Where does equity fit? : an evaluation of municipal official plans in mid-sized cities in Ontario, Canada
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Street, Savonnae
issued: 2023-05-01T20:36:00Z
issued: 2023
related degree: Master of Arts in Planning - MAP
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This thesis aims to develop an evaluation tool for comprehensive and baseline measurements of equity in planning by conducting a content analysis of the ways equity is currently expressed in municipal official plans of the 30 most populous mid-sized cities across the Province of Ontario, Canada. The findings of the research suggest that explicit indications of equity are rare despite its identification as a key element of sustainable city planning. Rather, equity is mostly expressed through measures that implicitly advance efforts to address specific drivers of social inequity, but through an indirect approach necessitating broad evaluative tools. When accounting for the implicit and explicit ways that equity is addressed, a wide variety of cities are including dimensions of equity in their municipal official plans and they are doing so across a spectrum of equity dimensions. However, explicit equity actions are much more circumscribed. This is likely due to the circumstance that planners in mid-sized cities in Ontario face, wherein plans are embedded in complex multi-level governance directives. This circumstance creates some unique challenges in the municipal official planning process that may limit capacity to directly address equity concerns. To strengthen equity evaluation as a tool for urban planners in mid-sized cities in Ontario, this study recommends that evaluation guidelines should be directed by provincial government regulations and guidance materials and that these evaluations should include explicit equity measures.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/84529
note: WHERE DOES EQUITY FIT? AN EVALUATION OF MUNICIPAL OFFICIAL PLANS IN MID-SIZED CITIES IN ONTARIO, CANADA by B.E.S., The University of Waterloo, 2021 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Planning) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2023 © Savonnae Street, 2023Savonnae Streetii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: WHERE DOES EQUITY FIT? AN EVALUATION OF MUNICIPAL OFFICIAL PLANS IN MID-SIZED CITIES IN ONTARIO, CANDA submitted by in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Planning Examining Committee: James J.T. Connolly, Assistant Professor Supervisor Mark Stevens, Associate Professor Supervisory Committee Member Su-Jan Yeo, Adjunct Professor Supervisory Committee Member SavonnaeStreetiii Abstract This thesis aims to develop an evaluation tool for comprehensive and baseline measurements of equity in planning by conducting a content analysis of the ways equity is currently expressed in municipal official plans of the 30 most populous mid-sized cities across the Province of Ontario, Canada. The findings of the research suggest that explicit indications of equity are rare despite its identification as a key element of sustainable city planning. Rather, equity is mostly expressed through measures that implicitly advance efforts to address specific drivers of social inequity, but through an indirect approach necessitating broad evaluative tools. When accounting for the implicit and explicit ways that equity is addressed, a wide variety of cities are including dimensions of equity in their municipal official plans and they are doing so across a spectrum of equity dimensions. However, explicit equity actions are much more circumscribed. This is likely due to the circumstance that planners in mid-…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2023-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0431528
language: eng
degree discipline: Planning
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Connolly, James J. T.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/84529