Winnie-the-Pooh theme park

• Main Author: Li, Xiaoyu
• Other Authors: Tate, Alan (Landscape Architecture)
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: theme; landscape; children; playground
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/5272

Theme parks have a long history. Throughout this history, they have experienced two major growth spurts, in the 1920s and in the 1960s. The best-known contemporary theme parks are the Disney facilities, the first of which officially opened in Anaheim, California in 1955 and, as part of that second period of growth, changed the amusement industry beyond recognition. Since then, the theme park industry in the United States has grown dramatically. Winnipeg is recognized as the hometown of Winnie-the-Pooh. This begs the question of why there are no activities or events in Winnipeg that celebrate this figure. This practicum will analyze two books in the Winnie-the-Pooh series - Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner and identify the significant storylines that might be represented in a themed parkland setting. The proposed site is in Assiniboine Park to the west of downtown of Winnipeg. The practicum is based on the methods outlined in Miodrag Mitrasinovic's Total Landscape, Theme Parks, Public Space. In that book Mitrasinovic addresses the properties of what he calls "privately-owned publicly accessible space in themed mode" (PROPASt) as a model for an holistic approach to the creation of public space. The proposed site will designed as a theme-based year round area within Assiniboine Park.