Inuvik’s Utilidor Path The utilidor is designed to work
within any northern city, abiding by any already-established infrastructure and city landscape. In Inuvik, the pathway weaves alongside main roads and through unused space to connect to the existing residential pipelines in the city, major community and cultural locations and empty lots that could be used as social engagers.The pathway is terminated at one end by the port to the water transport, and the other by a lake for fresh water, providing resources and connection to the local population.
bernbaum + plaxton
Dependant on resources from the south, communities of the North West Territories don’t act as a nucleus as do most populated North American cities. Unable to reach back to a core, they are spread out, distanced and remote. There is an inherent disconnect between people, community and the environment – an isolation that pulls these places apart rather than bringing them together. Inuvik is a sample city of this kind of arctic life. With 3500 people, it exists in extreme rural conditions. Situated on the interior of the circumpolar ring, it is close to the arctic coast, along the McKenzie Delta River barge line, part of the winter ice highway and buried in the middle of the harsh conditions of the north. It is set in conflict with its surroundings, with issues of employment, education, health and food paramount; Inuvik has become a settlement distant from its own identity. It is evident that something must be implemented as a catalyst for settlements like Inuvik, but an intervention here must be subtle and coincide with the delicate nature of life; what exists must be protected and enhanced, not destroyed. The Cooperative Utilidor Project seeks to establish new industry and connectivity among these communities at a regional and neighborhood scale, striving for self-sustenance through the activation of local economies. These strategies celebrate the inherent culture of the north, hoping to provide the framework for improved quality of living and a revived sense of community in the region.
The project begins by establishing a network across the North West Territories, investing in the potential for a food-harvesting and trade network. Three belts of agricultural production are based on availability of resources and proximity to existing networks and infrastructure for transportation: the marine belt is located in the coastal region with its primary hub at Inuvik. The wild game belt is located in the central valley region with a focus on musk-ox farming while supporting and maximizing the indigenous hunting industry. The greenhouse production belt is located in the warmest climatic zone, making use of both sunlight based greenhouse and LED greenhouse production of food, vegetation and plants. Each town acts as a hub with supporting industries and ports to allow for the exchange of goods, as well as secondary and tertiary settlements that become a part of the region’s industrial production line. The three hubs that are connected to the ports also become landing areas where tradespeople, educators, students and individuals as part of the cooperative program will be dispatched and taught about the industry. The establishment of this interior industry,a large scale Cooperative Utilidor, focusses on strengthening knowledge and practices within the already established inhabitants of the region, then focussing on educating the citizens for the future, providing an economy, jobs and basic needs for the population within the territory, relying less on imports and exports to other provinces.
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