Wascana Centre and Regina: How An Artificial Lake Transformed A City On the Praries

When I first visited Regina, I was quite surprised to see a gigantic yet gorgeous lake right in the city center. When I asked around the residents of the city, it turned out that the lake was completely artificial. 

Downtown Regina and the statue of Queen Elizabeth II from the Saskatchewan Legislative Building

Wascana Centre was built to connect properties owned by the Regina municipal government and the provincial government of Saskatchewan. While the project never made the walking distance between the complexes shorter (on the contrary, it significantly increased the walking distance as people now have to go around the lake to reach their destinations), it turned Regina from being just another city on the prairies to an oasis people would love to live and work. The project was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, who was also known as the architect who designed the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City.

The Saskatchewan Legislative Building

Wascana Centre's most dominant feature, the Wascana Lake,  was first constructed in 1883 to create a water reserve for agricultural use. Soon citizens of Regina saw something else much more valuable in the lake than just watering farms - recreational use. In 1961, Minoru Yamasaki was comissioned to design a landmark for the city of Regina. Instead of creating a blueprint for a massive, jaw breaking building, he submitted a blueprint for something much more impressive - Wascana Centre. The new landmark subtly blended into and connected the two campuses of University of Saskatchewan, Regina (now University of Regina, in which the new campus was also designed by Yamasaki). 

University of Regina Campus by the Wascana Lake

So how "natural" is this artificial lake? All over Wascana Center one can easily spot seagulls. In other words, nothing seemed to be natural at all as there aren't supposed to be any seagulls in the middle of the prairies that's at least 1000 kilometers from the nearest coast (Hudson Bay up north in Manitoba. You can check out the articles with "Manitoba" labels to see some of the interesting stories about Hudson Bay).  However, since the main purpose for the construction of Wascana Centre was to develop the "featureless plain", being "unnatural" to the geographic location the project actually enhances the environment that's been complained by many as "featureless" (Remember a city in the desert called Dubai?). 

Wascana Centre in the evening

There are indeed things we can learn from the construction of Wascana Centre: Some public funded projects do bring positive impacts on cities, which in turn make these cities more desirable to live. Without the Central Park, Manhattan would probably become just another run down business district like Downtown Detroit. The high income, super wealth population of Upper Eastside and Upper Westside (both two districts border the Central Park) would probably end up in the suburbs like Queens or New Jersey. Yet the level of the impact depends much on the demand and desirability from the locals.In Regina's case, a giant water body provides unprecedented recreational opportunities unimaginable by ordinary prairie residents, who are more familiar with acres and acres of farm lands. The same applies to New York, an urban forest made of real trees can always relax people who are sicken tired of the depression concrete jungles bring to their lives. 

A local resident paddle-boarding on Wascana Lake

One of the reasons why certain cities have been struggling with revitalization years after years is because these cities often lack incentives for the middle class to move in. Two common mistake cities make in investing public-funded projects, hoping to help the city to revitalize are either they scatter the investment all over the places instead of concentrating in investing in the area that needs the immediate attention of revitalization, or they will invest in places that are already better off. As poor neighborhoods tend to contribute less tax money to the city and wealthy neighborhoods go the other way around, it simply gives the wealthy neighborhoods more leverage in terms of determining where they city puts the investment money in, which usually benefits the same wealthy neighborhoods. In order for revitalization investment to achieve the optimal effect, the city must put efforts in thoroughly developing one area at a time; and it must ensure the projects will have the priority to go to the neighborhoods that struggle, not the ones that have more leverage.

The Royal Saskatchewan Museum, one of the educational institution located within the Wascana Centre

Wascana Centre was one of many projects across the world that transformed the city they are located in. It is a great example of a successful public - funded project commissioned by the city of Regina. Wascana Centre made Regina stand out in other prairie cities and became a unique municipality rather than "just another featureless city on the prairies". While many other cities in the world are still seeking for a way to revamp both the reputation and prosperity these cities once had in the past, projects like the Wascana Centre are great examples these cities can look into. I mean, who doesn't want to go boating in the middle of the prairies?

Downtown Regina in the evening