Florent Joerin

Modelling accessibility to urban services using fuzzy logic

Purpose – This paper is an attempt to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, the mobility behaviour of households and their perception of accessibility to urban amenities and, on the other hand, house price dynamics as captured through hedonic modelling.Design/methodology/approach – In order to analyse the mobility behaviour of individuals and households, their sensitivity to travel time from home to service places is estimated so as to assess their perceived accessibility, using “subjective” indices based on actual trips, as reported in the 2001 origin‐destination survey designed for Quebec City. For comparative purposes, both objective and subjective accessibility indices based, in the former case on observed travel times and, in the latter case on fuzzy logic criteria, are computed and used as a complement to a centrality index in a hedonic model of house prices.Findings – Findings indicate that there are statistically significant differences in the way accessibility is structured depending on trip p...

Evaluation of the vulnerability to contamination of drinking water systems for rural regions in Québec, Canada.

The aim of this paper is to describe a method for evaluating the vulnerability of drinking water systems to contamination, in particular in rural regions used intensively for agriculture. To do so, various indicators were developed to represent the source to tap multi-barrier approach for drinking water safety. These indicators correspond to four barriers: source susceptibility to contamination; water treatment efficiency; distribution system management; and, overall management of water quality. The indicators were classified, regrouped and weighted within a model based on a multi-criteria analysis. The method was developed and applied to 39 municipal water systems of rural Quebec, Canada. The model obtained can be used for planning purposes to prioritise water systems requiring improvements.

Using multi-criteria decision analysis to assess the vulnerability of drinking water utilities

Outbreaks of microbiological waterborne disease have increased governmental concern regarding the importance of drinking water safety. Considering the multi-barrier approach to safe drinking water may improve management decisions to reduce contamination risks. However, the application of this approach must consider numerous and diverse kinds of information simultaneously. This makes it difficult for authorities to apply the approach to decision making. For this reason, multi-criteria decision analysis can be helpful in applying the multi-barrier approach to vulnerability assessment. The goal of this study is to propose an approach based on a multi-criteria analysis method in order to rank drinking water systems (DWUs) based on their vulnerability to microbiological contamination. This approach is illustrated with an application carried out on 28 DWUs supplied by groundwater in the Province of Québec, Canada. The multi-criteria analysis method chosen is measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique methodology allowing the assessment of a microbiological vulnerability indicator (MVI) for each DWU. Results are presented on a scale ranking DWUs from less vulnerable to most vulnerable to contamination. MVI results are tested using a sensitivity analysis on barrier weights and they are also compared with historical data on contamination at the utilities. The investigation demonstrates that MVI provides a good representation of the vulnerability of DWUs to microbiological contamination.

Integrating groundwater into land planning: A risk assessment methodology

Generally, groundwater is naturally of good quality for human consumption and represents an essential source of drinking water. In Canada, small municipalities and individuals are particularly reliant on groundwater, since they cannot afford complex water treatment installations. However, groundwater is a vulnerable resource that, depending on its characteristics, can be contaminated by almost any land use. In recent decades, governments have launched programs to acquire more information on groundwater, in order to better protect it. Nevertheless, the data produced are rarely adequate to be understood and used by land planners. The aim of this study was to develop a method that helps planners interpret hydrogeological data in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Based on the requests and needs of planners during semi-directed interviews, a methodology was developed to qualitatively evaluate groundwater contamination risk by land uses. The method combines land planning data and hydrogeological data through the MACBETH multicriteria analysis method, to obtain maps of groundwater contamination risk. The method was developed through group and individual meetings with numerous hydrogeology, land planning, waters economics and drinking water specialists. The resulting maps allow planners to understand the dynamics of groundwater within their territory, identify problem areas where groundwater is threatened and analyse the potential impact of planning scenarios on the risk of groundwater contamination.

Chapter 3 Tackling Climate Change Adaptation at the Local Level Through Community Participation

Purpose – Adapting local areas to climate change is a wicked challenge for local administrations. A participatory research is applied to explore how local experience shared by local experts can inform decision and adaptation planning by taking into account local area characteristics and their interrelationships. Methodology/approach – We turned to local actors, who live or work in the city and who can be seen as urban experts. Their experiential knowledge has given us a better understanding of the characteristics of their communities. These experts are likely to possess a representation that reflects the local territorial sensitivities, which can help us determine how these characteristics might be impacted by climate change. Findings – A participatory approach bears many benefits such as mobilizing local stakeholders to find collective solutions. It also allows us to focus on common practices in the urban context, which are likely to be altered by changes in mean temperatures, precipitations, etc. It offers the additional benefit of putting into perspective the relations between a variety of urban issues. Research limitations – A participatory approach means relying on subjective assessments of the possible effects of climate change, which could challenge the relevance of perceived risks and the scope and types of actions taken. Originality/value of paper – The number of the available adaptation planning processes involving community stakeholders and assessments of these processes is very limited. A participatory process such as the cross-sectoral initiative organized in Quebec City can have significant repercussions on local engagement in climate change adaptation. This provides evidence of the potential of deliberation or interaction of territorial actors to improve their understanding of the issues and their adaptive capacity. On a methodological level, the participatory process in itself and the steps to organize it offered a planning frame that can be reproduced.

