Design and the Built Environment of the Arctic

Design and the Built Environment of the Arctic is a concise introductory guide to the design and planning of the built environments in the Arctic region.

As the global forces of change are becoming more pronounced in the Arctic, the future trajectories for living environments, city-making processes, and their adaptive capacities need to be addressed directly. This book presents 11 new and original contributions from both leading and emerging scholars and practitioners, positioning the Arctic as a dynamic, diverse, and lived place at the nexus of unprecedented socioenvironmental transformations. The volume offers key concepts for understanding and spatializing Arctic cities and landscapes; similarities and differences in the development of design and planning approaches responsive to specific climatic and cultural conditions; and historical and geographic case studies that provide unique perspectives for the management of the built environment, from the scales of a building and infrastructure to cities and territories. Altogether, the contributions expand regional Arctic design scholarship to understand how the variability of the Arctic context influences the designed urban, architecture, and landscape systems, and offer numerous lessons for design and other forms of spatial practice both within and beyond the Arctic.

This is a unique resource for researchers, creative practitioners, policymakers, and community decision-makers, as well as for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.

Leena Cho is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, co-director of Arctic Design Group (ADG), and co-principal of the design practice Kutonotuk. Her research centers on material agencies, urban landscapes, and scientific sites in the Arctic environments.

Matthew Jull, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, co-director of Arctic Design Group (ADG), and co-principal of the design practice Kutonotuk. Merging backgrounds in both architecture and as a research scientist in geophysics, his work examines the design of cities and buildings in extreme environments.