Winter City Urbanism: How design can help us adapt and how systems can influence culture in

a northern city.

Winter cities are challenging environments—as the landscape gets cold, people turn inward, and social interactions reduce as we become more insular. It is a challenge for cities to build environments and governance structures that adapt to changing seasonal patterns that get people outside, participate in social interaction or leisure activities, and have access to nature. Design, planning, and governance and their implementation in a context-specific way influence how we perceive, experience and discuss life in winter cities. This study will examine urban parks in Edmonton, Alberta, to analyze the microsystems of urban parks to explore how the design, planning and governance can affect winter use and how the urban system's overall function can influence local culture. From the micro details of a bench to the macro branding a city uses to promote its attributes—our built environments shape our everyday experiences and cultural perspectives.

The methodology will utilize interviews, document analysis, observation, participatory research, and design as research methods. This process will analyze existing infrastructure, explore alternatives and further the discourse around form, function, aesthetics and the governance of urban parks in winter cities. This will develop strategies to implement tangible assets for optimal winter and year-round use. It will also evaluate how these tangible assets shape the intangibles like culture.

This research will inform policy recommendations, planning, and design strategies that help cities adapt to climatic changes. Built environment shapes people's behaviour, behavior creates culture. The social-ecological systems of urban parks are vital in creating and maintaining local resilience.

Keywords (10) - winter cities, adaptive design, adaptive planning, social-ecological systems, climate change, system thinking, resilience, adaptive governance, winter culture, winter design

This is a summary of my graduate student thesis work at the University of Alberta in the School of Urban and Regional Planning