Integration of groundwater information into decision making for regional planning: A portrait for North America

Groundwater is widely used as a source of drinking water in North America. However, it can be contaminated by microbial or chemical agents potentially hazardous to human health. In recent decades, governments have developed better knowledge of groundwater and established measures to protect and preserve the resource. Several studies have shown that relevant information on groundwater might prove very useful for regional planning purposes. However, there is little information on how groundwater information contributes to decision making in urban and regional planning in Canada and the United States. The objective of this study is to explore the level of use of groundwater information for land use planning purposes in Canada and the United States and to identify the factors that may explain why some provinces or states are more proactive than others when it comes to using such data for groundwater protection purposes. This paper presents the results of a survey sent across North America to groundwater information producers. The resulting data from the survey were examined using descriptive analyses and multiple correspondence analysis, and illustrate how groundwater data can be integrated into land planning.

Incorporating groundwater issues into regional planning in the Province of Quebec

In recent decades, governments have developed better knowledge of groundwater and established measures to protect and preserve it. In the hope of protecting this resource and ensuring its sustainability, the Government of Quebec has launched a programme to characterise groundwater in the southern portion of the province. Prior to launching this programme, pilot projects were carried out in two watersheds to produce groundwater atlases. However, the producers of the atlases are under the impression that their documents remain unused by municipal and county planners. The main objective of this study is to propose strategies to facilitate the incorporation of groundwater data into land planning processes. This paper presents the results of a series of semi-directed interviews with land planning stakeholders in the Province of Quebec. The study proposes four actions to improve the use of groundwater information in land planning: an awareness-raising campaign for all citizens, basic training on groundwater for land planning stakeholders, a legal framework defining who should protect groundwater and how, and a GIS tool that would help planners interpret the data.

Une Liste des Plantes Vasculaires Exotiques Nuisibles du Québec : Nouvelle Approche Pour la Sélection Des Espèces et L'aide à la Décision

Abstract: Exotic vascular plants are increasingly numerous, and decision support systems identifying the most problematic species are needed to help environmental managers to develop control strategies. The fundamental tool in this respect is a list of weeds, or a weed risk assessment. We propose here a list for the province of Quebec constructed using an innovative approach based on 1) well-defined criteria, 2) consideration of all potential problems associated with exotic plants, 3) use of credible scientific data, 4) assessment by a panel composed of experts with diverse expertise and who are also potential users of the list, 5) use of a decision support approach, and 6) a debate among experts in order to reach a verdict concerning the status (weed, no weed) of each candidate plant. The list contains 87 of the 908 taxa of exotic vascular plants that are naturalized in Quebec, i.e., 9.6% of the total. About two thirds of the weeds are problematic for agricultural or ornamental plant production or for forestry; the others are, in decreasing numerical order, problematic for biodiversity or natural ecosystem functions, health, landscaping or home gardening, and recreational activities. Evaluating the threat posed to biodiversity by individual species was a challenge, because few relevant studies have been published. The use of well-defined criteria greatly reduced (by a factor of 3) the number of weed species from an initial list based on individual uncensored expert opinions. The resulting list is not definitive, and should be used with caution. However, we estimate that our approach is more rigorous than the other qualitative approaches developed to date, with performance that matches the semi-quantitative or quantitative tools frequently used for assessing invasive plants, such as the Australian Weed Risk Assessment.

Estimation of urban water supply issues at the local scale: a participatory approach

Predicted climate change may significantly affect drinking water supply in urban areas. Local water stakeholders facing climate change will have to deal with uncertain information and unexpected events. To address this lack of data, the knowledge and experience of practitioners might be used to assess the potential impacts of climate change on different issues, including drinking water supply. This paper proposes a participatory approach to identify local issues associated with drinking water supply (from source to tap) in a climate change context. This approach relies on the experience and knowledge of local practitioners. The proposed approach was applied to the Québec City metropolitan area (Province of Quebec, Canada). It is based on assignment examples (in this case, a selected set of districts from the study territory) in order to generalize application to the entire territory. This approach helps stakeholders to rationally consider different dimensions and the complexity of drinking water supply.

A WebGIS platform for the monitoring of Farm Animal Genetic Resources (GENMON)

Background In 2007, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) initiated the Global plan of action for Farm Animal Genetic Resources (FAnGR). The main goal of this plan is to reduce further loss of genetic diversity in farm animals, so as to protect and promote the diversity of farm animal resources. An important step to reach this goal is to monitor and prioritize endangered breeds in the context of conservation programs. Methodology/Web portal implementation The GENMON WebGIS platform is able to monitor FAnGR and to evaluate the degree of endangerment of livestock breeds. The system takes into account pedigree and introgression information, the geographical concentration of animals, the cryo-conservation plan and the sustainability of breeding activities based on socio-economic data as well as present and future land use conditions. A multi-criteria decision tool supports the aggregation of the multi-thematic indices mentioned above using the MACBETH method, which is based on a weighted average using satisfaction thresholds. GENMON is a monitoring tool to reach subjective decisions made by a government agency. It relies on open source software and is available at http://lasigsrv2.epfl.ch/genmon-ch. Results/Significance GENMON allows users to upload pedigree-information (animal ID, parents, birthdate, sex, location and introgression) from a specific livestock breed and to define species and/or region-specific weighting parameters and thresholds. The program then completes a pedigree analysis and derives several indices that are used to calculate an integrated score of conservation prioritization for the breeds under investigation. The score can be visualized on a geographic map and allows a fast, intuitive and regional identification of breeds in danger. Appropriate conservation actions and breeding programs can thus be undertaken in order to promote the recovery of the genetic diversity in livestock breeds in need. The use of the platform is illustrated by means of an example based on three local livestock breeds from different species in Switzerland.