Archives /// May, 2012
July 18th, 2007
Spacing Montréal starts with a bang!
By Matthew Blackett // 4 Comments
Photographer and Spacing Montréal contributor Daniel Seguin recently captured an amazing image that deserves to be the first posted on this blog.
Bonjour. I'm Matthew Blackett, the publisher of Spacing, a magazine that covers a variety of issues surrounding Toronto's urban landscape and public spaces.
We launched the magazine in December 2003 and quickly discovered that there are a lot of people who are passionate about how cities are built. From planning and architecture students to graffiti artists to retired historical buffs, there are thousands upon thousands of residents who care ...
July 24th, 2007
Who is painting the manhole covers?
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
I'm not just asking --- I really want to know. Over the past month, somebody has painted dozens of manhole covers around Mile End, on Park Avenue, Bernard Street and St. Viateur Street. It's quite a lovely endeavour, adding a bit of colour to the sidewalk while drawing attention to an overlooked but essential piece of civic infrastructure.
Crossposted to Urbanphoto.
Lessons learned from Just for Laughs
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Every year, I head down to Just for Laughs. Not for the comedy, but for the festival site, which takes over the entire Latin Quarter and makes brilliant use of its meandering laneways and hidden corners. For two weeks in July, the Latin Quarter becomes a mysterious village, an amiable place where crowds wander through a surreal landscape of street theatre and shadows. Outdoor cafés, bars and stages emerge in the normally quiet alleys behind St. Denis Street. Space that is normally left to cars and garbage is given over to the crowds.
Just for Laughs ...
Goodbye Griffintown…
By Chris Erb // 10 Comments
Hello… Brossard? Local media outlets have been abuzz with talk of Quebec City based Devimco Inc.’s plans to rip down the gritty industrial neighbourhood (which also happens to be my home) of Griffintown in favour of a development much like its Quartier Dix30 “lifestyle centre” in the South Shore suburb of Brossard.
A rowhouse without a row on Ottawa Street in Griffintown. A small stable occupies the empty lot to the left, a newer warehouse is to the right.
For those unfamiliar with Griffintown, you can find it just south of Downtown below Notre Dame Ouest between McGill and Guy streets. At first glance, it would appear that not much is left of Griffintown, which, truth be told, is true. The neighbourhood was once one the densest urban areas in Canada with about 8000 people (mostly Irish) crammed inside cold-water flats amongst factories and stables. Due to various forces from the powers that be, only a few scattered tenements are left. Abandoned and active factories and a couple stables remain amongst newer warehouses and garages, parking lots, and the ever-expanding campus of L’École de technologie supérieure. However, a keen eye and some time spent in the neighbourhood will find a small and quirky community of small businesses, musicians, small scale artisans, students, and a scattering of stubborn old-timers who refuse to give up what little is left.
Young Street, Griffintown.
That said, Griffintown is no Plateau and with its proximity to Downtown, there have been numerous plans to redevelop the area. Some development has taken place – a cluster of high-rise condos have been built at the foot of the hill around de la Montagne Street and, as mentioned above, ÉTS has been slowly converting and demolishing buildings to expand their campus. The current proposal for a Dix30 style development has raised a lot of hairs amongst many people in the city so I decided get on my bike and take an afternoon to find out what this Dix30 actually is.
July 25th, 2007
Spacing Toronto’s look at FRAG On The Main
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Over at Spacing Wire Toronto, blogger Sean Marshall discusses his recent visit to your fair city and his discovery of FRAG On The Main, an art installation that appears on a number of St. Laurent storefronts.
When the opportunities arise, we should try to cross-promote each city's blog. I'm excited to read our Spacing Montrealers' impressions of Toronto's public realm (Dylan Reid did a post a few weeks ago about his recent trip to Montreal, and Chris DeWolf has a great post about the little streets of Kensington Market in downtown Toronto).
photo by ...
July 26th, 2007
New bike stands spotted
By Misha Warbanski // 1 Comment
For those of us year-round bike riders, one of the things that makes me smile is, despite the traffic, I’ll never have to look for parking. Locking to a parking meter gives me more joy, and especially when a harried 9-to-5er comes out to feed it while I’m locking up.
Well, the City of Montreal is making it easier to lock your bike to parking meters. A number of steel rings have been attached to parking meter poles in the city. The ones I’ve seen are on Berri, along the east side of the ...
Pizza for the masses
By Misha Warbanski // 8 Comments
An underused park in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood is getting some attention since some area residents built a wood-fire oven there. Dubbed “The Park With No Name”, the space had been an empty overgrown lot, surrounded by a 10-foot chain-link fence tucked in by the Van Horne overpass, on the corner of Clark and Arcade. Last Saturday, about 30 ...
July 27th, 2007
‘S.V.P. Insérez vingt-cinq sous’ (encore): What do payphone rate hikes mean for Montreal?
By Jacob Larsen // No Comments
Next time your cell dies and you dig out a quarter for a payphone, you’ll have to dig a little deeper. After the go-ahead from the CRTC earlier this summer, Bell has doubled the price of local calls to fifty cents. The reason given is the cost of payphone upkeep. This move will likely lead to a further decrease in their usage as frustrated Montrealers simply cease to uncoil their silver-chained receivers. This, of course, justifies the continued phase-out of the public phone, admittedly not the heftiest revenue earner for Bell Canada, Canada’s largest phone service provider.
The disappearance of that little black box will make its absence known gradually, but decisively. In the past it has provided relief to countless Canadians exploring the vast countryside, and a quick (and sometimes anonymous) call for emergencies, either large or small, in our cities. And of course, the increasing number of Canadians hovering around and falling below the poverty line rely most heavily on their availability. As many people have pointed out, pay phones are a public service – like fire hydrants, parks, and public washrooms – they are an integral (and oft over-looked) component of the urban fabric. At the rate they are disappearing – about 4,000 pay phones every year nation-wide – how long before Montreal feels the phone crunch? And is there anything that can be done?
In 2004, the CRTC declared pay phones an essential service however they don’t require companies provide them. Instead, they added a clause to protect existing payphones: if the last pay phone in a community is to be removed, the company must notify everyone in a high-profile way, such as running a newspaper ad. In the wake of the recent rate hike, the national Public Interest Advocacy Centre asked the CRTC to force Bell to operate certain Public Interest Payphones (PIPs) in places with little or no profit-generating potential. But the CRTC didn’t budge, saying that it wouldn’t interfere by imposing a heavy administrative and financial burden on the multi-billion dollar industry.
July 31st, 2007
Creative moving
By Misha Warbanski // No Comments
When push comes to shove and that stairwell just ain't getting any wider, try a creative approach to moving. Furniture hooks on the outside of buildings might be commonplace on houses in Holland, but in Montreal a third floor balcony rail seems to work just as well.
photo: misha warbanski
August 8th, 2007
Butting out litter
By Misha Warbanski // 2 Comments
The City of Montreal and the EcoQuartier of Point-aux-Prairies want smokers to think twice before throwing butts on the ground. And to make it easier they’re distributing 100,000 portable ashtrays.
Branded with the slogan “Save the Earth”, the ashtrays look kinda like this. They're essentially small plastic pouches lined with a shiny flame-retardant material and padded with an odor-eating sponge. They can hold up to seven butts, snap neatly shut and fit in your pocket until you can dump the contents into the next bin. Manufactured in China, each pouch cost the city 40 cents, ...
August 10th, 2007
Destination: boulevard Décarie
By Chris Erb // 2 Comments
When most people think of Décarie Boulevard, images of an incredibly wide, smelly, and loud street with a six lane wide trench running down the middle usually come to mind. For residents of the borough of Saint-Laurent however, the image of “downtown” comes to mind. The strip of Décarie situated roughly between Du College (just above where the 15 and the 40 meet) and boul de la Côte-Vertu (at the terminus of the orange line) is a thriving commercial artery providing residents of the borough with many commercial and civic needs. The street and its ...
August 11th, 2007
Where is the West Island?
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Every Montrealer knows that the West Island is not, in fact, an island unto itself: it is simply the westernmost part of Montreal Island, a collection of towns and boroughs home to about 250,000 people. To many anglophones, it is synonymous with "suburbia"; to many francophones, it is synonymous with "anglophones." Although often portrayed as a sprawling wasteland, the West Island actually has a number of village-like town centres and historic suburban neighbourhoods in its southern half, known to most simply as the Lakeshore.
Still, anyone who visits the West Island may detect a distinct lack ...
August 12th, 2007
Bâtiments fantômes
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 3 Comments
for english follow the "more" tag
Bâtiments fantômes au coin des rues
Saint-François-Xavier et Saint-Sacrement.
Dans le vieux Montréal, la morphologie chronologique du bâti se lit à même les murs. Ça faisait très longtemps que je n'étais pas passé par ce coin de la vieille ville. Il y quelques années, je me souviens avoir été fasciné par ces traces de bâtiments laissées lors de leurs destructions. Le secteur est parsemé de ces petits moments rendus possibles par les quelques terrains vagues restants et les terrains de stationnement extérieurs privés. Je crois qu'un inventaire complet est en règle... mais petit à petit. Je commence par mon préféré, le coin des rues Saint-François-Xavier et Saint-Sacrement. Et si par hasard je n'étais pas le seul à être fasciné par ces lectures murales, n'hésitez pas à m'en faire connaître d'autres!
Montreal’s vanished newsstands
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Kate McDonnell snapped this photo of a newsstand at Pine and St. Laurent in 1991. Back then, it was one of three remaining outdoor news kiosks in Montreal, along with one at University and Ste. Catherine and another at Place d'Armes. By 1996, they had all disappeared, the victims of declining business and a municipal government that was hostile to street vendors of all sorts.
The first crackdown on street vendors came with the election of Jean Drapeau as mayor in 1960. He reigned over the city for nearly two and a half decades, doing more ...
August 16th, 2007
Apple to open Flagship store on Ste-Catherine
By Chris Erb // 8 Comments
Being a nerd, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Apple plans to build a massive 9 300 square foot flagship store in the heart of Downtown at 1321 Ste-Catherine. According to AppleInsider, the existing building (currently housing a clothing store) will see its bottom floor raised to reconfigure the space inside and the facade will be replaced with stainless steel (and probably a giant glowing Apple logo).It is easy to pass this off as just a new retail store for a large corporation on a section of the street filled with many others like it but ...
August 20th, 2007
Bâtiments fantômes 2
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
coin De La Gauchetière et Saint-Laurent
Celui-ci n'offre pas nécessairement une lecture historique, mais est quand même digne de mention... avant qu'un autre bâtiment ne vienne cacher tout ça.
August 22nd, 2007
Phillips Square
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Phillips Square, it has always seemed to me, is inexplicably overlooked. In theory, it should be one of Montreal's most prominent public spaces, situated as it is in the downtown retail district, across the street from a major department store. While it is certainly busy, though, at least during the day, it has none of the ambiance or notoriety of some of the city's other parks, plazas and squares. It doesn't seem like a particularly distinct place to meet and gather; it's just there.
Yet Phillips Square is one of Montreal's oldest squares. First laid out in 1842, ...
Work finally starting on de Maisonneuve bike lane
By Chris Erb // 3 Comments
Montreal cyclists have been waiting for it to happen for months so, being a cyclist, I was very happy to see that the city has finally started building the downtown portion of the bike lane network along boulevard de Maisonneuve.
The new 3 metre wide section will connect the bike lane running along de Maisonneuve in Westmount and NDG to the north/south-bound lane along Berri. The new addition between these two will finally connect the extensive network of bike lanes on the east end to the smaller network on the west. It will also be the first ...
August 23rd, 2007
Montréal metro commercial from 1976
By Matthew Blackett // 2 Comments
I don't know what's going on during this 1976 commercial promoting Montréal's metro system, but it looks like fun.
cross-posted from Spacing Toronto
MyBikeLane
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
I found out about this wonderful website via the SpacingWire. It allows people to anonymously report and post pictures of vehicles parked in or blocking bike lanes. Toronto is number two after New York and Montreal doesn't have a single submission in its section. This either means motorists are much nicer to cyclists in Montreal than elsewhere or we have some work to do. Sadly, I'm pretty sure the latter is true. So everybody on bikes or on the sidewalk, keep you camera at hand and if you see ...
August 29th, 2007
Follow the sharrows
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Counterflow bike lane on Milton Street, near Lorne Avenue
A couple of days ago, Dale Duncan wrote on Spacing Toronto about sharrows, or shared road arrows, a new type of cycling-related road marking that is slowly becoming popular across North America. When I saw what they looked like --- a bicycle symbol topped by two chevrons --- I realized that Montreal has been using sharrows for a couple of years. The first time I saw them was in the McGill Ghetto, where in 2006, city workers painted them on Milton and Prince Arthur Sts., along with a couple of counterflow bike lanes.
As with any type of cycling infrastructure, cyclists are divided over the benefits and effectiveness of sharrows. Some criticize them for lulling cyclists into a false sense of security while doing little to remind drivers that they are legally bound to share the road with people on bikes. (The same argument is used against bike lanes, bike paths and just about every type of initiative that segregates cyclists and motorists.) Others, though, think they're a good way to realign drivers and cyclists, getting bikes out of the dangerous "door zone" while reminding motorists that cyclists are present.
Sharrows, it seems to me, should be considered just one infrastructural tool among many. In the McGill Ghetto, a neighbourhood just east of the McGill University campus in downtown Montreal, they appear to work very well. Milton and Prince Arthur, parallel one-way streets heading in opposite directions, have long been used as the main east-west link from the Plateau Mont-Royal into the central part of downtown. As such, the number of bikes on these mostly residential streets is consistently high. (At 5pm on a Thursday last year, I counted 24 cyclists passing through the intersection of Milton and University in less than a minute.) Cyclists heading east from McGill have always rode against westbound traffic on Milton before switching over to eastbound Prince Arthur; cyclists heading west from the Plateau would ride against eastbound traffic on Prince Arthur before switching to westbound Milton.
Naturally, a large mass of cyclists heading against the traffic flow on these two streets was potentially dangerous for cyclists and motorists alike. For once, the city's response was ingeniously simple: they established counterflow bike lanes on Milton for a few blocks east of McGill, using sharrows to direct cyclists towards Prince Arthur, where a normal bike lane took them east into the Plateau. Further east, at Prince Arthur and St. Laurent, another counterflow bike lane was built to lead cyclists to Clark Street, where sharrows direct them down to Milton Street.
So far, from what I have observed, the system is working. But that's only because it is just that: a system. If the sharrows were used in isolation, without the bike lanes, I doubt they would be as successful. They also work because they are prominent --- at intersections, four or five densely-packed sharrows are painted in succession, creating a clear path for bikes and making it impossible for drivers to ignore --- and positioned in the centre of the road, rather than on the side where cyclists would be vulnerable to car doors.
Sharrows definitely have a place in our streets --- but not in isolation and not as a replacement for bike lanes.
More photos of the Ghetto's sharrows and bike lanes after the jump!
Crossposted to Urbanphoto.
August 30th, 2007
En public, la seule option est de jeter
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 1 Comment
Samedi dernier, sous le beau soleil de l'après-midi, je sors du parc Lafontaine une bouteille de verre vide à la main. Je remarque plusieurs poubelles placées en évidence mais aucun bac de recyclage. Je me dis que je continuerai jusqu'au métro Mont-Royal en y trouvant sûrement un bac sur mon chemin. À l'approche du métro, un doute croissant me saisi. En fait, je ne me rappellais pas du tout en avoir croisé un dans la ville depuis un bon bout de temps... Pourtant, les bacs publics sont choses communes dans d'autres grandes villes et je gardais espoir d'avoir omis ...
3 visions d’un même endroit
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Au 19e siècle, la rue Sherbrooke était une des plus belles rues de Montréal. De nombreuses résidences bourgeoises furent construites le long de cette rue bordée d’arbres.
En 1862, John Matheson fit construire au coin Sud-Ouest de Sherbrooke et University une magnifique résidence de 3 étages. Cette dernière possédait de tous les côtés des vérandas sur 2 étages, ainsi qu’une tourelle sur le toit. Elle fut par la suite, la propriété de John Sterling, de sa fille Janet Sterling Moyse, du fils de cette dernière, Charles Moyse et enfin, au début du 20e ...
Photo du jour: Open Da Night
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Café Olimpico. St. Viateur and Waverly. June 11, 2006
August 31st, 2007
Mozart, Dante and Molière
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Whenever I head up to Little Italy, on my way for a coffee at Caffè Italia or some gelato at the Jean Talon Market, I wonder about Dante Street, a fairly short sidestreet off St. Laurent Boulevard just below the market. Although it is quiet, Dante Street is home to a few Little Italy landmarks, including the Pizzeria Napoletana and the sumptuous redbrick Chiesa della Madonna della Difesa, in which you can find a fresco of Benito Mussolini painted in 1919.
What really gets me about Dante Street is its name, however. A quick look ...
Sources d’info sur le patrimoine bâti
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 1 Comment
Banque d'Epargne rue Ste-Catherine et McGill, 1936
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
En guise de complément à l'article 3 visions d'un même endroit, j'ai cru que donner quelques liens utiles à la recherche sur les bâtiments, patrimoniaux et autres, de la ville serait une bonne idée. J'ai eu la chance de faire quelques études de bâtiments durant les dernières semaines et voici ce que j'ai trouvé de plus utile. À noter que toutes ces sources (à moins d'avis contraire) sont publiques et donc accessibles à qui le veut bien.
Archives de la Ville de Montréal...
Photo du jour: Restaurant For Sale
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
"Restaurant For Sale." La Gauchetière and St. Urbain. May 10, 2005.
Photo d’époque du jour
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Voici une photo de la rue Metcalfe en direction Sud prise de la rue Sherbrooke en 1964. Cliquez ici pour voir la même rue en 2007.
September 1st, 2007
The 1970 Architectural Concept
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
Ed: This piece by Spacing's Ottawa/Gatineau Region correspondent Amber Yared is cross posted from SpacingToronto and continues the investigation (see first post here) into the many parking lots of downtown Hull:
Three Impervious P-lot personnel congregated for a second interview, this time in Hull with Historian Consultant Michelle Guitard.
We sought out Guitard to find out exactly what used to be where the parking lots are now. As we had suspected, buildings had been there; but it was more lucrative for property owners to tear them down and build parking lots or to lease the land to ...
Mile End’s manhole covers: the mystery is solved!
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Last month I asked if anyone knew who was painting the manhole covers of Mile End. Slowly but surely, readers started offering some leads. One mentioned that she had heard the artist being interviewed on CBC Radio, but couldn't remember which show; another suggested that it might have to do with an arts collective that has recently established itself in the neighbourhood. Sure enough, this week brought with it confirmation that a Dutch artist named Franck Bragigand was responsible for the manhole covers, in a project realized by DARE-DARE, the Consulate-General of the Netherlands in ...
Photo du jour: Park Avenue
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Sunset. Park near St. Viateur. May 22, 2007.
September 2nd, 2007
Photo du jour: Rush Hour
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Waiting to cross. Victoria and Van Horne. February 22, 2006
L’évolution d’une rue
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Ce montage de 2 photographies de la rue Sherbrooke prise à environ 100 ans d'intervalle démontrent à quel point la rue qui était autrefois homogène est maintenant devenue totalement dépourvue d'élégance.
September 3rd, 2007
Big changes on the upper Main
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Ed: Kate McDonnell, who runs the Montreal City Weblog, is also a contributor at Urbanphoto. On occasion we will publish her work here on Spacing Montreal. In this post, Kate writes about some of the changes underway along the upper part of the Main in her neighbourhood of Villeray.
Bingo Villeray, demolished this week
Major demolitions on the Main. Older buildings flattened and replaced by megastores, old folks' homes, condos.
Not the plot of a dystopian movie: it's begun this summer on Boulevard Saint-Laurent above Jean-Talon, but the long shabby decline of that part of ...
Time for Montreal buses to get bent
By Chris Erb // 5 Comments
An articulated RTL bus passing beneath the Bonaventure highway
Montreal needs articulated (also known as bendy or accordion) buses! Anyone who rides some of the busier routes in the city would certainly agree. I was originally writing this article to ask where the hell our articulated buses are but I then came across two stories in today's Gazette (here and here) saying that we're getting them as part of Tremblay's ambitious transit plan. So, the question now is, why didn't we get them a long time ago?
It could be argued that the huge cuts made to the ...
Photo du jour : Le « côté » historique de la rue Ste-Catherine
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Série de photos prises le long de la Rue Sainte-Catherine d'annonces murales datant d'une époque bien avant celle du lecteur mp3.
29 juillet 2007.
September 4th, 2007
Photo du jour: No End in Sight
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Tunnel from St. Antoine to Fort. February 25, 2006.
September 5th, 2007
A window into another city
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
The brothers Gravenor over at Coolopolis recently featured this 1972 photo of a street party on Hutchison Street. What was being celebrated? The success of the Milton Park Citizens' Coalition, which had banded together to fight the proposed Cité Concordia, a massive development that would have obliterated the McGill Ghetto's ramshackle Victorian rowhouses and stately apartment buildings in favour of a Modernist's wet dream. The project was scrapped (although the big La Cité apartment and retail complex was still built at the corner of Park and Prince Arthur) and many of the dwellings in the eastern ...
“It was too funky to last”
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Montreal is quite possibly the largest college town in North America: our four universities, concentrated in the centre of the city, bustle with more than 150,000 students every day. Add tens of thousands more faculty and staff in the mix and you have an enormous number of people who spend most of their lives at these cities-within-the-city. Each campus is, in many ways, a self-contained society with its own culture and sense of identity. Often enough, it's the public spaces within these universities that shape that identity. For instance, it wouldn't be unfair to suggest that Concordia's ...
Photo du jour: New restaurant
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Dragon dance for good business. St. Laurent and La Gauchetière.
May 27, 2007.
Photo du jour: Clean Streets
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Two signs helping to rid rue Fabre and its alley of les déchets. August 24, 2007
L’évolution d’une rue #2
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Voici un montage photo qui représente une fois de plus les ravages de l'apparition de l'automobile.
La première photographie fut prise en 1898 et la seconde en 2007. Vers la fin des années 50 jusqu'au début des années 70 la rue Dorchester a été passablement transformée. Elle fut élargie afin d'être transformée en boulevard et des voies d'accès pour l'autoroute ont été ajoutées à divers endroits. Ainsi donc, aucune maison en rangée de la photo d'époque ne subsistent du côté Nord ...
September 6th, 2007
Get on the bus!
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
In his post urging Montreal to get bent, Chris Erb briefly mentioned the mayor's plan to overhaul Montreal's bus network. Monday's Gazette gave a pretty good outline of what's included in the plan, including some pretty obvious improvements --- like adding more buses. The STM's current fleet of 1,600 will be increased to 2,100, along with an extra 202 bendy buses on busy routes like the 535 Park/Côte-des-Neiges. Here are some more highlights:
--- 240 kilometres of new reserved bus lanes on streets like Beaubien, Rosemont, Notre-Dame East, Sauvé and Côte-Vertu. Priority signals will be installed ...
Mon Chinatown
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Un soir d'hiver dans Chinatown
On s'est promené devant les vitrines
On a trouvé un magasin qui sentait l'orient
On a marché toute la soirée
Tes bottes te faisaient mal aux pieds
Les vieux Chinois nous regardait
Nous autres, on souriait
* Beau Dommage - Chinatown (1974) *
Le Quartier Chinois n'a jamais été un sujet intéressant pour moi. Ayant grandi dans la banlieue ouest de Montréal, mes parents nous y conduisaient mon frère et moi à l'occasion pour faire les achats ou pour aller manger au dim sum.
Je me souviens bien de l'ancienne Maison Kam Fung, alors à ...
Show your Chinatown how much you love it
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
This Saturday is the annual Chinatown Clean-Up festival, organized by the Chinese Family Service of Greater Montreal, a non-profit community organization. It might sound kind of odd --- a clean up festival? --- but it promises to be a lot of fun. Participants will spend a couple of hours sweeping up different sections of the neighbourhood and a variety show will present music, sketches and other entertainment. Best of all, volunteers will be rewarded with an organic cotton American Apparel t-shirt and a free lunch at the Man Sau Centre.
This year's event is green-themed and ...
Photo du jour: Wing’s Nouilles Chinoises
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Wing's factory. La Gauchetière and Côté. July 16, 2007.
September 7th, 2007
A Visit to the Vespasiennes
By Jacob Larsen // 3 Comments
Walking through Cabot Square you may have spotted this unusual octagonal building that could almost pass as a shrine or even tiny palace. But the only thrones you'd have ever see in this vespasienne were of the porcelain variety. But their stall doors to these public washrooms have slammed shut for the last time and the structures that remain serve as a reminder of this essential public service the city once provided.
The vespasiennes were constructed in the 1930s during the long mayoral reign of Camillien ...
Photo du jour : Samedi 19h à Banlieueville
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Arrêt d'autobus aux abords du centre commercial La Place Vertu, arrondissement de Saint-Laurent. 1er septembre 2007.
L’avenue Edgehill
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Le visage du boulevard René-Lévesque est resté sensiblement le même depuis la vague de démolition qui eut lieu dans les années 60 et 70. L'artère maintenant transformée en boulevard portant le nom d'un premier ministre du Québec fut à l'origine nommée Dorchester, en l'honneur d'un gouverneur britannique, Guy Carleton, le premier baron Dorchester.
En 1803, face à ce qui est maintenant le centre canadien d'architecture, fut construit le château St-Antoine pour William McGillivray. Celui-ci fut démolie en 1873 et le terrain fut subdivisé. Le portail de l'entrée fut conservé et il donna par la suite ...
September 8th, 2007
Photo du jour: Bubble tea smiles
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
La Gauchetière and Clark. April 14, 2006.
