CJUR 18:2 Winter 2009 35
Le développement durable au Québec : un classement des 25 plus grandes municipalités
Canadian Journal of Urban Research, Volume 18 Issue 2, pages 35-72.
Copyright © 2009 by the Institute of Urban Studies
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
ISSN: 1188-3774
Le développement durable au Québec : un classement des 25 plus grandes
municipalités
Juste Rajaonson
Georges A. Tanguay
Département d’études urbaines et touristiques
Université du Québec à Montréal
Abstract
We propose an approach to create a scientifically valid grid of indicators to assist
local decision makers regarding sustainable development management. We apply
the selected indicators to establish different rankings of the 25 largest municipali-
ties in Quebec. We demonstrate that there is generally an asymmetry between the
socio-economic and environmental performances of studied municipalities. e
two largest cities, Montreal and Quebec, compensate their low socio-economic
scores by high environmental ones. On the contrary, suburb and regional mu-
nicipalities generally obtain high socio-economic scores but lower environmental
ones. We conclude the study by analyzing the determinants of resulting munici-
palities’ scores. To do so, we present a graphical analysis using radar diagrams that
identify the main factors explaining our results.
Keywords: Sustainable development, indicators, municipalities