KPU community explores connections between the human body and geography at Wild Spaces event

Kwantlen Polytechnic University geography and the environment instructor Parthi Krishnan has had profound experiences over the course of his life that made him feel connected to nature.

One of these experiences was as a young man serving in the Singaporean army.

“We were doing our training in Taiwan … up on one of the mountain skirts,” Krishnan told The Runner. “On my 21st birthday, I woke up and spread in front of me was the Pacific Ocean — absolutely crystal-clear blue water.”

It’s moments like this with the natural world that inspired Krishnan to run Body as Geography, an event that covered how the human body provides a sense of geography, on Nov. 6 at the Surrey campus.

This was also the 40th event run under Wild Spaces, a KPU-based teaching and research hub focused on place-based education on and near the university’s campuses.

About a dozen students, faculty, and staff gathered outdoors in the rainy weather, umbrellas in tow. Krishnan covered how several body parts are included in placenames, such as B.C.’s Kidney Island, Belly Up Canyon, Hand Bay, Ear Mountain, and Wrinkly Face Cliff.

He also explained the difference between location and place.

“If nobody knows this campus, it is simply a location to them. But all of us have some kind of connection to this campus. We either work here, have school here, or do other things here, so we have some meaning and attachment to this location — and that’s the difference,” Krishnan said during the event. “Place has meaning.”

He also presented a map of Metro Vancouver and touched on how people give cultural meaning to places, such as an area in Richmond referred to as “the pearl in the mouth of the dragon” based on Chinese culture.

Krishnan covered the difference between a step and a pace, which is two steps, and instructed participants to count their paces as the group walked along the perimeter of the campus, which is equal to one kilometre.

On 126 Street and 72 Avenue, Krishnan pointed out the site of a City of Surrey drainage line, which serves as an underground salmon-bearing stream.

“It makes you wonder how much salmon is actually coming up to the headwaters here, and the fact that the city is trying to protect all of these waterways, so we can actually have salmon coming back,” Krishnan told The Runner.

Participants also walked by the Westerman property, a plot of land next to the KPU Surrey campus, and a student garden, which is managed by the Kwantlen Student Association.

At the end of the walk, Krishnan guided the group through calculations, based on their final pace counts, to determine what their 50-metre pace is. Participants then got to use those calculations to walk out what their pacing looks like for that distance.

For geography student Jennifer Hayward, who was placed at Wild Spaces for KPU’s arts practicum course, the event was a good opportunity to observe nature on campus.

“When you’re so busy with your classes and everything, you don’t notice these things sometimes,” Hayward said. “I definitely recommend Wild Spaces events to anyone [who] wants to get out and meet new people and learn a bit more about our environment.”

KPU interdisciplinary instructor and learning strategist Lee Beavington, who is the founder and coordinator of Wild Spaces, said there are two things the hub tries to do at each event: connect to place and with one another.

“I think that’s so important nowadays to do community building. Education should not be a solitary journey,” Beavington said.

The next Wild Spaces event is scheduled for Dec. 3 online. To register, visit www.bit.ly/kpuwildspaces2025.