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Winter City or Winter Cities is a concept for communities in northern latitudes that encourages them to plan their transportation systems, buildings, and recreation project around the idea of using their infrastructure during all four seasons, including winter, rather than just the other three. [1]
In communities and regions where the concept of embracing winter has taken hold, it has made a dramatic impact on the lives of residents, especially in terms of improving winter livability, increasing tourism and strengthening the economy during what had been a traditional down time. The concept has been responsible for helping many communities see the opportunities that winter offers and helping many residents in the north acknowledge that winter can be an enjoyable time of year and that not everyone need move to warmer climes from November through May.
It has often been said that many communities in northern latitudes are living in denial of their northern climate. As evidence, they point to the fact that many northern cities are designed in much the same way that southern/warm-climate cities are designed.
The Livable Winter Cities Association was formed in 1982 by a group of people from across North America and once had chapters in Minneapolis, Ottawa, and Anchorage. Members included cities, planners, architects, engineers, and other interested persons from around the world. From 1982 to 2005, the Association organized conferences, published books and the quarterly magazine "Winter Cities". As a non-profit managed by a dedicated but small group of volunteers, the Livable Winter Cities Association, in the end, struggled to maintain its mission. The Association mission is revived now through the efforts of the Winter Cites Institute, whose members include municipalities, community leaders and design professionals from around the world. In their 1986 publication, Livable Winter Cities, The American Institute of Architects and the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada defined winter cities as "places where the average January temperature is 32°F (0°C) or colder, and that are generally located above 45° latitude." [2] Definitions of a what a winter city is have since changed to focus more on the concept of winter city thinking than relying on specific temperatures and geographies of a city.
Livable Winter Cities, published in 1986 in Edmonton, provides a solid context and background of the city's relationship with winter. The book emphasizes the lack of literature on the design of winter cities, and attempts to provide a comprehensive resource for winter cities, at a time when it was a relatively newer topic. It outlines the historical roots of Edmonton, claiming "northern cities in the west were built almost entirely in the twentieth century by private and public builders working on their properties, to answer their own needs". [3] This focus on private and individualistic needs has left our city unconnected, spread out, and ill-equipped to deal with winter. Livable Winter Cities claims that most efforts in Winter Cities have centered on bringing a sense of the outdoors inside, however, there a need to extend some of the comforts of the indoors to the world of outdoor public spaces. For outdoor spaces, they suggest that outdoor spaces consider solar access, include heat islands, and essentially have a winter purpose. Along with this, inviting lighting, use of colour, and ice or snow sculpture should be included as well.
Northern communities or "winter cities" have great opportunities to mitigate negative effects of the winter season while reinforcing the many positive aspects to create a vibrant, sustainable and livable environment for a prosperous future. The sustainability of winter cities requires a creative approach that addresses the problems of snow and cold while enhancing the advantages, opportunities and beauty of the winter season. A positive approach benefits the attitudes of residents and bolsters the community's ability to attract new businesses and residents.
The mission of the Winter Cities Institute is to provide information, resources, policy, academic articles and design opportunities for those who desire to make northern communities more livable and sustainable. Their goal is to be the best source for information, research, reports, plans and news about winter cities from around the northern world, focusing on how to make the best of the winter season.
In 2024, the Winter Cities Institute was relocated to the University of Alberta, where it is now housed within the Winter Cities Hub in the School of Urban and Regional Planning. This transition, coordinated with the conclusion of the City of Edmonton’s 10-year Winter Strategy operational budget, marks the beginning of a new chapter. The Institute’s next phase focuses on fostering deeper collaboration with planners, architects, and designers to embed winter considerations into every aspect of urban development.
This forward-looking approach is strengthened by its integration into the University of Alberta, a renowned research institution and thriving urban laboratory. The university’s leadership in winter city innovation positions it as an ideal home for the Institute, enabling enhanced collaboration with the City of Edmonton to transform the city into a “living lab” for winter urban innovation. This partnership offers a unique opportunity to develop practical, climate-resilient solutions for cold-climate urban living, solidifying Edmonton and the University of Alberta, as global leaders in winter city research and development.
Winter is often perceived as a negative force that generates inconvenience and added cost, in part due to cities and buildings planned and constructed as if they were in a southern, warmer location.
City and town planning, site design, transportation and infrastructure engineering, and architecture can all benefit through the application of "Winter City" design principles that work with nature rather than against it, in order to make winter a positive part of a four-season lifestyle. The goal is to create livability, reduce human discomfort, promote energy efficiency and the economic sustainability of northern places.
From 2010 to 2020, Luleå University of Technology's Architecture Group focused on research into Swedish winter cities. Luleå City was an original member of the Winter Cities Association. Under the direction of Kristina L Nilsson, architect SAR/ MSA, Professor emerita of Architecture, Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Board member of the National Renovation Center and Swedish representative in the Nordic Planning Research Network PLANNORD, this led to a number of key projects and PhD theses.
