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Given that our urban centres have been dominated by the private car for a hundred years, this paper asks what is next for Canadian cities. Previous research on the future of urban mobility, and specifically city planning and autonomous vehicles, has been from an American or Australian context. Working from a uniquely Canadian perspective, this paper fills a gap in the research by analyzing data from twenty-six semi-structured interviews with Canadian planning professionals from Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto. The interviews discuss how Canadian planners are preparing for new technologies, including autonomous vehicles, and increased privatization. We recommend that large cities move forward with autonomous vehicle research with a goal of improving mobility for all, while ensuring a strong agreement framework with all for-proft mobility providers is in place that requires robust data sharing agreements and appropriate consultation with municipalities before, during, and after launching. Further, planners should further embrace the political realities of their positions and advocate for equitable mobility for all residents both in their day-to-day work and in public engagement settings. Keywords: mobility, autonomous vehicles, city planning, advocacy, Canada Vu que nos centres urbains sont domines depuis une centaine d'annees par la voiture privee, le present article s'interroge sur ce qui s'ensuit pour les villes canadiennes. Jusqu'a date, la recherche sur le futur de la mobilite urbaine et, plus particulierement, sur l'urbanisme et les vehicules autonomes, s'est effectuee dans un contexte americain ou australien. Le present article vise a remedier a cette lacune d'une perspective uniquement canadienne en analysant les donnees ressorties de vingt-six entrevues semi-structurees avec des professionnels canadiens de l'urbanisme de Vancouver, d'Edmonton, de Calgary, de Winnipeg et de Toronto. Les entrevues cherchent a savoir comment leur planification tient compte des nouvelles technologies, dont les vehicules autonomes, et de la privatisation grandissante. Nous recommandons que les grandes villes entament des recherches sur les vehicules autonomes, dans l'optique d'une amelioration de la mobilite pour tous, en assurant en meme temps qu'une forte structure d'accord avec tous les fournisseurs de mobilite a but lucratif soit en place qui necessite des accords robustes de partage de donnees et une consultation appropriee avec les municipalites avant, durant et apres le lancement. En plus, les planificateurs devraient saisir pleinement les realites politiques de leurs positions et promouvoir une mobilite equitable dans leur travail quotidien et a travers leur engagement publique pour tous les citoyens. Mots-cles : mobilite, vehicules autonomes, urbanisme, planification urbaine, plaidoyer, Canada, Introduction In 1903, the President of Michigan Savings Bank warned his client against an investment in Henry Ford's newly-formed motor company, saying, 'The horse is here to stay but the [...]

Given the varied nature of resource dependent communities, the gendered experiences of women and men may vary in unexpected and contradictory ways. Building on a review and critique of existing theoretical approaches and studies of US and Canadian extractive resource communities in both the feminist and rural social science literature, we provide an analytical approach to engage with gender in the context of these dramatic changes. Our framework, which integrates key insights from recent feminist theorizing, summarizes emergent constructions of masculinity and femininity in a given context by emphasizing the possible contradictions along three broad lines: material, material-discursive, and discursive. (Contains 1 table.)

In this paper we hypothesize that farmers with a stronger valuation of family farming will be more resistant to converting farmland to tree plantations. Our survey data analysis from 106 farmers in northern Alberta reveals that general opposition to trees on farmland is the strongest predictor of farmers' resistance to the establishment of poplar tree plantations on privately-owned land. Valuation of family farming is the strongest determinant of resistance to trees on farmland. Among the potential intervening variables influencing support for tree plantations, including county, age, gender, number of children, and percent of income from farming, number of children and percent of income from farming had significant direct effects on valuation of family farming. This study suggests that economic incentives alone are unlikely to influence farmers' willingness to convert their land to non-traditional uses, and that intergenerational transfer of land, and its relationship to valuation of family farming, deserves further attention in rural sociological scholarship. (Contains 3 figures, 4 tables, and 5 footnotes.)

In this paper we hypothesize that farmers with a stronger valuation of family farming will be more resistant to converting farmland to tree plantations. Our survey data analysis from 106 farmers in northern Alberta reveals that general opposition to trees on farmland is the strongest predictor of farmers' resistance to the establishment of poplar tree plantations on privately-owned land. Valuation of family farming is the strongest determinant of resistance to trees on farmland. Among the potential intervening variables influencing support for tree plantations, including county, age, gender, number of children, and percent of income from farming, number of children and percent of income from farming had significant direct effects on valuation of family farming. This study suggests that economic incentives alone are unlikely to influence farmers' willingness to convert their land to non-traditional uses, and that intergenerational transfer of land, and its relationship to valuation of family farming, deserves further attention in rural sociological scholarship.

Collectively, current resource-development literature has given little attention to organizational features of ownership as important variables in community resilience. By drawing from six local buyout cases in Canada's forest sector, we reveal the complexity and numerous constraints on local ownership and expose a more nuanced context than most sociologists tend to consider. Our findings suggest that the meaning of local ownership and community resilience varies depending upon the composition (e.g., private vs. public; mill vs. forest license vs. coupled mill & forest license), type (social, cooperative, trust and/or direct-share ownership), extent of ownership (percentage of local versus extra-local shares), and the level of control (e.g., proportion of locally held seats on the Board of Directors) associated with ownership. Future research on local ownership should more carefully differentiate between the nature of local ownership and its associated outcomes.

