Unbuilt Environments

In the latter half of the twentieth century, legions of industrial pioneers came to northwestern British Columbia with grand plans for mines, dams, and energy-development schemes. Yet many of their projects never materialized or were simply abandoned midstream. Unbuilt Environments reveals that these failed resource projects had lasting effects on the natural and human environment.Drawing on a range of case studies to analyze the social and environmental impacts of unfinished projects, Jonathan Peyton considers development failure a productive concept for northwestern Canada. In this first analysis of the history of resource exploitation in this part of the world, he looks at the closed asbestos mine and town site at Cassiar, an abandoned rail grade (the Dease Lake Extension), an imagined series of hydroelectric installations (the Stikine-Iskut project), a failed LNG export facility (Dome Petroleum), and the much-debated Northwest Transmission Line. He finds that these unrealized projects and past development failures continue to shape contemporary resource conflicts in this region.

Jonathan Peyton is an assistant professor in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of Manitoba. His work has appeared in Geoforum, Antipode, the Journal of Historical Geography, and Environment and History.

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• UBC Press Unbuilt Environments book Paperback 276 pages