The full list of resulting studies, documents and articles can be found here
Major projects connected to this research include the moving of the Arctic City, Kiruna.
To progress this line of inquiry, the group has strong links with the University of the Arctic (UArctic) and the Architect Five, a forum for collaboration of the five universities in the northern Fennoscandian region: University of Oulu, University of Lapland, Luleå University of Technology, UiT -The Arctic University of Norway, and Umeå University
Overarching considerations in this work encompass current planning agenda's of human health and well-being, climate change, global warming and place attractiveness. For urban design in particular the work expands the notion of green/ blue infrastructure planning to 'WHITE, GREEN, BLUE' - to encompass the winter season. [4]
Historically important Architects and Planners include Ralph Erskine and Anne Brit Børve.
Cities and towns actively planning and designing for winter use include:
In 2013 the city of Edmonton approved the WinterCity Strategy. This strategy has four pillars of focus– Winter Life, Winter Design, Winter Economy, and Our Winter Story. In 2016, the City released the Winter City Design Guidelines, a document that outlines how to best equip our city to thrive and function in the winter months. The guidelines cover many areas of design— streets, architecture, infrastructure, vegetation, public art, way finding, transit, and more. The guidelines offer five main principles of design for a winter city.
Sun and wind exposure is a major area of consideration when thinking about urban design. For urban areas, taller buildings should be located on the north side of streets to avoid shadow casting over sidewalks and outdoor spaces. Along with these building considerations, side to side building heights should be varied by one- to two-storeys to reduce wind speeds. At the base of these buildings, compact, fine-grained developments create a more inviting and walkable area. Fine-grained is defined in these guidelines by "small blocks, narrow frontages, and frequent storefronts". For outdoor parks and streets, vegetation near roads must be able to withstand salt, sand, and gravel. Plant material along sidewalks or parking lots should be set back to allow for space for snow storage, and raised plant beds can protect damage from both snow clearing and grass cutting equipment. Deciduous trees are a great choice for south facing areas, as they allow sun to reach the ground during the winter months while providing shade in the warmer summer months. The guidelines also outline tips for lightning. Feature lighting is a great way to create an inviting atmosphere in the dim months, providing visual interest, landmarks, and a sense of safety. The city recommends that lighting face downward to reduce light pollution. [1]
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a range of housing choices. The term "smart growth" is particularly used in North America. In Europe and particularly the UK, the terms "compact city", "urban densification" or "urban intensification" have often been used to describe similar concepts, which have influenced government planning policies in the UK, the Netherlands and several other European countries.
Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban design considers 'bigger picture' issues of economic, social and environmental value and social design. The scope of a project can range from a local street or public space to an entire city and surrounding areas. Urban designers connect the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning to better organize physical space and community environments.
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for construction and human use, investigation of existing social, ecological, and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of other interventions that will produce desired outcomes.
Norrbotten County is the northernmost county or län of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf of Bothnia to the southeast, the counties of Nordland and Troms in Norway to the northwest, and Lapland Province in Finland to the northeast.
Kiruna is the northernmost city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality in Norrbotten County. The city was originally built in the 1890s to serve the Kiruna Mine.
New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually influenced many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use strategies. New Urbanism attempts to address the ills associated with urban sprawl and post-WW II suburban development.
Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environment of particular areas. Classical prudent design may have always considered environmental factors; however, the environmental movement beginning in the 1940s has made the concept more explicit.
Luleå is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core as of 2018 and is the seat of Luleå Municipality with a total population of about 79,000 as of 2023. Luleå is Sweden's 25th largest city and Norrbotten County's largest city. Luleå is considered as the world's largest brackish water archipelago with 1,312 islands, several rivers and vast forestland.
A living street or residential street is a street designed with the interests of pedestrians and cyclists in mind. Living streets also act as social spaces, allowing children to play and encouraging social interactions on a human scale, safely and legally. Living streets consider all pedestrians granting equal access to elders and those who are disabled. These roads are still available for use by motor vehicles; however, their design aims to reduce both the speed and dominance of motorized transport. The reduction of motor vehicle dominance creates more opportunities for public transportation.
Ralph Erskine ARIBA was a British architect and planner who lived and worked in Sweden for most of his life.
Abisko is a village in Sápmi (Lapland), in northern Sweden, roughly 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, and near Abisko National Park, located 4 km west of the village. It had 85 inhabitants as of 2005.
Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, development space and the ecosystem at large. Sustainable architecture uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built environment.
Livability or liveability is the degree to which a place is good for living. Livability refers to the concerns that are related to the long-term wellbeing of individuals and communities. It encompasses factors like neighborhood amenities, including parks, open space, walkways, grocery shops and restaurants as well as environmental quality, safety and health. It also incorporates things like cost and friendliness. These features contribute to the pleasantness and accessibility of communities. Additionally, livability considers the availability and quality of public transport, educational institutions and healthcare facilities. It also considers the overall cultural and social atmosphere of a place, including the presence of diverse recreational activities and community engagement opportunities. All these factors combined create an environment that enhances the overall quality of life for residents.
