Iqaluit, Nunavut - Canada's Arctic Capital

[Gitfiddler]

Originally Posted by Mister F

Trees may not grow but there's still plenty of vegetation in those photos. Surely there are landscape architects who can do something with plants native to the area. And the age of the community just sounds like an excuse - it doesn't take centuries to pave a street. Paving might be expensive but that hasn't stopped other countries from doing it. Yakutsk, Russia is also built on permafrost and has far larger variations in temperature and significantly colder winters. And it looks like this:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yakutsk_1_%28synchroswimr%29.jpg

Surely something can be done with the way Iqaluit looks. Is it an issue of federal funding? Local government priorities? Apathy?

I don't think the age of the community is an excuse at all. Yakutsk has hundreds of years of history behind it and a considerably larger population. It's over 200,000 compared to 7,500. Apples and oranges.

Because Iqaluit has grown so fast much of the construction has been utilitarian in nature. What can be built the fastest, for the cheapest. I think that as Iqaluit continues to expand, we will start to see more of the Inuit culture come through in the architecture. It's already started to happen. The church is shaped like an igloo. The Qamutiq office building downtown was completed in 2010 and takes its inspiration from its namesake - a type of sleigh traditionally built with caribou bones lashed together with seal hide:



Based on this type of sleigh:



I think we'll see more of this as time goes on. For those interested, the city development plan is available here

[pallo]

As controversial as this might sound I think that the reason why Iqaluit is in such a bad taste is because it is mostly inhabited by native indigenous Canadians and as we all know the federal government does not give a damn about those people. If Iqaluit were inhabited by white Canadians they would fix this city in a heartbeat

[Innsertnamehere]

Yakutsk also has a road connection to the rest of Russia. A better comparison would be to compare it to Nuuk.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures! It's always interesting to see some of these northern outposts.

I agree with others; Iqaluit could look a little bit better. dirt and rocks everywhere isn't that great-looking.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by pallo

As controversial as this might sound I think that the reason why Iqaluit is in such a bad taste is because it is mostly inhabited by native indigenous Canadians and as we all know the federal government does not give a damn about those people. If Iqaluit were inhabited by white Canadians they would fix this city in a heartbeat

OK,i have to laugh at this post! Trust me, they are given considerable funds.

On the flip side, one could look at it that since the town is majority native, they do not have the urban culture of non native Canadians, essentially they have never had landscaping and gardening and urban design as part of their culture, therefore it comes as no surprise, especially considering the city did not even exist a few decades ago, that there is little to no such features.

People are also missing another major factor.

Not only is the climate there incredibly harsh on vegetation, there is nearly no fertile soil! It really is barren rock!

The comparison to Yakutsk is laughable at best as well. While the winter there is amazingly cold, their summer is actually farly warm, in fact July there averages a high of 25.5 with a low of 12.7! That equals a mean temp of 19.5. June and August also average over 20 degrees in the daytime in Yakutsk. Compare that to Iqaluit where their warmest month averages a high of 11.6 and a low of 3.7 for a daily average of 7.7.

Even those with the most basic understanding of ecology know that the tree line in the north lies relatively near the 10 degree warmest month isotherm, which Iqaluit is far north of, it is Tundra! It has a really short to non existent frost free season, unlike Yakutsk, which has a frost free season over 3 months long with warm temperatures. It is the warmest month, not the coldest, that dictates tree growth in the far north, Yakutsk is not located in Tundra, it is in the boreal forest.

[BIMBAM]

I agree. If Iqaluit were in a part of the Canadian arctic where trees could grow it'd likely look like the other two Canadian arctic capitals which do have some landscaping. Here's what Yellowknife looks like, note the contrast.


From: http://garretthinchey.com/2010/05/07/10-things-i-love-about-yellowknife/ by Garrett Hinchey

As was noted, the Inuit have never had landscaping like this as it's very unnatural for the climate. What they have created instead, coming from the indigenous traditions of the area, are those sculpture gardens you see in the pictures. I think as time goes by we'll see even more sculpture gardens proliferate where landscaping would normally be. It makes more sense in this area of the world to transform the natural landscape into a thing of beauty and an expression of the local culture then to import southern flora that were never meant to live there.

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by Gitfiddler

I don't think the age of the community is an excuse at all. Yakutsk has hundreds of years of history behind it and a considerably larger population. It's over 200,000 compared to 7,500. Apples and oranges.

Because Iqaluit has grown so fast much of the construction has been utilitarian in nature. What can be built the fastest, for the cheapest. I think that as Iqaluit continues to expand, we will start to see more of the Inuit culture come through in the architecture. It's already started to happen. The church is shaped like an igloo. The Qamutiq office building downtown was completed in 2010 and takes its inspiration from its namesake - a type of sleigh traditionally built with caribou bones lashed together with seal hide:

Based on this type of sleigh:

I think we'll see more of this as time goes on. For those interested, the city development plan is available here

You don't need centuries of history or a large population to pave the streets or plant some vegetation.

I was criticizing the public realm, not the architecture. A nice new building doesn't do much good if it's in the middle of a moonscape.

I skimmed the development plan and has some promising elements: intensification, getting the free-for-all circulation more organized, landscaping, and burying some of the utilities. One thing I noticed is that they respond to pressure to build paved sidewalks by saying the tundra itself is good enough. That may be but it seems like typical Canadian utilitarianism. You get that kind of thinking in Toronto too - why build sidewalks with stone or unit pavers when poured concrete slabs will do?

Originally Posted by Metro-One

People are also missing another major factor.

