The voice of the rural small town: how architecture can inspire locally grounded growth in Parry Sound, Ontario
Date
2023-04-12
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Abstract
Many rural areas in Canada are financially dependent
on tourism. There are negative effects of this dependency
on the local working class as these small towns transition
from tourism towards a community designed for an aging
affluent population. Using Parry Sound as a case study, this
thesis attempts to investigate how architecture could serve
the neglected local working class by incentivizing investment
in the local community rather than catering to seasonal
tourism. Covid-19 also emphasized the gap in access to
healthcare and lack of overall well-being, issues that the
local community faced but the seasonal resident did not.
This thesis found that a grounded design that
amplified the voice of the local community would best
aid their existing efforts to grow. Discussions with the local
community organizations working in these areas provided
the perspectives necessary to design an adequate program
that would assist local grounded growth in Parry Sound.
Through the lenses of housing, health, and food, architecture
could support the existing network of community initiatives
to achieve self-agency. A mixed-use design provides the
necessary community spaces for these initiatives to foster
a connection to people and landscape and achieve locally
grounded growth.
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Keywords
Well-being, Health care, Personalized care, Healthcare architecture, Landscape community health, Personal growth, Community growth