A sustainable city, eco-city, or green city is a city designed with consideration for the social, economic, and environmental impact, as well as a resilient habitat for existing populations. This is done in a way that does not compromise the ability of future generations to experience the same. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines sustainable cities as those that are dedicated to achieving green sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. In accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11, a sustainable city is defined as one that is dedicated to achieving green, social, and economic sustainability. They are committed to this objective by facilitating opportunities for all through a design that prioritizes inclusivity as well as maintaining a sustainable economic growth. Furthermore, the objective is to minimize the inputs of energy, water, and food, and to drastically reduce waste, as well as the outputs of heat, air pollution. Richard Register, a visual artist, first coined the term ecocity in his 1987 book Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future, where he offers innovative city planning solutions that would work anywhere. Other leading figures who envisioned sustainable cities are architect Paul F Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Pty Ltd, as well as authors Timothy Beatley and Steffen Lehmann, who have written extensively on the subject. The field of industrial ecology is sometimes used in planning these cities.
Green infrastructure or blue-green infrastructure refers to a network that provides the “ingredients” for solving urban and climatic challenges by building with nature. The main components of this approach include stormwater management, climate adaptation, the reduction of heat stress, increasing biodiversity, food production, better air quality, sustainable energy production, clean water, and healthy soils, as well as more human centered functions, such as increased quality of life through recreation and the provision of shade and shelter in and around towns and cities. Green infrastructure also serves to provide an ecological framework for social, economic, and environmental health of the surroundings. More recently scholars and activists have also called for green infrastructure that promotes social inclusion and equity rather than reinforcing pre-existing structures of unequal access to nature-based services.
Henning Larsen Architects is an international architectural firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1959 by Henning Larsen, it has around 750 employees.
Sustainable urbanism is both the study of cities and the practices to build them (urbanism), that focuses on promoting their long term viability by reducing consumption, waste and harmful impacts on people and place while enhancing the overall well-being of both people and place. Well-being includes the physical, ecological, economic, social, health and equity factors, among others, that comprise cities and their populations. In the context of contemporary urbanism, the term cities refers to several scales of human settlements from towns to cities, metropolises and mega-city regions that includes their peripheries / suburbs / exurbs. Sustainability is a key component to professional practice in urban planning and urban design along with its related disciplines landscape architecture, architecture, and civil and environmental engineering. Green urbanism and ecological urbanism are other common terms that are similar to sustainable urbanism, however they can be construed as focusing more on the natural environment and ecosystems and less on economic and social aspects. Also related to sustainable urbanism are the practices of land development called Sustainable development, which is the process of physically constructing sustainable buildings, as well as the practices of urban planning called smart growth or growth management, which denote the processes of planning, designing, and building urban settlements that are more sustainable than if they were not planned according to sustainability criteria and principles.
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning in specific contexts, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks, and their accessibility. Traditionally, urban planning followed a top-down approach in master planning the physical layout of human settlements. The primary concern was the public welfare, which included considerations of efficiency, sanitation, protection and use of the environment, as well as effects of the master plans on the social and economic activities. Over time, urban planning has adopted a focus on the social and environmental bottom lines that focus on planning as a tool to improve the health and well-being of people, maintaining sustainability standards. Similarly, in the early 21st century, Jane Jacobs's writings on legal and political perspectives to emphasize the interests of residents, businesses and communities effectively influenced urban planners to take into broader consideration of resident experiences and needs while planning.
Sustainable architecture is a type of architecture with the goal of limiting the environmental impact of a building when compared to regular architecture. Sustainable architecture has become a crucial aspect of modern urban development, with Barcelona at the forefront of this movement. Barcelona, a city already known for its unique architecture, has numerous innovative architectural projects combining cutting-edge design with eco-friendly technologies and materials. Famous architects such as Antoni Gaudí and Enric Ruiz-Geli have used sustainable techniques in their designs, causing Barcelona to be considered sustainably advanced. Barcelona is also working to expand green spaces, public transportation, and use more sustainable energy sources. From residential buildings to public spaces and cultural institutions, Barcelona's sustainable architecture has become a model for sustainable urban development for the rest of the world.
Sun-Young Rieh is a Korean architect known for her writing and teachings on educational environments, sustainable architecture, and gender-conscious environments. As she is well versed in both practice and academia, her research strives to integrate with architectural design, particularly in the area of eco-friendly and human-friendly design.[1] She is a professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Seoul, and has previously been awarded a Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant. She is also a registered architect in both Korea and the United States (NCARB), and she works as a public architect for the City of Seoul. She has served as a board member on multiple key councils for more than a decade, including the Korean Institute of Architects, the Architectural Institute of Korea, the Korea Green Building Council, and the Korea Institute of Female Architects.
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