Geography and Environmental Management

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This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Geography and Environmental Management.

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

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Balancing Interests in Regulatory Institutions: A Comparison of the Northern Gateway and Keystone XL Pipelines
(University of Waterloo, 2021-12-20) McKenzie, Janetta; Burch, Sarah
Canada and the United States are facing crucial decisions about the future of their energy resources. The severity of climate change, increasing salience of the social impacts of fossil fuel development, and mounting calls to rapidly decarbonize energy systems have left these two fossil fuel giants at the forefront of international debate. Both countries struggle with balancing these complex socio-environmental problems with the economic benefit that fossil fuels have historically afforded. Ideally, regulatory mechanisms are meant to find this balance through the setting and enforcement of rules. However, these mechanisms have increasingly come under fire in the last twenty years, ostensibly for privileging the economic benefit of a few over the socio-environmental impacts borne by many. The universe of interests has expanded considerably as environmental activists, consumer safety groups, and average citizens become aware of the impacts of this multi-billion dollar industry. These groups and individual citizens have altered the landscape of energy governance as they call for more socially conscious, less environmentally damaging industrial activities. As a result, energy regulation has become increasingly politicized and controversy consistently plagues fossil fuel projects, especially pipelines, in both Canada and the United States. Questions remain regarding the ability of regulatory mechanisms to address an ever-expanding and increasingly complex universe of interests. The overarching objective of this project was to examine how national regulators address cross-jurisdictional issues with broad and diffuse socio-environmental impacts in the context of pipeline governance in Canada and the United States. This thesis compares the regulatory processes for two major, controversial oil pipeline proposals (Enbridge’s Northern Gateway and TransCanada’s Keystone XL), examining public comment data and regulatory compliance documents for both projects. This thesis investigates the characterization and interpretation of three topics by regulators—climate change, energy security, and the public interest—which epitomize the nuance and complexity of contemporary socio-environmental impacts from oil pipelines and how regulatory institutions in Canada and the United States have interpreted these impacts. The first empirical paper asks how climate change is interpreted in regulatory processes for oil pipelines. This chapter concluded that pipeline regulators in Canada and the United States interpret the risks of climate change in extremely narrow and site-specific contexts, despite the global nature of climate impacts. While both regulatory institutions accept that climate change does not respect national borders, both processes assess climate change in a vacuum, focusing mostly on the direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from constructing and operating pipelines. The extent to which climate change is considered for the approval or rejection of these projects is largely left to final executive decision-makers, rather than embedded in regulatory procedures. Ultimately, there is a lack of regulatory certainty and continuity to assessing climate change in both Canada and the United States which renders these institutions incapable of assessing complex global problems like climate change. The second paper asks how energy security is interpreted by these regulatory mechanisms, regarding the public interest, private interest, and government. This paper utilizes the ‘Four A’s’ framework of energy security to compare the characterization of energy security in both cases. Relying on public vi comment data and industry compliance documents, this paper explores the characterization of energy security in both projects and discusses the broader implications for regulatory governance. Ultimately, it is concluded that regulators are (for the most part) emphasizing overly narrow and oil-centric interpretations of energy security, focused on maintaining continuity of a relatively inexpensive supply of oil, and are not integrating more complex energy security issues into their standard assessment procedures. Finally, the third paper investigates how the concept of ‘the public interest’ is characterized and represented in the governance of oil pipelines in the United States and Canada. Several trends concerning the public interest/public participation are identified: first, that the impact assessments required by regulators tend to be very localized in terms of tangible effects, but an increasingly broad perception of social, cultural, and environmental risk that is not well captured by current regulatory mechanisms. Second, that there is a significant lack of understanding of the regulatory requirements and the mandate of regulators, particularly with regards to explicit industry planning and development. Lastly, there is a lack of trust from a significant portion of the general public that believes that regulatory processes are at least partially captured by industry or have no power to make and enforce decisions. These trends all point towards regulatory processes that are out of step with contemporary challenges and problems, and institutions that rely on a narrow interpretation of the public/national interest. This thesis finds that oil pipeline regulators began as market-based institutions, coordinating with industry and the relevant government department to set tolls, tariffs, and other pricing rules. As the universe of interests expanded, encapsulating a wider range of social and environmental impacts, these institutions were equipped with a broader assessment toolkit focused on public safety and environmental protection. However, the fundamental structures of these institutions encourage oil development in support of economic growth, and the evolution of these institutions has not kept pace with the expansion of interests and subsequent impacts. As a result, there are substantial gaps in regulators’ ability to appropriately evaluate complex issues like climate change and energy security, which have diffuse but significant impacts on a wide variety of stakeholders.