September 9th, 2007
Photo du jour: Biking along the Lachine Canal
By Spacing // No Comments
Bike path along the Lachine Canal. Snapped September 5th, 2007 by Daniel Séguin.
Photo du jour: Sikh, Greek
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Athena Square, Park Ex. April 21, 2006.
September 10th, 2007
Little mosque, big city
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
New mural on a mosque near the Main and Ste. Catherine
In last week’s issue of the Economist, a couple of interesting articles looked at the challenge of building mosques in Western cities. All too often, it seems, cities and neighbourhoods in Europe and North America become divided when faced with the possibility that a minaret might rise on the horizon. What is it, though, that scares people about mosques? Is it the fear of terrorism fed by media reports of radical imams preaching their jihadist rhetoric at suburban mosques? Or is it something more elemental, a ...
Photo du jour: Bicycle gang
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Athena Square, Park Ex. April 21, 2006.
Joining the medieval battle on Mount Royal
By Christopher DeWolf // 16 Comments
Most Montrealers know about the tam tams. Hell, the weekly drum circle, market and gathering around the Sir George Étienne Cartier Monument on Mount Royal is even used by Tourism Montreal to promote the city. But what about the fighting that goes on in the woods behind the tam tams?
Every Sunday, just a few minutes' walk from the traffic of Park Avenue, past the trinket vendors, dancers, drum players, drug dealers and picnickers that sprawl across the park lawn, is a weekly mock battle between dozens of people dressed as medieval warriors. They fight with elaborately ...
September 11th, 2007
Small-town France does it better
By Paul Erlichman // 3 Comments
It's easy for those with anti-car sentiments in North America to yell "everything's better in Europe", as if the generalization was a universal truth. But Rennes, France provides an example of a town that is doing its best to make life easy for those without a car. Montréal could take some notes.
Rennes is considered the gateway city to the Northwestern region of Brittany, and also serves as its capital. The city is, like most mid-sized towns in France, quite old. Many buildings in the city's old town (about twice the size of the Old Port and still serving as the ...
Photo du jour: Au Revoir
By Chris Erb // 9 Comments
This eclectic block of Ste-Catherine at Jeanne-Mance will soon be demolished to make way for a souless mid-rise office building housing a Best Buy at street level.
September 12th, 2007
What’s eating your money?
By Misha Warbanski // No Comments
Parking meter coins buy karma for drivers
(this is crossposted with The Link)
It’s been six weeks since the parking meters started reappearing on Montreal sidewalks. Dubbed “Parco-Don,” these meters don’t get you a parking spot, but the money collected helps a homeless person get a good meal.
“So far so good. We’ve made about $3,000,” says Émilie Moreau, a development counsellor at L’Itinéraire, the organization benefiting from the parking meter project. They publish the bi-weekly magazine of the same name, produced by street people, and run Café sur la rue, which offers ...
September 13th, 2007
Photo du jour: Triplex evening
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Triplexes. Clark near Duluth. May 30, 2007.
What do you want at the Pine/Park interchange?
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
By Montreal standards, it was a remarkably quick construction project. Perhaps that is because it mostly involved deconstruction: an entire interchange dismantled and replaced with a straightforward, easy-to-negotiate and pedestrian-friendly surface intersection. It has already been several months since the revamped Pine/Park interchange was opened. Since then, I've come to appreciate its wide sidewalks and broad vista of Mount Royal, uncluttered by highway signage and crumbling concrete bretelles. I don't think I'm alone, either, considering how much pedestrian traffic there seems to be at the new intersection.
Of course, the roads, sidewalks and light fixtures might be ...
September 14th, 2007
Photo du jour: Evening portrait
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Outside the Adams Building. McGill University. May 22, 2007.
The makeshift Dawson memorial
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
It has been exactly a year and a day since the Dawson College shootings. I remember hearing about them on television, and then heading downtown for work, passing by Dawson on the way and gawking at the assembled police, medics and bystanders. What I remember most, though, is what happened in the days that followed, when thousands of Montrealers ventured down to leave flowers, candles and messages of support at a makeshift memorial on Atwater Avenue.
I too felt the urge to visit, motivated by a sense of curiosity tinged, perhaps, with a bit of grief. When I ...
September 15th, 2007
Photo du jour: Laval metro
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Cartier metro on opening day. April 28, 2007.
Norman Bethune Square
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Norman Bethune Square, a tiny triangle wedged between the intersection of Guy St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd., is Montreal's shittiest square. I mean that literally: it quite possibly has more pigeon shit per square inch than any other public space in the whole of Greater Montreal. I have no idea why pigeons like this place so much, but it's almost like an homage to Trafalgar Square, filled as it is with twitchy flocks of little grey birds.
This small square also has the distinction of being the only square in Montreal named after a Communist. Born in ...
September 16th, 2007
Photo du jour: Gilford curves
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Gilford and Grand-Pré. May 30, 2007.
September 17th, 2007
Photo du jour: Alleyway café
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Café in an Old Port laneway. Duke and Wellington. April 30, 2007.
September 18th, 2007
Photo du jour: Montreal circa 1979
By Chris Erb // 9 Comments
Three pictures taken by my mom in 1979 while attending a Phil Collins concert. Anyone know what building they were taken from or what the building in the third picture was?
Note: The original photographs were not scanned, rather, I took various shots of them with a digital camera with different settings and under different lighting conditions then edited the best ones in Photoshop.
Tonight, the future of Griffintown, and more!
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
WHAT? Alternative vision of Griffintown presented at Pecha Kucha night, along with other interesting topics
WHEN? Tonight, September 18th, at 8pm
WHERE? Society for Arts and Technology, 1195 St. Laurent, near René-Lévesque
HOW MUCH? Free!
In response to the news that the developer of Dix30, a suburban lifestyle centre in Brossard, is interested in building something similar in Griffintown, Little Burgundy resident and man-about-town A.J. Kandy, along with friend Stephanie Troeth, will present an alternative, New Urbanist vision of Griffintown's redevelopment tonight at the SAT.
"A suburban mall at the foot of one of Montreal’s central boulevards, in the middle ...
Odd things around town
By Christopher DeWolf // 18 Comments
One of the best things about wandering around town is finding all sorts of architectural and infrastructural oddities like unusual street signs and bizarre decorative elements. Montreal is rife with these sorts of things. Over at Coolopolis, J.D. Gravenor recently pointed out a cryptic inscription on the cornice of a western NDG apartment building: "Mona's Isle." Turns out it's a reference to an 1844 poem about the Isle of Man.
My stomping ground is a bit further east, in Mile End, but there's no shortage of interesting urban details around here. On the west side of ...
L’évolution d’une rue #3
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2003
Cette propriété fut construite en 1891 pour Robert Stanley Bagg à l'angle de la rue Sherbrooke et du chemin de la côte-des-neiges.
L’autre Montréal
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 1 Comment
QUOI? Balade contée dans les ruelles de Montréal (en autobus)
QUAND? Dimanche le 23 septembre, 13h30 à 16h30
OÙ? Square Saint-Louis
COMBIEN? 27 $
Pour tous les fans de Montréal, résidents ou visiteurs, l'organisme L'Autre Montréal organise des balades commentés dans les rues de la ville. Les circuits abordent des sujets aussi variés que le patrimoine bâti ou les grands enjeux sociaux et sont une excellente façon de découvrir les grandes lignes comme les petits secrets...
Extrait de leur site www.autremontreal.com
"Le Collectif d’animation urbaine L’Autre Montréal est un organisme sans but lucratif d’éducation ...
September 19th, 2007
Photo du jour : Art brûlant
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
« La Joute », par Jean-Paul Riopelle (1969) à la Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, avec le Palais des congrès de Montréal en arrière-plan. 3 octobre 2005.
Headlines / À la une : 2007.09.20
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
À la une est une selection hebdomadaire de nouvelles concernant l'espace publique de Montréal. Il paraîtra tous les mercredis.
Headlines is a weekly selection of news stories about public space in Montreal. It will appear every Wednesday.
IN THE STREETS / DANS LES RUES
L'insalubrité agace des citoyens dans CDN-NDG --- 09.19 (La Presse)
Le CREM veut que Montréal protège les parcs --- 09.19 (La Presse)
Choc architectural au Ritz-Carlton --- 09.19 (Le Devoir)
La STM offre une navette vers la malbouffe --- 09.18 (La Presse)
Fermeture surprise de la rue de Bleury --- 09.15 (La Presse)
Google's detailed streetscapes raise ...
St. Urbain Street comes to the CBC
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Tonight, at 8pm, the CBC will air the first part of a new miniseries based on Mordecai Richler's 1971 novel, St. Urbain's Horseman.
"The story is simple enough: Montrealer Jake Hersh is a filmmaker living in London, happily married to a woman much too good for him, when he's put on trial for a crime he didn't commit," wrote author and Richler obsessive Joel Yanofsky in Sunday's Gazette. "But it's those he has committed --- failing to measure up as a husband, an artist, a Jew, a man --- that haunt him. The novel's achievement ...
The spots on the sidewalk
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Next time you walk down the street, take a look down. See the spots? That's gum, pressed into the pavement by thousands of footsteps. I normally don't pay them much notice but, now that I think of it, they're a good indication of how busy a particular stretch a sidewalk is. The more pedestrians that use it, the more discarded rubbish and, consequently, the more black spots.
"Hardened gum underfoot is undeniably an urban hallmark," wrote Deborah Stead in a 2003 article that appeared in the New York Times. (What paper other than the Times ...
September 20th, 2007
English street signs
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Even now, 40 30 years (ed---oops!) after Bill 101 mandated that Montreal conduct its official business in French only, it is not uncommon to find old English or bilingual public signs. Forget the politics; these signs are a fascinating window into Montreal's past.
I've written about Montreal's street signs before --- you can find my photos and articles listed under Urbanphoto's Signage category --- but I'm still finding plenty of nice examples of old or unusual street signs.
The Ste. Catherine St. sign pictured above is particularly interesting because it does not seem to conform to any ...
It’s Car Free Day!
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Today is Montreal's fifth annual edition of Car Free Day, known officially (and awkwardly) as "In town, without my car!" The east end of the downtown core, between McGill College on the west and St. Urbain on the east, de Maisonneuve on the north and René Lévesque on the south, will be closed from 9:30am to 3:30pm. (Ste. Catherine in front of Place des Arts will be closed all day.)
The car-free zone will be divided into three sections: the "Active and Public Transportation District," featuring a sit-in "to take action in favour of streets ...
Urbania and TV5 launch Montréal en 12 Lieux
By Chris Erb // 2 Comments
It's been five days since Kate sent her readers to the teaser for Montréal en 12 Lieux and just based on how awesome the video they made for it was (now the background for the site, albeit somewhat obscured) I couldn't wait to see what it was going to be all about.
The site has finally launched and it is indeed pretty cool in how it attempts to show the city from twelve different points of view. Only four are available right now but a new topic is added each day. The four currently online ...
Photo du jour : Festival Osheaga 2007
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Festival Osheaga au Parc Jean-Drapeau et, derrière un écran de fumée de barbecue, le centre-ville de Montréal en arrière-plan. 9 septembre 2007.
September 21st, 2007
Infest Wisely to infest Montreal tonight
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? Sneak preview of public-space-shot sci-fi film!
QUAND? Ce soir, le 21 septembre, à 20h00
WHERE? The Park With No Name, at Clark and Arcade in Mile End, underneath the Van Horne Viaduct. 5 minute walk west of Rosemont metro or 55 bus to Bernard
COMBIEN? Gratuit!
A new, chewable nanotechnology lets people take pictures with their eyes and cures cancer. But the early adopters find out it’s hard to uninstall something after it’s spread through their bloodstream….
Shot entirely in Toronto and mostly in public spaces, Infest Wisely is a lo-fi sci-fi no-budget feature written by Spacing contributor Jim ...
Photo du jour: Verdun
By Chris Erb // 3 Comments
I believe this is 1re ave looking toward rue Wellington in Verdun. Taken on my first trip to Verdun, September 2006.
September 22nd, 2007
The ground is falling!
By Paul Erlichman // 5 Comments
Almost every day I pass the construction on Sherbrooke just below Parc Lafontaine. Work there was started months ago as a result of a large chunk of road falling out, an event resembling the Laval bridge collapse and the structural problems found underneath de Maisonneuve that caused a metro line to close last month. But while most people might think of events with fear, I think of them with a sense of wonder. I'm amazed that these things occur so infrequently. Cities have, for the most part, ceased to have become death traps.
Obviously, cities are not ...
Photo du jour: Downtown from Abandoned Silo
By Chris Erb // 2 Comments
Taken on September 15, 2007 while exploring an abandoned silo on the Pointe St-Charles side of the Lachine Canal.
September 23rd, 2007
Dying for road safety
By Misha Warbanski // 1 Comment
Montreal has a tradition of using performance art as a means of protest. Back in 1976 "Bicycle Bob" Silverman and his pro-bike cohorts organized the first "die-in". They were trying to draw attention to the number of pedestrians and cyclists who get killed every year from road accidents with vehicles. Combined with other miscrean activities -- like painting their own bike lanes on the road -- the city finally agreed that maybe they're a good idea.
In 2006, another die-in was held to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the first. The message was the same, but there was added emphasis on the pollution created by cars and the geopolitical wars to secure oil reserves. Now an annual party, several hundred cyclists "died" yesterday on Ste-Catherine Street at McGill College.
Quebec's Taksforce on Road Safety reports there are 3.6 million cyclists in the province. Between 2002 and 2006, cyclists represented 3 per cent of road deaths and 5 per cent of road injuries.
You can see more news about the die in and monthly rides at critical mass
More photos after the jump.
Lancement de Spacing Montréal launch party!
By Spacing // 3 Comments
QUOI? WHAT? Lancement de Spacing Montréal launch party!
QUAND? WHEN? Dimanche le 23 septembre, 19h30 / Sunday, Sept. 23rd, 7:30pm
OÙ? WHERE? Le Cagibi (5490 St-Laurent coin St-Viateur)
COMBIEN? HOW MUCH?: Gratuit/Pay What You Can
Spacing is happy to have Spacing Montréal join our family of daily coverage of urban issues.
If you're looking for an excuse to go out on the town on a Sunday night, Spacing Montréal is throwing a launch party on September 23rd at the charming little club le Cagibi. We'll have a DJ spinning some tunes, photos of Montréal (captured by our ...
September 24th, 2007
Thrown for a loop on de Maisonneuve
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
If you've ever biked east from NDG along the de Maisonneuve bike path, you might have found yourself feeling a little turned around at one point. It wouldn't have been your fault, though, since the bike path actually effectively terminates in a perplexing loop as you approach Boulevard Decarie. Or, if you chose to interpret the only dirt path out of this miasma as a bike path, you'll be led directly into de Maisonneuve's steady one-way, oncoming traffic. I have no idea what the planners were thinking when they installed this part of the bike path along de Maisonneuve. I ...
Photo du jour: Doin’ it
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Graffiti mural. Roy and St. Dominique. May 27, 2007.
Spacing Montréal launch party photos
By Matthew Blackett // 2 Comments
We officially launched Spacing Montréal this weekend and attracted a wonderful assortment of folks to le Cagibi. The place was packed and our newfound readers seemed eager to spread the word about our new blog. For those of you who turned up at the event, many many many thanks. You've made both the editors and contributors an excited bunch. (special thanks to the Toronto readers who made the trip up)
Check out the photos of the event (on our Flickr account) by Spacing Montréal's photo editor Daniel Seguin....
September 25th, 2007
Photo du jour: Laundry line
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Laundry line. Laneway behind Park near Bernard. May 26, 2007.
Anti-Semitic graffiti in Mile End
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Every so often there is a reminder that Montreal, for all its history as a capital of Jewish culture in North America, still has a problem with anti-Semitism. In the past year alone, a molotov cocktail was thrown at a Jewish school on Van Horne and a bomb exploded outside of a Jewish community centre on Victoria Avenue. It wasn't so long ago that a Jewish school's library was destroyed in a vicious firebombing.
Just the other day, a friend told me about this piece of graffiti on Clark Street, between St. Viateur and Fairmount. Someone ...
September 26th, 2007
Headlines / À la une : 2007.09.26
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
IN THE STREETS / DANS LES RUES
Et pourtant, on construit ! --- 09.22 (Le Devoir)
Un nouveau marché aux abords du métro Frontenac --- 09.22 (LCN)
Signage regulation worries Décarie merchants --- 09.21 (Saint-Laurent News)
Mount Royal project would reopen gateway to park --- 09.21 (The Gazette)
Des travaux majeurs pour restaurer la croix du mont Royal --- 09.21 (Arrondissement.com)
POLITICS / POLITIQUE
How estate was built on public, farm lands --- 09.22 (The Gazette)
La grande ville balkanisée --- 09.22 (Le Devoir)
ENVIRONMENT / ENVIRONNEMENT
Air pur au centre-ville de Montréal --- 09.21 (La Presse)
TRANSPORT
Alstom veut ...
Photo du jour: Into the sun
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Laneway behind Park Avenue, near Bernard. May 30, 2007.
Fresh Paint this weekend
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
WHAT? Urban art event with discussion, video, a book launch, interventions, music and walking tours
WHEN? Friday, Saturday and Sunday. See the schedule for specific times
WHERE? Park With No Name, near the corner of St. Laurent and Van Horne
HOW MUCH? Free!
This weekend, DARE-DARE, a multidisciplinary arts organization based in Mile End, presents Fresh Paint, a three-day event that will mix discussion with artistic interventions, a book launch, walks and video projections. Some of the highlights include a conference with Peter Gibson, aka Roadsworth, a street artist famous for his stencil work; walking tours hosted ...
Five walking tours, a bus tour and a boat tour
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
It's the last weekend of September. The leaves are beginning to change, the sun now sets at six and the evening air grows brisker with every passing day. In just a month we'll be locked into the drizzly grey purgatory that is November.
You know what that means? It's time to get out of the house --- and why not learn a bit about Montreal while you're at it? There's a plethora of outdoor activities this weekend including five heritage walking tours, a bus tour and a boat tour, all of which are outlined on the ...
September 27th, 2007
Urbania célèbre Montréal ce soir!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
QUOI? Lancement d'Urbania avec projections vidéo et musique
QUAND? Ce soir, le 27 septembre, à 19h00
OÙ? Au Club Soda, 1225 St-Laurent
COMBIEN? 10 $ (magazine inclus)
Un petit message de nos camarades d'Urbania, qui partagent la même disposition urbanophile que nous autres :
C'est ce soir (jeudi le 27 septembre) qu'a lieu LA rumba de l'automne, soit le lancement combiné du magazine édition MONTRÉAL, de Montréal en 12 lieux, notre série télé ainsi que de mtl12.com, l'expérience Web qui l'accompagne. La convergence réinventée. Pierre-Karl n'a qu'à bien se tenir.
Chris Erb a déjà écrit sur Montréal en 12 ...
Photo du jour: Montreal’s Tiniest Laneway
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Alley in the Latin Quarter. November 10, 2006
September 28th, 2007
Photo du jour: Van Horne Warehouse
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
The Van Horne Warehouse, at the corner of Van Horne and the Main, is not only covered with ghost signs and graffiti, it is capped by a water tower, an increasingly rare sight in Montreal.
September 29th, 2007
Photo du jour : Librairie arabe
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Librairie sur le boulevard Décarie, Ville St-Laurent. Le 10 novembre, 2006.
September 30th, 2007
Photo du jour : La Sauvegarde
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Publicité fantôme. Le 10 novembre, 2006
October 1st, 2007
Photo du jour: The Green Stop
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Green Stop Restaurant at Monk and Jolicoeur, Ville-Émard. May 6, 2005
The Art of Parking
By Spacing // No Comments
Editor's Note: Thus continues the investigation into the many parking lots of downtown Hull by Spacing’s Ottawa/Gatineau Region correspondent Amber Yared:
On our third interview for The Impervious P-lot we (Kathy, Malcolm, Michaela, and I) met with Brigitte Ann Epps, an attendant and valet for one of the parking lots behind the brown buildings in Hull. We were excited to talk to someone who would provide an insider perspective on parking lots. To start, I was curious about the small boxy structures parking lot attendants work from, like the one we stood in during ...
Une balade pittoresque à l’incinérateur des Carrières
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 4 Comments
L'incinérateur et ses deux tours avec le Mont-Royal en arrière plan
Cette fin de semaine je suis finalement allé rendre visite à l'incinérateur no. 3, ou l'incinérateur des Carrières. Pour ceux qui passent beaucoup de temps le long de la voie ferrée entre Rosemont et le Plateau, vous aurez sûrement déjà remarqué ses deux énormes cheminées de plus de 75m de haut. Inauguré en 1970 dans le but d'y incinérer des tonnes de déchets montréalais, l'incinérateur fut désaffecté en 1993. Les activités industrielles y sont maintenant complètement absentes, mais le bâtiment reste debout comme témoin impressionnant du ...
October 2nd, 2007
Visit the Mile End Exhibition Grounds
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Mile End Road, now known as Mount Royal Avenue, in 1859
WHAT? Bilingual presentation on the history of the Mile End Exhibition Grounds
WHEN? Wednesday, October 3rd, at 6pm
WHERE? Mile End Library, 5434 Park Avenue (near St. Viateur)
HOW MUCH? Free!
Did you know that the residential area between St. Laurent and Park Avenue, north of Mount Royal, was once known as the Annex? It's part of the legacy of the Mile End Exhibition Grounds, the site of several major industrial and agricultural exhibitions in the nineteenth century. When they were subdivided --- annexed --- in the 1890s, they formed a ...
October 3rd, 2007
Photo du jour : Église St-Joachim de Pointe-Claire
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Au bord du Lac Saint-Louis, devant l'Église St-Joachim de Pointe-Claire, en banlieue ouest de Montréal. Prise la même journée que la photo prise par mon collègue Daniel Seguin pour la carte du lancement de Spacing Montréal, à des lieux opposés de l'Île de Montréal. Cette plage était une de petits cailloux et l'amie qui nous accompagnait suggéra qu'en remplissant le bord de l'eau de sable, ça pourrait sûrement faire une belle plage publique, bonifiée par sa proximité au pittoresque village de Pointe-Claire.
Photo prise le 15 septembre 2007.
Headlines / À la une : 2007.10.03
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
POLITICS / POLITIQUE
It's clear the wheels are falling off the juggernaut that once was the city of Montreal --- 10.03 (The Gazette)
Labonté dumps mayor's ally --- 10.03 (The Gazette)
Outremont vows to cork the booze --- 10.02 (The Gazette)
Benoit Labonté règle ses comptes dans Ville-Marie --- 10.02 (La Presse)
More bad news, Mr. Mayor: Government funding will go where the votes are --- 10.02 (The Gazette)
Autre coup dur pour Outremont --- 10.01 (La Presse)
IN THE STREETS / DANS LA RUE
Les plus belles toilettes publiques de Montréal --- 10.03 (La Presse)
City ...
October 4th, 2007
Photo du jour : Fin de la saison du boulingrin
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Au boulingrin du village de Pointe-Claire, un lieu public de rassemblement privilégié des personnes âgées lors des soirées chaudes d'été. 15 septembre 2007.
Encore des condos
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Cette photographie prise sur la rue de Gaspé dans le quartier Villeray en septembre 2007 illustre désormais une scène du passé.
En effet, ces 3 constructions furent démolis en date du 4 octobre 2007. Ces bâtiments qui dataient de 1912 et 1914 furent rasés pour faire place à un nouveau projet de 12 condominiums. Le triplex à l'extrême droite, fut lourdement endommagé lors d'un incendie à l'été 2006 mais les 2 maisons ...
October 5th, 2007
Wandering around Lachine
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
St. Joseph Street along Lachine's waterfront
Do you know Lachine? Thanks to the canal, pretty much every Montrealer is familiar with the name. I'm sure most are even aware of the borough. But have you been there? Do you know anything about it except as "that place at the end of the Lachine Canal"?
À Lachine, on fait le stop !
For those who don't know, I'll let you in on a secret: Lachine is one of the most fabulously bizarre places in Montreal. That shouldn't be a surprise because, according to the rules of Montreal weirdness, the more isolated, working-class and far-flung a neighbourhood, the stranger it is. Lachine wins on all three counts. Although it is located on the lakeshore-canal bicycle superhighway, and autoroute 20 passes along its northern border, Lachine is not exactly central. By bus, it's 35 minutes away from Angrignon metro, the end of the line. Downtown Lachine, a small area bordered by Victoria Street on the north and the St. Lawrence on the south, is removed from pretty much any major transportation corridor.
That is to say, any modern transportation corridor. Lachine's entire reason for existence is the Lachine Canal, through which every ship heading to and from the Great Lakes used to funnel. Although Lachine has existed as a settlement since the 17th century, when it was a fur trading post, it started to develop as a proper town only after the canal opened in 1835. By the early twentieth century, it was a burgeoning industrial suburb. Of course, by the 1970s, deindustrialization and the closure of the canal dealt a significant blow to Lachine. It's only now recovering.
I ventured out to Lachine last spring to check out its newly revamped public market, the smallest of Montreal's big four (the others being Jean-Talon, Atwater and Maisonneuve). To get there, I took the 90 bus west from Atwater. It dropped me off on Provost Street in the newer part of Lachine. Provost is a decidedly unattractive mix of depanneurs and fast-food joints; its one claim to fame might be a Kentucky Fried Chicken that has somehow escaped rebranding: its signs date from at least a few decades back.
