Design and the Built Environment of the Arctic

Introduction: Grounding Design in the Arctic

Leena Cho and Matthew Jull

1. The Heterogeneity of Arctic Cities

Torill Nyseth and Julia Christensen

2. Infrastructural Urbanization of the Arctic

Ali Fard

3. Comfort and Discomfort: Conflicting Concerns in Arctic Urban Planning and Design 

Peter Hemmersam

4. Reframing Urban Relocation in Kiruna, Sweden: An Integrative Ownership Model for Resident-Led Transformations

Benjamin DiNapoli

5. Airport Landscapes: The Case of Qaqortoq Airport, South Greenland

Bert De Jonghe

6. Green Spaces in the Context of Changing Human-Environment Relations in Siberian Cities

Vera Kuklina, Roman Fedorov, Oleg Sizov, and Elena Rasputina

7. Principles of Northern Housing Design with Examples from Alaska   

Aaron Cooke and Tom Marsik

8. Doing Things Differently: Design Research in Partnership with Innu and Inuit Communities in Northern Québec, Canada

Myriam Blais, Geneviève Vachon, and Élisa Gouin

9. Love and Care for Place in an Arctic Community: Place Development in Vardø, Norway                    

Janike Kampevold Larsen

10. Land Inside                                                                                            

Julie Decker

Biography

Leena Cho is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, co-director of Arctic Design Group (ADG), and co-principal of the design practice Kutonotuk. Her research centers on material agencies, urban landscapes, and scientific sites in the Arctic environments.

Matthew Jull, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, co-director of Arctic Design Group (ADG), and co-principal of the design practice Kutonotuk. Merging backgrounds in both architecture and as a research scientist in geophysics, his work examines the design of cities and buildings in extreme environments.

'A well-grounded compendium on the Arctic Region, Mathew Jull’s and Leena Cho’s handbook does much to render this relatively unknown part of our world whole with regard to constructed and future habitable environments. Drawing on scholarship from different parts of the world, a portrait emerges of a place being shaped under unique multi-cultural, socio-political and environmental conditions. A must-read volume for those interested in contemporary urbanism.' - Peter G. Rowe, Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, Harvard Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, USA

'The Arctic’s extreme climate, remoteness, and mixture of Indigenous and settler cultures present extraordinary design challenges to urban architects, planners, and managers. Often the built environment in the far north resembles southern models that are only poorly adapted. In contrast, the chapters in this book bring together a multidisciplinary team to further design thinking that will truly serve the interests of northern communities. The ideas assembled here help fulfill collective Arctic aspirations.' - Robert W. Orttung, Research Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University, USA

'Aptly described as “a region of spectacular negotiation between the natural and the built worlds,” Cho and Jull have assembled a multidisciplinary and multiscalar reading of the inherent complexities and contradictions of architecture, landscape and urbanism in the Arctic. The ten chapters dismantle common assumptions about the singularity of the Arctic and immerse the reader in the land and ice to bear witness to “the physical, material and living environments of the Arctic.”  This comprehensive and global collection provides an urgent guide to contemporary design and planning scholarship in Arctic studies and will provide an essential resource to scholars and practitioners for years to come.' - Lola Sheppard, Professor, University of Waterloo, Canada, and Mason White, Professor, University of Toronto, Canada; Partners, Lateral Office