Local control of natural resource processing facilities in small rural communities is often viewed as beneficial to community development. This paper employs social impact assessment tools to examine the social and economic effects of change in the ownership of forest products mills in two communities. Our analysis documents (1) the degree to which local ownership of the new, locally owned corporations led to local reinvestment of profits, and (2) whether the goals of the architects of these buyouts were realized: the maintenance of jobs, income, population, and a way of life. Overall, both communities were able to maintain jobs, population, and real estate values, and profits were reinvested in mill upgrades. After the buyouts, however, both communities experienced a rise and then a decline in community cohesion, and changes in local social and power relations, in which local ownership was short-lived; benefits to relationships within the community were mixed.

Technological disasters are rarely just events limited to a specific space or time but are more often part of a process of decisions leading to the disaster and occurring after the disaster. The Exxon Valdez oil spill is a good example because preventive and cleanup efforts were undermined by ineffective contingency plans and reduction in necessary staff both on the oil tanker and in the Coast Guard to cut costs. The process of planning disaster prevention needs to be better understood so that adequate policies can be devised to prevent and respond to a technological disaster.

Women are the primary farm managers in Lesotho and therefore deserve special consideration in the implementation of any new agricultural technology. Eighty-two female Basotho farmers newly-involved in commercial irrigated vegetable production were interviewed to determine their receptivity and adjustment to irrigation systems. The time-use patterns of these agriculturalists were examined to determine the potential constraints imposed by the implementation of more labor-intensive agriculture. Further, respondents were queried as to their access to credit, extension agents, training, and as to their specific problems with irrigation. In addition to describing their responses, the analysis includes comparisons with female and male respondents involved in mechanized, dryland agriculture and with the responses of male irrigators. The findings suggest that among the primary threats to the long-term viability of irrigation systems in this environment are the time constraints faced by women irrigators. Time constraints may serve to exacerbate the other threats such as the 'donor-dependency syndrome' found among farmers in Lesotho. Suggestions for accommodating potential conflicts include educating women to hire additional laborers during peak labor periods, providing alternative sources of child care, and taking action to decrease dependency.

Byline: Pamela D. Neumann, Naomi T. Krogman, Barb R. Thomas This paper describes the differences between expert and public perceptions of plantation forestry and calls for greater public participation in the development and establishment of plantations. The debate over the social acceptability of varying land-uses is essentially a debate over how land is valued and the effects of land-use change on local peoples. This study reports the findings from 31 interviews with key informants, indicating central themes such as farming identity, trust and economic competition as important to an overall assessment of community perceptions of hybrid poplar plantations. Specifically, we suggest that all of these themes are linked to complex attachments to traditional rural land-use and fear of externally motivated change. Findings from this study contribute to a greater understanding of the public values at stake around tree plantations, where experts have emphasised ecological impacts and economic trade-offs and generally disregarded the social concerns raised above.

Byline: Leslie Treseder, Naomi T. Krogman The paper addresses the ability of forest co-management, within the Western Canadian provincial context, to co-exist with the industrial model of forestry. This paper draws on a two-year qualitative study of a new First Nation co-management process in Northern Alberta and a review of other First Nation forest co-management arrangements in Western Canada. Qualitative methods used included 23 semi-structured interviews with key co-management participants, non-participant observation of board and related meetings, and content analyses of previous board minutes. Our findings indicate that co-management has led to the incorporation of diverse values in forest management planning, cooperative relationships among parties to the Board, and shared decision making in forest management. We argue that co-management does not directly challenge the industrial model, but modifies it through a process of incremental change toward a more well-planned industrial presence in First Nation traditional territory. By giving a high priority to cultural sustainability criteria, First Nation participants in the co-management process in Northern Alberta challenge the forest industry to re-think the pace of development, the rates of return required to be profitable and measures to improve First Nation employment within the industry. Ultimately, tests of co-management success should incorporate First Nation priorities to maintain traditional and cultural practices in the context of industrial forestry. Such tests should evaluate the practice of provincial consultation requirements with First Nations, and cooperative efforts to develop Northern boreal forest resources. The success of co-management also depends upon industry practices to reduce the impacts of their activities on First Nation uses of the forest, and overall, on ecological evidence of sustainable forest management, including maintenance of biodiversity.

This study describes the formation of nutrition gardening and pond fish farming communities of practice (CoPs) among small-scale farmers of the Malayalis tribe living in the Kolli Hills region of Tamil Nadu, India. We examine the factors that have shaped the formation of these CoPs, their purpose and function, who is involved, what activities hold these communities together, and their role in strengthening sustainable food production and consumption practices. Data were obtained through participatory rural appraisals (PRAs), key stakeholder interviews, and participant observations during four months of fieldwork. The primary motivations that led the nutrition gardeners and pond fish farmers to become part of CoPs were to improve the health and nutrition of their families and to obtain expert advice in sustainable food production practices. Both CoPs are in the early stages of development and differ not only in the types of food they produce and the skills and tools needed for their success, but also in their structure; nutrition gardening takes place at the individual and/or household level, whereas pond fish farming operates at the group and/or community level. The ways in which members experience being in a community also differs. Nutrition gardeners rely on open-ended conversations and community creation through relationship building; in contrast, fish farmers find that group meetings and maintaining transparent record-keeping are most important. Sustainability of these practices and the CoPs depended on factors internal to the communities (e.g., leadership, knowledge mobilization) as well as external factors (e.g., rainfall and market potential). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Department of Sociology, Utah State University, Logan UT 84322-0730 Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80521 Journal of Asian and African Studies Vol. 28 (1993) pp. 162-179 [...]