Lanscape as Infrastructure: Rabbit’s Foot Canyon, Whitehorse (CA) on AIAPP

Can an initiative designed to address a road safety issue become the driving force behind a new vision for a region?

Originally conceived as part of the Alaska Highway Multi-use Trail Masterplan to address road safety and mobility along a section of the highway near Whitehorse, LAND Canada’s Rabbit’s Foot Canyon proposal evolved it into a broader vision for the landscape and ecological infrastructure of the Yukon. Rather than treating the road as an isolated piece of infrastructure, the project places it within a larger system of waterways, ecological corridors, trails, habitats and cultural landscapes.

At the heart of the project is the idea of reconnecting: restoring habitat continuity through wildlife crossings, strengthening pedestrian and cycling networks, and renaturalising waterways to improve ecological quality and resilience. The approach also draws on the knowledge and cultural perspective of the Southern Tutchone people, recognising the landscape as a living geography shaped by generations of relationships between people and nature.

Rabbit’s Foot Canyon proposes a fundamental shift in perspective: the landscape does not adapt to infrastructure, infrastructure becomes part of the landscape. What began as a technical challenge becomes an opportunity to regenerate connections between Nature, mobility and community, and to rethink landscape as a vital piece of green-blue infrastructure.

The result is not simply a safer road, but an opportunity to discover, experience and reconnect with the landscape of the Yukon.