UBC Graduate Research

Ruin[ed] : adjective /ˈro͞oˌind/ : reduced to a state of decay, collapse, or disintegration : having been irreparably damaged or harmed. Brekelmans, Nicole

Abstract

The Anthropocene can be defined by many things, but within this project it is defined as “The age of ruins” – degradation of communities from both social and ecological disasters, many of which were never reconciled and hidden under the layers of the landscape. Ruin[ed] explores landscape architecture as storytelling through the process of disaster repair – allowing memories both painful and hopeful to be embedded into the land and for reflection and healing to take place. Situated within the aftermath of the “Big One” at UBC the project engages with two disasters – the earthquake itself, and the disaster of UBC’s ongoing harm of developing on and profiting from stolen land, exploiting resources, and destroying habitat. Thrusted into this state of transformation out of human’s control, as a collective we will begin to ask what is ruined, what has been ruined in the past, and how can we begin to reconcile such anthropogenic and institutional ruins through ongoing acts of care and repair?

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International