Course
Instructors
Carlos Banon
Student Involved
Porndee Chua
About the Project
This project asks the question: what happens when the Antarctic Treaty expires in 2048? The Antarctic Treaty System currently protects the continent from serious building development, but one can easily imagine rapid building if it is lucrative, which seems to be the case since tourism has exploded from a mere 5000 to over 35000 a year in a decade. Like in many other places in the world where its natural environment is a lure for experience-seekers, ecotourism seems to be an answer to the double-edged sword of tourism. However, in Antarctica, there is no native-dwelling human population to draw ‘locals’ from, except for perhaps the small community of researchers dispersed throughout the continent. This led to the interesting thought of forging Antarctica’s version of ecotourism through creating opportunities for tourists to interact with researchers through a new typology – the research resort.
