Reconnecting with the Red: Restoring the City of Winnipeg's Relationship with its Rivers

Abstract

The thesis addresses the current disconnection between the city of Winnipeg and its rivers. Despite their historic significance to the city and their current potential to increase the public’s quality of life, the city’s rivers, for the most part, are no longer valued. Winnipeg has turned its back to its rivers. The thesis uses a spatial language based on Lynch, Norberg-Schulz, and others to describe the components of the new river network. A ‘sectional toolkit’ design strategy is used to apply this network to the city, and could be used incrementally in order to re-orient the city, and to re-establish a sense of value along the length of the rivers. The seasonal cycles of the river and seasonal programming are considered in order to establish a sense of value year-round.