Staff told the council the project must comply with Gorge Scenic Area land-use guidelines that require new structures to be visually subordinate; aesthetic details will be refined in the design phase with community input.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge, connecting Detroit, Michigan, to Windsor, Ontario, redefines border crossings with its blend of engineering and artistry. Designed by AECOM’s Erik Behrens, this 2.5-kilometer cable-stayed bridge is the longest of its kind in North America. Funded entirely by Canada, it features twin 720-foot towers shaped like a hockey stick to honor Gordie Howe’s legacy. The structure incorporates 216 white stay cables creating dynamic visual patterns, Indigenous artwork by Walpole Island and Caldwell First Nation artists, murals by Roberto Villalobos, and an Anishinaabe sculpture by Michael Belmore. Douglas Coupland’s Shimmer lighting system illuminates the deck at night, while a multi-use path allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross safely. The bridge connects I-75 to Ontario’s Highway 401, offering a 125-year lifespan with sustainable design principles. This project exemplifies how infrastructure can merge functionality with cultural significance, challenging the notion that border crossings must be purely utilitarian.

Background: The prevalence of dementia has led to a growing interest in wearable technologies to assist dementia care. Despite their potential, these technologies face low adoption rates, often attributed to poor aesthetic design and insufficient consideration of user experience. Objective: This study aims to explore how the aesthetic design of wearable devices relates to their adoption and user experience in dementia care, and to critically examine the ways in which aesthetic elements shape people with dementia’s perceptions of acceptability and inform future design considerations. Methods: A critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) with a systematic search was conducted across two databases: Web of Science and Scopus on 22/08/2024. Studies were included if they reported on the current use of wearable technologies in dementia care or provided value in qualitative studies addressing attitudes from people with dementia and their caregivers towards the wearable product. Two authors independently screened the abstracts and full texts to extract data, and additional studies were included from web search, owing to their conceptual contributions to offering insights into the emergence of wearable technology, including the factors driving its commercial value and appraisal. Results: 64 studies were included in this study. Findings suggest that aesthetically considered designs are preferred by users when concerning of their acceptance towards wearable devices, particularly when devices symbolise empowerment and support personal engagement. Objects that evoke comfort, emotional connection, and personal meaning are more likely to be accepted by people with dementia. Improved aesthetics may also support caregivers through more consistent and effective data collection. Conclusions: This study uncovers a significant gap in the aesthetic design of wearable technologies for dementia care, limiting user acceptance and emotional engagement. By synthesising key themes focusing on the interaction between user and product, this review proposes a conceptual framework for dementia care, emphasising the importance of aesthetics in enabling more meaningful, inclusive, and human-centred design.

Committee members raise eyebrows over snowflake costs during discussion.