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223 Pages·2015·3.14 MB·English

ASSESSING THE ABILITY OF INTEGRATED DECISION
MAKING TO IMPROVE CANADIAN MUNICIPAL
INFRASTRUCTURE SUSTAINABILITY
by
Amy Vaillancourt

Masters of Sustainable Development, University of New South Wales, 2010
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, University of New Brunswick, 2008

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate Academic Unit of Department of Civil Engineering

Supervisors: Jeff Rankin, PhD, PEng, Department of Civil Engineering
Bruce Wilson, PhD, PEng, Department of Civil Engineering

Examining Board: Peter Bischoff, PhD, PEng, Department of Civil Engineering
Lloyd Waugh, PhD, PEng, Department of Civil Engineering
Tom Beckley, PhD, Forestry & Environmental Management, UNB

External Examiner: Linda Newton, PhD, Defence Construction Canada

This dissertation is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK
April, 2015
© Amy M.E. Vaillancourt, 2015
ABSTRACT
A major contributor to the well-being of Canadian societies is municipal
infrastructure. The state of existing Canadian municipal infrastructure is the overarching
problem addressed in this research. A major barrier in achieving a solution however, as
identified in the literature, consists of infrastructure industry fragmentation. This research
focused on establishing an integration strategy consisting of a multidisciplinary approach
to municipal decision making for improving the overall sustainability performance of
existing municipal infrastructure. This integration strategy addresses the sustainability
performance of the following six types of municipal infrastructure: Energy, Parks &
Recreation, Solid Waste, Transportation, Urban Forestry, and Water & Wastewater. The
hypothesis for this research proposal is therefore as follows: Integrated decision-making
improves the sustainability performance of existing municipal infrastructure.
This research was conducted on medium sized Canadian population centres
(30,000 to 99,999 in population) using a Mixed-Methods Approach: Sequential
Explanatory Strategy research methodology. A preliminary investigation of municipal
authorities and the sustainability principles, priorities and goals within the 54 medium
population centres across Canada was conducted. Two survey questionnaires, sent to
infrastructure industry authorities within municipalities across Canada, further
investigated these findings and established current decision-making processes and an
understanding of opinions on multidisciplinary decision-making. These surveys also
provided the information needed to develop the assessment framework for the
sustainability performance of existing infrastructure and the level of integration and
inclusion within the municipalities’ decision-making process.

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This framework was initially tested through a pilot case study and subsequently
validated through three case studies within the Atlantic, British Columbia, and Alberta
regions. These three case studies were assessed independently and the final results for
sustainability performance (10 signifying highest performance) and decision making
integration and inclusion (1 signifying highest performance) were as follows: The case
study with the highest total average sustainability performance score (8.00) also received
the highest level of decision making integration (1.25) and inclusion (1.42), while the case
study with the lowest total average sustainability performance score (6.86) also received
the lowest score in integration (2.3) and inclusion (2.0). The findings presented in this
research therefore suggest that integrated decision-making can improve the sustainability
performance of existing municipal infrastructure.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, thank you to the University of New Brunswick for being a part of my
personal and professional development over the past 10 years. It has been a challenging
and rewarding journey all leading to this long awaited day of submitting my dissertation.
I am forever grateful to the academic and administrative staff, as well as my colleagues
at UNB for their guidance, support, and genuine care.
Dr. Jeff Rankin and Dr. Bruce Wilson, thank you for sharing the responsibility of
supervising my research, for your invaluable guidance, financial support, and patience
throughout the many life changes during the past 4 years. I would also like to extend my
appreciation to all the municipal authorities across Canada who have taken the time to
complete the survey questionnaires and interview questions, this information was
invaluable to the research.
To my family and friends, thank you. With your support and encouragement
throughout this journey, the many obstacles of this research were surmountable. Finally,
for the long countless hours spent attached to the computer, away on conferences, and
traveling for the multiple case studies, a special thank you to Brian for your understanding,
motivation, and endless support throughout the duration of this research.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................1
1.1 Statement of Problem ............................................................................................1
1.2 Statement of Purpose ............................................................................................2
1.3 Research Scope .....................................................................................................4
1.4 Proposed Research ................................................................................................8
1.5 Thesis Chapters ...................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................14
2.1 Sustainability.......................................................................................................14
2.2 Triple-Bottom-Line .............................................................................................16
2.3 Measuring Sustainability ....................................................................................18
2.4 Infrastructure .......................................................................................................21
2.5 Engineers’ Role in Sustainable Infrastructure ....................................................26
2.6 Fragmentation of the Infrastructure Industry ......................................................27
2.7 Integrated Decision Making ................................................................................29
2.8 Needed Change within the Infrastructure Industry .............................................31
2.9 Opportunity in Infrastructure Research ..............................................................34
CHAPTER 3: MUNICIPALITY REVIEW .....................................................................38
3.1 Municipality Authorities .....................................................................................38
3.2 Municipal Sustainability .....................................................................................41
CHAPTER 4: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES ...............................................................47
4.1 Survey Questionnaire I .......................................................................................47
4.2 Survey Questionnaire II ......................................................................................65
CHAPTER 5: CASE STUDIES .......................................................................................79
5.1 Case Study Criteria & Selection .........................................................................80
5.2 Case Study Methodology ....................................................................................83
5.3 Case Study Results ..............................................................................................99
5.4 Final Results......................................................................................................122
5.5 Multiple Regression Analysis ...........................................................................124
CHAPTER 6: FINAL DATA INTERPRETATION .....................................................127
6.1 Research Findings .............................................................................................127
6.2 Research Significance .......................................................................................132
6.3 Research Limitations ........................................................................................134

