoples and provincial and federal governments. British Columbia (BC) is ...