This map shows the quality of the physical environment:
the environment in which people live. It includes aspects of access
to services, security and safety, and environmental conditions pertaining
to air quality and housing.
Indicators of the Physical Environment
The following nine indicators were used to assess the important
aspects of the quality of the physical environment.
Housing
Accessibility to Services
- Distance from centre of census subdivision to nearest hospital
(inverse)
Environmental Quality
- Density of dwellings requiring
major repairs (inverse)
- Air quality: measured as total pollutant particulate matter
emissions (inverse)
Personal Security
- Incidence of personal crime (inverse)
- Incidence of property crime (inverse)
The national coverage for the personal security indicators is less
than that for the other indicators of the physical environment.
Consequently, a separate physical environment index thematic map
layer, called the physical environment index (with
personal security), includes these data for a reduced number
of communities in the index.
Methodology
Five classes have been used to map the quality of the physical
environment: low, fair, moderate, good and high. ‘Moderate’
quality of life can be seen as the average, whereas ‘low’
is well below the average and ‘high’ is well above
average. A ‘low’ classification for a community implies
that it scored low on all indicators of the physical environment;
conversely, a community with a ‘high’ classification
more than likely scored above average on all indicators. The score
for each community (or census
subdivision) was calculated using a methodology called the
standard score additive method. In this method,
the data are standardized.
The resulting values, called z-scores,
were then added or subtracted, according to the direction of
the indicator. The indicator direction is either inverse (–)
or direct (+), where inverse indicates that a high value implies
a lower quality of life; conversely, a high value for a direct
relationship implies a higher quality of life.
Refer to the Data
and Mapping Notes section for further details on the methodology
and the rationale for choosing the indicators listed above to map
the physical environment.
Geographic Description
The map shows variations in the quality of the physical environment
in Canada, except for some areas in the Yukon Territory and Northwest
Territories. Only communities with data for all the physical environment
indicators have been mapped. In western Canada, the quality of
the physical environment generally ranges from high to good, except
for the largest cities (Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Regina),
which generally score moderate. The same distribution is evident
in Ontario and Quebec, although there is more variation between
low to high. Eastern Canada generally rates good to high, except
for the heavily industrialized cities of Dartmouth, Halifax and
the Municipality of Cape Breton, and the interior of New Brunswick,
which have moderate values (Figure 1).
[D] Click for larger version, 201 KB Figure 1. Distribution of Quality of the Physical Environment in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
Use the various zoom mapping tools, found at the top of the map,
to zoom into locations across Canada to compare the quality of the
physical environment from region to region, city to city or town
to town. Use the Get Statistics tool to view the data used to derive
the index value for each community. Alternatively, turn on one of
the indicator thematic map layers to view the distribution of each
indicator of the physical environment. Each indicator is divided
into five classes, with the average value falling in the middle
and two classes occurring above and below. Table 1 is a comparison
of the quality of the physical environment among larger urban centres,
with populations of more than 150 000.
Table 1. Quality of the Physical Environment of Canada’s
Most Populated Cities
Quality of the Physical Environment of Canada’s Most
Populated Cities
Montréal |
Quebec |
1
016 376 |
Low |
Calgary |
Alberta |
768 082 |
Moderate |
Toronto |
Ontario |
653
734 |
Low |
Winnipeg |
Manitoba |
618
477 |
Moderate |
Edmonton |
Alberta |
616
306 |
Moderate |
North York |
Ontario |
589
653 |
Moderate |
Scarborough |
Ontario |
558
960 |
Moderate |
Mississauga |
Ontario |
544
382 |
Moderate |
Vancouver |
British
Columbia |
514
008 |
Fair |
Laval |
Quebec |
330
393 |
Moderate |
Etobicoke |
Ontario |
328
718 |
Fair |
London |
Ontario |
325
646 |
Good |
Ottawa |
Ontario |
323
340 |
Fair |
Hamilton |
Ontario |
322
352 |
Fair |
Surrey |
British
Columbia |
304
477 |
Moderate |
Brampton |
Ontario |
268
251 |
Moderate |
Windsor |
Ontario |
197
694 |
Moderate |
Saskatoon |
Saskatchewan |
193
647 |
Moderate |
Regina |
Saskatchewan |
180
400 |
Moderate |
Burnaby |
British
Columbia |
179
209 |
Moderate |
Kitchener |
Ontario |
178
420 |
Moderate |
Markham |
Ontario |
173
383 |
Fair |
Québec |
Quebec |
167
264 |
Moderate |
|
Data source: Natural Resources Canada. 2003. Quality of Life:
Physical Environment Index [Map]. Ottawa: Natural Resources
Canada.
For another perspective on the quality of the physical environment,
please request the following .xls file phyc_e.xls from
Contact Us to view the results of the metropolitan influence zone
classification, used to classify municipalities (census subdivisions)
that lie outside census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and census agglomerations
(CAs), according to the degree of influence that CMA/CAs
have on them. This classification precedes standardization of the
data, prior to the addition of the z-scores. In this table, only
communities (census subdivisions) with the same classification are
compared to one another. Refer to the Data
and Mapping Notes section for more information on the classification
methodology. |