Tree Sanctuaries As Urban Pioneers

Dietmar Straub (University of Manitoba)

The presentation merges two research and design interests: the urban periphery and the urban forest. The first topic of investigation examines the role of landscape architecture in ‘periscapes' – the transitional space that is neither city nor countryside. The second area of research focuses on the values of maintaining and developing municipal tree canopies. The space in question is the ‘periscape' around Winnipeg, Manitoba. The historical spatial boundary is the Perimeter Highway, a ninety-kilometer beltway surrounding the city, originally built in 1955. The outskirt indiscriminately accommodates commercial complexes, churches and recreational activities by offering more space than the city center. It also provides the last lingering site for urban farming. Still attracting people from all over the world, Winnipeg continues to haphazardly expand past its physical boundary while further fraying the fragmented outer fringe.

Fields of trees as urban pioneers offer a Winnipeg based response to this global erratic phenomenon and to the complex dilemma of climate change. Voluminous healthy tree sanctuaries around the Perimeter are the vision for rich habitats of diverse flora and fauna, of testing fields acclimatizing trees and storing water, and of people seeking recreational destinations. These multi-layered transformations could potentially prepare the peripheral landscape for the arrival of the encroaching city.

An important tool in this investigation was a large-scale physical model of Winnipeg. Moving through time and space, the model served as a projection screen for a 3D video animation to effectively communicate the current state of the work.

This forward-looking landscape strategy acts as a deliberate system of coordinates to navigate Winnipeg's changing periphery. To overcome the lack of orientation, the intentional landmarks define the boundaries of the amorphous urban area. Tree sanctuaries are a meticulously researched vision for tapping the potential of a city's periphery to become an ecological Central Park.