This research explores culture-led regeneration; specifically, how and why small, community-based culture-led regeneration projects potentially affect their respective communities. Methodology is founded on an in-depth case study of The Edge Artist Village in Winnipeg, supported by a literature review, quantitative research examining property values, and archival research. The practicum shows that The Edge Artist Village has had a tremendous impact on the community of North Main Street. While various stakeholders interpreted The Edge‘s impact in different ways, perceptions of safety in the community have improved, and long vacant buildings in the neighbourhood are finding new tenants. This study makes recommendations as to how planners can potentially play a role in encouraging culture-led regeneration projects such as The Edge Artist Village, and suggests ways in which private developers and municipal government can collaborate more effectively to support their communities.

Bed bugs are making a large international comeback. While people from all economic and social backgrounds can experience a bed bug infestation, the social impacts on the lives of low-income people are potentially far greater given the condition of their living accommodations as well as the financial costs associated with dealing with an infestation. Utilizing the Community Economic Development and Social Determinants of Health approaches, this thesis argues that the experience of a bed bug infestation poses a significant threat to inner-city residents—economically, socially, and in terms of human health. Interviews with 16 inner-city residents, 2 landlords, 1 property manager, 2 By-Law Enforcement Officers, and 5 representatives of inner-city agencies in Winnipeg are drawn upon in developing this argument. In addition, relevant policy documents and other secondary sources are utilized to assess the effectiveness of policies and practices in place to respond to this issue and to offer a more comprehensive approach for responding to the social impacts of bed bugs in the city of Winnipeg.

The organization of Winnipeg from 1870 until 1885 can be described as an intense period of spatial transformation and expansion. After the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) surrendered Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territories to the Crown in 1870, the re-formulation of land tenure transformed the urban space. Different actors in the still young and small community used diverse mechanisms to secure common land as private property allowing the formation of a dynamic real estate market. During those years Winnipeg expanded rapidly and the availability of city lots soon became limited. Lot prices soared and land transformed into a commodity generated the conditions for the reproduction and circulation of capital in the city. The arrival of investors and financial institutions helped to create the real estate boom of 1881-82 and transform a small village into a modern capitalist city. By 1885, Winnipeg was ready to initiate an uneven and fast transition to industrial capitalism.

This practicum examines the opportunities and challenges for transit-oriented development (TOD) at strategic station areas along the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor (SWRTC) in Winnipeg. Research included three case studies that investigated policy support, station area planning and implementation tools in the City and County of Denver, City of Boulder and the City of Ottawa. Three recommendations are outlined in the concluding chapter. The first is to develop Smart Growth land use policies that direct growth to station areas along the SWRTC. The second is to develop station area plans that indicate the permitted land uses, urban form and densities at station areas. The third is to create a zoning overlay for TOD to that embraces compact, pedestrian oriented development, mixed land uses and reduced off-street parking requirements. These recommendations are of particularly benefit to the City of Winnipeg and to other municipalities that are investing in rapid transit systems and TOD.

Community arts are potentially valuable tools in building community and regenerating distressed neighbourhoods. Community-based art organizations exist in most major cities across North America and abroad. These groups are concerned with social and environmental community issues (e.g., youth poverty, sustainability, racism) and use art as a medium for social change through community empowerment and personal development. Many of these organizations operate on limited funding and are required to complete program evaluations to demonstrate the merit of their programs. While some program evaluation literature touches on the role of arts-based research methods, very little focuses specifically on using these methods with community-based art organizations—particularly organizations with programming intended for children and youth. This Major Degree Project seeks to address this gap and explore the role of creative, arts-based evaluation methods for community-based art organizations’ program evaluation.

This research examines energy poverty in the Daniel McIntyre and St. Matthews (DMSM) neighbourhoods in the city of Winnipeg. Energy poverty, defined as households spending more than 6% of their income on energy expenditures, affects as many as 50% of households in DMSM. Energy poverty can be alleviated through energy retrofits for dwellings such as weather stripping; increasing insulation in exterior walls, the attic and basement; and installing a high-efficiency furnace. The recommendations include: establishing consistent housing and energy efficiency policies; increasing the flexibility of utility on-bill financing; levying the necessary capital for energy retrofits through municipal financing mechanisms; increasing the knowledge and capacity of local residents; increasing the knowledge and capacity of local contractors for sustainable design and construction; creating a provincial strategy to increase the energy efficiency of social housing; developing low-income energy efficiency programs for rental properties; and increasing access to renewable energy sources.

