#1 Field report

#1 Tasiilaq | FIELD REPORT Urban Design - Arctic Cities: New spaces in Tasiilaq, East Greenland

BOWEN CUI Autumn 2014, Tromsø Academy of Landscape and territorial studies

What I have done, experienced and found...

Observation

Conversation

Urban life mapping: Where are people and what do they do?

Getting information from locals:

Count pedestrians Observe behavior Take pictures Record videos Analysis data Mapping

Pedestrians Teachers Harbour manager Youth center staff Policeman ...

Architect & planner Museum leader School head master Head of tourism Leader of Polaroil

Experience My own experience of living one week in Tasiilaq: The boat trip & harbour The Red House Stores & book shop Bars Dogs Whale meat Hiking Greeting locals ...

As a tourist As a Landscape Architect

We spent 6 days (Aug 24, 2014-Aug 29, 2014) in Tasiilaq, a town in southeastern Greenland with 2,062 inhabitants as of 2014, which is the most populous community on the eastern coast, and the seventh-largest town in Greenland.

During the 6 days I got to know Tasiilaq mainly in three ways: OBSERVATION, CONVERSATION and EXPERIENCE. OBSERVATION I and Irene got the task of Urban life mapping, which asks to find how people use the urban spaces: where are people and what do they do, through observation and

counting. We spent 4 days walking around the city, found the 6 hot spots of Tasiilaq(General store, Christmas tree square, Youth center, Food store, Flower valley and Football field ), and we counted the number of pedestrians and cars in 10mins of each hot spot at different time of a day (noon, afternoon, evening and night). We divided the pedestrians into 4 age groups: Kids(0-12), Teenagers(13-19), Adults(20-60), Old people(>60). And we found that the main activity of kids and teenagers is playing football in playgrounds after school and teenagers get together playing cards, computer games, instruments and smoking in Youth center at night; adults are usually found shopping in the stores and taking a walk on the road in the evening; old people tend to sitting and chatting in front of the General store in the afternoon.

CONVERSATION In order to get more information about the life in Tasiilaq, especially winter condition and special events of Tasiilaq, we talked to locals (pedestrians, teachers, harbour manager, youth center staff and a policeman).

Unexpectedly, we found that Tasiilaq is quite a lively city full of special events all year round. Also we got the whole picture of the city through the speeches of the invited guests (Architect & planner, Museum leader, School head master, Head of tourism, Leader of Polaroil). Different issues unfolded during the conversation.

EXPERIENCE Living in Tasiilaq for one week let me get a sense of the hard life in Greenland: cooking and washing dishes with no running water, short of vegetables and fruits, cold summer and harsh climate... quite unforgettable experience. Tasiilaq is badly in need of infrastructure construction. On the other hand, what impressed me a lot was the smile of local people. Walking and counting in the city for 4 days, I was quite enjoying greeting locals‌their pure and honest smiles make this town really beautiful and special.

Urban life mapping: where are people and what do they do?

The main activity of kids and teenagers is playing football in playgrounds after school and teenagers get together playing cards, computer games, instruments and smoking in Youth center at night; adults are usually found shopping in the stores and taking a walk on the road in the evening; old people tend to sitting and chatting in front of the General store in the afternoon. Through the observation, the main impression of urban space in Tasiilaq is that it seems that the whole city is a big play ground for kids, you can see them almost everywhere all day long. Adults seems prefer going fishing and hunting in nature but are not quite using urban space.

General store

Christmas tree square

Food store

Youth center

NOON(11:30-13:30)

AFTERNOON(14:00-17:00)

General store

Food store Flower valley

EVENING(17:30-19:30)

NIGHT(20:00-21:30)

Food store

Food store Youth center

Flower valley

Football field

Urban life mapping: special events, all seasons

Special events November-April October 31 April June 21 July All year

Icefishing Skiing Snowmobile Halloween Dogsledding Competition National Day Footbal tournament GYM Sports Center Youth Club

Positive and difficult, challenging and inspiring...

Positive

·Natural resources ·Cultural resources ·Pure smile of locals ·Tourism industry

Difficult ·Lack of infrastructure ·Local economy ·Future of young people, education, employment ·Dump

Challenging

·Climate, piteraqs ·Alcoholism ·Losing traditional skills

Inspiring ·Close Relationship with nature(tradition) ·Turfhouse

What has made the greatest impression...

The city is a big playground for kids Through the observation, the main impression of urban space in Tasiilaq is that it seems that the whole city is a big play ground for kids, you can see them almost everywhere all day long. Adults seems prefer going fishing and hunting in nature but are not quite