Notre-Dame Street, Lachine's main drag
The real attraction in Lachine is the waterfront downtown area, a 15 minute walk from Provost. There, you'll find a quaint mix of twentieth-century duplexes, nineteenth-century cottages, the aforementioned public market and Montreal's most pleasant and relaxing waterfront. What really interests me, though, is Notre-Dame Street, Old Lachine's main drag. On a bright Saturday afternoon it was eerily quiet; look between the vacant storefronts, however, and you'll find a few surprises.
"We've moved downtown"
The first might be the number of new immigrant businesses. Some of the businesses along Notre-Dame's ten-block commercial stretch include French bakery run by a Cambodian guy, a Somali couple's halal butcher, a black anglophone grocery selling Caribbean products and a modest Chinese supermarket. Near 10th Avenue, a Russian man sells old tapes, CDs and records. Best of all is a huge, labyrinthine junk store run by an old couple from Texas. They say they've lived in Lachine for 30 years, but their accents are still as thick as if they had been plucked right off the Texan plain.
All along Notre-Dame, makeshift plywood boxes serve as community bulletin boards. They may look silly, but not even the Ville-Marie or Plateau boroughs offer this kind of legal postering space. It's a shame that, in Lachine, they remain half-empty, with nearly all of the posters advertising yard sales or lost animals. If these things were placed on St. Viateur or the Main, they'd be covered --- several layers thick, too --- within a week.
Notre-Dame, unfortunately, is not the main street it used to be. Most Lachine residents shop for their essentials at nearby malls and big box stores, of which there is an abundance in adjacent LaSalle and Dorval. Considering how quiet it has been every time I've visited, few people from outside the neighbourhood seem to stray onto Notre-Dame.
Instead, they head to the waterfront, and for a good reason: it's one of Montreal's most picturesque. It's also the finish line for many cyclists who bike along the canal from the Old Port. (Although the bike path continues all the way to Ste. Anne de Bellevue, it's a pretty ambitious ride from downtown.) St. Joseph Boulevard, which runs along the water, is dotted with pleasant cafés and restaurants whose terraces bustle on sunny days.
For me, though, the most rewarding destination after a stroll in Lachine is an unassuming restaurant located in an old cottage on Notre-Dame St. at the corner of 25th Avenue. La Shangri-la bills itself, somewhat dubiously, as a Nepalese, Indian and Italian restaurant. Turns out that it's run by a Nepalese family that worked in an Italian restaurant in Kathmandu before coming to Montreal. Normally, I would expect something like that in Park Ex or Côte des Neiges. But, well, you know... it's Lachine. You'll be surprised.
More photos after the jump.
Photo du jour : Place Sun Yat-sen
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
Des parcs Sun Yat-sen, du nom du vénéré fondateur de la Chine moderne, il y en a probablement presque autant que de Chinatowns dans le monde. Celui de Montréal est situé au véritable coeur de son Quartier Chinois, c'est-à-dire à l'angle des rues Clark et De La Gauchetière, cette dernière étant désignée rue piétonnière. C'est le lieu de rassemblement naturel pour la communauté chinoise à Montréal. Souvent, on y croisera les fervents de la secte interdite du Falun Dafa, et d'autres fois, un monsieur qui tire des lancers frappés ...
A ghost appears, but not for long
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
In a city with as many layers of history as Montreal, the demolition of a building usually entails the relevation of something else, like a ghost ad. I've written before about these old painted advertisements faded by time and the elements; they can be found in cities and towns right across North America and Europe, where the practice of painting advertisements on building sides was long ago usurped by billboards and other media. No matter how many I find in Montreal, though, there are always more lurking in tight corners, dark alleyways and, of ...
Your favourite laneway / Votre ruelle préferée
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Foggy alley off St. Viateur St. in Mile End
Montreal's laneways are the city's shadow streets. Unnamed and underrecognized, they cut through the city fabric like a knife through baklava, revealing the accumulated layers of human occupation behind the street's prim façades. Here you will see the unrenovated, unassuming backsides of buildings, all fire escapes and crumbling bricks or scattered backyard toys and laundry lines.
Les ruelles ont fait leur apparition à Montreal à la fin du XIXe siècle, grâce aux nouveaux codes de bâtiment qui avaient tenté de dissimuler tout ce qui était disgracieux de la ...
October 6th, 2007
Élections fédérales en novembre? Federal election in November?
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Allons-nous ou allons-nous pas à nouveau voir notre ville placardée de pancartes électorales? Les discussions sur la Colline Parlementaire s'animent et les médias s'accordent pour dire que nous aurons des élections générales au Canada au cours du mois de novembre.
Photo prise sur l'esplanade de la Place des Arts, le 11 juin 2004.
Avez-vous des photos intéressantes de pancartes électorales à nous faire parvenir? Envoyez le tout à cedricsam@gmail.com avec vos impressions, et on tâchera de publier les meilleures.
Do you have interesting pictures of electoral signs to ...
How to ruin and revive a main street
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Two of Montreal's newspapers turned their attention to the city's main streets today. The Gazette bemoans the state of "the black hole on Ste. Catherine" with a feature by Andy Riga on the block just east of the old Forum, between Lambert-Closse and Chomedey. After Bombay Palace closed and moved west to Bishop Street this week, the north side of the block is now completely vacant. Some blame the street's decline on the closure of the Forum in 1996, but the most likely culprit is the decrepit ruins of the Seville Theatre, which closed in 1985:
The ...
Photo du jour: Durocher Street
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Durocher Street below Jean Talon, Park Extension. September 28, 2006
October 7th, 2007
Photo du jour: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Walking around Park Ex one day, I found this poster for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham --- the first Bollywood movie I ever saw --- in an alley behind Jean-Talon. September 28, 2006
Photo contest: Montreal’s “green oases and toxic hotspots”
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
The Lachine Canal: green oasis and toxic hotspot, all in one package
The National Film Board, Maisonneuve and CBC Montreal have teamed up, once again, to bring you Montreal Matters. This year's theme is the environment. I know what you're thinking --- you've overdosed on green lately and the last thing you need is yet another eco-themed event. But wait: Montreal Matters has plenty of cool things to offer this month, including a photo contest inspired by the work of Edward Burtynsky.
The NFB has more:
What impact do Montrealers have on their city? The National ...
Election Signs: Defend NDG!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
In the provincial elections last winter, the Green Party's candidate in NDG, Peter McQueen, ran a campaign that appealed to neighbourhood angst more than anything else. Hand-written signs, exhorting voters to toss out the Liberals because they were "neglecting NDG," could be found all along Sherbrooke Street. McQueen ended up in second place, earning the Green Party's strongest showing anywhere in the province.
October 8th, 2007
Election Signs: Votez bleu!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Vous voyez rouge? Votez bleu! It was a catchy PQ electoral slogan that tried to capitalize on Jean Charest's profound unpopularity in late 2005, when a provincial by-election was held in Outremont. Given the timing of the election --- just after Gomery's report on the sponsorship program was released --- I wouldn't be surprised if the slogan was also meant to equate the dirty dealings of the federal Liberals with the PLQ.
In any case, it's all history: the PQ's candidate, Farouk Karim, lost to the Liberals' Raymond Bachand, who was promptly shuffled into cabinet. What ...
Photo du jour: Back to the burbs
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Rush hour commuters at Parc Station. April 21, 2006
L’amour au dernier regard / Love at last sight
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
photo par The Irish Samurai
The delight of the urban poet is love --- not at first sight, but at last sight.
-Walter Benjamin, "Charles Baudelaire: A Lyrical Poet In The Era of High Capitalism"
Dans cette courte phrase d'une incroyable complexité, Walter Benjamin fait ressortir l'une des expériences primordiales de la ville. Il n'est pas nécessairement question de Montréal, mais bien de chacune des villes.
Combien de fois avez-vous échangé un sourire avec une personne avant qu'elle ne disparaisse dans la direction opposée, avalée par la foule? Nous pouvons toujours revenir vers un lieu ou un bâtiment aperçu ...
Two strips of dirt: my favourite laneway
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
The other day, Christopher DeWolf asked us all to think of our favourite laneways and I think I happened upon mine this week. I always knew there existed another NDG below the train tracks (known locally as Lower NDG) but had never actually been there. I finally visited this very neglected part of the city while biking around and enjoying the last warm days of the year and was extremely surprised to find an unpaved alley. The two strips of dirt, seperated by a lane of grass reminded me of the country roads of ...
October 9th, 2007
Photo du jour: Crossroads
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
St. Denis and Jean Talon. February 3, 2007
Slutsky and Buller do Mile End
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
"Mile End sucks it," wrote one respondent to the survey at our launch party last month. That person might want to avoid General 54 on Thursday when Mile End nogoodniks Mark Slutsky and Dan Buller fête their love of the neighbourhood. "Looking Around," their series of Mile End photos and paintings, will run until November 24th, but don't miss the vernissage, which will feature DJs, drinks and good hipster company.
More info from General 54's blog:
Here's the deal: Looking Around is a semi-sequel to this spring's Looking Up, Dan Buller's previous show at General ...
Outremont scotch and the City Hall schism
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
You must have already heart of the Outremont booze scandal. No? Well, let me refresh you: on September 27th, Le Devoir and La Presse revealed that "l'alcool coule à flots" --- the alcohol has flowed freely --- in Outremont since the arrival of Stéphane Harbour as borough mayor in 2002. In a private bar on Outremont town hall's second floor, the mayor and a few close associates have helped themselves to plenty of liquor bought on taxpayer time. $7,500 worth of it, in fact --- and that's just between January and June of this year. ...
October 10th, 2007
One-storey houses in Hochelaga
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
Montreal developed as a geographically disparate patchwork of independent municipalities. Many of these old towns and suburbs were long ago absorbed into the city, but traces of their past character can still be seen in their streets.
Last week, Guillaume St-Jean wrote about three one-storey buildings in Villeray that will be demolished for condos. Clad in brick, these kinds of flat-roofed brick houses were built mostly in the 1910s and 1920s in the neighbourhoods north of the CPR tracks, like Little Italy, Park Ex, Villeray and Youville (an old village ...
Photo du jour : Le sang des banlieues
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise à Kirkland, au coin des boulevards St-Charles et Brunswick, le 6 octobre 2007.
Quelques exemples de restaurations
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Au cours des dernières années, certains propriétaires ayant à coeur la sauvegarde du patrimoine ont accomplis des ouvrages de restaurations remarquable.
La maison de George Fendall, située à l'angle des rues Decelles et Fendall fut construite en 1906. Jusqu'à à la fin des années 1920, la compagnie Northmount Land développa dans ce secteur un pittoresque projet immobilier qui fut par la suite arreté par la venue de l'université ...
L’îlot Trafalgar-Gleneagles
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Devant être remplacées par une tour de 10 étages, les maisons Thompson et Sparrow furent sauvées de la démolition lorsque l'îlot Trafalgar-Gleneagles fut reconnu site historique en octobre 2002.
Depuis 2005, des travaux de retauration sont en cour. Le tout progresse lentement mais le résultat final sera grandiose.
2003-2007
La maison Sparrow fut construite en 1910. Elle fut utilisée comme résidence unifamiliale jusqu'en 1977 et par la suite occupée par des bureaux d'architectes de 1978 à 1988.
L'évolution de 2003 à ...
Headlines / À la une : 2007.10.10
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
IN THE STREETS / DANS LA RUE
Un nouveau tunnel pour contrer... l'étalement urbain! --- 10.10 (Le Journal)
Quebec mall puts West Edmonton on notice --- 10.09 (The Globe and Mail)
Mont Royal, le parc le plus sûr de Montréal --- 10.10 (La Presse)
Le fleuve attendra [la cessation des déversements d'eaux usées] --- 10.08 (Le Journal)
Les bons commerces à la bonne place --- 10.06 (Le Devoir)
Main mess: Prof blames poor planning --- 10.06 (The Gazette)
The outer limits of downtown --- 10.06 (The Gazette)
Business owners on St. Laurent believe worst still to ...
October 11th, 2007
Photo du jour : Édifice JMSB, Université Concordia (en construction)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise au coin des rues Guy et De Maisonneuve le 7 octobre 2007.
Election Signs: Winner Every Time
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Although most election signs for last month's by-election in the federal riding of Outremont were vandalised in some way or another, this one on St-Laurent was by far the weirdest. Unfortunately for Jocelyn Coulon, the graffiti was wrong. Coulon lost to NDP candidate Thomas Mulcair making this election only the second time the riding hasn't gone to a Liberal as well as the second time that an NDP candidate has ever won anywhere in Quebec.
Tell us about your Mount Royal
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
La Presse turned its attention towards Mount Royal yesterday with an interesting trio of features on social dynamics of the mountain. Not only is it the safest public park in Montreal, it is the city's best spot for secret noctural adventures. Éric Clément and Martin Croteau report:
La Presse y a circulé de 23h à 5h un samedi de la mi-août, sans rencontrer le moindre policier. Une absence qui pourrait toutefois avoir des conséquences graves à cause des feux à ciel ouvert qu'on y allume souvent, ce qui est pourtant interdit. Il suffirait de braises mal ...
October 12th, 2007
Photo du jour : Messes modernes
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Le groupe montréalais Clues (Alden Penner, Brendan Reed, Bethany Or) avant son concert dans le cadre des Bleating Hearts Shows au festival musical Pop Montréal. Un lieu d'abord conçu pour les célébrations religieuses, la chapelle Birks se prête pour un soir à la musique folk et rock.
Photo prise du balcon de la chapelle de l'édifice Birks (études religieuses) de l'Université McGill, le 7 octobre 2007.
October 13th, 2007
Les commerces sont ouverts durant les travaux
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Un panneau que l'on voit entre autres aux abords du boulevard Saint-Laurent, mais cette photo nous montre l'état du Boulevard De Maisonneuve, entre l'Avenue Union et la Rue Aylmer. Que se passe-t-il donc? Eh bien, c'est l'effet que l'affaisement de la structure de béton au dessus de la station de métro McGill, le 24 août 2007 (et qui avait entraîné la fermeture de la ligne verte entre Lionel-Groulx et Berri-UQAM pour toute la fin de semaine), et le prolongement de la piste cyclable sur De Maisonneuve, entre Greene et Berri produisent sur le paysage urbain.
Photo du jour: Hydro’s edge
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Hydro Quebec and Niu Kee. Clark and René Lévesque. September 26, 2007
An unusual ride on the metro
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
"Point de fuite." Photo by MTL Guy on Flickr.
I was going to wait until I'd seen it myself before writing about it, but Fagstein has beat me to the punch: there's a spooky metro car going around on the orange line.
Spacing Montreal contributor Jacob Larsen was the first to tell me, at our last meeting, about his strange experience of riding in a metro car with a dark blue interior and creepy music playing over the PA system. Then, earlier this evening, my friend Mary told me that she too was in dark blue ...
October 14th, 2007
Photo du jour: The back end of Belgo
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
I've always liked this Bleury Street view of the Belgo Building, how it seems to envelop its small greystone neighbour. As a bonus, there's a ghost sign meant to look like a scroll, reading "The Belgo Building."
Election signs: Vote Votez Votate ψήφος
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
We when launched our election sign project last weekend, we did so with the potentially imminent federal election in mind. But it turns out there's already an election underway. Over the past couple of weeks, signs promoting the candidates for next month's school board election have appeared around town.
It's hard enough getting people to vote for their own mayor and city councillors; getting them to vote for school commissioner must be unimaginably difficult. It's understandable why public interest might be low --- I don't have any kids, so I really have no interest in ...
October 15th, 2007
Photo du jour : The reds are coming
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Most trees are still green, at least here in Mile End/Outremont, but I spotted some beautiful red foliage on Waverly Street last week. The reds and oranges are just arriving, but they won't last long...
My favourite laneway: a bit of the Parisian banlieue
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Contrary to what most tourist brochures will tell you, the "Paris of North America" actually has very little in common with the real Paris. Montreal looks absolutely nothing like the French capital and the culture is totally different. But, every so often, it's possible to find in this distinctly New World city a glimpse of something distinctly Parisian. Consider the laneway just north of St. Louis Square: with horse stables on one side and a tall, narrow house providing a nice visual terminus, it wouldn't be out of place in one of the old villages in ...
Il fait beau dans l’métro: behind the advertisement
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
[youtube]DcC31r1BxBY[/youtube]
By now, most of you have probably seen Il fait beau dans l'métro, a 1976 television advertisement for Montreal's metro and bus system. In today's Gazette, though, I look at the ad's origins how it has been embraced online as a kitsch icon. An excerpt:
Il fait beau dans l'métro was created by BCP, a Montreal-based ad firm whose founder, Jacques Bouchard, pioneered the use of distinctly Québécois cultural references in French-language ad campaigns.
"BCP's role was enormous," recalled Marie-Claude Ducas, editor of Infopresse, a marketing magazine. "It was the first Québécois ad company. It played into the Quebec star system ...
October 16th, 2007
Road to Nowhere: Bike Riding in New York
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
Video
Urban thinker, former Talking Head, and writer of songs about architecture and buildings David Byrne recently did a presentation called "How New Yorkers Ride Bikes" for the New Yorker Festival in Manhattan. From Streetfilms:
Of course our MC for the night, Mr. Byrne, who has been using a bike for transportation for 30 years, pedaled to the theater. In fact, the night started with helmet cam footage he shot as he biked thru Times Square to the venue. Some Byrne-musings which drew the most applause/ laughter as he navigated the entanglement of ...
What Vancouver can teach us about street furniture
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Last week on Urbanphoto, I wrote about street furniture and sidewalk decoration in Vancouver. While Vancouver is a much newer, smaller city than Montreal --- one still coping with adolescent growing pains and an identity that consists in large part of being an escape, a Terminal City, for both immigrants and Canadians alike --- it has some lessons for us in urban design.
Compared to Montreal, Vancouver takes a much more proactive approach to planning new residential and commercial development than Montreal, for instance. It also pays more attention, at least in some areas, to ...
Photo du jour : RIP, Restaurant Bens
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
En passant devant le Bens De Luxe Delicatessen and Restaurant, comme l'appelle son article dans Wikipedia, on ne peut s'empêcher de remarquer que des panneaux d'un bleu corporatif contrastant d'avec le rouge et vert pâle Bens.
Photo prise au coin du boulevard de Maisonneuve et de la rue Metcalfe, le 10 octobre 2007.
CFC Media Lab Info Soirée
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
CFC Media Lab in Toronto -- the place where we developed [murmure] -- is holding an information session in Montreal tomorrow. In fact, at a [murmure] location -- listen to the stories here.
CFC MEDIA LAB INFORMATION SOIRÉE AT FESTIVAL DU NOUVEAU CINÉMA
Create the future of entertainment - Join the CFC Media Lab at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma for an information session about the TELUS Interactive Art & Entertainment Program (IAEP), Canada’s first post-graduate program for new media training and production.
Our philosophy is innovative new media content is created through collaboration that ...
Willowdale Avenue
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
There's something serene about Willowdale Avenue, a broad residential street that runs from Édouard-Montpetit metro in the east to the Université de Montréal's HEC in the west. It must be a combination of the thick foliage and unassuming architecture, apartment blocks on one side and Tudoresque houses on the other.
Although it is surrounded by Côte des Neiges, the oval streets signs along Willowdale remind you that it is, in fact, part of a little Outremont panhandle that juts west along Côte St. Catherine Road. It's not the only remarkable thing about this street. While the ...
October 17th, 2007
Montreal’s bike-rental program: will it work?
By Christopher DeWolf // 9 Comments
Parisians enjoy their city's Vélib' bike-sharing program. Photo by malais
Earlier this month we found out that Montreal plans to be the first city in North America to establish a wide-scale bike-sharing program. The first bikes will hit the streets next fall; by 2009, you should be able to rent one of 2,400 bikes, and for about $1 per half-hour, from 300 stations scattered around town.
"The idea is to encourage Montrealers and tourists to use the public bicycles instead of cars for short, inner-city trips. Users will be able to pick up a bike at one ...
Photo du jour : Centre Eaton, section nord
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Bien plus intéressante est en faite l'œuvre d'art situé de l'autre côté d'où cette photo du Centre Eaton a été prise, et qui fera peut-être l'objet d'un autre article sur Spacing Montréal. Elle se compose de bouteilles de plastique recyclées en gigantesque serpent translucide parcourant l'antre du Centre Eaton.
Photo prise au Centre Eaton de Montréal, le 10 octobre 2007.
Headlines / À la une : 17.10.07
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
IN THE STREETS
DANS LA RUE
Superhospital must avoid Big O's fate --- 16.10 (The Gazette)
When it comes to jaywalking, Montrealers are slow to see the light --- 16.10 (The Gazette)
Private donation bolsters Montreal fine arts museum's expansion --- 15.10 (CBC)
Le Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal s'agrandit --- 11.10 (La Presse)
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
CULTURE ET COMMUNAUTÉ
Survival [of anglo schools] is key issue as vote looms --- 17.10 (The Gazette)
Il fait beau dans l'metro --- 15.10 (The Gazette)
La vitrine culturelle ouvre ses portes à Montréal --- 11.10 (Le Devoir)
Aboriginal homelessness proving deadly ...
The suburbs finally get their due
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
"Bridge to Laval." Photo by caribb
A week after the Gazette ran an exposé on downtown's "black hole" and Le Devoir taught us how to revive commercial streets, La Presse decided to outdo all of its competitors with a lengthy and ambitious series on Montreal's suburbs. You probably saw the posters around town --- "Quattro cinq cero," they read, referring to the banlieue's area-code nickname --- but what you might not have guessed is that, far beyond a simple weekend-edition special, the focus on suburbia would span four entire days.
Credit goes to reporter Isabelle ...
Faulty towers
By Paul Erlichman // 6 Comments
Most people will say that the idea of an 11.25-metre tall billboard sitting on a sidewalk is offensive to them. But the seeming lack of general opposition to the Astral Media "Street columns" and "MegaColumns" makes me wonder if people are becoming apathetic or just unaware of street advertising.
People in Montreal are faced with other forms of advertising more blatant or tiresome. Ad trucks seem more ridiculous. Bus shelter ads get a ton of your attention when you're waiting ten minutes for your ride. In comparison, these columns can seem restrained, ...
October 18th, 2007
One less space for cars, twelve more spaces for bikes
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
St. Viateur St. near Waverly
In just the past few years, Montreal has made some pretty big steps forward in developing its bike infrastructure. The new bike lane on Maisonneuve might have caused a crack in the street that threatened to pull the whole of downtown into a giant sinkhole, but it's otherwise pretty snazzy. The counterflow bike lanes and sharrows in the McGill Ghetto are pretty cool. The new bike racks being installed on parking meters around town are a vast improvement over the old ones.
What I really like the most, though, are the seasonal ...
Photo du jour: The market and the alien mothership
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Maisonneuve Market and the Olympic Stadium. September 25, 2007
Share Montreal’s Chinatown with the world
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ynENhI30jI[/youtube]
Take a Look: New York City Chinatown Post-9/11, by Kevin Lee
New York's Museum of Chinese in the Americas wants you to share your Chinatown with the world.
The Chinatown Film Project, launched last month, is a worldwide examination of the world's Chinatowns through film and video. Although the first part of the project will consist of ten commissioned films by New York filmmakers, including well-established Wayne Wang (director of The Joy Luck Club and, uh, Maid in Manhattan) and rising star Rich Wong (Colma: The Musical), the second part is open to contributions from ordinary people across the ...
October 19th, 2007
Photo du jour: Morgan Avenue
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Morgan Avenue and the Maisonneuve Market. September 25, 2007
Listen to the city’s dreams tonight
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? An outdoor broadcast of Karen Spencer's Dream Listener project
WHEN? Tonight, October 19th, between 6pm and 11pm
WHERE? The Park With No Name, near St. Laurent and Van Horne
HOW MUCH? Free!
You might have seen Karen Spencer's cryptic dreams scattered around town --- she's written them in English, French and Spanish on pieces of cardboard --- or you might have read about her blog in Steve Faguy's weekly blog column in the Gazette. Tonight, though, you'll get to hear Spencer's dreams in person.
Dare-Dare, the arts organization located in Mile End's Park With No Name, ...
Fall Ecogardening at (where else?) the Park With No Name
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Dare-Dare's Park With No Name is a busy place, it seems. Not only will Karen Spencer's Dream Listener project take place there tonight, it will host a series of workshops and discussions on the theme of gardening and green space, hosted by Émily Rose Michaud and Catherine Beau-Ferron. The two-day schedule of activities starts tomorrow with a workshop on garden building, with information on types of soil, plants and recycled materials needed to create a successful garden.
Later that afternoon, a discussion will be held on the future of the Park With No Name. ...
Le monument Chénier
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Bordé par des terrains de stationnements et par les rues St-Antoine et St-Denis, où le débit de circulation automobile est élevé, le monument Chénier semble avoir totalement sombré dans l'oubli.
Il n'en fut par contre pas toujours ainsi. La statue de l'artiste français Peltzer fut inauguré dans le carré Viger le 24 août 1895 à la gloire du Dr Jean-Olivier Chénier, un patriote mort héroiquement à St-Eustache lors de la rébellion de 1837.
À l'époque, le carré Viger était un des plus beaux jardins ...
October 20th, 2007
Photo du jour: Castro Motor Oil
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Poster at Metcalfe and Ste. Catherine. September 20, 2007
October 21st, 2007
Photo du jour: A day without billboards
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Park Avenue at Villeneuve. September 18, 2007
Bienséance publique / Public etiquette
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 9 Comments
File d'attente pour l'autobus, métro Mont-Royal. photo par "nothing"
for english follow the continue reading link
Vous vous sentez enragés quand quelqu'un bloque le côté gauche de l'escalier roulant? Ou quand les gens entrent dans le métro sans attendre que les passagers en descendent? Ou encore quand personne ne laisse son siège à une personne âgée? Enragé est un bien grand mot, mais reste qu'un manque de bienséance publique peut parfois nous sembler tragique, un signe d'une société décadente! D'un autre côté, être témoin d'une civilité particulière peut nous redonner espoir en tout et nous faire oublier que quelqu'un vient de couper la file d'attente pour l'autobus.