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CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS & FUTURE WORK ..................................................137
7.1 Research Summary ...........................................................................................137
7.2 Future Work ......................................................................................................140
REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................143
APPENDIX A.1 – INFRASTRUCTURE LEVEL 1 AUTHORITY TABULATIONS 151
APPENDIX A.2 – INFRASTRUCTURE LEVEL 2 AUTHORITY TABULATIONS 152
APPENDIX A.3 – CANADIAN SUSTAINABILITY THEMES .................................154
APPENDIX B.1 – EXPLANATORY LETTER & CONSENT FORM ........................159
APPENDIX B.2 – SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE I ......................................................162
APPENDIX B.3 – PERFORMANCE INDICATOR COMPLETE ORIGINAL LIST .172
APPENDIX B.4 – SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE II ....................................................175
APPENDIX B.5 – PERFORMANCE INDICATOR RESULTS ..................................186
APPENDIX C – MULTIPLE CASE STUDY METHODOLOGY ...............................190
APPENDIX D.1 – ATLANTIC CASE STUDY RESULTS .........................................201
APPENDIX D.2 – BRITISH COLUMBIA CASE STUDY RESULTS .......................205
APPENDIX D.3 – ALBERTA CASE STUDY RESULTS ...........................................209
APPENDIX E – INTEGRATED DECISION MAKING FRAMEWORK ...................213
CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................................214

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: 54 Canadian Medium Population Centres included in Research. ....................... 6
Table 2: Organizations enhancing the sustainability of municipalities. ......................... 32
Table 3: Municipal Department Qualitative Content Analysis Process. ........................ 40
Table 4: Level 1 and 2 municipal infrastructure authorities. .......................................... 41
Table 5: Example of Sustainability Data Compiled. ...................................................... 42
Table 6: Preliminary data coding, Sustainability Principles examples. .......................... 42
Table 7: Municipality Sustainability Qualitative Content Analysis Process. ................. 43
Table 8: Events occurring in all three sustainability segments. ...................................... 45
Table 9: Final categorization of sustainability themes.................................................... 46
Table 10: Municipal authority and their infrastructure responsibilities. ......................... 51
Table 11: Classification of infrastructure department divisions. .................................... 53
Table 12: Disciplines involved with departmental decision making. ............................. 56
Table 13: Short & Long Term Decision Making. ........................................................... 58
Table 14: Level of importance of multidisciplinary team aspects. ................................. 60
Table 15: Ranking and level of importance of sustainability pillars. ............................. 62
Table 16: Ranking and level of importance of sustainability priorities and categories. . 64
Table 17: Results for sustainability assessment framework. .......................................... 65
Table 18: Averaged level of agreement for performance indicators (PI). ...................... 72
Table 19: Final sustainability themes and respective performance indicators................ 75
Table 20: Sustainability themes potentially pursued by Municipalities. ........................ 85
Table 21: Sustainability performance assessment criteria for existing infrastructure. ... 92
Table 22: Applicability of assessment criteria to sustainability goals. ........................... 94
Table 23: Integrated vs. Not Integrated decision making. .............................................. 99
Table 24: Inclusive vs. Not Inclusive decision making. ................................................. 99
Table 25: Sustainability Goals pursued by case studies. .............................................. 101
Table 26: Data collected for applicable sustainability goals......................................... 103
Table 27: Final results for sustainability categories...................................................... 106
Table 28: Evidence of integration within the case studies. ........................................... 117
Table 29: Evidence of inclusion within the case studies. ............................................. 118
Table 30: Results of decision making process for each case study. ............................. 119

