In-Context is a video documentary series on contemporary architecture, supported by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Canadian society is changing. Canada has become the fastest growing country in the G7, and two-thirds of our population growth is coming from immigration. Now, seven out of every ten Canadians live in big city regions that represent almost 90 per cent of the country’s population growth. It is clear that the future of Canada is based largely around its big cities, a phenomenon unlike anything we’ve ever known in this country.

This growth has brought new wealth and opportunity, and along with it, all of the challenges that come with big change. Issues of social inequality, increased poverty levels and environmental damage are constantly boiling to the surface of Canadian politics. Our response will be apparent in our architecture – in what we build and what we leave behind. Our challenge is to design cities and neighbourhoods that can act as the critical foundation for Canada’s prosperity.

In-Context traveled across Canada collecting stories of real people and places, to report on the impact of recent architecture projects at the foreground of this great evolution of Canadian cities.

Episodes include:

• Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal QC: An institution dedicated to the critical examination of architecture’s role in society.
• The Age of the Competitive City - Erb & Caroline, Waterloo ON: As a mid-sized city growing into an influential global player, Waterloo is using architecture as an economic driver in a strategic plan for prosperity.
• Defining a New Urban Frontier - Poppy Plaza, Calgary AB: Calgary’s first significant urban landscape architecture project, illustrates the city’s attempt to improve the quality of their public realm.
• The Space In-Between - Central Park Neighbourhood, Winnipeg MB: Two contemporary projects in Winnipeg’s inter-cultural Central Park neighbourhood reveal the critical role of public engagement in the design of low-income communities.
• Transforming the Edge City - Surrey Central Library, Surrey BC: A new library acts as a social space for a swelling immigrant population within a rapidly transforming suburb.
• Reclaiming a Downtown Eastside -Oppenheimer Park, Vancouver BC: A small building that provides social programs for the neighbourhood residents of Vancouver’s stigmatized Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. 
• Rebuilding a First Nations Community - K’alemi Dene School, N’Dilo Community, NT: An aboriginal school for the Yellowknife’s Dene First Nation people helps the community overcome damage caused by the residential school system.

7 episodes, 5-8 minutes each.