In this studio, we will look at the Town of Churchill, Manitoba, through the lens of optimism. What is the emergent future of this settlement following the global pandemic, following years of decline, following all of the implications of climate change? Can we understand rural, small-town Canada through the thinking of urban infrastructure? What works and what doesn’t work? Should landscape designers consider rural?

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“Today, our society at large often sees ruralism as a stage prior to urbanism, or as an obsolete or derelict piece of the past. However, rural areas play a vital role in our future and our notions of progress. As designers concerned with sustaining and regenerating the diversity of our cultural and ecological landscapes, we must come to terms with our urban bias and begin to ask ourselves: what is rural landscape architecture and what are its methodologies? What does a rural landscape architecture framework look like and how do we begin to mold, grow and employ one?” 

Lindsay Burnette in Ian McBlog at https://mcharg.upenn.edu/blog/new-ruralism

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How can optimism guide students of landscape + urbanism in an environmental design program to offer hope through well designed exterior space in this isolated community on the coast of Hudson Bay? Can optimism be found in the land itself? In the community? What rural infrastructure needs reinforcement, renewal, or replacement? Is the Town of Churchill always at the brink of catastrophe, or is rural infrastructure often at the brink of catastrophe? What might an optimistic design approach to an emergent future be in 2022?