Lors du lancement de Spacing Montréal, nous vous avons demandé de remplir un sondage. Une des questions portait justement sur la bienséance publique. Nous espérions voir comment les Montréalais(es) se comportaient en société... Je note ici quelques réponses disparates:
OUI
- Attendre que les gens sortent du métro avant d'y entrer
- Faire la bise
- Vérifier pour les vélos avant d'ouvrir la porte de son auto
- Faire la queue pour attendre l'autobus
- Redresser les vélos tombés
- Saluer et remercier le chauffeur d'autobus
NON
- Entrer dans le métro avant que les gens n'en sortent
- Rester immobile du côté gauche des escaliers roulants
- Laisser la merde de son chien sur le trottoir
- Cracher
- Ne pas retenir la porte pour la prochaine personne
Les réponses les plus populaires sont celles de la file d'attente pour l'autobus et celle des entrées et sorties de métro. Je dois avouer que bien des fois, en sortant du métro, il me vient l'envie de sortir droit devant moi en repoussant soigneusement la personne (pour qui je n'existe pas) essayant d'entrer dès que les portes s'ouvrent. Un jour viendra.
Quelques réponses méritent aussi une mention toute particulière. Comme "la façon dont les gens se tassent pour ne pas s'asseoir à côté de quelqu'un dans l'autobus." J'y réfléchis mais je n'arrive pas à me convaincre si c'est une bonne ou une mauvaise chose. Aucun doute pour celle-ci par contre: les "fusillades policières"; effectivement un manque flagrant de savoir vivre. Ou bien encore ce manque de civilité qu'est "n'avoir aucune bienséance ou la moindre conscience de la présence d'autres êtres humains." Rien de plus vrai.
On ne fait que toucher la pointe de l'iceberg, par contre. Laissez-nous donc vos commentaires, histoires, tirades, etc. Petit à petit, on arrivera bien à créer un petit guide pratique de la bien-et mal-séance publique montréalaise.
Election signs: “So let me get this straight…”
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
You know, I always wonder if politicians actually pay attention to the many ways in which their election signs are defaced. Often enough, the vandalism consists of a bit of grassroots (though usually poorly articulated) criticism.
Take this ADQ sign for example. I spotted it in front of the Rialto on Park Avenue during the 2005 provincial by-election in Outremont. This was just over a year before the ADQ's unexpected surge across the province, but since we're talking about the centre of Montreal, you can pretty much guess which party won. (Hint: it starts with an "L.") ...
October 22nd, 2007
Photo du jour: Rue Christin
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Christin Street behind UQAM's Pavillon J.A. DeSeve
Imaginer la place d’Armes
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
QUOI : atelier de design "Imaginer la place d'Armes"
QUAND : atelier (20 au 31 oct) exposition (20 oct au 16 déc)
OÙ : gallerie MONOPOLI (181 Saint-Antoine Ouest)
Présentement et jusqu'au 16 décembre se tient l'atelier de design "Imaginer la place d'Armes". L'atelier est organisé par la Ville de Montréal, en partenariat avec le ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine et la Chaire UNESCO en paysage et environnement de l'Université de Montréal. Trois équipes formées de designers montréalais et internationaux se penchent sur cette place située en plein coeur historique de la ville.
Cet ...
October 23rd, 2007
Photo du jour : Sur la 80
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Photo prise à bord de l'autobus 80 Du Parc, à la hauteur du Monument à Georges-Étienne Cartier, le 21 octobre 2007.
Place Falun Gong
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Place Sun Yat Sen, a small square in the heart of Montreal's Chinatown, is almost perenially occupied by members of Falun Gong, a psuedo-religious spiritual movement that originated in 1992 in China. Banned seven years later by the Chinese government, which insisted that it was a cult and devoted itself rather heavy-handedly to crushing it, Falun Gong has earned supporters and followers worldwide.
Here in Montreal, its members are a common sight on downtown streets, where they hand out pamplets explaining the movement's philosophy and outlining the tactics used against it by ...
October 24th, 2007
Photo du jour : Métro Place-des-Arts
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise à la station Place-des-Arts de la ligne verte du Métro de Montréal, le 21 octobre 2007.
October 25th, 2007
Photo du jour : Monument Georges-Étienne Cartier
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
La phase deux de la restauration du monument construit en l'honneur de Sir Georges-Étienne Cartier s'étirera d'avril 2007 à avril 2008.
Photo prise le 21 octobre 2007.
Place Monseigneur-Charbonneau
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Montreal's office district, running between Dorchester Square in the northwest and Victoria Square in the southeast, is not terribly exciting. Compared to Midtown Manhattan, or even Bay Street, it lacks a certain high-stakes punch, the relentless energy of money being made in vast amounts, of high-stress streetlife scurrying from one meeting to the next. It feels provincial. But at least it's pretty: over the past four years, this section of downtown Montreal has seen some huge improvements to its urban environment.
The change started with the overhaul of the so-called Quartier international, which included the construction ...
Will the UN move to Montreal — and how will it affect the waterfront?
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Last week, La Presse reported quite breathlessly that the federal government, which owns the Port of Montreal and much of the land along its waterfront, has been lobbying the United Nations to move its headquarters from New York to Montreal. The rationale, apparently, is that the UN's current headquarters, housed in an iconic complex built in 1949 along the East River, needs nearly $2 billion worth of renovations over the next couple of decades. It would cost a lot less to simply pack up and move to Montreal, where a state-of-the-art new headquarters would be waiting ...
Touring the TOHU recycling complex at St-Michel
By Misha Warbanski // 3 Comments
This corner of the old quarry and garbage dump in St-Michel is slated to become a pond by 2020. Photo by Misha Warbanski
Every Thursday morning there's a rush to get the recycling out to the curb. But other than the scramble to throw everything into a flimsy clear-plastic bag (in the Centre-Sud they've done away with the green bins), and get it out to the curb in time, I don't really think about curbside recycling that much. In the city we're very much disconnected from the garbage we produce. And ...
De Maisonneuve bike lane update
By Chris Erb // 7 Comments
Construction is coming along at a decent pace on the downtown bike lane along de Maisonneuve. La Press is reporting that it should be open by the end of the month but based on how much work is left to be done on the western portion, I have my doubts that a Hallowe'en bike ride on the new bike lane will be a reality.
The section behind The Bay building is of course still closed and the work that was completed is being ripped up as workers continue to make repairs on the collapsing tunnel beneath the ...
October 26th, 2007
Lessons in urban planning from Vancouver
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Highrise living in downtown Vancouver
WHAT? "Making a Great City by Design," a lecture by Vancouver's former planning director, Larry Beasley
WHEN? Monday, October 29th at 6:30pm
WHERE? McGill's Macdonald Harrington Building (aka the Architecture Building), Room G10
When it comes to urban planning, the so-called "Vancouver Model" has a lot going for it: high-density downtown living, ample green space, public amenities paid for by developers, quality urban design and priority for pedestrians over cars.
Sure, it has its critics, who accuse it of transforming downtown Vancouver into a bland condoscape, or of promoting residential construction at the expense of ...
Photo du jour : Éco-quartier Peter-McGill
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
Photo prise devant l'Éco-quartier Peter-McGill, le 21 octobre 2007.
Explore Montreal with your own two feet — and psyche
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
When I opened this week's edition of the Mirror I was surprised to find, right next to my own article about Larry Beasley, another story about fellow Spacing Montreal contributor Jacob Larsen. Jacob is the "de facto organizer" of the Montreal Psychogeography Society, a group that organizes random strolls around different parts of Montreal. So far, the walks have taken the society's members to St. Michel, Côte des Neiges, upper Westmount and Outremont. On July 1st, they wandered around various residential neighbourhoods to witness the madness of moving day.
The Mirror has more:
Inspired by ...
October 27th, 2007
Photo du jour: Leo’s Horse Palace
By Chris Erb // 5 Comments
Leo's Horse Palace on rue Ottawa as it looked on October 20th. Although this stable is nowhere near the largest of a handful in and around Griffintown, it is by far the best known. If you want to know a bit about Leo and his stable, this 2004 Mirror article by Kristain Gravenor (writer of the Coolopolis blog) is quite good.
Public edifices and places publiques in today’s Devoir
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
This weekend's edition of Le Devoir includes a couple of interesting articles on public space in Montreal. On the front page, Stéphane Baillergeon pens a feature on the state of our public architecture. The verdict is not good: today's public buildings are mediocre and underfinanced, beholden to a public that views any sort of significant public investment askance. Dinu Bumbaru, the policy director of Heritage Montreal, who has an especially keen understanding of Montreal's urban landscape, se désole:
«Les lieux de représentation du pouvoir parlent beaucoup», commente à la place du défunt maire le bien portant ...
October 28th, 2007
Photo du jour: Tuned in — but moved out
By Jacob Larsen // No Comments
I was struck by this little electronics repair shop on a bike ride through Ville Émard. With the advent of flat screen TVs, produced in distant places more cheaply with each passing year, electronics repair shops are becoming a rare sight in our city. Given the curtains over the storefront windows and low vacancy rates, the owner, Bergeron, must have realized that a greater income could be had by simply converting the storefront into a rental unit. The sign that remains may only be a reminder of times past.
October 29th, 2007
Photo du jour: Red, green, orange, yellow
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Fall colours at their peak on McGill's lower campus. October 22, 2007
October 30th, 2007
Photo du jour: Ten Ten, Dix Dix, 雙十節
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Chinatown on "Double Ten Day," Taiwan's national holiday. October 10, 2007
A river flows to it: The Charles J. Des Baillets water filtration plant
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
Beneath the streets of our city lies two vast networks of pipes and conduits. One to ensure a steady supply of fresh water is always on hand and another to carry it away for cleansing just as quickly. Barring any unforeseen clogs, frozen pipes or volcanic hydrants, we often fail to consider the energy that is expended on this massive infrastructure. Realizing how little I knew about our water infrastructure, I took a tour of the Charles J. Des Baillets water filtration plant in Lasalle - one of the city's two purification facilities - ...
Densité, intensité, tensions: a colloquium
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
This Thursday and Friday, UQÀM's Centre interuniversitaire d'études sur les lettres, les arts et les traditions will present a colloquium on art, culture and urban space entitled "Densité, intensité, tensions." Five sessions, on topics such as "Zones grises," "Montréal discontinuités et
potentiels" and "Penser comme à l'ouest et vivre comme à l'est," will take place over two days. Unfortunately, there isn't any detail on their actual content (there will be a "Soundwalk" on Friday at 10am, but we aren't told exactly what that will entail), so we're left to guess about ...
My favourite laneway: an outdoor art gallery
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Every time I walk through the laneway just east of St. Urbain, between St. Viateur and Bernard, I come across some striking pieces of street art. It's also one of the more picturesque alleys in Mile End, lined with rusty old garages, clotheslines and overlooked by the Byzantine tower of St. Michael's Church.
October 31st, 2007
Photo du jour: Happy Halloween!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Pumpkin's pride of place. Esplanade St., Mile End. October 28, 2005
Halloween metro party tonight at 9pm
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
What better way to celebrate Halloween than to descend deep beneath the surface of the earth? This evening, at 9pm, costumed revellers will descend on Côte Vertu metro, pack into the last car of a departing metro train and visit all of the Orange Line stations while listening to spooky music and gorging themselves on candy. There's a Facebook group with more information for those interested.
As far as I know, the last time there was a successful metro party in Montreal was when the people from Toronto's newmindspace came to town. I missed ...
Another main street to be reconstructed
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
In the midst of endless complaints about the slow pace of renovation work on the Main, another, much smaller main street is about to get a makeover: Ste. Anne Street, the main drag of cutesy suburb Ste. Anne de Bellevue. Between 2008 and 2009, it will be completely reconstructed in three phases at a cost of $5 million.
Obviously, the town, which is on the western tip of Montreal Island, is not far enough to escape the macabre spectre of St. Laurent. "It’s going to be done after the big season, making sure ...
Celebrating Halloween in the streets
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
I don't really get excited about Halloween, mainly because I hate getting dressed up. But even I have fond memories of trick-or-treating when I was a kid, and I have to admit, there was a kind of infectiously fun atmosphere in the streets this evening.
Just down the street from my apartment, a raucous bunch of people lined up outside the Rialto for the first showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Over on Bernard and St. Viateur, groups of costumed kids paraded from one store to the next, collecting candy. In the alley next to ...
November 1st, 2007
Photo du jour : Avenue du Mont-Royal
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise sur l'Avenue du Mont-Royal, coin Avenue Du Parc, le 21 octobre 2007, un dimanche d'été indien.
Montreal’s industrial history, cookie version
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
La Biscuiterie, photo by André Joly
Who knew that Montreal's history could be so gooey and delicious? Last month, "Viau, des biscuits, une histoire" opened at the Écomusée du fier monde, an exhibition on the east end's Viau cookie factory --- the makers of the famous marshmellow-and-chocolate Whippet --- and its impact on Montreal.
Charles Viau, born in in Longueuil, opened his first bakery on Notre Dame St. in 1867. By the time he died in 1898, though, business was good enough that the Viau family started scouting out for a new home, finding it on ...
We need more legal space for postering
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Posters on a traffic control box, including an election sign
The ongoing school board election in Montreal has revealed, as with every election, an unacceptable double-standard in Montreal's attitude towards postering. While politicians have the right to plaster the city with their campaign signs, virtually no legal space has been set aside for community groups, musicians, artists, and other individuals and low-budget organizations to make themselves heard.
Like it or not, posters give them a chance to effectively target a local audience that might not otherwise be reached. It's a medium that is unfiltered, flexible and, above all, ...
November 2nd, 2007
Photo du jour: Ste. Catherine Street
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Ste. Catherine and Drummond. July 15, 2007
De Maisonneuve bike lane opens
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
After 20 years of demands by local cyclists, and a construction process that inadvertently cracked a tunnel beneath the street, the de Maisonneuve bike lane is finally open. Spanning the entire length of downtown, from Berri St. in the east to Atwater Ave. in the west, the lane buckles a huge gap in Montreal's bike network, giving cyclists a crosstown alternative to busy streets such as Sherbrooke. Also, unlike the bike lanes on Rachel or Brébeuf, this one will be open year-round.
By next summer, the bike lane will extend all the way to Lachine, passing through ...
Public space, from Beirut to Montreal
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Café in Cairo. Photo by Patrick Donovan
WHAT? Discussion, in French, on Arab cafés in Montreal and North Africa
WHEN? 6pm, Sunday, November 4th
WHERE? The Gesù, 1200 Bleury St., near Ste. Catherine
HOW MUCH? Free!
I've always been fascinated by cafés and the unique social setting they offer. Even though they are, technically speaking, private spaces, they are nonetheless places of public interaction, in some ways extensions of the street, the neighbourhood and the city as a whole. This is especially true in the case of Arab cafés, which are part of a rich tradition rooted in North Africa ...
November 3rd, 2007
Photo du jour: On the bus
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
On the 80 bus in Park Extension. July 23, 2007
November 4th, 2007
Photo du jour : Prestige chez les amis
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Rue Ontario, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Le 25 septembre 2007
November 5th, 2007
Save our city’s kitsch!
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
The Orange Julep. Photo by afternoon_sunlight
Montreal has lost one of its more remarkable pieces of kitsch architecture. Today, the Canada Motel, a 47-year-old landmark on Taschereau Blvd. on the South Shore, closed its doors for good.
The motel, topped by a giant neon sign, is designed in the style of a typical Quebec farmhouse, and it's surrounded by old habitant-style cottages containing rooms with themes like "lumberjack" and "garage." Roxanne Arsenault, an UQÀM student who is writing her master's thesis on kitsch architecture, has launched a petition to have Longueuil designate the building as an ...
Montrealers: Gérald Tremblay is good enough
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
La Presse reports this morning that, according to a new opinion poll, Gérald Tremblay is more popular now than at any time since he was elected in 2002. 70 percent of respondents said his leadership was "very good" or "good enough," compared to 60 percent for Stephen Harper and 43 percent for Jean Charest. If a city election were held today, Tremblay would win with 45 percent of the vote, compared to 7 percent for Ville-Marie mayor Benoît Labonté and 6 percent for Projet Montréal leader Richard Bergeron. (More than a third of the electorate, ...
Photo du jour: MusiquePlus
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Corner of Bleury and Ste. Catherine. September 26, 2007
Walking Hochelaga
By Jacob Larsen // 3 Comments
Following the minor splash made by a recent article in Mirror, Montreal's fledgling Psychogeography Society turned its gaze --- and its feet --- east. On a gray day that bore a hint of the chillier winter still to come, a few brave souls headed into Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, starting at Papineau metro. The choice seemed an obvious one: like many Anglos, I have too few reasons to explore the city's more easternly side.
We started by heading past Ste. Catherine to the river, where the Jacques Cartier Bridge looms over a few neglected residential streets and ...
November 6th, 2007
Photo du jour: Club Social
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Social Club café, St. Viateur and Esplanade. July 23, 2007
McGill students offer ideas for Pine and Park
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
On a crisp evening early last week, I joined about two dozen other people in a crowded studio on the fourth floor of McGill's Macdonald-Harrington Building. We were there to see what ideas for reshaping the Pine/Park interchange four teams of McGill urban planning students, led by former Vancouve planning director Larry Beasley.
I won't go into details, since I arrived halfway through the presentations, but, among the plans was a "recreational archipelago" that scattered various points of interest around the Pine/Park site. Another proposal focused quite intensely on the actual intersection of Pine and Park ...
Headlines / À la une : 06.11.2007
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
TRANSPORT
TRANSPORTS
Des chauffeurs de la STM perturbent le conseil de Verdun (La Presse)
Ça presse, clame le maire Gladu (Le Journal de Montréal)
Viaducs: des chercheurs favorisent l'acier et les matériaux composites (La Presse)
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
CULTURE ET COMMUNAUTÉ
Montréal, lieu-clé de 1837-38 (Le Devoir)
Public service retirees demand better deal (The Gazette)
Local lawyer gets CBC's top job (The Gazette)
Un autre million contre les graffitis (La Presse)
POLITICS
POLITIQUE
En photo: Journée d'élections (Le Devoir)
Hausser le salaire des commissaires (Le Journal de Montréal)
Voters ignore school board elections (The Gazette)
Tremblay scores best in absentia (The ...
November 7th, 2007
Photo du jour: Fortune teller
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Fortune teller's street kiosk. La Gauchetière and Clark. July 24, 2007
South Shore politicians want their light rail
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Earlier this fall, on Car Free Day no less, the Journal reported that the South Shore light rail project was dead. It would cost too much, said the federal corporation that manages the Jacques-Cartier and Champlain bridges. This, despite millions of dollars worth of studies that declared the project to be both desirable and fiscally feasible.
No bother to South Shore politicians: they're fighting as hard as ever for the light rail line that would link Brossard with Central Station, by way of the Quartier des multimédias. "Il faut absolument faire quelque chose. C'est ...
Will the Big Bibliothèque finally open its book market?
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
When it opened at the end of April, 2005, the Grande Bibliothèque defied expectations when it attracted tens of thousands of people who were eager to check out its airy architecture and multimedia, multilingual collection. The crowds never let up: even today, two and a half years later, a visit to the library reveals an always-crowded place enjoyed by a large cross-section of Montreal's population. It is, quite clearly, Montreal's most important public building of the past three decades.
There's just one problem: shortly after it opened, big chunks of the green-glass cladding popped out and ...
November 8th, 2007
Photo du jour: Dirty skyline
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Downtown through a dirty window. July 24, 2007
Is Montreal once again bulldozing neighbourhoods?
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Montreal has lost a lot of neighbourhoods over the years, thanks mostly to postwar mega-projects. In 1964, Goose Village, a working-class Italian neighbourhood that was also home to many English, Irish, Polish and Ukrainian families, was bulldozed for Expo '67 parking. 330 families were displaced. Around the same time, the slow death of Griffintown was encouraged by Mayor Drapeau, who had never liked the area or its councillor, Frank Hanley.
In 1966, the old village of Longue Pointe made way for an approach to the Louis H. Lafontaine Bridge-Tunnel, even though it ...
Today in the News…
By Misha Warbanski // No Comments
The Gazette reported the Ville-Marie borough manager resigned. Guy Hébert held the position for 27 years. This is the latest news in a politically turbulant season for the municipal bureau. In September Ville Marie mayor Benoit Labonte severed his ties with Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay's Union Montreal.
November 9th, 2007
It’s Tempo season!
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
It's that time of year when people in many Montreal neighbourhoods start installing much-maligned Tempo shelters to protect their driveways. Although they're most common in the suburbs and in outer neighbourhoods like Rosemont, St. Leonard or Ville St. Laurent, I've even seen them in more urban neighbourhoods, where they are used to shelter apartment building entrances.
Tempo shelters are ugly and possibly dangerous --- some say that, when it snows, they seal in carbon monoxide. A lot of people say they despise them, yet they remain immensely popular with hundreds of thousands of Montrealers, ...
Headlines / À la une : 09.11.2007
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
TRANSPORT
TRANSPORTS
Montréal à la recherche du vélo idéal (Le Devoir)
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
CULTURE ET COMMUNAUTÉ
Fresh off the bus, kids are easy mark (The Gazette)
History buffs want Jeanne Mance statue at Pine-Park (The Gazette)
Montréal, ville avec enfants (La Presse)
Montréal, métropole interculturelle (La Presse)
Les résidants de l'Ïle-des-Soeurs inquiets de leur sécurité (La Presse)
POLITICS
POLITIQUE
La tension monte entre Labonté et l'équipe Tremblay (La Presse)
Taxe d'amusement: «ce n'est pas ce qu'on a demandé» (La Presse)
Des tarifs qui font mal à Verdun (La Presse)
Firefighters' tactics cut service, city charges (The Gazette)
DEVELOPMENT
DÉVELOPPEMENT
Qualification des consortiums ...
Photo du jour: Fiesta-Pilipino
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Victoria Avenue near Van Horne. January 10, 2007
November 10th, 2007
Ma ruelle préférée : alignement informel
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 2 Comments
En général, on s'attend à ce que ce soient les grands boulevards et les grandes rues qui s'enlignent sur les points de repères de la ville. Cette ruelle de Rosemont / la Petite-Patrie (entre les rues de la Roche et de Normanville) fait exception à la règle en nous dirigeant droit vers le clocher de l'église Saint-Ambroise sur la rue Beaubien (l'église est l'oeuvre de l'architecte Montréalais Ernest Cormier, 1925) . On ressent encore plus l'importance des repères visuels lorsqu'ils viennent nous surprendre comme ici - comparé à un paysage "formel" tel que celui offert par l'avenue du ...
Photo du jour: Night lights
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Ste. Catherine and Drummond. December 23, 2006
November 11th, 2007
Les vélos à la fourrière / Bikes to the impoundment lot
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
...
For your amusement, a laundry list of Montreal evils
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Montreal and Quebec City have long had a rather intense rivalry. Thing is, it's entirely one-sided. Quebec City exists only on the periphery of Montreal's imagination but, in the minds and media of our provincial capital, la métropole looms very large. Quebec City's fixation with Montreal could only be described in terms of a massive inferiority complex. It usually manifests itself in snide talk-radio quips, but in today's Le Soleil, it came in the form of a perplexing rant about Montreal and everything that is wrong with it by Pierre Desjardins, who is apparently a ...
Marché Central going green? Yeah, right
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Marché Central, the big box power centre that has emerged recently around the corner of Acadie and Chabanel, just north of the Metropolitan, is installing recycling bins throughout its property, for the benefit of its customers. It will also provide bins to its retail tenants, allowing them, finally, to recycle.
The Marché Central's management claims that this effort is a big step towards helping the environment. "Ici, l’environnement, c’est devenu une priorité. Maintenant, quand le temps est venu de faire une dépense, on essaie toujours de trouver un moyen de réduire nos dépenses en énergie. ...
Photo du jour: On a slope
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
St. Urbain near Rachel. September 22, 2006
Headlines / À la une : édition du week-end
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
INFRASTRUCTURE
INFRASTRUCTURES
Près de la moitié des ponts et viaducs sont déficients (La Presse)
Montreal one of the ring road holdouts (Financial Post)
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
CULTURE ET COMMUNAUTÉ
Chez Truffert: le petit dernier de l'autre avenue Laurier (La Presse)
No fence or locked door can turn away these explorers (The Gazette)
Picking up the pieces after homelessness (The Gazette)
«Montréal, métropole culturelle» - Le directeur du MOMA prend part au débat (Le Devoir)
Montréal et Québec investissent 37,5 millions dans les bibliothèques (Le Devoir)
POLITICS
POLITIQUE
Le maire Tremblay candidat aux élections de 2009 (La Presse)
Tremblay starts early: ...
November 12th, 2007
Photo du jour: Papeles para todos y todas!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Protest posters on Jean Talon near St. Denis. September 24, 2006
Headlines / À la une : 12.11.2007
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
CULTURE ET COMMUNAUTÉ
City's libraries get $37.5 million for expansion (The Gazette)
Party scene dries up at university pubs (The Gazette)
Une école à «Chameauland» (La Presse)
À la piscine en hijab (La Presse)
POLITICS
POLITIQUE
Cemetery workers' vote ends long hostilities (The Gazette)
DEVELOPMENT
DÉVELOPPEMENT
Quartier des spectacles: Québec et Ottawa s'engagent (La Presse)
November 13th, 2007
Learn about Mile End’s religious heritage this Wednesday
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Menorah-mobile on Park Avenue last December
WHAT? Lecture on Mile End's multicultural religious heritage
WHEN? 7pm, Wednesday, November 14th
WHERE? Mile End Library, 5434 Park Avenue (near St. Viateur)
HOW MUCH? Free!
