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For nearlyÌýfifty years, commercial development in the Canadian Oil Sands has been theÌýgenerator of a population explosion in northern Alberta.ÌýÌýOil sector workers seeking stable employmentÌýand high wages have been drawn to the regionÌýfor decades; often with theÌýintention of re-settling permanently (or semi-permanently) in local communitiesÌýnear industrial activities.ÌýÌýTheseÌýpopulation increases have long been the driver of urban (and sub-urban)Ìýdevelopment in FortÌýMcMurray; which has grown to become a fully functioningÌýindustrial town of nearly 100 thousand permanent residents.

While manyÌýconsider Fort McMurray a paragon of the contemporary ‘single industry’ (orÌýcompany) town, an exclusive academic focus on ‘city-building’ has failed toÌýacknowledge the increasing relevance of the company work camp inÌýaccommodatingÌýperpetual population increases.ÌýÌýIndeed,Ìýstatistical and demographic data – gathered by the Regional Municipality of WoodÌýBuffalo – has revealed a trend prioritizing the deployment of company camps inÌýlieu of permanentÌýimprovements to the existing urban construct.

Overwhelmingly,Ìýthe camp has been characterized as the natural consequence of industrialÌýexpansion: as resource extraction operations advance farther into the CanadianÌýhinterland, the centripetal urban model (i.e. Fort McMurray) isÌýrenderedÌýincreasingly obsolete.ÌýÌýThe expandingÌýindustrial footprint hasÌýnecessitatedÌýan alternateÌýextra-urbanÌýproject.ÌýÌýThis assumption - that the campÌýis inevitable - has severely limited the ongoing public discourse surroundingÌýcontemporaryÌýworking accommodations, and has contributed to a perception of theÌýcamp as ‘benign’ or ‘passive’ when – in fact – the opposite is true.

This thesis aimsÌýto assess the current scope and scale of camp deployment through a carefulÌýaccounting of individual accommodations sites while simultaneously exploringÌýthe organizational prerogatives of camp deployment.ÌýÌýThe camp – asÌýextra-urban paradigm – is linked to an explicit economic agendaÌýwhich has successfully institutionalized a ‘nomadic,’ ‘transient,’ or otherwiseÌý‘precarious’ working regime on what is arguably Canada’s most significantÌýindustrial project.
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