for food, clothing and shelter. That these major settlement and killing sites have been mostly obliterated is the result of the on- going and blanket excavations that create the high-density urban core in the same location. Interstitial spaces between buildings are still found in central cores of some cities in western North America. Sometimes the spaces are useless and meaningless, sometimes they are profound. They mainly signify complete ownership in an independent building unlinked to others, surely a remnant from the days of independent holdings of western homesteaders. Many such useless interstitial spaces are 2.4m to 3m wide. This narrow dimension negatively contributes to the architectural streetscape, to fire spread, to noise acceleration, to junk collection and to wasted space and density. Better and more positive spaces are 4.5m wide or more, as often found pre-1945. This width permits four-sided buildings to have larger windows for light and air on all sides, for people to have easy access to the back, and for good city building where people-scale is more important than unbroken and long mega- buildings. Also, some original stratified land has a chance to remain intact even after deep foundations have been dug.
Subterranean and interstitial spaces survived in their natural state until recent times. Now we get urban land amalgamation that demands entire-site excavation for larger and longer buildings with very deep foundations. This intact interstitial width and layer of earth offers aesthetic, horticultural and historical importance. It contains the original topsoil with its natural nutrients, bacteria and worms. Creative gardeners incorporate these into very personal and unusual aesthetic spaces. The original stratification helps to hold the aquifer level and permits a continuation of gardening at a local urban scale similar to former agricultural production. And of course within the urban stratification one can often find some of the visual story of humankind, the tools, the food storage methods, the personal bling, the family treasures, the objects of celebration and the interpretive links of these objects to changing concepts of religion, war, health and death. In short, lessons in humankind survival and culture themselves are showcased in a near-perfect linear progression found only on this side of the Atlantic. I like the romance that interstitial parts of our urban earth remain unexcavated perhaps to add poetic pleasure to my afternoon walk, to feel that part of my urban land includes original organic matter, and to believe that man and his machines do not always dominate and control all earth and nature in the city centre. n
opposite, left: Mount Mazama ashline on west boundary of rural Calgary. opposite, right: Preserved ashline exposed in 2009 when small buildings were destroyed at a downtown site in Calgary near Mount Royal Village and 17 Ave SW. left: The recent massive excavation at the 17 Ave SW site that destroyed all layers of the original soil in a location where early humans are known to have hunted mastadons at least five centuries before the volcanic eruption.
Gerald Forseth
Main street tent city. 1850 Main street frontier frame. 1890
Original stratification gone: Commercial street. Side by side structures, with stone and deep concrete foundations. Main street masonry mercantile. 1910
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