the moral implications of urban design in proximity to wildlife yana kigel
A small pond, a distributary of the Carp River and located within the developing Ottawa suburb of Stittsville sits in what was once an undeveloped buffer zone, separating an established neighbourhood from agricultural land. Recently, the urban sprawl encircling this piece of land has encroached on the undergrowth with the freshly laid-out trail of Abbottsville, a paved addition that overshadows the many organic paths large and small, just as the unnamed pond is dwarfed by the well-known Carp River. I live in this relatively new neighbourhood. With windows overlooking these pathways, I have had a front-row seat to the intrusive construction that has appeared over the last three years. Suburbanites often rationalise their relocation by denouncing the lack of greenery in the city centre; hence, moving from a busy metropolis to a quiet suburb, I also envisioned the promised closeness to nature. However, upon moving, I began to see that the green suburbs had failed to create a place of harmony with nature. Instead, the streets, victims of land manipulation, were deceptively moulded to appear ‘green’. Traditional suburban landscape works to sterilise natural landscapes rather than promote an ecosystem that connects humans and wildlife. The remaining patches of forest lands are isolated in the existing urban fabric. Wilderness is expelled from our daily routine, visited only through planned excursions.
Yana Kigel
20
on site review 42: atlas :: being in place
:: complex systems
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker