Sept. 11, 2008

EVDS and Fort Mac build on successful partnership

For the second year in a row students from the Faculty of Environmental Design have headed to Fort McMurray to partner with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB).

As part of their EVDS 702 course, future architects, planners, industrial designers, urban designers and environmental scientists arrived in Wood Buffalo on Sept. 8. The 36 students are learning about the growth pressures the region is facing and will take this information back to the faculty where they will spend a semester working with the RMWB Planning & Development Department on Regional projects.

“This is a win-win situation for both sides,” said Dennis Peck, RMWB general manager of planning & development. “These students receive hands-on experience in an exciting region of Canada, and in return, we see innovative projects developed which could possibly help us down the line.”

Last year, the municipality and the EVDS students partnered on similar projects. Students worked on local plans for the Fort McMurray Regional Airport, sustainable downtown density, a civic centre, development design for Waterways community, and a sustainable village centre in the Saline Creek plateau area.

Their input has both assisted the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and consultants working on these projects, while empowering community members as these developments move ahead.

“Last year’s students set the bar for this year’s group. The vision the students have brought to our challenges has really moved the dialogue forward on these projects,” says Jamal Ramjohn, a consultant with the RMWB. “We’re finding RMWB staff, consultants and the community referencing the student projects in our offices and open houses. It makes our consultations more constructive.”

This year’s class is motivated to meet the challenges offered by the partnership.

“We’re getting a great opportunity to apply what we’ve learned in EVDS on these projects,” says second year MEDes student Erin Stapleton. “It’s inspiring to walk the actual ground where these projects are going to happen and interact with a real people who will be affect by our work. That really grounds and motivates our work group.”

The return is natural fit for EVDS and the U of C according to professors who have instructed both classes.

“We are excited to return to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo,” says Loraine Fowlow, interim dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design. “Last year was rewarding for our students. We all came to see Fort McMurray as much more than the oil sands. This is a vibrant community facing complex design challenges. Students and professors alike feel strongly that we’re involved in more than a course. We’re building relationships of enduring value that I hope the U of C and Wood Buffalo will build on in the future.”

The students will be working alongside members of the Wood Buffalo Planning and Development Department.

The students have been divided into six groups, each with a different project to work on. This year several of the projects reach out far beyond the Fort McMurray town site across the RMWB to include areas as far Fort Chipewyan.

The projects are:

• Eco-Industrial Park: Identifying new ways to integrate second generation eco-industrial standards into everyday industrial park design.

• Net-Zero Housing: Exploring resource conservation methods in house construction and long-term operation and maintenance.

• Net-Zero Community: Taking the net-zero housing approach to the next level, incorporating efficient resource use at the neighbourhood scale.

• Hangingstone River Development: Evaluating the potential for development on land in the area.

• Fort Chipewyan Waterfront: Assessing the waterfront for its redevelopment potential as a means of preserving heritage and attracting tourists.

• New Towns: Looking at potential areas north and south of Fort McMurray for new town development and conceptualizing the development pattern at a high level.