Framing the locale - In search of common ground

Abstract

The world is no longer as expansive as it once was; advances in international transport and communication technology have defined an age of globalization that has transcended the traditional boundaries between localities across the world. Manfred Steger defines globalization as:

A multidimensional set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch and intensify worldwide social [and economic] interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant.¹

Rural localities that were once isolated from this global network have become sites of incredible visitation, putting pressure on local communities to facilitate high levels of migration and tourist influx. At the same time, established rural traditions of maintaining local relationships between people and landscape become subject to global pressures regarding the commodification of the natural environment.

One such site of this phenomenon is Queenstown, New Zealand, a locality that has developed rapidly out of a prosperous adventure tourism industry. The interest of global markets have had a positive effect on the economic viability of the town, however the growing transient population and dissociation of community and town centre has resulted in a decentralisation of the locality, establishing a divide between the resident and tourist amenities within its central locale.

This thesis argues that architecture may provide a platform for engaging with this network of global and local exchanges. By considering the local conditions of the landscape and urban environment through the mutual attraction of people to place, this design research seeks to develop a condition of common ground that may establish a more effective recognition of local that is expressive of the interdependent residents and tourists.

¹ Steger, 13