Barry Wellar

Using the Delphi Technique in Normative Planning Research: Methodological Design Considerations

Worldwide, metropolitan areas continue to be confronted by a growing number of increasingly difficult planning issues. It is our experience that planning practitioners have not taken full advantage of what the Delphi technique can contribute to making informed choices in a wide variety of decision and policy environments. The objectives of this paper are to describe and explain the research design that supported a real-world application of the Delphi technique in an urban, regional, and ecosystem-based planning context, as well as to demonstrate how this model has been or can be adapted to serve a variety of planning research or application tasks.

Analysis of the urban/rural broadband divide in Canada: Using GIS in planning terrestrial wireless deployment

Abstract Millions of Canadians residing in Canadas northern, isolated, rural, and remote communities do not have broadband Internet access. This situation has led to a national “broadband divide.” That is, the deployment of wireline broadband is very limited in Canadas northern, isolated, rural, and remote areas because of the significant expense of installation and maintenance of the wired infrastructure needed to reach dwellings in these locations. Terrestrial broadband wireless technology, on the other hand, does not entail the same kind of physical infrastructure. As a result, there are dramatic changes in how spatial considerations affect the provision of broadband Internet services (BIS) to areas beyond the urban zone. In particular, the spatial question is now focused on assessing the capacity for different technological solutions to reach profitable population bases, and brings to the forefront organizations that are developing non-line-of-sight (NLOS) technologies that would permit wireless Internet access over much greater distances than current solutions. We begin this paper by establishing the importance of broadband connectivity to Canadas northern, isolated, rural, and remote communities. This discussion comments on the role of the Government of Canada in the provision of broadband connectivity to residents of these communities, and outlines the current regulatory issues that govern wireless services and policy formulation. The second part of the paper illustrates the use of geographic information system (GIS) approaches in the study of wireless broadband planning and deployment. Case study findings suggest that GIS applications can make a significant contribution to the analysis of wireless deployment planning, to the understanding of the relationships between wireless signal sources and consumers, and to the spatial configuration of terrestrial wireless broadband networks. We conclude the paper by discussing how the GIS approach employed could be used to inform the public policy process with regard to increasing access to broadband Internet services in all regions of the country, and thereby providing the opportunity for all Canadians, regardless of location, to fully participate in the Information Society.

Significant Advances in Applied Geography from Combining Curiosity-Driven and Client-Driven Research Methodologies

The central thesis of the 2005 Anderson Lecture is that significant achievements in applied geography occur when the principles and practices of curiosity-driven and client-driven research are combined in the statement of problem, the idealized and operational research design, and the procedures of evaluating results. A companion thesis extends the Anderson Lectures by Jack Dangermond, Brian Berry, and Tom Wilbanks by positing that the best of applied geography incorporates a commutative perspective when establishing the parameters of an inquiry. That is, using pair wise combinations for illustration, research study parameters such as epistemology-praxis, conceptual-empirical, spatial-aspatial, theory-hypothesis, method-technique, causeeffect, analysis-synthesis, and structure-function are necessary elements in applied research that validates geography as a science-based, societally-relevant discipline, and geographers as professional practitioners. The examples of remote sensing, optimization techniques, decision support systems, geographic information systems, and the Walking Security Index project are used to illustrate how significant advances in applied geography result from combining curiosity-driven and client-driven research methodologies.

Development similarity based on proximity: A case study of urban clusters in Canada

Abstract.Neighbouring towns in urban clusters of Canada exhibit similar levels of socio-economic development. However, when measured by different development indicators, inter-town development association differs in both nature and degree. In core areas, for instance, only population and housing variables exhibit a strong spatial association, while that of employment-related variables - average income, and unemployment rate - is weaker. This tendency reflects the fundamental difference between the two groups of variables. While population and housing variables are associated with the clustering of residents in socially homogenous areas, inter-town development similarity in respect to employment-related variables is weaker, apparently due to long-distance commuting. The article discusses the importance of urban clustering as a factor in regional development policies and programmes, and provides support for including cluster-related elements in a strategy to enhance urban growth in underdeveloped regions.

