Many Norths

Book excerpt: “There are many norths in this North.” – Louis-Edmond Hamelin, 1975 Many Norths: Spatial Practice in a Polar Territory charts the unique spatial realities of Canada’s Arctic region, an immense territory populated with small, dispersed communities. The region has undergone dramatic transformations in the name of sovereignty, aboriginal affairs management, resources, and trade, among others. For most of the Arctic’s modern history, architecture, infrastructure, and settlements have been the tools of colonialism. Today, tradition and modernity are intertwined. Northerners have demonstrated remarkable adaptation and resilience as powerful climatic, social, and economic pressures collide. This unprecedented book documents—through the themes of urbanism, architecture, mobility, monitoring, and resources—the multiplicity of norths that appear and the spatial practices employed to negotiate it. Using innovative drawings, maps, timelines, as well as essays and interviews, Many Norths reveals a distinct northern vernacular.