This Wednesday evening, Mile End Memories will present a lecture by Susan Bronson, architect and Université de Montréal professor, on Mile End's religious heritage:
Since 1993, the Mile End Library, which possesses a rich multilingual collection, has occupied a former Anglican church dating to 1904. This illustrated lecture, offered as part of the program to celebrate the library’s 25th anniversary, will trace more than 150 years in the history of ...
Photo du jour: Harbour Clock
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Under the Notre-Dame viaduct. November 16, 2004
À la une / Headlines : 13.11.2007
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
DÉVELOPPEMENT
DEVELOPMENT
Quartier des spectacles: Québec et Ottawa s'engagent (La Presse)
Coup d'envoi du Quartier des spectacles (Le Devoir)
Let's see how this show ends before applauding the politicians (The Gazette)
Les gouvernements crachent le cash (Le Journal de Montréal)
LOI
LAW
Road safety laws are on the fast track (The Gazette)
POLITIQUE
POLITICS
En bref - Tremblay candidat (Le Devoir)
ÉDUCATION
EDUCATION
Corbo chahuté (Le Journal de Montréal)
Les étudiants se préparent à manifester (La Presse)
Angry students swarm UQÀM prof (The Gazette)
$120 million to build the Quartier des spectacles
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
After years in the making, the plans for the Quartier des spectacles are finally coming together. Yesterday, it was announced that all three levels of government will be chipping in with $120 million to reshape the area around Ste. Catherine St. between Bleury St. in the west and St. Denis St. in the east. Four phases of development will be spread over four years. Today's Gazette has a decent rundown of what we can expect:
PHASE 1
Timing: Summer 2008 to June 2009.
Budget: $35.5 million.
Location: Jeanne Mance St. to the east, Balmoral St. to the west, ...
November 14th, 2007
Photo du jour: Crowded metro
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Lionel-Groulx station at rush hour. September 7, 2006
Living in a laneway: why not?
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Abandoned laneway triplex near St. Louis Square
This summer, while wandering through one of the sidestreets between Prince Arthur and Sherbrooke, I veered off into a laneway. Expecting to find some interesting graffiti, a picturesque clothesline or maybe some discarded furniture, I was surprised to come across an entire triplex at the intersection of two alleyways. It appeared to be abandoned --- windows boarded up, balconies rotting --- despite its prime location.
Montreal has a long tradition of laneway housing. In many of its neighbourhoods, especially those built before the 1920s, you'll find old houses, duplexes and ...
Pedestrian Streets: Should MacKay be pedestrian only?
By Chris Erb // 10 Comments
This is the beginning of a series of articles concerning pedestrian and shared streets in Montreal. Each article will either focus on an existing pedestrian only or shared street or propose that a street be turned into one.
Anybody who has spent some time on Concordia's downtown campus will agree that it has very little accessible student space. Take a visit to the sprawling lawns of McGill or Université de Montréal and you'll see people studying on the grass or socialising on grand stairways into even grander old buildings. This is not the case on Concordia’s Sir George ...
Park Extension gets its due
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
The Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodation has touched down in Laval, the most polyglot city it has yet visited. (About 15 percent of Laval residents are immigrants, and 20 percent are allophones, which is not much by Montreal standards but way more diverse than anywhere else in Quebec.) Its proceedings have been, until now, frustrating and emotionally draining, especially for anyone who cherishes cultural and linguistic diversity. There seems to be an excess of rhetoric --- usually of a nationalist or, often, downright xenophobic nature --- without any grass-roots reality check as to how things ...
Where to get a drink in Montreal in 1950
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
You can thank the brothers Gravenor at Coolopolis for this map of every single tavern, pub and brasserie in Montreal, circa 1950. (Don't ask me how they did it --- these guys are machines. Or maybe it was just because they have the data-entry help of their super-intelligent chimpanzee, Chimples.) Unless you're time-travelling, this isn't likely to be of any practical use, but I find it very interesting to see how the concentration of bars has shifted in ...
Headlines / À la une : 14.11.2007
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
CULTURE ET COMMUNAUTÉ
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
Laval appears divided at Bouchard-Taylor commission hearings (The Gazette)
Quartier de spectacles just a start (The Gazette)
Un quartier de l’histoire verra aussi le jour (La Presse)
À la découverte du quartier portugais (La Presse)
La Course des morts (La Presse)
Arts et affaires: le dialogue se noue à Montréal (Le Devoir)
La Commission Bouchard-Taylor à Laval - Des musulmans disent subir l'impact du 11-Septembre (Le Devoir)
TRANSPORTS
TRANSPORT
Public transit workers okay strike mandate (The Gazette)
Mandat de grève à la STM (La Presse)
POLITIQUE
POLITICS
L'ADQ promet une part de la TVQ ...
November 15th, 2007
Photo du jour: McGill Book Fair
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Redpath Hall, McGill University. October 21, 2005
The only constant is change: Mile End’s religious heritage
By Jacob Larsen // 3 Comments
Constant cultural change has long been the signature of multi-ethnic neighbourhoods like the Mile End. Yesterday, in a lecture at the Mile End Library, this social history was explored through the transformation of its places of worship. With her exhaustive collection of photographs, Susan Bronson, an architect and professor of Montreal history at the University of Montreal, guided a small group of enthusiasts on a journey through the neighbourhood's religious transitions. The Mile End Library is itself part of this story of transition. Originally built as an Anglican church in 1904, it was transformed into ...
This is a construction site: why don’t you come in?
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
This month, Caroline Dubois and Julie Favreau, have taken over a storefront at 280 Beaubien St. East for an artistic intervention organized, in part, by the multidisciplinary arts centre Dare-Dare. Every day, the two artists will engage in a perpetual construction and deconstruction project. I wrote an article about it for this week's Mirror. Here's an excerpt:
Admit it: at least once, while walking past a big construction site, you’ve stopped to gaze down at the workers below, scurrying like safety-vested ants as they pour concrete and install girders. You probably weren’t alone. Chances are, ...
Talking about the Latin Quarter
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? Roundtable discussion on the Latin Quarter
WHEN? 5pm, Monday, November 19th
WHERE? L'Amère à boire, 2049 St. Denis (near Sherbrooke)
The Latin Quarter is something of an enigma. Since its development in the mid-nineteenth century as the home of the city's French-Canadian intelligentsia, it has morphed into a neighbourhood of contrasts, a sometimes-seedy succession of bars and cheap hotels that doubles as a francophone cultural hub and tourist destination.
It's the kind of place that can spur a lot of interesting discussion, which is exactly what the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada is hoping for this ...
November 16th, 2007
Photo du jour: Autumn pool
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
John F. Kennedy Pool, Outremont. October 2004
November 17th, 2007
Photo du jour: Stop art pollution evolution?
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Stop sign on Milton St. November 22, 2006
November 18th, 2007
Public hearing on Turcot reconstruction tomorrow
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Turcot Interchange near completion in 1967, looking north. Photo from Walking Turcot Yards
I recently wrote about the threat posted to the western part of St. Henri by the impending reconstruction of the Turcot Interchange. It isn't just residents below the hill who are concerned, though. Many people who live in NDG, especially the lower NDG neighbourhood of St. Raymond, are just as anxious about what the reconstruction will entail.
Tomorrow, the Ministère des transports du Québec will hold a public hearing to answer questions and let people know what's up. Some concerns that will be raised ...
November 19th, 2007
Photo du jour: Fraternal twins
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Rue du Couvent, St. Henri. September 16, 2004
November 20th, 2007
Photo du jour: Couche-Tard
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Sherbrooke St. near Grand Boulevard, NDG. November 5, 2005
STM lands to become new neighbourhood
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Last month, the STM announced that it would start selling off some of its property for development, following the lead of many other transit agencies around the world, including Toronto's TTC. It has already announced that the bus depot it owns at Fullum and Mount Royal, on the Plateau, will be redeveloped. Now comes word of another major development will take place at the depot on the corner of St. Denis and Rosemont.
According to La Presse, STM has signed an agreement with the Société d'habitation et de développement de Montréal to develop the ...
NDG and the Turcot Interchange
By Jacob Larsen // 4 Comments
As the ramifications of the mega overhaul planned on the Turcot Interchange become clearer, it appears that NDG residents will be affected as well. Originally overlooked by MTQ officials - who initially only planned public hearings in the southwest borough - residents had the opportunity to make their case before officials last night.
The primary issue on concern for those who brought their questions to the floor was that of the Falaise St. Jacques. While once extensively used as a trail by Iroquoian peoples prior to European contact, it became an obstacle during Montreal's twentieth century development, ...
À la une / Headlines : 20.11.2007
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
POLITIQUE
POLITICS
Labonté tend la main à Tremblay (Le Journal)
Outremont : En bref - Demande d'enquête (Le Devoir)
City core at centre of mayors' conflict (The Gazette)
Le choc des idées entre Labonté et Tremblay (La Presse)
Pierre Bourque reçoit l'Ordre du Soleil levant (Le Devoir)
DANS LA RUE
IN THE STREETS
Contentieux autour du pylône du mont Royal (La Presse)
HABITATION
HOUSING
Place Jarry: Faire des logements sociaux (Le Journal)
Ce n’est pas la place qui manque pour du logement social dans Rosemont (Arrondissement.com)
Maison de chambres à vendre…un potentiel pour du logement social (Arrondissement.com)
DÉVELOPPEMENT
DEVELOPMENT ...
The Gazette’s three-part series on Mile End
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Is Mile End at the pinnacle of coolness? Some think so. The eclectic, multicultural neighbourhood now finds itself at the centre of Montreal's music and art scenes, brimming with the kinds of creative jobs that Richard Florida promises will catapult Montreal into the top ranks of the new economy. But what about the future? Will rents continue to rise, pushing out the very people that made Mile End so desirable in the first place? It's a cycle of gentrification that has repeated itself over and over again throughout the developed world.
In a series this ...
November 21st, 2007
Photo du jour: Bicycle man
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Durocher near Jean-Talon, Park Ex. September 28, 2007
Montreal’s new smart card: lessons from Boston
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Next March, Montreal will join dozens of public transit systems around the world when it adopts a new contactless smart card that will allow you to store cash value and monthly passes on a single card that will give you access to the bus, metro and commuter train, as well as transit systems in Laval and Longueuil.
Just to give you an idea of the card's potential, you could load it with an STM monthly pass for unlimited travel on the bus and metro as well as $15 for those times you need to use the ...
«Cette fois, c’est la bonne»
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
It's been decades since politicians have promised to upgrade the east end of Notre-Dame Street into something more than a dangerous four-lane arterial. Now, finally, the city and the province appear to have committed to a plan to transform the street into an eight-land "urban boulevard." What exactly does that mean?
Between the end of the Ville-Marie Expressway in the west and Highway 25 in the east, Notre-Dame will be expanded from four to eight lanes. Two will be reserved for public transit and two for high-occupancy vehicles. The entire length of the street will be accompanied ...
Headlines / À la une : 21.11.2007
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
INFRASTRUCTURES
INFRASTRUCTURE
Rue Notre-Dame: «Cette fois, c'est la bonne» (La Presse)
Notre Dame to get overdue facelift (The Gazette)
Les protocoles [pour la rue Notre-Dame] pas encore signés (Le Journal)
Rue Notre-Dame : On s'est enfin entendu (Le Journal)
ENVIRONNEMENT
ENVIRONMENT
On roule au biodiesel à la STM (Le Journal)
HABITATION
HOUSING
Des inspecteurs s'attaquent à des immeubles insalubres de Saint-Léonard (La Presse)
Tétreaultville : Un condo en cadeau (Le Journal)
CULTURE ET COMMUNAUTÉ
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
La Commission Bouchard-Taylor dans Côte-des-Neiges - La tolérance colore le premier forum montréalais (Le Devoir)
Bouchard et Taylor, des «colons blancs» (Le Devoir)
Hearings are a ...
November 22nd, 2007
ATSA’s État d’urgence on now until Sunday
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Download link
The Action terroriste socialement acceptable's annual État d'urgence event, which is meant to raise awareness for poverty and homelessness, will once again occupy Berri Square from today until Sunday, 24 heures sur 24. Here's more from ATSA itself:
L’État d’Urgence est un Manifestival artistique interdisciplinaire et solidaire qui prend forme tel un camp de réfugiés effectif en plein centre-ville avec trois repas par jour, une collation en tout temps, des dons de vêtements chauds, un dortoir pour 150 personnes de la rue et plusieurs services de première ligne.
L’ATSA y ...
Photo du jour: Rachel Street reflection
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Reflection in the mirror of a parked scooter. Rachel and St. Laurent. September 22, 2006
More details on the Griffintown redevelopment
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
New details have emerged today on the redevelopment of Griffintown, which we first wrote about last July. Radio-Canada reports that it will cost at least $1.3 billion, cover 1.1 million square feet, and will include 3,900 housing units, a theatre or music venue, a cinema, office space, two hotels and underground parking. Devimco, the developer, will also invest $10 million in a future tramway station along Peel Street. The city will also require the construction of 900 housing units to be reserved for low-income housing.
Here's more information from a news release issued ...
Yiddish community activism on the Main
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
WHAT? "Hirsch Wolofsky, un demi-siècle d’activisme communautaire yiddish sur la Main," a lecture by Pierre Anctil, director of the University of Ottawa's Institute of Canadian Studies
WHEN? Saturday, November 24th, from 3:00pm to 5:30pm
WHERE? Club Espagnol du Québec, 4388 Saint-Laurent Blvd., near Marie Anne
HOW MUCH? $10 regular, $5 students, includes Friends of Saint-Laurent Blvd. membership
This Saturday, the Friends of Saint-Laurent Boulevard will be presenting a special lecture by Pierre Anctil, one of Quebec's foremost Jewish historians, on Hirsch Wolofsky, the founder of Keneder Odler, Canada's foremost Yiddish-language newspaper, and Yiddish community activism on the Main. Here's more ...
November 23rd, 2007
Photo du jour: Posters on Milton
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Milton Street near Aylmer, McGill Ghetto. October 30, 2007
Reaction to the Griffintown mega-development
By Christopher DeWolf // 9 Comments
Since news broke yesterday afternoon with details about Devimco's plan to massively redevelop Griffintown, the blogosphere has been abuzz with reaction.
Some are concerned about the effect on current Griffintown residents. Although Devimco insists that no homeowners will be expropriated, Kristian Gravenor isn't buying that assurance at face value. He has lived through the Overdale boondoggle, in which an entire nineteenth-century downtown block was demolished, and hundreds of residents evicted, for a luxury property development that never materialized. "[Some] suspect that this will end badly, that they'll kick people out and the developers ...
November 24th, 2007
Photo du jour: 24 hour studying
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Milton Street near Park Avenue, McGill Ghetto. October 30, 2007
Spacing Montréal et Expozine, together at last!
By Spacing // 1 Comment
QUOI? Expozine, le salon des fanzines, bandes dessinées et petits éditeurs
WHAT? Expozine, the annual small press, comic and zine fair
QUAND? Samedi le 24 novembre et dimanche le 25 novembre, entre midi et 18h
WHEN? Saturday, November 24th and Sunday, November 25th, between noon and 6pm
OÙ? WHERE? L'Église Saint-Enfant-Jésus, 5035 Saint-Dominique
L'automne prend fin, Expozine s'approche. C'est encore une fois le temps du salon annuel des fanzines, bandes dessinées et petits éditeurs de Montréal, sans doute l'événement le plus attendu du mois de novembre ! Cette année, Spacing Montréal sera un des ...
November 25th, 2007
Photo du jour: Little mosque on St. Dominique
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Newly-expanded mosque near Ste. Catherine and St. Laurent. October 29, 2007
Public hearing: Pine/Park to stay as it is
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Yesterday, while a handful of Spacing Montreal contributors sat in a musty church basement with hundreds of other Expozine exhibitors and visitors, about 150 people attended a public forum on the future of the Pine/Park interchange. Dozens of proposals were submitted on how to deal with the newly-reclaimed space, but the verdict that emerged from yesterday's consultation was this: the space will not be developed. Currently, it is zoned to allow buildings up to four stories high, but Plateau mayor Helen Fotopulos said that it will be soon be rezoned for parkland....
Montreal’s suburban villages: Pointe Claire
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Over the course of Montreal's history, plenty of old towns and villages have been swallowed whole by the insatiable appetite of its suburban sprawl. One of these is the town centre of Pointe Claire, deep within the wilds of the West Island. Although there has been a settlement at Pointe Claire since 1698, the village remains a surprisingly modest affair, no more than a few square blocks of old houses and duplexes, clustered along Lake St. Louis between St. Joachim Church on one side and the Beaconsfield Golf Club on the other. At the centre of ...
November 26th, 2007
Photo du jour: Squat Préfontaine
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Kate McDonnell took this photo of the old Préfontaine squat. She provides a bit of background: "This was originally built in 1886 as a smallpox hospital, used for isolating people during epidemics. By 1911 it was falling apart and was rescued from demolition by being renovated. Another renovation in 1979 would be responsible for the mismatched bricks and ugly little windows in the middle section.
"After the mid-1950s it became a shelter for the homeless and in the late 1970s and early 1980s was used to temporarily shelter an influx of boat people. After being officially sanctioned ...
What makes a good library?
By Christopher DeWolf // 9 Comments
Earlier this month, the city and province announced that they will team up to invest $37.5 million in Montreal's libraries, with plans to create five new ones, renovate others, hire more people and expand collections. There's still no word on where the new libraries will be built, but this raises an important question: what makes a good library?
I think the success of the Grande Bibliothèque testifies to the need for good design and a good location. Only a handful of people use libraries because they absolutely must; most do so by choice, looking for ...
Demain, une conférence sur le Quartier des spectacles
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
QUOI? Conférence sur le développement du Quartier des spectacles
QUAND? Le mardi 27 novembre, 17h
OÙ? Amphithéâtre Hydro-Québec, local 1120, 2940, chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine (coin Darlington)
Quel effet le développement du Quartier des spectacles aura-t-il sur les environs de la Place des Arts? En vue de l'annonce récente que l'espace publique entre les rues de Bleury et St-Urbain sera transformée de façon dramatique d'ici quatre ans, trois urbanistes en discutera demain soir dans une conférence organisée par l'Institute d'urbanisme de l'Université de Montréal. Voici un extrait de leur communiqué :
Montréal est reconnue pour son animation, ...
November 27th, 2007
Photo du jour: A vanished market
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
This compilation was created by Spacing Montreal's own Guillaume St-Jean. The first photo, taken in 1985 by flickr user ifotog, shows the Marché Créole at the corner of St. Dominique and Charlotte, right behind the present-day SAT. The second photo, taken earlier this year, shows a vacant lot where the Haitian grocery store once stood.
Where NYC manhole covers come from
By Shawn Micallef // 1 Comment
Yesterday's New York Times had a piece (and a neat audio slide show) on the the origin of that city's manhole covers. Foreign worker safety is an issue at the Indian foundry.
Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers.
Seemingly impervious to the heat from the metal, the workers at one of West Bengal’s many foundries relied on strength and bare hands rather than machinery. Safety precautions were barely in evidence; just a few pairs of eye goggles were ...
Thanks a lot, Laval, now the metro is too crowded
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Montrealers are full of complaints. Sometimes they're even willing to fill out of a form to make an official complaint, which is what 326 people have done in response to the STM's last round of fare hikes at the beginning of this year. But that's not all they're unhappy with: transit users are now complaining that the Laval extension has made the metro too crowded and that the STM isn't doing enough to keep up with the increased ridership.
When the Laval metro opened in April, its three stations were expected to be used by a ...
À la une / Headlines : 27.11.2007
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
POLITIQUE
POLITICS
Labonté-Tremblay: un premier face à face sans éclat (La Presse)
Vision Montréal déclare la guerre au maire Tremblay (La Presse)
Labonté steps into Vision Montreal role (The Gazette)
For a man who can expect to be dismissed as a turncoat, councillor is remarkably calm (The Gazette)
Le choc Labonté-Tremblay n'a pas eu lieu (Le Devoir)
Relations de travail - Les cols bleus menacent de couper court aux activités de la fête des Neiges (Le Devoir)
Cold shoulder for snow fête (The Gazette)
CULTURE ET COMMUNAUTÉ
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
Jouer au touriste dans sa ville (La Presse)
Les jeunes Montréalais s'attachent ...
November 28th, 2007
Photo du jour: Chase the fire hydrant
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Lincoln Avenue near Chomedey, July 12, 2007
Voice of the Tube fired
By Shawn Micallef // 1 Comment
With the recent introduction of the pleasant automated voice announcing TTC stops in Toronto, it is interesting to read that the voice actor behind the familiar London Tube announcements has been fired sacked. She was let go because she posted a series of spoof announcements on her website (listen to them here).
The spoofs by Emma Clarke, one of the country's most successful voiceover artists, included a reminder to "our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly" and an appeal to the passenger in the red shirt to stop ...
Steps are good for sitting
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
McGill University's "Arts steps"
It would hardly be an original observation to point out that a simple set of steps can become a well-used hangout. One of the world's most famous public spaces is, after all, known as the Spanish Steps. But for all their ubiquity, only some steps become popular places to sit. What makes some gathering places and others just passages to somewhere else?
There are at least three key elements to making a successful set of hangout steps. The first is openness: no matter how wide they actually are, the steps must feel and appear ...
Last stop for reasonable accommodation
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
After slogging its way through 16 other towns and cities --- 14 of which were nowhere near Greater Montreal, the only place in Quebec with a large concentration of immigrants --- the Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodation has finally landed on the island. Since it began its work in late August, the commission has been criticized by many for providing a platform for bigots, racists and xenophobes to rant against immigrants and minorities in Quebec. Throughout the province's rural regions, the commission's public forums were plagued by so many complaints about Jews and, in particular, the ...
Expanding a museum, saving a church
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
At the end of the year, the Museum of Fine Arts will start work on a new expansion that will engulf the former Erskine and American Church, located across the street at the corner of Sherbrooke and du Musée. Built in 1910, the church contains one of the world's most important collections of Tiffany stained glass windows. Its interior and exterior will be restored while a new museum building, designed to house the MFA's collection of Canadian art, is built around it.
As attendance at many of Montreal's traditional Catholic and Protestant churches dwindles, we're faced ...
November 29th, 2007
Photo du jour: Beaver Lake
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Sunday at Beaver Lake on Mount Royal. July 29, 2007
Montreal in the latest issue of Spacing
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Even Torontonians like to hear about other places from time to time. That's why the latest green-themed issue of Spacing features articles from Rotterdam, San Francisco, Los Angeles and, yes, Montreal. The magazine's editors were kind enough to give me space to talk about our contaminated community gardens and some of the creative ways that people here are dealing with that problem. Here's a taste of what I wrote:
Montreal’s city-wide garden program was launched in the 1970s, but after a thirty-year increase, the number of people who use it seems to have levelled off. Now, faced ...
Psychogeographically stroll the Falaise St. Jacques
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Does this look like NDG to you? Photo by Andy Riga
WHAT? Psychogeography walk along the Falaise St. Jacques
WHEN? 1pm, Saturday, December 1st Noon, Sunday, December 2nd
WHERE? Place St. Henri metro
This Saturday Sunday, Spacing Montreal's own Jacob Larsen will be leading the Montreal Psychogeography Society to the Falaise St. Jacques, the protected "eco-region" that sits along the escarpment separating lower NDG from the Turcot Yards and Highway 20 below. With so much uncertainty about how the Turcot Interchange reconstruction will affect the Falaise, this could well be the first and last time you get to see ...
Taking ephemeral art to the streets
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Nobody like a self-promoter, so it feels awfully gauche to be writing about my own articles twice in a single day. Don't judge me too harshly!
In the Urban Life section of today's Gazette you'll find an article about a new wave of ephemeral public art projects, many organized by Dare-Dare, an artists' centre based in Mile End. Among those that I write about are Franck Bragigand's painted manhole covers and Karen Spencer's Dream Listener project. Here's an excerpt:
It glowed amid its sombre surroundings, a giant Lego-brick lantern underneath the Van Horne Viaduct. For three weeks ...
Transit fares increase, but so does level of service
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
First, the bad news: fares on the STM will go up yet again next year, with the cost of a monthly pass rising from $65 to $66.25 and the cost of a strip of tickets going up from $11.75 to $12.
But there's also good news. Lots of it, in fact. Montreal's 2008 budget, tabled yesterday, contains more money for public transit than we have seen in years. All told, the city will invest $100 million more in the STM next year than it did in 2007, including $29 million to pay off its deficit, an ...
November 30th, 2007
Photo du jour: “No parking” in three languages
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Alley behind Park Avenue. July 23, 2007
SPACING MONTREAL POLL: Do you jaywalk?
By Spacing // 5 Comments
Montrealers are known for the tendency to cross the street wherever they want. Simply put, most of us have no aversion to jaywalking, and there's no greater proof than the corner of Ste. Catherine and Stanley. One a bone-chilling February day in 2006, I stood for five minutes at this busy downtown intersection and witnesses no fewer than 100 people crossing against a red light. Take a close look at the colour of the light in the photo above: it's green. All of those people are jaywalking.
Lately, though, we've noticed more and ...
Naoya Hatakeyama’s Scales at the CCA
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
New York at Japan's Tobu World Square theme park
If you're heading to the Canadian Centre for Architecture anytime soon to check out their latest headlining exhibition, 1973: Sorry, Out of Gas, don't overlook the Octagonal Gallery, where another, captivating exhibition is running until February 3rd, 2008. Back in 2003, the CCA commissioned Naoya Hatakeyama to take photos of three scale models of New York and Japan. The result is Scales, which explores the tension between representation and reality, pausing along the way to ponder the meaning of scale.
