(De)construction Holiday: Visioning Possibilities for Pathways

Urban roadways contribute to heat islands, toxic runoff and stressful humanscapes. With vision, we can change this.

The view from the passenger seat on the road from Montreal to Northern Ontario during Quebec’s annual “construction holiday”. I spent time visioning what it could look like instead (see drawing below).

Passenger pain prompts possibilities for pathways

Two things are colliding here:

1. Noticing that a lot of our urban and highway infrastructure is designed so as to practically guarantee accelerated global warming and species decline.
2. Accepting a challenge to put more time each day into envisioning better, alternative outcomes.

The result is a mix of helplessness and curiosity, resignation and enthusiasm.

Construction holiday road trip, even though I’m no fun in a car

It’s the annual “construction holiday” in Quebec right now, a convenient time for many (including my co-traveler) to take time off. This is a wonderful thing. And… our 10-hour journey by car to visit family in Northern Ontario reminded me how stressful I find being in a car. There are two levels of trouble that prompt me to envision something better.

Level 1 is about personal trauma. Between the ages of 18 and 21, I was in the vehicle…