Exploring the role of governance in supporting urban green infrastructure for sustainability transitions
(University of Waterloo, 2021-01-26) Kundurpi, Aravind; Burch, Sarah
Green infrastructure development in urban areas may be enhanced by governing processes that are collaborative, action-oriented, and strategically organized. Past literature has provided evidence on the performance, purpose, and outcomes associated with green infrastructure development and the individual features (e.g. trees, green roofs) to provide improvements to urban sustainability. This is important because it provides a clear understanding of how green infrastructure works and why it may be scaled to contribute to supporting other urban infrastructure, the form it may take, and the functions and outcomes. Building off this it is also important to bring to light the role of actors, the approaches to embed green infrastructure actions in urban areas, and the construction of experiments to advance development through diverse organizing processes. These three aspects are critical in supporting the application of green infrastructure to potentially guide processes and outcomes for more fundamental change to the structures and function of urban areas. The dissertation addresses these opportunities by pulling together a research program guided by the conceptualization of governance arrangements supportive of urban sustainability transitions. More specifically this research demonstrates how multi-actor governance for green infrastructure is mediated by direct implementation of interventions and the construction of experiments for a range of actors to navigate installation and future development opportunities. Through empirical research, qualitative content analysis is used to construct and interpret interviews with local government representatives, businesses, business networks, and civil society organizations. Three empirical chapters are included detailing the role of private actors directing the development of green infrastructure; the role of action-oriented development to support system change for green infrastructure development; and the strategic delivery of green infrastructure experiments for improved processes and outcomes. Collectively, these three chapters demonstrate and offer greater insight into the multi-actor and collaborative nature of developing green infrastructure supportive of sustainability transitions. The first manuscript empirically describes who shapes and guides the development of green infrastructure in urban areas, with a focus on private actors. Examining the multiplicity of actors needed to shape green infrastructure in urban areas requires increased support from civil society organizations, businesses, and business networks. Using their array of knowledge, resources, and skills private actors lead development in urban areas based on core organizational mandates, guide and support other actors to develop green infrastructure, or align their programs to support local government initiatives. This research offers a better understanding of the roles played by private actors in green infrastructure development. The second manuscript brings to light the importance of actions and interventions in serving to alter transition agendas and long-term visions, all collectively supporting wider system change for future development trajectories. The findings reveal how diverse green infrastructure actions, such as the installation of specific features or participation in early phase design of green spaces, are critical in providing the necessary understanding, confidence, and experience to more thoroughly advance existing green infrastructure agendas and more widely scope future opportunities to build green infrastructure networks in urban areas. The implication of this research is to suggest that sustainability transitions, as a process of system change, are anchored by the ability of actors to engage with interventions and reproduce and contest the meaning or purpose of specific green infrastructure features. The final manuscript explores how green infrastructure is implemented through the utilization and framing of experimental processes. The findings show how green infrastructure experiments are strategically applied to navigate urban sustainability action and other constraints. In addition, the experiments provide clear opportunities for learning, multi-actor actor capacity building, and co-designed projects. The implication of this is experiments provide green infrastructure stakeholders with strategies to deploy interventions while preserving connections and applicability to existing urban sustainability programs. The dissertation emphasizes the importance of actors and the processes utilized to deploy green infrastructure interventions and present green infrastructure more effectively or strategically as a tool well-aligned to the existing objectives of urban sustainability. This work supports theoretical insights into how green infrastructure contributes to change processes in urban areas. Empirically, this work advances understanding of the multiple strategies available for actors to collaboratively shape and guide development processes. Practically, this work provides evidence for diverse green infrastructure practitioners to direct their organizational strengths to deliver tangible results. Overall, this work draws attention to the role of governing with multi-actor arrangements and multiple strategies for pursuing and embedding green infrastructure development in urban areas.
Our Common Principles: Exploring Harm Reduction Based Drug Policy as an Avenue for Sustainable Development in Urban Contexts
(University of Waterloo, 2019-09-20) Mercado, Alexander; Burch, Sarah
This thesis explores the conceptual and practical relationship between the goals of sustainable development and of contemporary drug policy in Canadian provinces and municipalities. By failing to address the global issue of substance abuse, particularly in urban contexts, the sustainable development community is likely unable to achieve many of its substantial social and ecological objectives. In Canadian cities, the abuse of recreational drugs has had deep social, economic and ecological consequences that have been accelerated, or in some cases created, by traditional prohibition-based approaches to drug policy. However, a more recent policy approach may provide a viable opportunity for sustainability scholars to engage with and help address this issue: the harm reduction approach. This thesis focuses on the exploration of this opportunity by identifying overlapping principles and objectives that exist between harm reduction and sustainable development discourses. I review the literatures of harm reduction and sustainable development in order to identify common principles and historical experiences that could help to create a foundation for future collaboration. Emphases on social justice, social cohesion, community wellbeing and quality of life are identified as shared objectives throughout the literature. In addition, through the application of a sustainability assessment tool, several Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal harm reduction policy documents (HRPD) are shown to implicitly address a variety of sustainability concerns. I find that the HRPDs maintain a focus on a multitude of issues relevant to sustainability such as health, access to services, and democratic governance. Nevertheless, the results show that these documents largely fail to engage with ecological concerns relevant to drug policy, presenting an opportunity for learning and policy improvement in future iterations through the incorporation of a sustainability perspective. By understanding these synergies and disparities, future policy can be engaged to create co-beneficial, cross-discipline outcomes that help make progress toward more socially and environmentally sustainable communities, with an emphasis on wellbeing, inclusion and social justice. Other contributions of this research relate to the identification of potential bridging concepts, drawing from theories in geography, environmental governance and environmental justice. The identification of these concepts enables future research to be conducted and may be able to facilitate the translation of knowledge between the currently disparate literatures. Furthermore, recommendations are offered to both policy makers and practitioners that would help to make progress toward the goals of sustainable development as well as those of harm reduction. Overall, the findings of this research offer practical and theoretical contributions that serve to help address a pressing global issue, and in doing so identify substantial directions for new research.
