Dam to delta : visualizing landscapes of decarbonization in the Saaghii Naachii/Peace River region, Canada
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Geography, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Robb, Douglas
issued: 2022-02-15T18:26:28Z
issued: 2022
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This dissertation analyzes how decarbonization in Canada is mutually co-constitutive with processes of landscape change. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship in human geography and landscape architecture, with a focus on digital technologies of landscape visualization and manipulation, this dissertation critically analyzes how contemporary decarbonization agendas (re)produce conditions of uneven development and socioecological instability. Chapter 2 explores how the historical formation of energy landscapes in Canadaâs boreal region continues to influence design proposals for the low-carbon transition, often at the expense of Indigenous communities and fragile ecologies. Chapter 3 calls attention to the pervasive tendency to depict human impacts upon Earth though highly abstract and aestheticized visualizations; a deeply depoliticizing practice I term planetary voyeurism. Chapter 4 builds upon this critique through a meta-review of water-energy nexus visualizations: a resource governance framework that claims to comprehensively depict relational linkages between energy generation and water use, yet which often elides the spatial, temporal, and hydrosocial dimensions of landscape. Lastly, Chapter 5 investigates the potential to misread and depoliticize strategies of putative decarbonization which may not, in fact, be carbon neutral; particularly when the cumulative effects of broader landscape transformations are considered. Through these analyses, this dissertation advances a place-based approach to decarbonization grounded in three key arguments: 1) decarbonization is constituted by and through relational landscapes characterized by shifting social, political, and ecological interrelationships; 2) technology is a powerful instrument of landscape change, and innovative digital tools of landscape perception and visualization can mitigate (or reinforce) processes of spatial injustice through the production of low-carbon technonatures and socionatures; and 3) dec…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/80836
note: DAM TO DELTA: VISUALIZING LANDSCAPES OF DECARBONIZATION IN THE SAAGHII NAACHII/PEACE RIVER REGION, CANADA by Douglas Robb HBA, University of Toronto, 2011 MLA, University of Toronto, 2014 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) February 2022 © Douglas Robb, 2022 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Dam to Delta: Visualizing Landscapes of Decarbonization in the Saaghii Naachii/Peace River Region, Canada submitted by Douglas Robb in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Examining Committee: Karen Bakker, Professor, Department of Geography, UBC Supervisor Daniel Barber, Associate Professor, Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania Supervisory Committee Member Jessica Dempsey, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Mohammed Rafi Arefin, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, UBC University Examiner Kees Lokman, Associate Professor, School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture, UBC University Examiner Kristina Hill, Associate Professor, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley External Examiner iii Abstract This dissertation analyzes how decarbonization in Canada is mutually co-constitutive with processes of landscape change. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship in human geography and landscape architecture, with a focus on digital technologies of landscape visualization and manipulation, this dissertation critically analyzes how contemporary decarbonization agendas (re)produce conditions of uneven development and socioecological instability. Chapter 2 explores how the historical formation of energy landscapes in Canadaâs boreal region continues to …
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2022-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0406570
language: eng
degree discipline: Geography
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Bakker, Karen J.
type: Text
type: Still Image
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/80836