Building skills : a construction trades training facility for the eastern Canadian Arctic

On April 1, 1999, the Inuit of the Eastern Canadian Arctic achieved sovereignty over a new territory, Nunavut, envisioning economic self-reliance, political self-determination, and renewal of confidence in Inuit community. Life in Nunavut, however, remains circumscribed by adversities: poverty, crowded houses, and long winters. Both government and industry are constrained by inexperienced administration and insufficient budgets. Perhaps no sector is as challenged as the construction industry, caught between the vast demand of a housing crisis and the extreme cost of importing labor. The territory must invest in building skills to reduce the cost of housing. Trades training in the Eastern Arctic will have political, cultural, and economic significance for a community long dependent on remote governments and migrant workers. Moreover, local tradesmen will be indispensable to an affordable construction strategy for community buildings serving a population expanding at twice the national rate. Over the course of fifty years of permanent settlement in Nunavut, no construction system has yet been devised for civic spaces that respond to its social, physical, and logistical conditions.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Roszler, Sarah Katherine, 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Supervised byAnnette Kim and Andrew Scott .

• Urban Studies and Planning.
• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30285

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/30285