Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Together with W. C. Rogers of Minneapolis, they were leaders in creating the Live-
able Winter City Association (LWCA) in 1983, which was designed to provide a fo-
cus for new ideas on winter cities. In Europe, urban academics such as Jorma M￤nty
in Finland (M￤nty and Pressman
1988
), and planner-architects, like Ralph Erskine
and Boris Culjat in Sweden, as well as many individual city planners in cities with
severe winters, were also seeking solutions to the problems posed by northern cli-
mates on settlements. Many of these academics and planners soon became linked to
the growing international Winter City network. But despite the publication of many
useful topics, articles, a quarterly magazine, as well as frequent meetings on the
Winter City theme, the LWCA almost floundered in 2005. This was not because of a
lack of interest, but because its non-profit and volunteer structure could not sustain
the work. Fortunately, the organization has been re-constituted as the Winter Cit-
ies Institute (WCI), based in Anchorage (Alaska), and which continues to promote
plans for coping with winter conditions. At the same time that the international net-
work developed, individual planners in northern towns were seeking more effective
ways of solving the problems posed by winter. This has led to increasing internet
exchanges and regular meetings between interested parties, such as the Nordic cit-
ies of various sizes, but including capitals, that created the Nordic Eight Network
to discuss issues of sustainability and design (NE). More generally a world-wide
network on the topic was created by town administrators under the organization of
the World Winter Cities Association for Mayors (WWCAM). Initiated by the city
of Sapporo in 1981 and with meetings organized biannually, the association now
consists of 20 cities in nine countries, although non-member cities can attend as
observers. The last three meetings were held in Nuuk (Greenland in 2008), Prince
George (Canada in 2010) and Ulaanbaator (Mongolia 2012), with future meetings
planned for Hwachen (South Korea 2014) and Sapporo (Japan 2016).
Meetings based on the Winter City theme by the above organizations and other
interested groups have attracted delegates from different northern countries to share
knowledge. They have produced publications with four main Winter City aims,
with their work often supported by national and international organizations, such as
the European Union. The first aim is essentially an
applied urban climatology
, es-
sentially to understand the effects of winter and its changes on both settlements and
the life-styles of people within them. The second is to identify, as well as dissemi-
nate, the
best practices about planning urban areas in winter climates
, especially
those based on modifying traditional practices that had fallen into disuse through
modernization, and also to promote energy conservation measures. The third is to
search for
ways to improve the planning of settlements as well as the interactions
of their residents,
in order to provide greater adaptation to winter conditions and to
create more unique places through design initiatives. Finally, the intent is to recog-
nize and
improve the life of the most vulnerable
in winter cities, especially children,
the old, the poor and the infirm, as well as the homeless, who are handicapped by
their limited mobility or poverty. These approaches all have the aim of increasing
the sustainability and liveability of winter settlements for all people, thereby more
positively relating the cities to the problems posed by winter. These Winter City
ideas are summarized in this chapter by successively dealing with the problems
