The development of Sudbury has historically been intertwined with rapid extraction and expansion. The city's growth since its inception in the late 19th century can be characterized along two main trends: extraction and sprawl. At the turn of the 20th century the rush to extract the massive deposits of Nickel and Copper as well as large-scale logging were exacerbated by the construction and expansion of the railway. The open coke beds and logging operations of the early to mid 20th century resulted in a near total loss of native vegetation on the area. Air pollution and acid rain from mining operations permanently stained the now exposed granite of the Canadian Shield. While an environmental recovery program has been successful in "re-greening" parts of the city, the effects of the environmental and ecological degradation that followed the blind thirst for metal and fuel will likely be felt for generations to come. Following this destruction through extraction, by the middle of the 20th century the expansion of the highway system and the growing ownership and dependence on personal vehicles partly led to the expansion of the city at its edges. Like a lot of other North American cities, Sudbury is now confronting an outward sprawl and an emptying out of its core. As of 2016 the downtown area accounts for only 1.8% of the City of Greater Sudbury's total population. While downtown still maintains a high concentration of cultural, entertainment, civic, and educational institutions in the city, the lack of a strong presence of people living in the area and the outward sprawl of the city and its people has left a gap in the character and quality of the spaces of the core. The sprawling character of the city's current urbanization represents a second growth trend which is as equally destructive as the unchecked extraction practices of the first half of the 20th century.
Both these growth trends have left their mark on the city's public and open spaces. The thinly vegetated rocky landscape of the surrounding parks and trails, and the surface parking dominated downtown environment are hardly enough to meet the recreational and social needs of the city's growing population. What would a 21st century urban model mean for Sudbury? The current Covid-19 pandemic and the global calls for racial and social justice have again emphasized the need for high quality and accessible public spaces; Not only as spaces of recreation and well-being, but also-and as importantly-as spaces of continual and sustained political representation. These spaces will be critical for the region's non-white, migrant, and indigenous populations that have historically been underrepresented by the city's dominant anglo-franco culture and its spaces. This is an opportunity for Sudbury to reorient its growth by putting the health and quality of its public and open spaces first.
This proposal aims to activate and integrate two sites representative of the city's previous urban trends as landscapes of potential for the future growth of Sudbury. The massive rail lands immediately to the south and west of the downtown represent an immense developmental potential. As icons of the industrial development of the city, these lands are not as heavily used as they once were. Currently they amount to impenetrable valleys that physically and psychologically cut the core of the city off from its Southern parts. In addition, the tract of land to the north of the New Sudbury Conservation Area, between the rail tracks and Lasalle Blvd is one of the lowest points in the city and currently in danger of over-development. Straddling Junction creek as it meanders its way through the city, this area is currently thriving with renewed life in its wet ecology. We believe this site is more valuable to the city as a working wetland that if it were to be developed with single family housing. The symbiotic (un)development of these two sites can catalyze a new urban future for Sudbury that is ecologically sensitive, environmentally regenerative, and socially productive. The rail lands developed as mid-density urban counterpart to the downtown, and the low-lying land designed as an ecological and socio-environmental infrastructure for the city, and the connection between them-which consists of mainly existing trails and paths-can reinvigorate the downtown area and greatly influence the form and type of development we can expect in a mid-sized Northern Ontario global city.
(Competitor's text)
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