Small Holds Sway: How Small Businesses Mobilize Knowledge to Support Action in Learning Processes for Sustainability Transformations
(University of Waterloo, 2020-08-13) Luederitz, Christopher; Burch, Sarah
Transformations of the industrialized food sector toward more sustainable food production, manufacturing, and consumption take place through individual and collective learning processes. Achieving transformational change requires intra- and inter-organizational learning to embed alternative principles in business operation, foster new social arrangements, and develop creative strategies in support of sustainable food practices. Research has made much progress in conceptualizing transformation processes of the food sector – addressing definitional ‘what’ questions. Also, scholars have conducted thorough analyses of the underlying motivations that support businesses in pursuing organizational sustainability – addressing motivational ‘why’ questions. Yet, empirical research examining how businesses engage in learning processes that can lead to broader transformational change is still missing – that is, the research on the role of businesses in the food sector has not engaged with ‘how’ questions. This thesis responds to this gap by building on a dynamic conception of learning to empirically explore the relationship between transformations of the food sector and the contextual meaning-making, knowledge mobilizing, and procedural action through which businesses realize change for sustainability. More specifically, this thesis draws attention to the role that different forms of knowledge assume in supporting intra- and inter-organizational learning processes that allow businesses to purposefully take action for sustainability in complex situations. For the empirical research, I employ a mixed-methods approach (including semi-structured interviews, participant observations, analytic autoethnography, and document analysis) to examine how learning supports craft breweries – small, independently owned businesses that are inspired by non-industrial production methods – to collectively advance system change. I present the conducted research in three articles detailing how small businesses engage in and bring about transformational change for sustainability. While written as independent articles, they comprise a whole, as collectively, this work offers insights into how small businesses draw on knowledge as a resource to support action for sustainability. The first manuscript empirically demonstrates the importance of alternative narratives for learning as they enable small businesses to construct storylines of how they engage in sectoral transformations. I explore how craft breweries draw on alternative principles and actions to guide the construction of narratives that verbalize a new future into existence beyond industrialized and competitive markets. This research offers a nuanced understanding of the collective ability of small businesses to discursively construct new meanings and new stories that illustrate the need for and existence of alternative social arrangements to support sustainability transformations. The second manuscript elucidates how craft breweries that work in a concentrated and internationally connected industry, mobilize knowledge in support of collective action to construct sustainability niches in an otherwise hostile environment. The findings demonstrate how learning is supported by the translation between tacit and explicit forms of knowledge, so-called knowledge conversion. The research shows how small businesses challenge the conventional industry logics and practices by mobilizing knowledge conversion in support of sustainability experimentation. I offer a comprehensive conceptual framework and detailed empirical examination of how small businesses respond to and transform the context in which they operate, collectively formulate goals for directing change, and bring tangible assets into service of experimentation to realize emergent possibilities. The third manuscript systematically explores the learning processes through which entrepreneurs develop sustainability strategies while navigating the tensions and challenges involved in realizing sustainability within the host context. Building on conceptualizations of entrepreneurship as an evolutionary process, I empirically explore the learning process of two small businesses in the brewing industry. This research details how small businesses create and mobilize knowledge to intentionally design organizational change, develop shared agency for the support of appropriate interventions, and leverage context-specific resources for acting appropriately in complex situations. Moreover, I offer insights into how small businesses can engage leverage entrepreneurial actions to support learning processes for sustainability strategies. This thesis emphasizes the ability of small businesses as meaning-makers and proposes a dynamic approach for understanding the role of knowledge and action in transformations for sustainability. I offer empirical evidence of the learning processes through which businesses generate meaningful action for contextually realizing change, and reflexively and deliberately (re)align their actor roles with the so created alternative social arrangements. Knowledge plays a crucial role in this process as it supports small businesses to creatively and cooperatively shape future goals and direct change. Overall, this work can help to support small businesses in coordinating concerted efforts to create viable enterprises from bringing about change for sustainability. It draws attention to the agency of small businesses in crafting new narratives, alternative social arrangements, and sustainability strategies that help support transformations of the industrialized food sector.

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Browsing Geography and Environmental Management by Author "Burch, Sarah"