The only thing you need to know about winter in Edmonton is that it’s cold: Using lived experience to inform how urban spaces are designed, planned, and governed for winter conditions

This thesis makes a case for a more entangled perspective between humans, things, and weather on urban planning and design and brings increased attention to the everyday importance of urban spaces. This research involved multiple methods, including observation, artifact analysis, go-along interviews, and visioning workshops over the course of two years, with most of the data being collected during the winter season. A nested case study of three research sites within Edmonton focused the data collection and highlighted the similarities or differences between areas with different use schemes, dominant user groups, and ownership models. Fifteen people participated in go-along interviews within and around these research sites and the two visioning workshops focused on both the entire city and these particular urban spaces. The data was analysed alongside the data collection in a series of transcribing the interviews, coding the transcripts, photographs, and sketches and highlighting any dominant themes and then categories. The final analysis phase involved writing and presenting the findings or approach to validate the results and receive feedback on my process. With an interdisciplinary, non-linear research approach, the data analysis became intermingled with the data collection allowing collection processes to adapt and improve as I progressed through the research. Two papers are presented in this thesis and show the diversity of factors influencing people’s feelings of inclusion or exclusion in urban spaces during winter conditions. The first paper highlights the potential for the governance and evolution of city planning specifically targeting cities in cold climates or with winter conditions. The second paper focuses on the specificities of the research sites paying closer attention to features that might contribute to feelings of inclusion and exclusion during the winter months. In the analysis for this paper, I compared the sites to each other and came to conclusions that drew attention to the site-specific changes, in addition to changes at the city-scale that can improve the experience of these smaller spaces The case conclusions are described in more detail in the articles and in the final chapter I suggest overarching conclusions that bring together both articles and the data. In particular, the first conclusion suggests a broader approach to users, uses and seasons contributes to more inclusive spaces, regardless of location or time of the year. How or when people feel included or excluded is hard to predict and manage, particularly in urban spaces, and more than ever during the winter season. In general, inclusion is a fluid concept and all people will experience some degree of exclusion at some point throughout their lives. Secondly, I am suggesting that the winter experience of Edmonton is more complex than just cold weather. Edmonton’s physical form is not designed to enjoy the winter season. And indoor spaces are necessary in any severe weather conditions, either hot or cold, dry or wet, and particularly to accommodate different people and tolerances. However, becoming reliant on indoor spaces impacts people’s interest or ability to experience any less-than-ideal weather condition (Hitchings, 2011). For example, people either never learn about how to dress for the weather, forget how unpredictable weather can be, or assume the conditions are better or worse than the actual conditions. The complexity of feeling included in spaces during the winter weaves between many factors including but not limited to the weather itself, people’s attitudes towards the season, the design of the city, maintenance of spaces, and planning of a city. The last overarching conclusion speaks towards both my human ecology training and more traditionally planning principles. There are many suggestions, recommendation, principles, manuals or guidelines proposed for winter city design and planning for cold climates. And while these lists and recipes can help inspire potential improvements, I am proposing a more flexible, context informed approach, or process, to spatial planning and design. This research supports earlier climate sensitive planning recommendations and provides qualitative evidence in favour of context-based, complete city solutions. This thesis is particularly relevant for people involved in creating spaces or cities, such as planners, politicians, and designers, and for community leaders interested in incorporating unique engagement or public participation methods, or academics interested in interdisciplinary research. With a better understanding of uses and users throughout the year, informed priorities and design decisions can be made to enhance the usability of spaces in winter and the wellbeing of winter city dwellers.

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