Day 1

Witness with your own senses how the city's build environment has evolved through time. The way streets, front and back yards are configured is revealing about what early residents valued, just as suburban lanes have their own story to tell. This is an opportunity to learn how to decipher the codes written into the urban landscape.

We tend to arrange the spaces we acquire and manage in ways that reflect how we like to live. Exploring the back lanes of railway towns with an anthropologist is like acquiring a new map of Great Plains settlements. It can yield excitement, uneasiness, laughter, and certainly, a new appreciation for laneways. Discover how humans have adapted to events like the Regina Tornado of 1912 and developed strategies to succeed as a community over the territory that encompasses Regina.

Saskatchewan cities have the good fortune of possessing elaborate networks of back alleys. To the uninitiated, they are a means to access a garage, to dispose of garbage. They certainly were a lot smellier 100 years ago when livestock and outhouses dotted the backspaces of our towns. Yet, some things remain. Alleys are a way to travel anonymously, to walk one's dog undisturbed, or to carry out more dubious activities.

When travelled at night, alleys offer a visual choreography of motion sensors in certain neighbourhoods. Alleys are also home to some of the most inspired and uninspired architectural creations of the urbane.

The safaris will satisfy both the nostalgic that grew up around alleys and the ethnographer alike. Alleyways hold life, simplicity, even bits and pieces of wilderness for those who choose to ignore the negative stigma associated with this rich and peaceful network of urban trails.

Please don't hesitate to call us at 567-1571 for more information and group rates.