Planning Design 4
CONNECTIONS: SPACE, TIME, AND CULTURE AT THE FORKS
FALL 2009
Instructors: Dr. Ian Skelton and Dr. Richard Milgrom
This studio raised questions and addressed issues related to urban aboriginal communities and urban design. The goal of the studio did not be to devise a plan or a set of design guidelines, but to explored the issues and illustrated the ramifications of different approaches. This exploration led to the development of materials that could be used in processes of public education, and that could fuel further discussions about the directions that development should take. The Forks North Portage Partnership sponsored the studio and might carry its work forward at a later date.
An opportunity for the type of exploration conducted in this studio arose at the end of 2008 when The Forks North Portage Partnership considered changes that would have to happen on The Forks site to accommodate the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Rather than just addressing the need for additional parking, the Partnership suggested that some consideration should be given to the provision of housing as well. This studio started with the assumption that housing can be an appropriate use for the site, but will seek to place the design of specific built interventions into broader physical and socio-cultural contexts.
In articulating its broad concerns with urban aboriginal communities and urban design, the studio gave particular attention to addressing connections. The Forks is separated from the rest of the city at present, by the CNR railway berm to the west, the rivers to the east and south, and by a major roadway to the north. Although The Forks pitches itself as a special place in the centre of the city, should it be better integrated with the rest of downtown? And, if so, how?
Questions about the connections, however, go beyond the purely physical. Urban design is concerned with the configuration of the public realm, and like all planning and design, is value laden. Other questions are implied. Is the “public” a useful category for analysis and design? Whose values are represented in the physical environment? Whose identities are expressed? We are going to specifically ask these questions in relation to aboriginal and First Nations communities in Winnipeg and Manitoba. In doing so we drew on the precedents and principles in the emergent area of indigenous planning.
FALL 2009
Instructors: Dr. Ian Skelton and Dr. Richard Milgrom
This studio raised questions and addressed issues related to urban aboriginal communities and urban design. The goal of the studio did not be to devise a plan or a set of design guidelines, but to explored the issues and illustrated the ramifications of different approaches. This exploration led to the development of materials that could be used in processes of public education, and that could fuel further discussions about the directions that development should take. The Forks North Portage Partnership sponsored the studio and might carry its work forward at a later date.
An opportunity for the type of exploration conducted in this studio arose at the end of 2008 when The Forks North Portage Partnership considered changes that would have to happen on The Forks site to accommodate the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Rather than just addressing the need for additional parking, the Partnership suggested that some consideration should be given to the provision of housing as well. This studio started with the assumption that housing can be an appropriate use for the site, but will seek to place the design of specific built interventions into broader physical and socio-cultural contexts.
In articulating its broad concerns with urban aboriginal communities and urban design, the studio gave particular attention to addressing connections. The Forks is separated from the rest of the city at present, by the CNR railway berm to the west, the rivers to the east and south, and by a major roadway to the north. Although The Forks pitches itself as a special place in the centre of the city, should it be better integrated with the rest of downtown? And, if so, how?
Questions about the connections, however, go beyond the purely physical. Urban design is concerned with the configuration of the public realm, and like all planning and design, is value laden. Other questions are implied. Is the “public” a useful category for analysis and design? Whose values are represented in the physical environment? Whose identities are expressed? We are going to specifically ask these questions in relation to aboriginal and First Nations communities in Winnipeg and Manitoba. In doing so we drew on the precedents and principles in the emergent area of indigenous planning.