I wrote about Scales for Maisonneuve, so here's ...
Greening Milton Park
By Misha Warbanski // 6 Comments
Hutchison Street in Milton Park, aka the McGill Ghetto
The neighbourhood of Milton-Parc is tucked into a corner of downtown between McGill University and the mountain. The area has been known for community engagement and co-operative housing projects that are home to some 1,500 of its 11,000 residents. Green space is scarce. After months of meetings and public forums the Urban Ecology Centre of Montreal has published a sustainability plan for the neighbourhood.
MUEC coordinator Luc Rabouin told the Montreal Mirror they're "implementing helpful changes, like creating community compost bins and giving priority to pedestrians ...
December 1st, 2007
Photo du jour: Le pont Jacques Cartier
By Misha Warbanski // No Comments
photo by Misha Warbanski
The Jacques Cartier Bridge spans the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Longueuil, Quebec. Here it is on a rainy night from the overnight Greyhound to New York.
Chinatown’s changing, but it’s still a vital place
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Chinatown is changing: new businesses are opening and a set of vacant lots on St. Laurent is set to be transformed next year into a $20 million shopping and retail complex.
At the same time, Montreal's Chinese population, now estimated at about 80,000, is changing, too. A surge of immigrants and students from mainland China, most of them Mandarin-speakers, are making their influence felt in a community traditionally dominated by Cantonese-speakers from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Many of the city's best regional Chinese restaurants, grocery stores and boutiques are found outside of Chinatown in neighbourhoods ...
December 2nd, 2007
Photo du jour : Pas d’espèce de cochon
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
This sign, located in an alley near Mount Royal and St. Denis on the Plateau, is meant to encourage cleanliness, but I can't help but feel sorry for the poor rat. Such stereotypes!
November 4, 2007
Cultural guerrillas restore Paris’ Pantheon clock
By Matthew Blackett // 4 Comments
TORONTO -- Here in Toronto, we like to revel in the actions of guerrilla activists who do things to try and better our everyday lives: the Urban Repair Squad (creating bike lanes on roads using spray cans), the City Beautification Ensemble (applying "colour therapy" to hundreds of ring-and-post bike racks), and the ever popular Guerrilla Gardeners. But Paris beats us, hand's down, when it comes to subversive acts that better everyday life.
"Cultural guerrillas" in Paris, known as the Untergunther, were recently cleared of charges of breaking into the Pantheon. What did they do ...
Welcome, winter
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
This year, winter came early, with an endless week of snow and slush. The snowstorm last night was nice, though, a reminder of the calm that descends over the city in mid-winter, its noise muffled under a blanket of heavy snow.
One year ago winter arrived not with snow but with verglas. I remember very clearly on the evening of last December 1st, falling asleep after an exhausting day, only to wake up to a dark apartment and the eerie echo of freezing rain outside. It was the middle of rush hour and the power was ...
The problems with the Griffintown project
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Raphaël Fischler, a professor of urban design at McGill University, has weighed in on the Griffintown project with an op-ed published in today's Gazette. "Mayor Gérald Tremblay is telling us not to be negative about the huge project just proposed for Griffintown. Well, if the project were perfect and the administration's stance beyond reproach, there would be no need for criticism. But as things stand, a couple of critical comments are called for," he writes by way of introduction.
Fischler starts by critiquing the size of the proposed development:
First, the project is simply too large. This ...
December 3rd, 2007
Photo du jour: The Lower Main
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
These metal shutters, common in so many cities around the world, are mostly absent in Montreal --- except in the area around Ste. Catherine and the Main.
St. Laurent near de Maisonneuve. July 24, 2007
Blast from the (very recent) past
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
I was rummaging through some of my old photos this evening when I came across some that were taken in the fall of 2002. It is so recent yet, in some ways, so much has changed since then. Not long after I took the photo above, for instance, a large residential development was built on the land at the corner of Mountain and Notre Dame. There's now a Couche-Tard where I was standing.
Across the street, the old Émile Bertrand Restaurant, the only place in town that served home-brewed spruce beer, is now gone. Its owner, ...
Street market? No, a railway market
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
[youtube]xSqNx7vJLDE[/youtube]
Spacing reader Mark Slutsky sent us a link to this video today, showing a market lining a railway in Thailand. Within seconds of a train passing through, the market springs back to life.
Naturally, the video raises some pretty obvious questions, like why on earth would a market be located on a set of train tracks? Andrew Leonard, on Salon's How the World Works, points the way to some explanations. Apparently, the train tracks in question are actually part of the the Mae Klong Railway, an interurban line that runs diesel trams along local roads from Bangkok in the ...
Collège Français, en quatre temps
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
Fondé en 1959, le Collège Français est un établissement d'enseignement privé situé au coeur du Mile End, sur l'Avenue Fairmount. En 1972, le Collège inaugurera son campus longueuillois, qui servira d'abord au niveau primaire, et par la suite, secondaire.
C'est en me promenant hier dans le quartier que j'ai remarqué pour la première fois que le Collège était en fait plusieurs édifices sur deux ou trois coins de rue. Il faut dire que lorsqu'on ne porte pas attention, on pourrait penser que ce sont plusieurs écoles différentes ...
Norman Bethune Square gets a makeover
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Norman Bethune is getting a bath. His statue, which normally stands encrusted in bird poop at the corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve, in the most pigeon-infested square in Montreal, has been removed for restoration. Norman Bethune Square, meanwhile, will be redesigned and expanded, part of the ongoing Quartier Concordia project that aims to turn Concordia's downtown campus into an attractive, pedestrian-friendly environment.
There are no details on what the newly-reconfigured square will look like, although preliminary renderings released by Concordia in 2005 offer an idea. Pretty much anything will be better than its ...
What? You’ve never seen a bike in the winter?
By Misha Warbanski // 1 Comment
Snowed-in cars on Beaudry Street. Don't feel like shoveling? Take your bike! Photo by Misha Warbanski
I like the community spirit sparked by the first big snowfall. People chat as they shovel out their cars and are quick to lend a push when someone gets stuck. As a cyclist I don't have to shovel, but I like the camaraderie with the the couriers and other cyclists and the occasional cheers of 'way to go' from passing pedestrians.
I try to bike all year, though ...
December 4th, 2007
Photo du jour : de l’ancien au nouveau Chinatown
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
Le vieux magasin d'import-export Swatow, le nouveau complexe commercial Swatow. Photo prise le 9 septembre 2007. Lisez l'article par Christopher DeWolf paru sur Spacing cette fin de semaine passée (en anglais).
Avant et après la tempête…
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
En prévision de notre première super grosse de l'année (jugez-en par l'impressionnante liste d'établissements scolaires fermés), je m'étais donné comme défi de documenter visuellement le avant et après du passage d'une tempête de neige autour du pâtelin où j'habite. Les photos d'avant ont été prises le dimanche 2 décembre, 2007 vers 15 h 30, et celles d'après l'ont été le lendemain matin vers 11 h (et dire qu'on en a encore pour deux jours de neige...)....
CCTV Fashion Police
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
In much of Canada, the introduction of CCTV by police to monitor public space is still in its infancy, passionately supported in some quarters, denounced by others, with the rest either indifferent or (myself included) not yet in possession of a fully formed opinion. In the UK, however, CCTV is a ubiquitous part of life and London's Metropolitian Police are looking into taking its use to an even higher level by using video software -- designed by a firm called "OmniPerception" -- that can pick out suspects based on what they are wearing. The technology can ...
2006 Census: Montreal’s changing demographics
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Statistics Canada released its latest batch of information from the 2006 census today, this time covering the sensitive topics of language and immigration. While the Globe and Mail has already prepared a full dossier on the new information, with a look at nationwide trends, none of Montreal's media outlets has published anything yet.
The new census results give us an idea of Montreal's current linguistic makeup. I've crunched the numbers and here's some of what I found:
Percentage of population by mother tongue, Montreal Island, 2006
French: 49.3%
English: 16.3%
Other: 33.5%
Percentage of population by language spoken at home, ...
The Main is back and ready to party
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
After fourteen brutal months of non-stop construction, the closure of several prominent businesses and some eerily quiet days on a street normally known as the Main, St. Laurent Boulevard is back: work is now officially finished on the renovations between Sherbrooke St. and Mount Royal Ave. New water mains have been installed, fire-optic cables laid and sidewalks widened, all in the name of modernizing Montreal's most iconic street.
To celebrate the symbolic re-opening of the street, St. Laurent merchants will be hosting a party this Saturday, December 8th. In the afternoon, ...
Mon cagibi, mon shed, mon débarras, mon…
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 2 Comments
J'ai compris à quel point le cagibi était un élément caractéristique de Montréal en visitant les ruelles en compagnie d'un groupe d'amis Ontariens. Ni à Toronto, ni à London, ni à Kitchener, ni dans aucune autre ville où ces personnes habitaient pouvait-on trouver des structures semblables. J'ai fouillé ma mémoire, et j'ai la vague sensation d'en avoir déjà vu un à Toronto, mais ce n'est qu'un souvenir très flou...
Ce qui est particulier à Montréal, je crois, serait ce cagibi de plusieurs étages, entièrement détaché de la bâtisse principale sauf pour de minces passerelles. Ce type est ...
December 5th, 2007
Photo du jour : Attention à la déblayeuse, ti-gars!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise le 4 décembre 2007, sur Ste-Catherine, dans le Village.
The snowplow ballet
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
It's the famous day after the storm, when the snow has stopped falling but huge piles of it remain on the ground. Normally busy streets are quiet and the city feels like a giant playground of sorts. Here on Park Avenue, whose three lanes of traffic have been narrowed by the snow to just two, tow trucks are driving by blaring their horns, warning people to move their cars off the street. Soon, the elaborate ritual of snow removal will begin.
Two years ago, Frank Hashimoto, a transplanted Chicagoan whose blog is appropriately titled Chicagoan in Montreal, ...
Who Killed the Electric Car? Find out tomorrow
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
[youtube]MSBykAngDpY[/youtube]
WHAT? Screening of the 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?
WHEN? 7pm, Thursday, December 6th, 2007
WHERE? CCA, 1920 Baile St. (near Fort and René Lévesque, 5 min. from Guy metro)
HOW MUCH? Free!
Tomorrow night, the Canadian Centre for Architecture will launch a new series of films, Running on Empty, that will examine Western society's "addiction to oil." The first movie? Who Killed the Electric Car?, a 2006 documentary that takes a wry, cynical look at the "birth, limited commercialization, and subsequent death of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically GM’s EV1 of the 1990s."
Other highlights ...
East enders oppose the Notre-Dame highway
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
East end residents aren't taking too kindly to the changes planned for Notre Dame St. between downtown and Highway 25. La Presse is reporting that a new group, La Coalition pour humaniser la rue Notre-Dame, has been formed to oppose the Notre Dame project. They've set up quite a nice blog detailing their alternative vision for the street, which involves creating a "human-scaled" pedestrian space instead of a de facto expressway. Here's more from today's La Presse:
Des riverains de la rue Notre-Dame Est, qui ont créé une coalition qui rejette l'aménagement de l'artère en ...
December 6th, 2007
Psychogeographers take to the Falaise St. Jacques
By Jacob Larsen // 2 Comments
A huge neglected strip of nature running almost to the city's core? While the downtown portion of this slope teams with traffic, what is stunning about the Falaise St. Jacques – approximately half the hill’s length, running from the Turcot Interchange in the east to Angrignon in the west – is its wildness.
Accessing the falaise from St. Henri is not for the faint of heart. After walking under the ghostly rush of traffic on the Turcot Interchange, one passes a barbed wire enclosure where two German Shepards welcome you with raspy barks. After a Transport Quebec ...
Photo du jour : éléphant mécanique
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Photo prise le 16 septembre 2006, au Parc Jeanne-Mance.
Why is the STM not shovelling the Square-Victoria Metro entrance?
By Chris Erb // 4 Comments
Tonight, while walking home from work through the Quartier International, my co-worker pointed out that the entrance to the Square-Victoria Metro station has yet to be ploughed, despite the fact that the most recent snowstorm ended more than a day ago. As a result, narrow, haphazard paths (about six in total) made by commuters wind their way to the stairs from different parts of the square. The aforementioned co-worker noted that this isn’t the only station with this problem, citing Lionel-Groulx as another example, although I haven't been there to see for myself.So why is the STM ...
Montrealers, cherish your clothelines
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Nobody hangs their laundry out to dry in Calgary. In fact, there are hardly any clothelines. My grandmother's house had one, but I don't think she ever used it. She, like everyone I knew while growing up there, had a washer and dryer set tucked neatly in a musty corner of her basement, across from a half-century-old furnace.
It was an eye-opening experience to travel to Newfoundland as a teenager, where I discovered that St. John's was precisely the opposite of Calgary: everyone had clotheslines. Clothes hung over alleyways and backyards, billowing in the salty Atlantic breeze ...
Montreal vs. Toronto: battle of the bus transfers!
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
French Panic, a local blogger who may or may not be my neighbour, recently spent some time in Toronto. She came back with some pertinent observations about the way that each city's character manifests itself in bus and subway transfers. Yes, transfers. Read on:
Now, I know it's dull to compare Toronto and Montreal. They are very different from each other, and shouldn't be compared. But. These transfers say all sorts of interesting things. The Montreal transfer is devoid of all information, save for a set of arrows ...
December 7th, 2007
Photo du jour: Centre Street
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
This Bengali grocery is part of a new wave of immigrant businesses around Centre Street in Point St. Charles, most of them catering to the area's growing numbers of people from South Asia and the Caribbean.
December 1, 2007
Community groups want to reduce the number of cars in Montreal
By Misha Warbanski // 9 Comments
The Montreal Gazette has a report today about the Coalition for the Reduction of Montreal Traffic, which represents some 42 community groups. They say building new highways is not the answer. Instead they want the number of all-day parking spots reduced, making it more difficult for people to bring cars into the city.
The number of motor-vehicle registrations on the island jumped 10.5 per cent between 1999 and 2006, to 845,086, according to the Société d'assurance automobile du Québec. That far outstrips the three-per-cent population growth during the same period, Porlier said.
Increasingly, he added, Montreal drivers ...
Marching on climate change
By Misha Warbanski // No Comments
Saturday is the Global Day of Action Against Climate change. A demonstration starts at 2:30 p.m. from Dorchester Square and will move through downtown to Place des Arts. Demos are taking place in 30 other cities in Canada and 70 countries around the world.
For more information on tomorrow's protest, email climat@syc-cjs.org, environment.ssmu@gmail.com or call 514-562-5809.
South Shore dwellers might be interested in another intervention taking place in Brossard earlier that afternoon. From 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, the Youth Climate Action Committee will stage a rally in support of the Bali talks on ...
Privately-run buses on Pie IX?
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Today's La Presse reports that the Agence métropolitain de transport, which oversees transportation infrastructure in Greater Montreal, wants to develop a bus rapid transit line on Pie-IX, which would be built and operated by a private investor. Thing is, the STM is already planning to build its own BRT line on the boulevard. Needless to say, it is not at all happy with the AMT's plans. An epic showdown between the two agencies appears to be in the works.
La Presse has details on the two different BRT lines envisioned by the AMT and ...
December 8th, 2007
Photo du jour : Allons, tous dans le Métro
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Montréal subit sa première grosse tempête de la saison 2007-08, le 3 décembre. Photo prise au Métro Place-des-Arts.
Beaminster, Bradford, Campden: three odd streets
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Back in October, on one of those unseasonably warm and humid days we had towards the end of fall, I was on the 129 bus heading west to Victoria Avenue when I noticed three odd streets on the south side of Côte Ste. Catherine. Unusually for streets in Côte des Neiges, which tend to be very wide, they appeared to consist of nothing more than a simple pathway surrounded by greenery.
Later, I returned to investigate and discovered that the streets I had seen were Beaminster Place, Bradford Place and Campden Place, a trio of ...
Keeping the streets alive in the winter
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
As quiet as the city can get in the winter, it never truly goes to sleep, at least not until the windchill dips to something abominable. Montrealers live in the streets more than people in all but a few other North American cities and this is true even during our cold, snowy winters. Part of the reason is that, whatever the season, there's stuff to do outside. The annual winter High Lights festival (better known as Montréal en lumière) is one of my favourite annual events because it turns Montreal's winter climate into something that actually ...
December 9th, 2007
Photo du jour : randonnée urbaine
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Ce n'est pas parce que c'est l'hiver qu'on ne peut plus sortir dehors! Les skieurs sur le Mont-Royal hier après-midi n'étaient pas rares. Bien que la neige sur nos routes ait été dégagée (puis empilée dans des bancs de plus de 10 mètres de haut parfois) ou transformée en sloche, un mélange de gravier, sel et eau glacée qui se passe de présentation au Canada, celle du Parc du Mont-Royal est encore blanche immaculée, seulement traversée de lignes doubles dessinées de façon plutôt aléatoire. (Nos randonneurs ...
You will listen to our music!
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
[youtube]k5rSj8lcDVQ[/youtube]
I was walking along the Main with a friend yesterday when he pointed out that music was being broadcast from loudspeakers attached to the street's lampposts. "That's so weird," he said.
The fact that many of Montreal's commercial streets broadcast music in December is one of those seasonal oddities I notice and then forget as soon as the snow melts. Usually, it's schmaltzy holiday music that is being played, but yesterday on St. Laurent, a DJ was in charge of the programming, part of a daylong celebration of the street's official "reopening" after more than a year of construction. My ...
Montreal population density since 1971
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/analysis/popdwell/maps/animations/CMAs/Montreal.swf" width="525" height="325"/]
This map, which comes courtesy of Statistics Canada, shows the evolution of Montreal's population density since 1971. Basically, what you can see is that Montreal has become significantly less dense over the years. Between 1971 and 1991, high-density zones shrunk while the city sprawled outwards; since 1991, things have been more or less stable.
Some of this has to do with depopulation, especially in working-class neighbourhoods that fell on hard times in the 1970s and 80s. But most of it comes thanks to a decrease in household size; while a typical Plateau apartment would have been ...
December 10th, 2007
Photo du jour : Café Cléopâtre
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Café Cléopâtre, au coin de la Main et de la rue Sainte-Catherine.
Vendredi le 8 décembre 2007.
Shedding light on the Quartier des spectacles
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
La Presse reports today that a new "visual identity" will be given to Ste. Catherine St. between St. James United Church and Berri Square, part of the ongoing development of the Quartier des spectacles.
More lighting installations will be added to the street, similar to what has already been done to the area's cultural landmarks, including Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Club Soda, the SAT, the National Monument, the Metropolis and the National Film Board. Lighting pillars containing information about shows and cultural events will also be installed along the street.
Some details from the paper:
L'identé ...
Plaza Saint Hubert before the green awning
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Plaza Saint Hubert, the shopping district on St. Hubert St. between Bellechasse and Jean Talon, is notorious for its chintzy stores and green-trimmed glass awning. It's one of my favourite Montreal streets, even in its somewhat ragtag state, but I was absolutely astonished when I saw these photos of it in the 1960s. Forget Ste. Catherine St.: the place to be in sixties Montreal was the Plaza Saint Hubert!
Back then, traffic flowed in both directions and the street was lined by a seemingly endless procession of neon signs. It was a quintessentially middle-class street, with plenty ...
December 11th, 2007
Photo du jour: St. Michael of the snow
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
St. Michael's Church seen from Jeanne Mance St. December 3, 2007
R.I.P. Montreal Exchange
By Paul Erlichman // 6 Comments
Yesterday marked an end of an era of sorts. In what some are calling a "combination" and others just a plain "acquisition", it was announced yesterday that the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Bourse de Montreal (Montreal Exchange) will become the mighty TMX, which apparently isn't the name of a George Lucas film. This essentially means that the Montreal Exchange, which has existed in some shape or form since 1832, ceases to exist as an institution.
The importance of ...
Laval wants more metro
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Whet by this year's new metro extension, Laval's appetite for public transit is now insatiable. Last summer, long-time mayor Gilles Vaillancourt asked the provincial government for a billion dollars to buckle the orange line loop by connecting Montmorency and Côte-Vertu stations, via Chomedey and Bois-Franc. Yesterday, he repeated his demand, adding that he plans to ask Quebec City to create a dedicated tax fund to pay for the extension.
Now, there's nothing I love more than the thought of building more metro, but is this really the right way to do it? Probably ...
The McTavish Reservoir exposed
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
Andrew Chau has a great post on the McTavish Reservoir today at urban-ism:
many people don’t realize that the large grassy field above the mcgill campus hides enormous tanks of water that feed into the city’s water systems. the curious castle-like structure that seems so out of place, the strange manhole covers that litter the fields, and the artificial flatness of the site are hints of what lies beyond. the cavernous spaces below are from another world: the underground grottoes of the stockholm metro, the troglodyte dwellings in matmata, the sahara.
where people now play ...
Phantom Shanghai
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
Click over to CBC.ca - Arts where photographer Greg Girard narrates a neat slide show of pictures from his book Phantom Shanghai. The book looks at the collision of old and decaying colonial Shanghai with the new glass-and-steel city rising from its ruins. Some shots look like Detroit, others like Vancouver's Coal Harbour and some suburban ones that could be on the edge of any Canadian city.
Photo by Poagao.
Help create Spacing Montreal’s blogroll
By Spacing // 17 Comments
Bien que Spacing Montréal propose déjà des liens vers les médias traditionnels sur des questions d'espace publique, nous souhaitons dorénavant inclure plus de liens vers les nombreux blogues montréalais, à propos de Montréal.
Nous vous invitons à nous suggérer des liens dans la section commentaire de cet article, vers des blogues que vous aimez, et via lesquels vous vous renseignez sur des sujets qui touchent à Montréal. Ils peuvent par exemple être des blogues collectifs, ou personels, parlant de thèmes aussi spécifiques (ou vastes) que le transport en ville. Évidemment, ne vous gênez surtout pas pour soumettre ...
Chinatown gets a New York makeover
By Christopher DeWolf // 10 Comments
I was walking up St. Laurent this evening when I noticed that Wah Fung, a gift shop located just above Viger, had a new sign. It was nice, but something was off. That's when I noticed that it was in Chinese and English. "Meubles, paravents, pots & fleurs, vases, cadres, lampes (2ème étage)" had become "Furniture, umbrellas, flowers and pots, vases, frames, lamps (2nd floor)."
Hmm, I thought. That will make some people upset.
Walking down the street a bit, I noticed that almost every store on the block had new signs, all of which were ...
December 12th, 2007
Photo du jour: Summer fog
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Steam drifting away from Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle. July 16, 2007
Bali: Canada, Climate Change, Harper and You
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
With the release of the Spacing "Green" issue, we have faith that many solutions to the widely-acknowledged-climate-crisis will come at the local level -- but there are times when solutions, and leadership, must come from the Federal government. This week Canada is increasingly the target of worldwide scorn as we are seen as a major roadblock in moving forward on climate change. From the Globe and Mail:
The federal government is under withering criticism for its negotiating stance at the Bali conference – and not just from environmental activists. The latest attacks are coming from ...
Countdown to the smart card begins
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
The Gazette's Andy Riga reports that Montreal's smart card, which will be used to store transit passes and cash value for the STM, RTL, STL and AMT, will be tested early next month with a "few select Montreal bus and métro users." The results of the test will determine any last-minute changes that need to be made before the smart card system is fully unveiled next spring. It's a nice, clearly-written article so I'll provide an excerpt that deals with some of the smart card's details:
The MTC is spending $169 million on the technology. Users ...
Quebec’s politicians: let’s build our public buildings out of wood!
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
Quebec's provincial leaders are tripping over each other to support a new initiative, proposed by natural resource minister Claude Béchard, that would require publicly-funded buildings to be constructed out of wood. The idea is that incorporating more wood into our buildings would be a boon to Quebec's flagging forestry industry. "Not only would constructing more public buildings and institutions out of wood help the struggling industry and create jobs, [politicians] argued, it is environmentally friendly and an excellent showcase for Quebec's know-how in the business," reports the Gazette.
Wood is a flexible building material that can ...
December 13th, 2007
Photo du jour : en face du square Phillips
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise le 29 juillet 2007, en face du Square Phillips.
Bibliothèque nationale to preserve posters
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Montreal's posters are finally getting the respect they deserve. It was just announced that the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec will work in collaboration with Publicité sauvage, an ad agency that specializes in commercial postering, to preserve two copies of every poster it creates. Kollectif has the full announcement:
“Publicité Sauvage et Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) ont signé un partenariat pour conserver les affiches en tant que trace de l’histoire culturelle de Montréal.
Depuis octobre, Publicité Sauvage remet à BAnQ deux exemplaires de chaque affiche qui lui est confiée. BAnQ recevra ainsi, sur ...
Exploring the hidden corners of McGill
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Earlier this week, while looking for information for my post on the McTavish Reservoir, I came across a page I'd never seen before: Urban Exploration Montreal's McGill University, from Top to Bottom. Turns out that some of our local urban explorers have penetrated pretty much every crevice of Montreal's oldest university.
Part of their exploration took them to the McTavish Reservoir, which they were intrepid enough to, well, break into enter surreptitiously and photograph. The pumphouse is interesting enough, but what's really spectacular is the underground reservoir, its millions of gallons of water held ...
Opposition keeps mounting to Notre Dame plan
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
If the Ministère du transport du Québec expected a smooth ride for its plan to upgrade Notre Dame Street between the east end of downtown and Highway 25, it was sorely mistaken. As we reported last month, a coalition of citizens has emerged with an alternative vision, one that would see Notre Dame converted into a truly urban boulevard that is well-integrated into the urban fabric of Montreal's east end neighbourhoods. Today, two newspaper articles shed more light on the opposition to the province's Notre Dame plan.