Downtowns contribute significantly to the economy of cities and as a result, decision makers are increasingly recognizing the fundamental value and importance of maintaining viable downtown cores. Following the post-war era of urban decay and suburban expansion, there have been widespread attempts nationwide to reverse trends and to revitalize downtowns. In the Winnipeg context, urban renewal was practiced throughout the 1960s and 1970s; tripartite agreements were utilized during the 1980s; and development corporations were introduced throughout the 1980s and 1990s as a way to encourage private sector investment with targeted public sector investments. This practicum investigates the relationship between planning and development in the downtown revitalization context. In particular, this research aims to discover the extent to which a downtown development agency may have facilitated the better integration of planning and development in a city’s downtown, where revitalization has been very much on the public agenda. Winnipeg’s CentreVenture Development Corporation was used as a case study to explore this relationship. It was established in 1999 and continues to operate today. This paper attempts to determine the extent of its involvement, and the manner by which this arms-length government agency has aided and influenced tangible development in Winnipeg’s downtown. Furthermore, the case study was used to understand the nature, scope and form of related downtown revitalization, and to distill any learning about the general topic that might be applicable in other comparable settings. The practicum concludes by providing potentially transferable best practices to cities with similar characteristics and with recommendations for both CentreVenture Development Corporation and its shareholder, the City of Winnipeg.

High levels of phosphorus loading in Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada are causing eutrophication and algal blooms of increasing intensity and frequency. Phosphorus is also a strategic and limited natural resource critical for plant growth, and essential for agriculture and global food security. This research study demonstrated an innovative environmental engineering approach to address multiple sustainable development challenges. Cattail (Typha spp.), a large competitive emergent aquatic plant, was harvested to capture and remove nutrients that would otherwise cause eutrophication in aquatic systems, and utilized as a biomass material for industry. Cattail reaches maturity in less than 90 days, and late summer/early fall harvests yielded average 15 to 20 t DM/ha, and captured 30 to 60 kg/ha/year of phosphorus. Once harvested, nutrients locked in plant tissue are prevented from being released into the environment via natural decomposition. Utilizing harvested biomass as a bioenergy feedstock provided a further benefit displacing fossil fuels for heating, and generated valuable carbon offsets. Cattail was compressed into densified fuel products, and combustion trials revealed an average calorific heat value of 17 MJ/kg to 20 MJ/kg, comparable to commercial wood pellets. Average ash content was 5 to 6%, and no major concerns identified regarding combustion emissions and ash. Estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential from coal displacement was one tonne of cattail biomass generated 1.05 tonnes of CO2 offsets. Additionally, up to 88 % of total phosphorus was recovered in ash following combustion in solid fuel burners. Harvesting cattail biomass offers greatest feasibility if combined for multiple purposes: nutrient capture, habitat, bioenergy, carbon offsets, water quality credits, and higher value end products and biomaterials (i.e. biochar). Economics of harvesting need to be further explored at the pilot and commercial scale for this novel renewable and sustainable ecological biomass feedstock. From an agricultural context, this biomass resource is presently undeveloped. It is a plant species prized for its nutrient capture and water quality benefits, and a biomass feedstock for bioenergy and high value end-products that grows on marginal agricultural land, not competing with prime land and food crops.

‘FIELD WORKS’ explores landscape experiences that were once common to the tall grass prairie region of Manitoba. The route through this project winds in and out of urban surfaces to reveal memories embedded in the land. It documents forgotten and dormant prairie events so that they might be woven back into the fabric of the city. The purpose of this project is to transfer explored and speculative experience into a physical route through the urban prairie landscape. It is an effort to expose the layers clinging to physical memories rooted in the prairie.

This visual analysis of the Stay out of Gangs public service announcement (PSA) is a site for social investigations. The investigation follows the question of what kind of work the campaign does, in terms of the social discourses it works within and its broader social impact. More specifically, this paper explores the design of the campaign, focusing on the way it frames and interpellates intended audiences, paying attention to the discourses that are produced. The discourses observed in the campaign both reflect and reference popular representations of the gangster and the stereotypes of ethnic minority groups in our society. This paper concludes that the interpellation of both the marginalized at-risk and the law abiding subject positions is working within the PSA, thereby reinforcing social discourses of social inclusion and exclusion currently working in society.