Not only is the climate there incredibly harsh on vegetation, there is nearly no fertile soil! It really is barren rock!

The comparison to Yakutsk is laughable at best as well. While the winter there is amazingly cold, their summer is actually farly warm, in fact July there averages a high of 25.5 with a low of 12.7! That equals a mean temp of 19.5. June and August also average over 20 degrees in the daytime in Yakutsk. Compare that to Iqaluit where their warmest month averages a high of 11.6 and a low of 3.7 for a daily average of 7.7.

Even those with the most basic understanding of ecology know that the tree line in the north lies relatively near the 10 degree warmest month isotherm, which Iqaluit is far north of, it is Tundra! It has a really short to non existent frost free season, unlike Yakutsk, which has a frost free season over 3 months long with warm temperatures. It is the warmest month, not the coldest, that dictates tree growth in the far north, Yakutsk is not located in Tundra, it is in the boreal forest.

Again, I didn't say anything about trees. Look at the pictures, there's plenty of native vegetation.

[Gitfiddler]

Originally Posted by pallo

As controversial as this might sound I think that the reason why Iqaluit is in such a bad taste is because it is mostly inhabited by native indigenous Canadians and as we all know the federal government does not give a damn about those people. If Iqaluit were inhabited by white Canadians they would fix this city in a heartbeat

Give it ten years. This place is only 60-70 years old, and in the last 15 years or so has grown at such a rapid pace that they've been building as fast as they can just to keep up with the growth. Aesthetics are a luxury, not a necessity.

Even if this were a first rate city, which it isn't, the best case scenario for landscaping is a bunch of rock gardens and moss. That's what grows there. In the summer, there are a few flowers.

There is no sewer or water here. Each home is equipped with tanks that are filled/emptied by the city when required. Yes, there is a lot that could be done to improve how the place looks, but I'd look at trying to move away all the shipping containers and cleaning up some of the garbage before I'd complain that there aren't enough orchids growing along the (dirt) streets.

And I'm not sure why we'd want this place to look like a southern Canadian city. The point was made that it would be nice to see more touches of Inuit culture in the buildings, and I agree. There are a few examples that I have pointed out, and likely much more on the way.

It was only 14 years ago that anyone even started paying any attention to Iqaluit, and only then because it narrowly became the territorial capital in referendum. The other option was Rankin Inlet, which doesn't look any better despite being farther south.

Not to open up this debate at all, because I hate it, but you brought it up - I tire of people complaining about the native people, particularly the Inuit. Take a little time and do some reading about these folks and about how within our grandparents' lifetimes they were largely a nomadic people that were forced into settlements by the governments. They endured the residential school system, had a new way of life forced upon them, and of course they have and continue to struggle. Fifty years ago the government thought so little of these people that they assigned them numbers rather than names.

And that's why a comparison with Greenland isn't even that good. Both are majority-Inuit territories, but the socio-political elements at play are far far different in Greenland than in Nunavut.

All things considered it is shocking that the Inuit are doing as well as they are.

Yes, it could be prettier. These photos were taken in September, so it's not as nice as it is in the summer. It's rainy and dreary. But it is still, by far, the most awe inspiring place I've ever visited.

[begratto]

Yards??? They still use yards on official signs? It doesn't look like the sign was put there in the pre-metric days (what, 40 years ago?). Weird.

[LAsam]

Looks like a terraforming outpost on a newly discovered harsh planet. Quite a unique photo set here... thanks for sharing!

[dennis]

How does a terraforming outpost look like? I have only seen one planet with life and it is fully developed.

[niwell]

Great pics - always nice to see what's happening in Iqaluit. Despite the complaints about the public realm it actually looks FAR better than it did when I lived there briefly in 2004. Lots of new construction as well.

Originally Posted by Gitfiddler

There is no sewer or water here. Each home is equipped with tanks that are filled/emptied by the city when required. Yes, there is a lot that could be done to improve how the place looks, but I'd look at trying to move away all the shipping containers and cleaning up some of the garbage before I'd complain that there aren't enough orchids growing along the (dirt) streets.

That's not entirely true - most of the city is serviced now and you can see the above ground "utilidors" along some streets. They can't be buried in many areas due to the rock. When I lived there there were still some areas on trucked water - and I believe one of the more isolated neighbourhoods is not slated to get utilidor service.

[Austinlee]

The tuff streets of the Nunavut playas.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by dennis

How does a terraforming outpost look like? I have only seen one planet with life and it is fully developed.

Ok ok... looks like how I'd imagine it would look!

[DetroitSky]

Wow! I can't imagine living in a place like this. It looks really cool, though.

[Okayyou]

Never seen writing like that. Really cool. Thanks for the pics.

[bulliver]

Great tour, thank you.

[george]

Good to see this part of the world. Tim does get around. They do need a tree planting initiative.

[the pope]

i've always had a small obsession with Iqaluit, mostly due to its crazy isolation. Thanks for sharing.

[Mister Brewski]

I visited Iqaluit 2 years ago, absolutely fascinating place. I actually thought about posting my pics since there weren't any threads on the place at the time, but I'm no good at picture taking (just a lame tourist), so I never posted. Anyway I loved my week there, but couldn't imagine living there. My God the prices on just about everything was sky high. The locals were very nice and helpful and were blown away when I told them I was from Pittsburgh, everyone just assumed I was from Ottawa. In fact when leaving the weren't even sure how to handle my passport, it took three people and employee from another airline to get me boarded. I made sure to purchase a local Inuit carving before I left. It was an amazing experience that this American will never forget, I hope Canadians release how lucky they are to have a treasure like this as part of their country.