A cross-scalar landscape approach to urban infrastructure in Inglewood & Ramsay. TRAIN GARDENS

INTRODUCTION

A cross-scalar landscape approach to urban infrastructure in Inglewood & Ramsay

Located at the confluence of the Elbow and Bow Rivers, Inglewood and Ramsay are historic communities of the City of Calgary (Alberta, Canada), prairie lands formerly crossed by herds of bison and inhabited by native people, and places of the first European settlements in the area. The two neighborhoods are separated by the Canadian Pacific Railway, a major infrastructure for freight trains designed to connect Eastern Canada to British Columbia in the West, built in 1880-1885. Today, complex interfaces between Downtown, the rivers, mobility infrastructures, brownfields and industrial zones are recognized as a unique and fascinating characteristic of the area. The communities will also be acquiring additional urban values given future redevelopment plans, including the implementation of new public transit infrastructures such as the Light Rail Transit Green Line and a Bus Rapid Transit along 17 Avenue SE.

Through a cross-scalar approach, students have been engaged in (I) mapping the landscape identity of Inglewood and Ramsay, (II) developing objectives, strategies and design criteria by which that identity can be preserved, revealed or enhanced, and (III) defining opportunities for landscape architectural projects. No boundaries and no specific sites were assigned to the students. Nature and culture were the key concepts to begin an exploration of morphological systems, historical evolution,  social functions and perception, and their intimate interrelationships. Through the studio sequence, the potential to conceive mobility infrastructures and post-industrial sites as opportunities to create ecological corridors, cultural hubs and public spaces has been enthusiastically discovered and expressed as landscape designs.