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The metropolitan community of Montreal (MMC) is located in Eastern Canada and included in the western Quebec seismic zone characterized by shallow crustal earthquakes and moderate seismicity. Most of the urbanized areas are settled close to the Saint-Lawrence River and its tributaries and within the region, delimiting the extension of the clay deposits from the Champlain Sea. The influence of these recent and soft deposits on seismic waves has been observed after the 1988 M5.8 Saguenay earthquake and has proven to be crucial in seismic hazard analysis. The shear-wave velocity Vs averaged over the 30 m of soil, abbreviated Vs30, is one of the most used parameters to characterize the site condition and its influence on seismic waves. Since 2000, a site condition model has been developed for the municipalities of Montreal and Laval, combining seismic and borehole data for risk mitigation purposes. The paper presents an extended version of the Vs30 mapping for the entire region of the MMC, which accounts for half of the population of Quebec, including additional ambient noise recordings, recently updated borehole datasets, geological vector map and unpublished seismic refraction data to derive Vs profiles. The estimated Vs30 values for thousands of sites are then interpolated on a regular grid of 0.01 degrees using the inverse distance weighted interpolation approach. Regions with the lowest estimated Vs30 values where site amplification could be expected on seismic waves are in the Northeastern part and in the Southwest of the MMC. The map expresses in terms of site classes is compared with intensity values derived from citizen observations after recent felt. In general, the highest reported intensity values are found in regions with the lowest Vs30 values on the map. Areas where this rule does not apply, should be investigated further. This site condition model can be used in seismic hazard and risk analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, air conditioning consumes, on average, around one-fifth of the total power used in buildings globally. The present paper aims to provide the present status on the employment of Earth-to-Air Heat eXchangers (EAHX) to contain the consumption of energy and to reduce the effect on the environment in response to the Montreal and Kyoto protocols in a way to achieve cleaner energy production with a low Global Warming Potential (GWP) and a low ozone depletion potential (ODP). Different peculiarities and applications (direct or hybrid) are critically analyzed and reviewed. Specifically, in this paper, the different hybrid applications presented in the literature, where the Earth-to-Air Heat eXchangers are coupled to advanced systems, are reviewed. Finally, an IoT-based EAHX control system plan is reported and discussed to optimize energy efficiency and thermal comfort to suit operating conditions under different time zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While scholars acknowledge the important role played by regulators in managing ride hailing and its impacts on cities, few studies have explored the implications for developing ride hailing regulations at different levels of governance. This paper examines regulatory approaches to ride hailing in Canada's three largest metropolitan regions: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Though united by a national border, these three regions are subject to unique governance approaches, histories, and trajectories. Although ground transportation in Canada usually falls within local or municipal authority, only Toronto, amongst these three city‐regions, treats the regulation of ground transportation as a local responsibility. In both Montreal and Vancouver, which are subject to different regulatory and governance structures, ride hailing is primarily regulated at the provincial level. As a more detailed examination reveals, we can further distinguish the three metropolitan areas based on the extent of intraregional coordination and regional mobility. By introducing these two concepts, the paper explores both the intended and unintended regional impacts of ride hailing regulations. These findings are relevant not only to ride hailing, but also to broader questions about governing both regional mobility and the platform economy. Key Messages: This research examines how government authority for ground transportation in Canada's three largest metropolitan regions impacts the regulation of ride hailing.Distinctions regarding the level of government responsible for regulating ride hailing persist when comparing the Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver city‐regions.While provincial government regulatory authority can positively influence regional transportation planning and policy, municipal‐led approaches to ride hailing enable place‐based responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital sequence information (DSI) is crucial to technological advancements in diverse product areas from agriculture to environment and therapeutics. Advances in DNA sequencing technology have made it possible to generate and share vast amounts of genetic information data of various organisms at the global level at a relatively low cost. Advocates of open science support open access to DSI of genetic resources stored in public and private databases in silos. Due to the existing conundrum over the application of ABS mechanism under the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and its Nagoya Protocol(NP) to intangible genetic data, much of the DSI usage is happening without obtaining Prior Informed Consent(PIC) of provider countries and communities, a mandatory requirement for access and utilisation of genetic material. This is hampering the negotiations under the CBD and NP framework for sharing of benefits of commercial utilisation of the resources with the resource providers. Allowing free access to genetic resource sequence information without PIC and Mutually Agreed Terms (MAT) will be detrimental to the interests of indigenous peoples and local communities who foster and preserve biodiversity in their jurisdictions. The paper examines the issues and arguments surrounding DSI and investigates the possibility and prospects of applying the ABS under the CBDNP framework to DSI. It will analyse the negotiations taking place under the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity as well as the decisions on DSI that arrived in the COP15(Committee of Parties) held in Montreal in December 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban ecology is a promising research field in limnology, but we still need to evaluate how urban waterbodies can sustain biodiversity. In this paper, we present a comprehensive foodweb perspective of urban waterbodies in the city of Montréal (Québec, Canada). The research goals are to evaluate if biodiversity and community structure of foodweb components (phytoplankton, zooplankton, and macroinvertebrates) are valuable tools for assessing the ecological status of urban waterbodies and examine how they are controlled by multiple factors related to trophic status and habitat complexity (origin, water residence, macrophyte cover, fish, and management practices). Multiple factor analysis, correlations, and