Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Geography & Environmental Studies

Faculty/School

Faculty of Arts

First Advisor

Herbert Whitney

Advisor Role

Thesis Supervisor

Abstract

Within Ontario, regional governments are being established. This paper regionalizes south-western Ontario by synthesizing the characteristics of homogeneous and nodal regions. The regions so established are considered in light of their possible application to regional government.

The techniques used in the paper recognize regionalization in terms of systems analysis, such that there are places, attributes of these places and interactions between the places. Data are collected on separate matrices for the attributes of the places and for the interactions, and are referred to as structural data and behavioral data respectively. Through manipulation of the data matrices, separate measures of similarity between places are found for structure and for behavior. The two measures are combined to form a single matrix which indicates the similarity between places in terms of both structure and behavior. The places that are most similar and also adjacent are grouped to form regions.

For comparison purposes regions are also formed from the structural and behavioral matrices which are homogeneous and nodal regions respectively.

The synthesized regions would appear to represent adequately the syntheses of the characteristics of homogeneous regions and nodal regions, but their application to regional government is limited. Many of the regional boundaries are not likely usable for regional government purposes but the study does indicate where regional centres lie.

Convocation Year

1973

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Included in

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