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Population distribution based on Statistics Canada 2011 census. ..................... 5
Figure 2: Mixed Methods Approach – Research Goals & Steps. ................................... 11
Figure 3: Qualitative Content Analysis Process Chart (Steps 1 to 4). ............................ 44
Figure 4: Infrastructure types operated and maintained by survey II respondents. ........ 70
Figure 5: Group A & B average level of agreement for each category. ......................... 73
Figure 6: Box plot analysis of average A & B groups. ................................................... 73
Figure 7. Original Eisenhower Matrix………………………………………………….96
Figure 8. Final Eisenhower Matrix……………………………………………………..96
Figure 9: Sustainability category results for each case study. ...................................... 113
Figure 10: Sustainability Performance & Municipality Decision Making Results. ..... 122
Figure 11: Possible linear relationships using the average data set. ............................. 123
Figure 12. Integrated Decision Making Framework ..................................................... 131
Figure 13: Summary of research goals & contributions. .............................................. 140

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
A major contributor to the well-being of Canadian societies is municipal
infrastructure. This interconnected system of infrastructure connects society to the
provisions of life including food, water, and shelter. Urban infrastructure has been the
foundation of Canadian municipalities, in some cases for several decades, which has
resulted in the current overwhelming need for infrastructure repair and rehabilitation.
Contemporaneously, there is a need to reduce the rate of infrastructure deterioration.
Effective decision making in the maintenance and operation of infrastructure is
investigated as a means to improve the sustainability of a community at a municipal scale.
In this introduction the following are described: 1) the research problem statement
including the research purpose, goals, and hypothesis; 2) the research scope and
boundaries, including the infrastructure industry authorities involved in the research, as
well as the definitions consistently used throughout all research phases; 3) the four-step
research methodology; and 4) a brief introduction of the chapters which follow.

1.1 Statement of Problem
The state of existing Canadian municipal infrastructure is the overarching problem
addressed in this research. As demonstrated by Infrastructure Canada’s 2004 report
Assessing Canada’s Infrastructure Needs: A Review of Key Studies, there is continuous
deterioration of Canadian infrastructure with reports indicating up to $125 billion in
infrastructure deficit (Infrastructure Canada 2004). Efforts have been made to establish
best practices for the rehabilitation and replacement of infrastructure, including those

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conducted by InfraGuide (2003; 2005); however, less effort has been made to improve
the operational phase of municipal infrastructure. This research describes a decision
making process for assessing the sustainability performance of existing Canadian
municipal infrastructure to help identify and prioritize infrastructure maintenance efforts
within the municipality. There are, however, barriers in achieving the improvement of the
Canadian municipal infrastructure with the major barrier resulting from the fragmentation
of the infrastructure industry. For the purposes of this thesis, the infrastructure industry
refers to the public sector employees within the local governments, specifically
department directors and managers (i.e., infrastructure industry representatives), who are
responsible for 1) administering infrastructure projects and 2) overseeing the operation
and maintenance of this infrastructure. Traditionally, most municipal infrastructure is
managed through divided departments such as for water, transportation, and planning and
an integrated approach has not been used.

1.2 Statement of Purpose
The primary focus of this research was to establish an integration strategy aimed
at overcoming the infrastructure industry fragmentation. The underlying purpose of this
focus is to improve the sustainability performance of existing Canadian municipal
infrastructure to help guide municipalities towards a more sustainable future. The
integration strategy consists of a multidisciplinary approach to municipal decision making
and outlines an approach for both assessing the sustainability performance of existing
infrastructure and a methodology for integrated decision making. Integrated decision
making refers to, within this thesis, municipal decisions which are reached on a monthly,

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