Visualizing Climate Implications ...
photo by author_ Jessica MacDaniel
The Arctic is undergoing changes to the landscape due to global temperatures rising. The melting of ice and permafrost are affecting many small communities in the north. Not only are homes and communities under threat, but traditional ways of living are being altered due to changes in wildlife health and migration patterns. This master’s thesis project will look at how these factors implicate the foodscape of the community, Old Crow, Yukon of the Arctic region.
Landscape architecture can operate in expansive ways in the Canadian Arctic, and can be an asset to other professionals, and communities working with issues related to the climate in the Arctic. The profession of landscape architecture has multi-faceted ways of understanding and visualizing the landscape. By creating visual information, through reference of studies, oral histories, and on-site documentation, the historical, current and projected information of the land, its patterns, and systems can be illustrated. This project will investigate how landscape architects can create information to be used as communication tools by working with community members and referencing research from other disciplines. This project will develop visual maps, timelines, 3D models and diagrams that can be used as tools for community members wanting to speak about the climate threats that they are facing, and will continue to face. This can allow for discussions between communities, researchers, and decisions makers. The visual information produced through this project will be given to the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation community in Old Crow.
The intent of this project is to explore how landscape architects can work towards assisting communities in finding solutions to adapt to food sources changing in the Canadian Arctic’s Tundra landscape.
Updates
2019.07.12
Jessica has completed her thesis UBC SALA MLA (attached below). This project seeks to explore possibilities for landscape architectural modifications in
the arctic. The objective was to understand the challenges of climate-related changes through the lens of indigenous community. Climate-related changes are making access more challenging, dangerous and completely inaccessible at times.The design portion of the Graduate Project was to consider human mobility in Vuntut Gwitchin Territory in the future.