Can nature thrive (or even survive) in an urban jungle? Can ecology and architecture be successfully integrated? Ryerson students are taking a critical and creative look at nature and infrastructure with Ecological Urbanism, a new exhibit at Urbanspace Gallery.
Can nature thrive (or even survive) in an urban jungle? Can ecology and architecture be successfully integrated? Ryerson students are taking a critical and creative look at nature and infrastructure with Ecological Urbanism, a new exhibit at Urbanspace Gallery.
The exhibition showcases innovative ecological design research by urban planning and landscape architecture students, envisioning a more sustainable future for Toronto. An interdisciplinary melding of research and design, the exhibition is a collaboration between the Ryerson City Building Institute, the Ecological Design Lab, the Ryerson School of Urban and Regional Planning, and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.
“We’ve been fragmenting ecology for so long with our roads, with our buildings,” said Vincent Racine, graduate student in the School of Urban and Regional Planning, and curator of the exhibition. “We have put ourselves in the way of ecology in a number of ways, and the lifestyles of the raccoons and squirrels around us are a consequence of our lifestyle.
“Ecological Urbanism is this conflict between the ecology and the urban world. How can we stitch together this dichotomy? … We didn’t want our students to imagine what was feasible. We wanted our students to provoke ideas. And that’s what you’ll see: ideas that provoke thinking and reflection upon how we got to be such a fragmented city.”
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Photo via Ryerson University.