non-parametric tests were used to examine the relationships between the environmental factors and foodweb biological variables. Our case study confirms that urban waterbodies are important sources of biodiversity and reveals that foodweb-based biological indicators are reliable tools for the biomonitoring of urban waterbodies. Foodweb biodiversity and community structure were more influenced by habitat complexity than by trophic status. The key determinants of variation were the differences in water regime, management of temporary and permanent waterbodies, and contrasts in habitat complexity depending on pond origin (artificial or natural) and macrophyte cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional construction materials which rely on a fossil-based, nonrenewable extractive economy are typically associated with an entrenched linear economic approach to production. Current research indicates the clear interrelationships between the production and use of construction materials and anthropogenic climate change. This paper investigates the potential for emerging high-performance biobased construction materials, produced sustainably and/or using waste byproducts, to enable a more environmentally sustainable approach to the built environment. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is employed to compare three wall assemblies using local biobased materials in Montreal (Canada), Nairobi (Kenya), and Accra (Ghana) vs. a traditional construction using gypsum boards and rockwool insulation. Global warming potential, nonrenewable cumulative energy demand, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, and freshwater consumption (FWC) are considered. Scenarios include options for design for disassembly (DfD), as well as potential future alternatives for electricity supply in Kenya and Ghana. Results indicate that all biobased alternatives have lower (often significantly so) life-cycle impacts per functional unit, compared to the traditional construction. DfD strategies are also shown to result in −10% to −50% impact reductions. The results for both African countries exhibit a large dependence on the electricity source used for manufacturing, with significant potential for future decarbonization, but also some associated tradeoffs in terms of acidification and eutrophication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how the City of Montréal employed tools of urban planning—including a district plan, street redesign, rezoning, selective public consultation, expropriation, policing and surveillance—to spatially banish sex work from its historic district, using the red light symbol as a branding strategy. This coincided with a change in federal law (Bill C-36) and a policy shift to reposition sex workers as passive victims of sex trafficking. Using a case study design, this work explores the state's refusal to recognize the agency of those engaged in embodied socio-economic exchanges and the safety and solidarity possible in public space. In interviews, sex workers described strategies of collective organizing, resistance and protest to hold the city accountable during this process of displacement. We consider how urban planning might support sex work, sex workers and economic autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the findings of an empirical study of the street‐level visual spatialities of urban platforms in three Canadian cities: Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. Enumerating, typologizing, and spatially analyzing incidences of platforms in these three cities, we find platforms to be concentrated in neighbourhoods classified as "gentrified," "gentrifying," and "gentrifiable," while being largely absent from established affluent enclaves. We theorize the significance of these spatialities in three ways. First, we suggest that the emplaced visibility of platforms functions to cue expenditures of digital spatial capital—the ability to stake claims to space through engagements with digital technologies—in neighbourhoods where these platformized materialities are visually encountered. Second, we argue that these expenditures of spatial capital are associated with the ways in which platforms glamorize mundane urban consumption practices (the aestheticization of consumption) while decoupling acts of consumption from face‐to‐face interaction (the anaestheticization of social relations). And third, we identify propositions for how these an/aesthetic dynamics may potentially influence the further densification of platforms on city streets in transitioned (gentrified) and transitional (gentrifying and gentrifiable) urban enclaves. Key Messages: Material presences that cue interaction with digital platforms are concentrated in gentrified, gentrifying, and gentrifiable neighbourhoods in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, while being largely absent from established affluent enclaves.Platformized materialities cue expenditures of digital spatial capital—the capacity to stake claims to space through digital technologies—in the urban spaces where they are visually encountered.Digital platforms glamorize everyday consumption practices and decouple acts of consumption from face‐to‐face interactions in ways that fit the spatial, lifestyle, and self‐actualization ambitions of advantaged, tech‐savvy urban dwellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LINKED CONTENT: This article is linked to Wong et al and Kahrilas papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16561 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16572 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LINKED CONTENT: This article is linked to Wong et al and Wong & Chen papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16561 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16587 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an integrated model that coupled CONTAM and WUFI was developed to assess the indoor air quality (IAQ), moisture, and thermal comfort performance. The coupling method of CONTAM and WUFI is described based on the exchange of airflow rate control variables as infiltration, natural and mechanical ventilation parameters between heat and moisture flow balance equations in WUFI and contaminant flow balances equations in CONTAM. To evaluate the predictions of the integrated model compared to single models of CONTAM and WUFI, four scenarios were used. These scenarios are airtight-fan off, airtight-fan on, leaky-fan off, and leaky-fan on, and were defined for a three-story house subjected to three different climate conditions of Montreal, Vancouver, and Miami. The measures of the simulated indoor CO2, PM2.5, and VOCs obtained by CONTAM; the simulated indoor relative humidity (RH), predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD), and predicted mean vote (PMV) obtained by WUFI; and those obtained by the integrated model are compared separately for all scenarios in Montreal, Vancouver, and Miami. Finally, the optimal scenarios are selected. The simulated results of the optimal scenarios with the integrated model method (−28.88% to 46.39%) are different from those obtained with the single models. This is due to the inability of the single models to correct the airflow variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]