Abstract:
Canadians have been inundated with images and ideas about the northern landscape which has led to the development of sets of collective settler Canadian images and ideas that we use to represent the northern landscape. These images and ideas shape and inform what we think the North is and should be before we ever have any actual experience with the northern landscape, which poses potential problems for settler Canadian landscape architects working in northern Canada. This practicum identifies the three most common images settler Canadian culture uses to portray the northern landscape – North as Myth, North as Resource, and North as Change. It then answers three questions for each of the identified images – What are the characteristics of the image? What are the ideologies associated with the image? What are the potential problems for landscape architects in perpetuating the image as identified? It concludes with a proposal of ways for settler Canadian landscape architects to incorporate more diverse images into their understanding of North.
