Border transect on the 49th Parallel: top: crossings, parks that touch and even cross the border section: elevations, and ecoregions that the border crosses and their characteristic wildlife.
a long border park A transect through the border line reveals both US and Canada’s shared geographic identity. Travelling along the border, one witnesses constant change in topography, environment and culture as the line cuts through complex natural systems of rivers, lakes, eco-regions and habitats. Small municipalities on the border act as gateways, reflecting both the national and local identities of their inhabitants. Omnipresent surveillance systems keep a constant watch, while submerged in a beautiful wilderness of cascading mountains or sprawling prairie fields and endless sky. The border’s relentless cut through infrastructure, property lines, fields and forests reveals a strange and sometimes uncomfortable urban and exurban juxtaposition. The cutline reveals such layers and the conflicts between them. Besides its scale, there is an element of the sublime in this linear landscape, derelict yet structured, dangerous yet pleasant, but somehow inviting, nonetheless. Wide enough to be accessible and under a set maintenance regime, the western borderlands suggest a potential program or typology that might unify currently conflicting elements of security, experience, ecology, tourism and mobility. With the multitude of national and provincial parks and First Nations reserves that are adjacent to the border, could the border become a sort of Olmsteadian green necklace that connects them all, becoming a system of bi-national parks? The border’s layered identity of culture, landscape, politics and surveillance, reflects the complexity of our world where public places must inherently negotiate these issues. Parks by their nature and history are intricately designed and shared cultural and ecological public spaces, reflecting and evolving with the times we live in. A landscape free of constructed barriers and virtually free of military tensions could link disconnected communities and various ecologies adjacent to the border, developing a renewed identity built on dialogue, stewardship and international collaboration. Border towns would have a renewed amenity at their door, capitalising on the tourism that would result from the border’s enhanced role. Border crossing stations with a public park attached to them would make them community hubs and meeting points that go beyond transitory, transactional and often uncomfortable border experiences.
all images courtesy of Andreas Rutkauskas
Peace Arch Park, British Columbia/ Washington Douglas Port of Entry, BC
on site review 38: borders, lines, breaks and breaches 12
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