Urban acupuncture: A catalyst for urban regeneration in the historic exchange district of Winnipeg

When considering the existing urban syntax and the potentials for the implementation of change on a large scale through a series small interventions parallels can be drawn to the Barcelona model. "Barcelona began to pull itself around with a seven-year plan in 1980: 140 small projects provided more plazas and better housing...the central theme was: make the centre more functional and mediate the expansion of the outskirts." The Barcelona visionaries (Mayors: Joan Clos, Narcis Serra and Pasqual Maragall and Architects: Oriol Bohigas and Josep Acebillo) believe the successful development of a decaying city depends on taking a less fragmented approach. The title 'Urban Acupuncture' speaks to a comprehensive approach that seeks to respond to an existing urban condition through a diagnostical analysis which inherently elicits a prescriptive reaction whereby the illegibility and incohesiveness of the civic fabric of the City of Winnipeg is medicated by a series of small architectural interventions. The City of Winnipeg is plagued by a condition referred to in this document as WasteSpace. The term was coined by a Dutch firm, S333, whose work has responded to a similar condition in the Netherlands responding to a contextual climate where a deficiency of greenfield sites has elicited a new paradigm of brownfield reclamation. They have realized the importance of reclaiming wasted space is high. In Winnipeg we have not yet been met with this condition a seemingly endless supply of greenfield sites has allowed for rampant suburban expansion that has left the core perforated with an immense series of vacant surface area and a high number of vacant buildings.