In today's edition of the Mirror, news editor ...
December 14th, 2007
Photo du jour : lanternes chinoises au Jardin Botanique
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise le 8 septembre 2005, au Jardin Botanique de Montréal, lors de La Magie des lanternes.
Armchair flâneur: Google Street View
By Shawn Micallef // 5 Comments
Since that day in 1993 when the University of Windsor gave me my first internet account (that required a bureaucratic sign-up process and a two-week wait for the precious UNIX password) the internet has had moments of futuristic change so deeply immersive one might forget to eat, just like how Walter Benjamin described the intoxicating allure of wandering the city streets as a flâneur. Discovering Google Street View was another of those moments.
Launched earlier this year, Google has an armada of cars outfitted with special 360° cameras driving around snapping photos every few meters ...
Montreal’s vanished synagogues
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, McGill College near Sherbrooke
WHAT? Makom: Seeking Sacred Space, a photo exhibition of former synagogues in Montreal and North Africa
WHEN? Until March 18, 2008; open Tuesday, 12pm-8pm, Wednesday and Thursday, 12pm-5pm, second Sundays, 1pm-5pm
WHERE? Emet Gallery, Congregation Dorshei Emet, 18 Cleve Road, Hampstead
Anyone interested in Montreal history should check out a new exhibition at the Emet Gallery in Hampstead. In the setting of a recently-built synagogue, Makom: Seeking Sacred Space "looks at how sacred space is created, experienced, preserved, and transformed over time," with photos by David Kaufman of former synagogues ...
December 15th, 2007
Photo du jour : Statue James McGill
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Photo de la statue James McGill, prise le 8 juin 2007 à l'Université McGill.
Keep de Maisonneuve closed to traffic
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Downtown motorists will have to wait until March to drive down the block of de Maisonneuve Blvd. between Aylmer and Union, the city has announced. By then, it will have been six months since the street was closed, after bike path construction cracked a concrete foundation underground. Currently, pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed on the block, but it remains closed to cars, trucks and buses.
Here's an idea: why not keep this short stretch of de Maisonneuve closed to traffic? Pedestrians, bikes, buses and emergency vehicles could still be allowed to pass through, but ...
December 16th, 2007
La vie urbaine vue par Thien Vu Dang et Yasuko Tadokoro
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
[youtube]Cf_BkdyxYCk[/youtube]
Je Ne by Thien Vu Dang
VJ Pillow, whose real name is Thien Vu Dang, is a local videographer who has been making waves in Montreal's art scene. He's the founder of Minute Moments, a monthly showcase of minute-long videos that takes place at the Moment Factory on Hutchison Street. He's also responsible for "Montreal in Motion," a new video installation at Trudeau Airport's customs hall featuring 20 video portraits of prominent Montrealers.
Pillow often works with Yasuko Tadokoro (aka VJ Mademoiselle) another video artist. Together, the two have created some videos with interesting and eye-catching takes on urban ...
Photo du jour: Another day, another snowstorm
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
This photo was from the other storm this month, on December 3rd.
Maison Radio-Canada to be converted into hotel, condos, offices
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Montreal is awash in development. Between the two megahospitals, the Quartier des spectacles, Griffintown, Viger Station and countless smaller residential, commercial and infrastructural projects, we haven't seen this much activity since the 1960s.
Now you can add another big initiative to that list: the CBC building, an east end landmark that was itself a major urban renewal project built in 1970, will be converted into hotel, condo and office space. Its expansive parking lots will be developed, too. La Presse broke the story this morning; they have more details:
Le service d'urbanisme de l'arrondissement ...
La voie est libre sur Hutchison
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
Sur la rue Hutchison, petite soeur de l'Avenue du Parc sur presque toute sa longueur, il n'est pas rare de voir des skieurs de fond déambuler en journée de tempête, comme aujourd'hui. Ceux-ci choisissent Hutchison peut-être parce que ses trottoirs sont beaucoup moins achalandés que ceux des St-Laurent ou St-Urbain. Hutchison débouche sur un grand parc enneigé, permettant à nos skieurs urbains de se frayer par la suite un chemin jusqu'aux terrains de l'Université McGill et au Centre-Ville.
Spacing Montréal demande donc ...
December 17th, 2007
Photo du jour: Craig Terminus
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
Until Montreal scrapped its streetcars in 1959, the Craig Terminus was one of the hubs of the city's sprawling tramway network. Located near the corner of St. Urbain and Craig (now Viger St. Antoine), 14 different tram lines merged into this imposing stone building, built in 1925. It was demolished in 1970 when the Ville Marie Expressway tore through a huge swath of downtown Montreal. Everything you see above is gone.
UPDATE: Check out this 1925 photo of the building's construction, including a floor plan. There was a pharmacy, Royal Bank, tabagie, candy shop, newsstand ...
Please buy this theatre
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
The Rialto, a Park Avenue landmark for three quarters of a century, is up for sale. Saturday's Gazette reported that Elias Kalogeras, who has owned the theatre since 1983, wants out:
Kalogeras is the owner of a defunct theatre in a city laden with once proud theatrical gems - The York, Seville, Cinema V, Van Horne, Snowdon, Monkland - that no one seems to know how to manage in a manner that won't hemhorrage money for owners or taxpayers.
The 60-year-old former shipping magnate tried to turn [the ...
Michel Dallaire to design new downtown street furniture
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
"Les amoureux se bécoteront sur de nouveaux bancs publics," reads a headline in this morning's Le Devoir --- "Lovers will kiss on new public benches." Michel Dallaire, the renowned industrial designer responsible for the street furniture in the Quartier international, has been commissioned by the Ville-Marie borough to design new benches, garbage cans and other pieces of street furniture for downtown Montreal. Dallaire's design firm will receive a $25,000 contract for the designs, which will be put into place in 2009.
"We want to create a distinctive brand for ...
Tarnished by corruption? Apparently not
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Gérald Tremblay's Union Montreal maintained control of Outremont in yesterday's by-election, despite last fall's booze-and-financial- irregularities scandal that forced the resignation of the borough's mayor, Stéphane Harbour. Marie Cinq-Mars, the interim mayor appointed after Harbour's departure, will get to keep her position until at least 2009, when the next city-wide elections are scheduled to occur.
The real story here is not that Union Montreal won but that Projet Montréal, the grassroots party with a strong focus on sustainable planning, public transport and the environment, finished a strong second. In the race for borough ...
December 18th, 2007
Photo du jour: Dorchester Boulevard
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
It has been 52 years since Dorchester Street (renamed after René Lévesque in 1987) was transformed into an eight-lane boulevard. In this 1960 photo, you see the construction of the Hydro-Quebec tower, one of three iconic skyscrapers that were completed along Dorchester in 1962.
Read more about Dorchester's widening on Urbanphoto.
Snowy gridlock on Montreal’s streets
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
Earlier today, Montreal City Weblog's Kate McDonnell posted a story from the Toronto Star that compares the response to Sunday's blizzard in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. While the two Ontario cities seem to be dealing with it fairly briskly, Montreal --- which received nearly 40 centimetres of snow, by far the most of the three --- is lagging behind. Two days after the storm, most snow has yet to be removed, even on busy thoroughfares. The city will only promise that the snow will be gone by Christmas.
Since I work from home, I'm mostly immune ...
The night owls are watching your bike
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
This note was attached to a bike on Sherbrooke Street in NDG. It's one of those heart-warming reminders that our neighbours really are looking out for us. But why the hell would somebody lock a bicycle to a parking meter with a cable lock?
Photo by urbanmkr
Snowdon discoveries
By Christopher DeWolf // 48 Comments
On my snowy walk from Hampstead to Snowdon today, I stopped to check in on one of my favourite urban oddities. The only sign of its existence is a non-descript staircase located at 5257 Queen Mary, in between a drycleaner and a Chinese restaurant. Climb up the stairs and you'll enter a small second-floor courtyard containing a few shops and an apartment building entrance. There's a tailor, a driving school and a Korean hair salon; a couple of other retail spaces seem as if they've been converted into apartments.
According to the ...
December 19th, 2007
Photo du jour: Even the Outremontais hang their laundry
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Alley behind Durocher St. in Outremont. June 13, 2007
Bâtiment disparu #3 : La Knox Presbytherian church
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
La Knox church construite en 1865 était situé au coin des rues René-Lévesque et Mansfield.
Elle était l'oeuvre de l'architecte Edward Maxwell, un architecte de renom au début du 20e siècle à qui l'on doit entre autre, la maison de Charles R. Hosmer sur la rue Drummond et la maison Lady Meredith sur l'avenue des Pins.
D'un style ''french cathedral'', elle était doté d'une abside coiffée d'une tourelle gothique, surmontée d'une balustrade.
Le bâtiment fut vendu le 13 juin 1911 pour la somme ...
Les lignes séparatrices
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
De l'origine de l'histoire humaine jusqu'au début du 20e siècles, les routes ne comportaient pas de ligne séparatrices puisqu'elles étaient surtout utilisées par des piétons et par des chevaux circulant à basse vitesse.
Avec l'apparition des voitures, autobus et camions, il n'était pas rare d'être témoin de colisions frontales. En effet, les conducteurs étaient porté à rouler vers le milieu de la chaussée plutôt que sur les côtés.
En 1911, Edward N. Hines, le président de la commission des routes de Wayne County au Michigan ...
A day in the life of 1975 New York City
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=C-3wza6rnck[/youtube]
Despite the wave of happy-urbanism that has gripped Canadian cities over the past few years, one still hears tales of various relatives and old high school friends living in deepest suburbia who truly believe the city is a dangerous place full of the perps and perverts featured in the Taking of Pelham One Two Three trailer posted on Spacing Toronto in October. It's sort of how one hears an urban legend, not knowing that person personally, but assured they're out there. I wonder how much of this false city-view is the result of the gritty films of the 1970s ...
Montreal on the movie screen
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
[youtube]Pd7m35CTHQ4[/youtube]
Unlike other Canadian cities, Montreal has the pleasure of seeing itself on the big screen quite often, the agreeable consequence of having a robust local film industry. Most of these movies are produced by Quebec's mainstream film industry and, even if many have no ambitions outside of being crowd-pleasing blockbusters (Nitro, anyone?), there are still some standouts.
Monica la mitraille, a biopic of bank robber Monica Proietti, sticks out in my mind for its depiction of working-class Montreal in the 1950s and 60s. C.R.A.Z.Y. is memorable for many reasons, not the least of which are its scenes of north ...
Snowy streets in 360 degrees
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
[kml_flashembed movie="http://multimedia.cyberpresse.ca/neige/cybermtlsousneige.swf" width="500" height="300"/]
Cyberpresse is featuring three new 360-degree photos on its website. One shows a woman shovelling out her car on Mentana Street in the Plateau, another shows a snowy Gilford Street nearby and a third takes you to the scene of a truck accident on Crémazie Boulevard.
"It’s just another example of how big media companies like Cyberpresse understand the Internet and are prepared to use cutting-edge 1994 technology to bring things that are cool but uninformative to users," writes Steve Faguy on his blog. It's true that these images have no news value ...
December 20th, 2007
Photo du jour : Le Plateau d’en haut
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Vu depuis l'édifice Cooper, boulevard Saint-Laurent, le 22 novembre 2006
Foux De Fa Fa
By Matthew Blackett // 5 Comments
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=EHuOrJQua_c[/youtube]
The comedy sitcom that caught my attention in 2007 was the folk-parody Flight of the Conchords, a New Zealand duo who move to New York to make it big. In each episode two or three songs flow into the narrative of the show, with those songs acting like music videos. The song I've chosen riffs on the stereotypical view that English-speaking people have of French culture. In typical Flight of the Conchords-style, they end up making themselves look silly and ignorant. What I also find kinda interesting is that this depiction of French culture (by a pair of ...
Les amoureux des bancs publics
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
[youtube]UlmyNpn_mnc[/youtube]
When I reported on Monday that Michel Dallaire has been commissioned to design new downtown street furniture, I noted that Le Devoir's article on the subject was titled, "Les amoureux se bécoteront sur de nouveaux bancs publics," which struck me as awfully whimsical for a newspaper headline.
Turns out it's a cultural reference that I completely missed. (You'll have to excuse me: I'm an anglo born in the 1980s. How could I have known?) Spacing Montreal reader BJ explains that the headline refers to a 1952 song by French singer-songwriter Georges Brassens, "Les amoureux des bancs publics."
Les gens ...
Snowball fight tonight at 7pm
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? Public snowball fight!
WHEN? Tonight, December 20th, at 7pm
WHERE? Near the Roddick Gates on McGill's campus
If you happen to be downtown right now, you might want to stick around awhile longer for a snowball fight tonight, at 7pm, on the McGill campus.
It's not a flash mob, just a bit of old-fashioned winter fun. (This being 2007, it's only natural that it would be announced on Facebook.) Sana Saeed, the fight's organizer, promises "forts, armies and all." Participants will meet at the James McGill statue, not too far from the Roddick Gates at Shebrooke and McGill ...
New York deprived of its Montreal Christmas connection
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
In the streets of Manhattan, you can buy habichuelas con dulce from a Dominican, kebab from an Egyptian and... Christmas trees from a Quebecker.
Apparently, a number of people from Quebec travel to New York every December to sell Christmas trees grown in farms in the Eastern Townships. One of the more famous of these tree vendors is Daniel Lemay, a Montreal graphic designer who takes a month off every year to work in New York. He gained notoriety for building a makeshift dwelling on Second Avenue in the East Village, across from ...
Vivement l’autobus!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Les autobus continuaient malheureusement à être une denrée rare plusieurs jours après la tempête de neige du 16 décembre 2007. Ce n'est rien de scientifique que de dire que les lignes d'autobus 80 et 165 promènent probablement le plus de gens en une journée de travail. Je dois moi-même prendre la 80 Du Parc pour la plupart de mes déplacements quotidiens.
Même jeudi soir cette semaine, c'est-à-dire quatre jours après la tempête, on collait les autobus ...
Un party dans la neige
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? Noël dans le parc's outdoor solstice celebration
WHEN? Friday, December 21st, 8pm
WHERE? Lahaie Park, on St. Laurent between St. Joseph and Laurier
Noël dans le parc, the annual festival that takes place in Lahaie Park, at the corner of St. Laurent and Laurier, continues tomorrow with a number of special solstice events. The evening begins at 8pm with Afro-Brazillian percussion performed by Zurumba, followed by a raï concert by the local collective Syncop, kora by Zal Idrissa Sissokho, traditional Quebec music by Genticorum and solo guitar by Eric Mongrain.
Finally, at 10pm, Laïka and MEG Montreal ...
December 21st, 2007
Photo du jour: Giant snowbank
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Park and Van Horne. December 18, 2007
Poor NOLA: The violent struggle to rebuild a great city
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
On his blog yesterday Richard Florida posted "Shades of Robert Moses" and asked "So you thought urban renewal and the destruction of neighborhoods and tearing down of historic buildings was a thing of the past. Think again: Not in New Orleans." He first linked to a CNN article describing the violent clash yesterday at New Orleans city council (video of this is looping on CNN TV this morning) where "the members voted unanimously to allow the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to demolish 4,500 public housing units."
Much has been written about ...
Les fleurs c’est pour la rue Demers
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
I've always been intrigued by Demers Street. It's a tiny street in the north end of the Plateau, running parallel to Villeneuve between Coloniale and Hôtel de Ville, lined mostly by cute duplexes built around 1900 to house workers from the nearby quarries.
Demers was just another back lane in a working-class neighbourhood full of them. That is, until 1969, when a group of five architecture students decided to embark on the renovation of the street, an early example of grassroots restoration at a time when the normal impulse would have ...
Old Montreal in 1964
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Over the years, the National Film Board has produced a lot of great films on Canada's cities. Unfortunately, they haven't done much to make them web-accessible, so unless you order it online or head down to the Latin Quarter's Cinérobothèque, where you can watch any NFB film ever made, you're stuck looking at crummy RealPlayer clips online.
Still, there's some interesting stuff. One film in particular caught my eye: 1964's Down Through the Years, by Jacques Giraldeau, which offers a wordless tour of Old Montreal. The neighbourhood we see is not the quaintly touristy one we're ...
December 22nd, 2007
Photo du jour : les Martiens s’en viennent!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise sur le Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges au coin de Côte-Sainte-Catherine, vers la fin de cette journée de tempête, 16 décembre 2007.
Reclaiming streets in the name of hockey
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
During the holiday season Spacing will re-publish articles previously seen in our print edition. This article appeared in Spacing #3, winter '04/spring '05.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I was a 10-year-old revolutionary. I didn’t lead a brigade out of the jungle with lofty dreams of overthrowing a government, like the 12-year-old twins who, a few years back, led God’s Army through the jungles of Thailand and Burma. No, I simply put down a less-than-sturdy set of metal pipes and poorly tied mesh netting onto the street, like thousands of boys and girls in Toronto do every day, and reclaimed the street in the name of Hockey.
I grew up in Toronto in the neighbourhood of Willowdale. My buddies and I started off playing ball hockey on our driveways at the age of 6 or 7. By the age of 10 we were venturing into the street, where we’d spend the better part of a weekend’s daylight hours playing imagined Stanley Cup Final games that had ridiculous scores like 32-27. Cars were the sworn enemy as they’d always bring the game to a sudden halt, usually during a goalmouth scramble or breakaway. Someone would yell “Car!” or “Wheels!” and the team on the offensive would collectively moan.
There were always sweet spots to play, like a dead end. Sometimes if that spot was being used by other neighbourhood kids we’d challenge them to a game. After school, while I waited for my parents to come home from work, I’d kill time and stay out of trouble by lugging my net down the driveway onto the road to practise my snapshot or backhand. This is how I’d meet other kids who had moved on to my block — they’d come slinking down the street, a tapeless hockey stick dragging at their side, and ask if they could fire shots off with me.
Willowdale is a typical Toronto suburb, but has recently seen a condo boom along fable Yonge Street. In the '80s and early '90s vehicles were plentiful, but side-streets like the one I lived on were car-free enough for large street hockey games to flourish. I never realized it at the time, but we were risking our lives as human traffic-calmers. Most everyone in the neighbourhood knew that you should take the turn slowly when approaching Longmore Avenue so as not to run down a kid chasing a stray ball. Sometimes, when an aggressive driver whipped by us too quickly, we’d flick the tennis ball off a car door or rear trunk as a warning — we may not have had 3,000 pounds of metal on our side, but this was our street, too. And we had sticks in our hands.
This weekend, visit Vegas in Montreal
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? Photo exhibit of vanishing Las Vegas
WHEN? Until Sunday, December 23rd
WHERE? Galerie le 1040, 1040 Marie Anne East
We've written about kitsch in Montreal, but what about the kitsch capital of the world, Las Vegas? If you have some time to kill this weekend, you might consider a foray into the Plateau to catch the final days of Westmount photographer John Archer's week-long exhibition, Once Vegas: Motels, swimming pools and trailer parks. Archer has trained his lens on the "off, off the strip" districts of Vegas to capture the city's fast-disappearing postwar landscape.
"Here is an ...
Market day at Place Jacques Cartier
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Once upon a time, before it became a playground for tourists, the east end of Old Montreal was a real, functioning neighbourhood. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the Place Jacques Cartier, one of Montreal's oldest and most picturesque squares. For more than 150 years, from 1803 until the end of the 1950s, it was the heart of a busy market district that extended down from City Hall and east towards the Bonsecours Market. Twice a week, merchants from across Quebec gathered in the square to sell fresh produce and other goods.
While the farmers' market ...
Fermeture du McDonald’s à l’intersection Parc et Mont-Royal
By Cédric Sam // 9 Comments
Le 16 décembre, la succursale des grandes arches jaunes au coin de Parc et Mont-Royal ferma ses portes à tout jamais, à la grande surprise de beaucoup de gens dans le quartier.
C'est sûrement un peu étrange que de parler de la fermeture d'un McDo dans un magazine en ligne traitant d'espaces publics. Pourtant, dans le quartier, c'était une version cheap des cafés qui pullulent sur Laurier, lieux où on y flânera des heures après avoir acheté sa consommation. J'y apercevais souvent ...
December 23rd, 2007
Photo du jour: Tirez/Pull
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Laurier metro, December 20, 2007
Turn on the red light
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
The video screen of a silhouetted stripper was once a landmark at the corner of Ste. Catherine and the Main. It was a symbol of sorts for Montreal's rapidly-dwindling red light district, a seedy neighbourhood of cheap bars, diners, peep shows juxtaposed with music venues, theatres and university buildings. It was about the only remarkable thing left on the building it occupied, a hideous, dilapidated, mostly-abandoned structure that was an eyesore even for a scuzzy part of town.
It's a bit of a surprise to look at the photos on the right, compiled by ...
December 24th, 2007
Photo du jour : La veille de Noël en 1870
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Estampe, "Le Marché Bonsecours la veille de Noël", 1870
Collection du musée McCord
Apartment buildings on Decarie
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Decarie Towers, built 1955
Lately, I've found myself fascinated by something I had never noticed before: apartment building names. My interest was piqued in September when J.D. Gravenor posted a 1910 list of apartment buildings in Montreal on Coolopolis. Some were more fanciful than others --- there's the San Remo on Durocher, the Smithsonian on Selkirk, the Lochinvar on Crescent, the Imperial on Hope.
I came across a treasure trove of cool apartment building names last week when I walked down Decarie from Van Horne to Queen Mary. It's not an obvious street down which ...
Turning the place over
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
[youtube]ZXn6PXBOyRY[/youtube]
What do you do with an abandoned building? Turn it into art. Such is the case in Liverpool where the British sculptor Richard Wilson has created Turning the Place Over, an ambitious intervention that removes an eight metre chunk of façade from a building in central Liverpool, rotates it and puts it back into place. An introduction to the piece by the Cass Sculpture Foundation describes it in more detail:
Turning the Place Over consists of an 8 metres diameter ovoid cut from the façade of a building and made to oscillate in three dimensions. The revolving façade rests on ...
December 25th, 2007
Photo du jour: Beaver Hall Hill Square
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Snowbanks in Beaver Hall Hill Square (at Beaver Hall Hill and Dorchester, now René Lévesque) around 1870
‘Tis the season for Christmas kitsch
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
One of Montreal's greatest cultural assets is its endless capacity for kétainerie. Holiday decorations are a case in point. Every year, Montrealers seem to outdo themselves by planting inflatable Christmas decorations on their balconies and in their front yards, usually accompanied by lights, plastic figurines and other things that can be bought at the local hardware store for under $50.
I've seen a lot of elaborate Christmas displays, but my all-time favourite can be found on St. Urbain just above Laurier, where a grey duplex provides the stage for a most exciting holiday drama: the ...
December 26th, 2007
Photo du jour : Chinatown, l’hiver
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise sur De La Gauchetière, entre St-Urbain et St-Dominique, le 22 décembre 2007.
What we lost to the Ville-Marie Expressway
By Christopher DeWolf // 18 Comments
Craig looking east from near St. Urbain, 1953
While Bostonians have engaged in three decades of self-flagellation over the neighbourhoods they lost to inhuman highway and urban renewal schemes, Montrealers are different. Most of us don't seem to realize just how much of the city was destroyed in the 1960s and 70s for massive renewal projects that, arguably, left Montreal in worse shape than it was before.
One of these projects was the Ville-Marie Expressway, which tore through a swath of downtown from Victoria Square to the Molson Brewery. Its construction in the late 1960s entailed the demolition ...
Jack Dylan makes Montreal look good
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Last fall, you might have noticed a spate of Pop Montreal concert posters plastered on hydro poles, lampposts, mailboxes and traffic control boxes around town. Many of these were created by Jack Dylan, a poster artist who moved to Montreal in 2003 from London, Ontario.
Dylan's style is unmistakable: each of his posters looks like it was plucked from the pages of something published by Drawn and Quarterly. In a single frame, he manages to build characters and convey a sense of narrative. Many of Dylan's ...
Walking Montreal’s streets in 1987
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
As much as I like photos of Montreal from 100 years ago, it's shots from more recent decades that really pique my interest. Luckily, Flickr has prompted a lot of people to dust off the boxes of slides, prints and negative they've kept in their closets and post their old photos online. That's the case for Mike Gericke, a Montreal native who now lives in Ottawa. He's uploaded a nice set of 37 photos that were taken on the streets of Montreal in the late 1980s. Here's a few.
Mount Royal ...
December 27th, 2007
Photo du jour : Pont Champlain
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise le 25 décembre 2007, sur le pont Champlain
December 28th, 2007
Photo du jour: Mutilated in Mile End
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
In this before-and-after shot we can see the evolution (some would say devolution) of the Park Avenue retail strip between Bernard and St. Viateur. In the top photo, taken in the 1930s, the Reding Apartments housed a location of Metropolitan Stores, a Canadian five-and-dime chain that competed with the American Woolworths (which I believe also had a location on Park) and can be seen as a predecessor to today's Dollarama.
Last spring, when I took the bottom photo, the Reding Apartments had been so transformed it is unrecognizable at first glance. Virtually all detail has been stripped ...
Nouvelles machines de cartes à puce et Métrovision à Lionel-Groulx
By Cédric Sam // 5 Comments
2007 aura vu l'apparition dans la plupart des stations de métro du réseau de la STM, des appareils qui serviront durant le printemps 2008 à propulser les utilisateurs du transport en commun dans l'ère des cartes électroniques.
Montréal est loin d'être une figure de proue dans le domaine des cartes à puces en transport en commun. Il y a dix ans, le métro de Hong Kong, le MTR, lançait la carte Octopus. Une carte prépayée, ...