Key institutional and organizational factors affecting GIS/LIS strategies and applications

Abstract Lack of real progress in taking advantage of technological advances in geographic information systems/land information systems (GIS/LIS) is a matter of record and concern in the field of public administration. As part of a research-action agenda to deal with the problem, this article establishes the fundamental requirement to relate institutional, organizational, and technological factors in a synergetic alliance. It then suggests frameworks for identifying GIS/LIS (as distinct from information systems [IS]) contributions to the contents and processes of public policies, plans, and programs. The frameworks provide a model for the discussion of key institutional and organizational factors affecting GIS/LIS strategies and applications. Sources drawn upon to examine the information systems/public administration systems relationship include original, multi-country research projects undertaken in the 1960s–1970s, and the major IS/GIS/LIS benchmarking done for the Perspectives Track at the 1992 Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) Conference.

Progress in building linkages between GIS and methods and techniques of scientific inquiry

Abstract This paper explores selected connections between the concepts and capabilities that define GIS and the methods and techniques that define scientific inquiry. Our focus in the latter respect is on quantitative procedures (mathematical, statistical, logical-simulation) that underlie the scientific method. And, our GIS focus is on GIS features that elaborate and enable the following transformations: from reality → data; from data → information; from information → knowledge. The content of the paper is primarily derived from a review of pertinent literature including conference proceedings (GIS/LIS), learned journals (CEUS, IJGIS), and indexed abstracts contained in selected electronic databases on CD-ROM (Bio-Abstracts, Compendex Plus, Francis).

Review and Implications of the AutoCarto Six Retrospective Project

A previous IJAGR paper, using the Retrospective Approach to Commemorate AutoCarto Six (Wellar, 2014), presented the reasons for using a retrospective approach to re-visit papers that were published 30 years ago (1983) in the proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Automated Cartography. This paper addresses four important topics that arise from producing AutoCarto Six Retrospective. First, in response to requests for more information about the “retro experience†, the research design of the retrospective project is reviewed in terms of lessons learned. Second, the contribution that the retrospective approach makes to “the literature†on the evolution of automated cartography, geographic information systems, computational geography, and related fields is explored. Third, several implications of the retrospective approach for the literature search and review component of theses, dissertations, academic productions, and research proposals, as well as plan, program, and policy evaluation processes in both the private and public sectors are outlined. And fourth, comments are made about applying the AutoCarto Six Retrospective experience to other commemorative events.

The Walking Security Index and Pedestrians’ Security in Urban Areas

The Walking Security Index (WSI) was proposed to the Region of OttawaCarleton in 1995 for inclusion in its Transportation Environment Action Plan (TEAP). Four related problems were behind the idea of developing an index (Wellar 1996, 1998). First, the Region attached “high priority” to the walking mode in its Official Plan and Transportation Master Plan. However, it had no means of methodologically evaluating how well any of its 875 signalized intersections met the needs of pedestrians. Second, due to the apparent premise of the engineering field and of the automotive industry that vehicle operators have an “entitlement” to convenience, comfort, and safety, transportation research in North America has focused overwhelmingly on moving cars, trucks, vans, SUVs, and buses (Highway Research Board 1965; Transportation Research Board 1994; Wellar 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002a, b). An index could be a means to articulate the concerns of pedestrians, and to identify pedestriansensitive solutions to urban transportation problems. Third, by training and tradition, the Region’s transportation planning and traffic engineering staff concentrated its efforts on moving vehicles. Very little in-house talent and resources were dedicated to serving and promoting pedestrians’ safety, comfort, and convenience. The development of an index could reduce the technical imbalance, and provide a basis for pedestrian-oriented initiatives in OttawaCarleton’s transportation, public safety, and planning departments.

Research Commentary: Increasing the Flexibility of Legacy Systems

Flexibility is what people seek when striving to increase or expand economic and social choices, equity, and technological innovations. Flexibility provides the robustness needed to adjust to changes such as those arising from a warmer/colder world, and the actions required when managing threats from and results of social strife, economic downturns, environmental catastrophes, infrastructure disruptions, and war. Flexibility is easy to praise at the level of principle, if allowed that a bit of stability and resistance to change does have merit. At the level of practice or operations the concept is most illusive, and explaining what flexibility means, why it is thwarted, and how it might be obtained is a challenging task. This paper begins by contrasting views of systems and their behaviors. Alternative explanations for behaviors thwarting flexibility are identified. Consequences of inflexible, locked-in development paths are illustrated using examples from transportation and similar systems. Suggestions for increasing flexibility are made after examining system behaviors in dynamic contexts. Academic, government, and industry experiences inform and color interpretations.