Abstract
This DSR project explores the future possibilities, and current obstacles, of post-suburbanization, or the adaption of existing suburban neighbourhoods across multiple scales to meet the changing spatial, domestic, socio-cultural, and financial needs of its residents. It asks what do we do with the suburban legacy of the 20th century? As we face the unprecedented collision of socio-political, ethno-cultural, economic, ecological, anthropocentric-technic, and post-pandemic challenges of the 21st century. It recognizes that suburban living is deeply embedded within Canadian and American normative culture, with more than two-thirds of their respective national populations, and over four-fifths of residents within major metropolitan areas residing within the ‘suburbs’ (Barrington-Leigh & Millard-Ball, 2015; Bourne, 1996; Dunham-Jones, 2000; Gordon et al, 2018; Gordon & Janzen, 2013; Mattingly, 1997). Yet the socio-spatial assertions and dependencies of the postwar era which have been baked into North America’s suburban landscapes are outdated and must be adapted to meet the changing needs of its residents.
In response to the wicked complexity of these problems, the project asks: What role architects, planners, and policy makers have in retooling the material and immaterial frameworks that resist change? How should contextual and transformative design be approached within existing neighbourhoods while recognizing the duality of their urban and suburban characteristics? How is transformation perceived and presented, and how can visual aids foster deeper participatory understanding and communication? What mechanisms can be put in place to encourage a bottom-up transformation and intensification of suburban settings?
To those ends, the project focuses on visualizing structural permanencies in order to tangibly render their spatial and material implication. Allowing for a deeper understanding of the intensive characterises that lead to the formation of a specific site and will shape its future development. Becoming didactic aids for participatory design processes that can be used de-mystify growth and encourage open discussion between stakeholders and designers. The goal of which is to explore various possible futures, while normalizing the incremental growth needed within postwar suburban landscaped to meet the changing needs of its residents.