Je fais mon Steinberg
By Christopher DeWolf // 16 Comments
It's hard to overstate the importance the Steinberg family played in the postwar development of Montreal. Their grocery store chain single-handedly introduced the modern supermarket concept to Quebec, with stores like the one you see above, which was built on Côte St. Luc Road in 1959.
As property developers operating under the name of Ivanhoe Investments (now Ivanhoe Cambridge), the Steinbergs built many of Montreal's first shopping malls, too, including Fairview Mall (1965), the Galeries d'Anjou (1968) and the Champlain Mall (1975). Naturally, all of them were anchored by a Steinberg's when they first opened....
Montreal in the snow… in February 1972
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
Peel Street looking north from Sherbrooke
It must be end-of-year nostalgia: after Mike Gericke's photos of Montreal in 1987, I can't help but revisit some other old photos I came across earlier this year.
February 20, 1972 was a snowy day in Montreal and Colin Rose was there to capture it. His images of early-70s downtown Montreal, scanned from transparencies and as clear as any photo taken yesterday, show a city that is at once completely familiar but also, in some ways, entirely foreign.
Don't forget to click on all of these photos to go ...
December 29th, 2007
Photo du jour: הצלה
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Hatzoloh is a volunteer EMS organization that functions in Orthodox Jewish communities around the world, including the west end of Montreal and Kiryas Tosh, a Hasidic Jewish town in the north shore suburbs.
Decarie Blvd. near Van Horne, December 18, 2007
December 30th, 2007
Photo du jour : l’argent et la religion
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo de la tour CIBC et de la Basilique-Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde prise le 25 décembre 2007.
Griffintown’s citizen activists
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
This weekend in the Gazette, Steve Faguy spoke to a handful of the citizen activists who are casting a critical eye on the Griffintown redevelopment scheme, including Urbanphoto contributors AJ Kandy and Desmond Bliek.
Kandy, Bliek and their associates aren't necessarily opposed to the project, they explain, but they want to make sure it's pedestrian-friendly, well-integrated into the surrounding neighbourhoods and loaded with the amenities that a new neighbourhood of nearly 10,000 people will require, like health clinics and parks. They're also concerned with the way the project seems to be evolving behind closed doors, ...
GST cut gives the city a $500,000 windfall
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Canada's GST will be cut by one more percent on Tuesday, bringing the national sales tax down to 5%. Rather than bringing down the price of its municipal services, though, City Hall will take the opportunity to pocket the difference.
"If the hourly rate for parking meters is $2, the GST reduction would lower the price to $1.97 or $1.98," a city spokesperson told La Presse. "It would be a problem. We'd have to modify all of our systems and it would cost as much as the GST cut would provide in additional revenues."
Parking prices ...
Montreal’s postwar neighbourhoods
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Jean Talon Street in Saint Michel
For all of its historic neighbourhoods, Montreal is really a postwar city. In the twenty years after 1941, the number of people living on the island swelled from 1.1 million to well over 1.7 million and tens of thousands of new apartment buildings, plexes and houses were built to accommodate the steadily growing population. Old neighbourhoods expanded, new neighbourhoods were built and the suburbs blossomed, stretching east and west towards the edges of the island.
Lately, I've found myself drawn to these parts of town, placers where the urban fabric seems ...
December 31st, 2007
Photo du jour: Sixties Ste. Catherine
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Ste. Catherine and Mansfield, looking west, in 1961
New life for Montreal’s park chalets
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Beaver Lake chalet, photo by Frédéric Saia
Original 1955 plans for the chalet
Earlier this year, after two years of renovation, the Beaver Lake chalet on Mount Royal re-opened in all of its 1950s glory. Not only is the park pavillion entirely restored, its food offerings have been upgraded. It now features a table service restaurant alongside a revamped cafeteria that offers espresso-based coffee and pastries baked on the premises. Since the chalet is still officially recognized as a public space, though, people are welcome to bring their own food.
The Beaver Lake chalet's ...
Greening Montreal’s laneways
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Montrealers across the city are taking a renewed interest in their laneways. Since many of them are too narrow to work as service corridors, their original purpose, lanes can be used in different and more imaginative ways.
In October, the Plateau borough announced that an old alley behind St. Louis Square would be converted into a "country lane," but that won't be the first time something interesting has been done to a Plateau laneway.
That's what I discovered when I came across the laneway running behind Milton Street between St. Urbain and Clark. Some time ...
January 1st, 2008
Happy new year et meilleurs voeux pour 2008!
By Spacing // 4 Comments
So, tell us --- what did you get up to on New Year's Eve?
Photo du jour : Tramway d’hiver
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Horse-drawn tram on Ste. Catherine Street near Greene Avenue, 1877
January 2nd, 2008
Photo du jour : Découvrez les Irrésistibles
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise au Centre Eaton de Montréal, lors du Boxing Day 2007.
Montreal’s suburban villages: Sainte Anne de Bellevue
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Compact, walkable and attractive, Ste. Anne de Bellevue is one of the nicest old towns in suburban Montreal. It's also about as far west as you can go in Montreal before falling off the island, which might as well be the edge of the earth, as far as I'm concerned. (I crossed the Champlain Bridge once but everything after that is a blank.) It takes about thirty minutes to get there by train from Central Lucien L'Allier Station, an hour from Lionel-Groulx metro on the 211 bus and anywhere from half an hour to an ...
Tango de Montréal
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
[youtube]lej1kLzaIgA[/youtube]
"Montreal Tango" was made last year for a National Film Board workshop by Tarek al-Nosir and two of his Dawson College classmates, Hernan Wu and James Jacobo-Mandryk. It's a portrait of immigrants in Montreal that draws its name and inspiration from a 1983 poem by Gérald Godin, "Tango de Montréal."
The poem, which is an homage to Montreal's immigrants, is displayed outside Mont-Royal metro as part of an installation created by Les industries perdues in 2000; the artists were inspired by Godin's old habit of painting his poems on the side of his St. Louis Square home.
Tango de Montréal
Gérald Godin
Sept heures et demie du matin métro de Montréal
c'est plein d'immigrants
ça se lève de bonne heure
ce monde-là
le vieux coeur de la ville
battrait-il donc encore
grâce à eux
ce vieux coeur usé de la ville
avec ses spasmes
ses embolies
ses souffles au coeur
et tous ses défauts
et toutes les raisons du monde qu'il aurait
de s'arrêter
de renoncer
Montreal’s lost Expo opportunity
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Expo 67's 40th anniversary has passed, but there's one aspect of the world fair that I find strangely overlooked: its transportation system. While the Minirail and pedicabs moved people around the Expo site, more serious transit links were needed to get them to and from Notre Dame and St. Helen's islands.
That's where the metro, Expo Express and hovercrafts came into play. Hovercrafts were used to speed people between the South Shore, La Ronde and the Cité du Havre. The metro's yellow line was built between Montreal and Longueuil because it offered a stop ...
Montreal’s Chinatown in 1984
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
I almost had to twist my father's arm to get these photos onto Flickr, but it was well worth it. Since Boxing Day, he has been busy scanning our family slides, including some pictures of Montreal Chinatown back in 1984. The first photo is showing the block on St-Laurent, below De La Gauchetière, where the Hong Kong Chinese rôtisserie and deli currently stands, just minus the open flight of stairs serving the basement floor. The second floor restaurant Joy Inn (in standard "Chinese font") was ...
January 3rd, 2008
Photo du jour: Glen Road
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Glen Road is, along with Greene Avenue, one of just two links between Lower Westmount and St. Henri. Whereas the Greene Avenue connection is fairly seamless, Glen Road passes under the CPR tracks through a mysterious-looking tunnel. In a children's novel there would be a wonderland on the other side, but in real life there's just a statue of Louis Cyr (although I suppose that's already pretty wondrous).
Sauvons l’église Saint-Sauveur!
By Christopher DeWolf // 15 Comments
The saviour is in need of saving. One of Montreal's last-remaining mid-nineteenth century churches, the Église Saint-Sauveur at the corner of St. Denis and Viger, is threatened by demolition.
Saint-Sauveur was built in 1865, thirteen years after a fire swept through the Faubourg Saint-Laurent, reducing most of it to rubble. What emerged from the ashes of the old suburb was the new bourgeois neighbourhood of Montreal's francophone elite. New greystone houses and imposing institutional structures rose near Viger Square. In 1895, a branch of Laval University (which would eventually become the Université de Montréal) was ...
A condo tower done right
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
A certain segment of the population seems hard-wired to scoff at any mention of the word "condominium." It's certainly true that most new condo projects don't do themselves any favours with humdrum architecture and crass lifestyle marketing. But there are indeed good condo projects out there that can serve as models for new real estate development in Montreal.
One of these is Louis Bohème. Despite the somewhat ridiculous name, this 28-storey apartment tower, currently under construction at the corner of Bleury and de Maisonneuve, is a good example for new downtown development to follow. Most impressive ...
Visionary architecture at the Cinéma du Parc
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
WHAT? Visionary Architecture: Great Expectations & Kochuu and Moshe Safdie, The Power Of Architecture, three films on architecture
WHEN? 7pm and 9pm on January 8th, 9th and 10th
WHERE? Cinéma du Parc, 3575 Park Avenue (at Prince Arthur)
HOW MUCH? $10 general, $7 students and on Tuesday
Next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the Cinéma du Parc will present three documentaries on architecture: Great Expectations, and Kochuu, a double bill, and Moshe Safdie, The Power Of Architecture. Here's a description of the first two:
You are invited to a journey through innovative, futurist, revolutionary and ecotopist architectural visions. Great Expectations introduces us ...
January 4th, 2008
Photo du jour : métro Verdun
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise au Métro Verdun, le 22 décembre 2007.
January 5th, 2008
Photo du jour : les ponts de Montréal
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Pont Victoria à l'avant-plan, et Jacques-Cartier à l'arrière-plan. Photo prise à partir du pont Champlain, le 25 décembre 2007.
January 6th, 2008
Photo du jour: Verdun Annex
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Advertisement, from the late 1900s or early 1910s, for new real estate development in Verdun. Found in the BANQ's Massicotte Albums.
La crise du verglas de 1998
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Le grand verglas de 1998, par François Rodrigue de Blog Story
Il y a dix ans, au retour des Fêtes, une dépression venant du Golfe du Mexique remontait les Appalaches. Elle se heurtera à un anticyclone positionné au-desus du Labrador pour donner la grande tempête de pluie verglaçante de 1998. Entre le 5 et 10 janvier 1998, c'était de 50 à 100 millimètres tombés dans certaines régions du sud-ouest québécois et de l'est ontarien.
Dans les grands médias en ligne québécois, comme Radio-Canada.ca, on a déjà préparé ...
Mysterious igloos appear on Mount Royal
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
The Journal de Montréal reported yesterday that two igloos have appeared on Mount Royal, one near Park Avenue and the other further west, near Beaver Lake. They're both about six feet high, made from large blocks of snow, cut and assembled quite solidly, and big enough to hold two or three people. Nobody seems to know who built them, though, or for that matter, why. The Journal offers some ideas:
«C'est tout à fait plausible qu'un sans-abri d'origine inuite ait construit cet igloo pour y passer la nuit», affirme Craig Ross, coordonnateur du centre des jeunes du ...
Increased metro, bus service tomorrow
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Metro trains will come more often on the orange, green and blue lines starting tomorrow. The headway between trains will be reduced by about two minutes throughout the day, meaning that trains coming every 7 or 8 minutes will now come every 5 or 6 minutes.
Service on some important bus lines, including the 24 Sherbrooke, 18 Beaubien and 121 Sauvé, will also be increased. If you ask me, though, none of these buses come often enough, especially in the evening. Even after the service improvements, the westbound 24 still comes every 30 minutes after ...
January 7th, 2008
Once upon a time, St. Louis Square had a basin
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
St. Louis Square, often known as Carré St-Louis (though this is, to the surprise of many, actually an anglicism), is one of Montreal's greatest public spaces. A traditional Victorian park, ringed by beautiful old greystone rowhouses and villas, it first came into existence as a reservoir in 1851. In 1880, the reservoir was drained and the square as we now know it was built, complete with walking paths and a fountain.
Except that wasn't entirely the case. The beautiful fountain that now stands in the middle of the square, serving as a central focus for ...
Photo du jour: Schoolyard hockey
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Schoolyard hockey at Marie Anne and Henri Julien on the Plateau. November 4, 2007
Should the blue line be converted into a subway/surface tram line?
By Christopher DeWolf // 13 Comments
Underground trams in Boston's Green Line
Today's Gazette reports that the Montreal agglomeration council's transportation committee is studying a proposal by UQAM doctoral student Pierre Barrieau to convert the metro's blue line into an subway/surface tram line. More detail:
Barrieau suggests replacing the métro cars that now run on the Blue Line with new tramway cars that would run inside the métro tunnel, then surface at either end and continue on above-ground lines that could be laid at a fraction of the cost of digging more tunnel.
Barrieau says that for the $945-million price tag to extend ...
Axel Morgenthaler on the Quartier des spectacles
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Even the best cities are better at night. Hong Kong's frenzied streets are bathed in neon; Paris takes on a desultory air as the streets grow dark.
Everywhere, dusk brings with it a dark intimacy, something the promoters of the Quartier des spectacles seem to have recognized. I've never seen a neighbourhood revitalization project so deliberately evoke the mystery and excitement (with hints of danger and debauchery) of the city at night. I probably shouldn't be surprised. This is Montreal's old red light district, after all, and people flock here for shows and drinks only after the sun has set. You'd have to be pretty clueless to ignore its nighttime potential.
Over the past year or so, the Quartier des spectacles has sponsored a new lighting scheme that highlights and ties together the neighbourhood's cultural attractions. So far, the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), Club Soda, Monument National, Metropolis and National Film Board have been lit with multihued LEDs, along with the Vitrine culturelle, a new arts-and-culture information centre in Place des Arts. Red lights projected on the sidewalk are meant to create a sense of cohesion throughout the area.
Axel Morgenthaler is the man behind those lights. Since moving to Montreal in 1991, he has designed lighting installations for architectural projects, museum exhibitions and stage performances. His work can be found in the W Hotel, the international arrivals wing of Trudeau International Airport and in Henri Bourassa metro.
Over the holidays, I sat down with Morgenthaler at his western NDG home and chatted with him about the Quartier des spectacles. Read part of our conversation after the jump.
Building a new market in Vieux-Longueuil
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Most real estate developments don't have their own blogs. The Marché du Vieux-Longueuil is different. Louis Voizard, its developer, is tracking its planning and eventual construction with frequent and unusually frank posts. Here's his description of the project, which which would be built on the site of a former car dealership on St. Charles Street, the main drag in Longueuil's old downtown:
Ce secteur de la rue Saint-Charles a grandement besoin d’être revitalisé à plusieurs points de vue. D’abord, au plan architectural, cet immeuble, indigne de l’artère commerciale Saint-Charles, sera rasé et remplacé par ...
January 8th, 2008
Photo(s) du jour: Schoolyard basketball
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Basketball in a schoolyard at Victoria and Van Horne in Côte des Neiges. January 10, 2007
Great expectations of films on architecture
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqzBmjuAQE[/youtube]
Anyone interested in architecture should remember to head down to the Cinéma du Parc this week for the screenings of Kochuu: Japanese Architecture / Influence & Origin and Moshe Safdie: The Power of Architecture.
The films will be shown at 7pm and 9pm tonight, tomorrow and on Thursday. You can find out more information in our post from last week.
In the meantime, here's a the trailer for the short feature Great Expectations: A Journey Through the History of Visionary Architecture, which will be showing with Kochuu at 7pm each night.
January 9th, 2008
Photo du jour : lieu de rencontre
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Au Complexe Guy-Favreau, des personnes âgées d'origine chinoise s'assoient sous un arbre (en plastique) pour bavarder.
Un édifice du gouvernement fédéral, connu du grand public pour son bureau de passeport, le Complexe Guy-Favreau fait partie intégrante du Quartier Chinois de Montréal, depuis sa construction en 1983. On s'y donne rendez-vous (généralement près de la porte est, sur Saint-Urbain), on y stationne sa voiture pour faire son épicerie et déjeuner au dim sum, on y passe à travers pour aller rejoindre ...
STM service improvements a cutback in disguise?
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Waiting for a bus that just won't come
It seems that the STM's service improvements might not be much of an improvement after all. By all accounts, metro trains really are coming more often: midday and evening headways have been reduced from 8 minutes to just under six minutes.
The bus system, however, is still a mess thanks to the bus shortage that plagued the STM since earlier this year. Bus drivers claim that, technical problems kept 202 buses off the roads on Monday morning, so riders who had been promised more frequent service were ...
Exploring Montreal’s linguistic space
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Two weeks ago, using newly-released data from the 2006 census, the Toronto Star created a map showing the dominant language (after English) in every census tract in Toronto. The result is a fascinating ethno-linguistic portrait of the city, perhaps the best visual representation of the city's diversity I have ever seen.
I wish someone would do the same for Montreal. The closest we've gotten are maps showing which census tracts are mostly anglophone, francophone or allophone, but that is hardly a good representation of the city's true linguistic diversity.
Still, even a map like the ...
January 10th, 2008
Photo du jour : Ahuntsic vu du ciel
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Les avenues Christophe-Colomb et Papineau, traversant le quartier Ahuntsic, au nord de l'Île de Montréal. La rivière des Prairies coupe le haut de cette image. Photo prise le 24 mars 2005.
Long way ahead for new metro cars
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
After delays, bus shortages and unhappy drivers who might strike in February, there's even more bad news for the STM.
French manufacturing giant Alstom has won its case against Quebec for awarding a $1.2 billion contract to replace all of the green line's 336 metro cars to Bombardier without an open tender. Whatever its final outcome, the STM says, the court ruling will set the delivery of new metro cars back by another year. Here's more background from La Presse:
C’est le ministre Béchard qui a ouvert le bal en juillet 2005 en déclarant que ...
Chicago’s Festival of Maps
By Spacing // No Comments
CHICAGO -- Not much sounds more appealing than a Festival of Maps, and Chicago delivered that holiday gift (and continues to deliver it) in its multi-site ongoing exhibit and lecture series that runs the gamut from tablet to tube map.
While home for the holidays I was able to check out two exhibits, Maps, Finding Our Place in the World at the Field Museum (through Jan 27) and Mapping Chicago: The Past and the Possible at the Chicago History Museum (closed Jan 6).
Though the History Museum (nee Chicago Historical Society — I guess ...
Welcome to Little Maghreb
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Walk a few minutes east from Saint-Michel metro and you'll find yourself in one of Montreal's most recent ethnic neighbourhoods: the Petit Maghreb, a 15-block strip of North African businesses along Jean Talon Street between St. Michel and Pie IX boulevards.
Nearly half of Montreal's 63,000 immigrants from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia arrived here after 2001. They're quickly making their presence felt. Last spring, a group of Jean Talon St. business owners announced their intention to create a "Petit Maghreb" business district along the lines of Little Italy and Chinatown.
It seems that this would ...
January 11th, 2008
Photo du jour: West End dusk
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Westmount and NDG, seen from a downtown apartment tower, with Lake St. Louis in the background.
October 8, 2006
URBA 2015 looks at urban art in Montreal
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
WHAT? Presentation on urban art
WHEN? 5:30pm, Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
WHERE? Room DR-200, Pavillon Athanase-David, 1430 St. Denis
RSVP? Email urba2015@uqam.ca to reserve a place
Art is one of those essential urban ingredients that is too often overlooked or dismissed ("Why do we need art in the metro? I just want to get from point A to B!"). But it gives us a universally engaging way to ask questions about ourselves, our cities and our relationship to public space.
You'll get your chance to explore this topic on January 22nd, when UQAM's urban studies department hosts a presentation ...
More transit ideas: tram-train link to the airport and beyond
By Christopher DeWolf // 17 Comments
New ideas keep emerging for public transit in Montreal even as the day-to-day operations of the bus, metro and commuter train systems struggle to keep up with demand.
Today, the Gazette reports that the Agence métropolitain de transport is working with other government bodies to implement a rail connection to Trudeau International Airport and improve commuter service on the West Island. Its latest idea is to lay new track for a tram-train --- a type of light rail vehicle that can run on both streetcar tracks and heavy rail tracks --- that would ...
January 12th, 2008
Photo du jour: Sherbrooke East
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
I love this photo, taken by Flickr member and east ender Caribb, because it's such an unusual view of the city. Unlike most aerial shots, there's no Mount Royal and no river to guide our attention. Instead, our eye follows the path of Sherbrooke St. as it cuts diagonally through the city towards Lafontaine Park, the Olympic Stadium and beyond.
Photo taken October 24, 2006
January 13th, 2008
Photo du jour : Drink Pepsi-Cola
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Aperçu à Saint-Lambert, sur la Rive-Sud de Montréal. Photo prise le 6 janvier 2008.
Mount Royal’s igloo mystery unfolds
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Last week, when I wrote about two mysterious igloos that were discovered on Mount Royal by a Journal de Montréal reporter, Stefan Ohrhallinger posted a comment claiming that he had created one of them. He also sent a note to the Journal, which promptly dispatched a reporter and a photographer to get the full scoop.
Turns out that Ohrhallinger, a doctoral student at Concordia, was inspired by a 1949 National Film Board documentary on the construction of an igloo, so he set out to Mount Royal to make one for himself. "I used a saw ...
January 14th, 2008
Photo du jour: Fortune teller
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
On warm, snow-free days, there are at least a couple of people in Chinatown who will discuss your fortune. One of them is this man, who often sets up shop in a small booth on La Gauchetière St., gesturing expressively as he discusses his customer's fate. Another, much older man sits every day on the red benches outside the bakery just west of Clark. He was the subject of an article in Urbania's Summer 2006 issue, which, unfortunately, is not available online.
Planting fruit trees on city streets
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Over the holidays, the Tyee, a Vancouver-based webzine, published a series of twelve "New Ideas for the New Year." Here's one that really caught my attention: planting fruit trees on city streets.
While the benefits of greening the city are well-known --- street trees provide shade, suck up storm water, remove carbon from the atmosphere and reduce the urban heat island effect --- the notion of actually eating the things we plant in our streets is still quite novel. By doing so, however, we would gain an important local food supply and a way to ...
Opening up to the city: one building’s transformation
By Christopher DeWolf // 13 Comments
There's nothing inherently special about a downtown building with Starbucks, Quiznos Subs and Zyng Noodlery on its ground floor. In fact, that's exactly the kind of generic chainscape we'd probably do best to avoid. But look beyond the surface and you'll see something interesting: a once-hostile steetscape that has been opened up thanks to a simple and profitable renovation.
Until 2006, Le Chatel, a 30-storey apartment tower built in 1967, met the corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve with cold indifference: its ground floor consisted of barren planters and a blank concrete wall. It made ...
January 15th, 2008
Photo du jour : L’Hôpital Général de Montréal en 2001
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
L'Hôpital Général de Montréal, avant la construction juste devant de l'immeuble en copropriété à l'intersection de Des Pins et Côte-des-Neiges. Photo prise le 9 juillet 2001.
Devimco presentation on Griffintown: Residents not welcome?
By Chris Erb // 9 Comments
A couple weeks ago, I and a fellow resident of Griffintown were invited to attend a presentation on the planned redevelopment of the area by developer Devimco. The presentation was hosted by L'Action Gardien, an umbrella organisation for the various community groups in Pointe St-Charles.
The presentation was well attended by representatives from the different community groups (although, the presentation was only part of a larger meeting). Two people gave the presentation; Luc Ouimet from "Le Centre de Consultation et de Concertation" and George Bossé who, as I understand, has a fairly colourful and somewhat controversial history (Le Devoir ran a story on him last year outlining some problems he had with conflict of interest issues due to his past job as mayor of Verdun). Mr. Bossé gave most of the presentation and Mr. Ouimet fielded the majority of the questions.
As soon as my neighbour and I had taken off our jackets, Mr. Ouimet approached us and began asking questions. He asked where we lived and why we were interested in the presentation. We have suspected that Devimco has been quite ignorant towards the entire area and our suspicions were somewhat validated when said that he thought there were only people living on de la Montagne and showed surprise that we live in other parts of the area.
The presentation itself was much as I expected. Facts and figures were given that didn't differ much from what the media has been reporting since the plan was first unveiled. Land use maps were shown outlining the composition of the different areas along with details of studies that were done on how the project will affect commercial activity on Ste-Catherine. Historic buildings that will be preserved or moved were shown and mock-ups of what the project might look like when it is finished were presented at the end. I found it interesting and a bit disconcerting that transit was not touched upon as part of the official presentation and the tramway was not mentioned until a member of the audience brought it up in a question. A PDF of the entire PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here (I was given a booklet but I don’t know where one would be able to acquire one).
Some points of interest from the presentation after the jump.
EXPO – 16 Curious Beauties: The Architecture of Montreal in 2108
By Spacing // 1 Comment
By Jelena Porovic
Conscious of the difficult undertaking they are about to commit to, determined not to plunge into a nostalgic futurism, and willing to anticipate the most difficult of questions, 16 future architects, fresh out of OUPROPO (OUvoir de PROjets POtentiels, www.oupropo.umontreal.ca) masters programme at Université de Montréal, are taking you on a unique visit of Montreal in the year 2108. Models, objects, texts and images will offer “tourist stills” that will seem surprising yet critical of our future metropolis.
The students ask: What form will Montreal take in 100 years? ...
Patrimoine menacé
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
Photographie prise en 2006
En 1986, cette maison fut présentée comme suit dans un livre sur l'architecture rurale, publié par le répertoire d'architecture traditionnelle sur le territoire de la communauté urbaine de Montréal :
''Cette grande maison de pierre occupe le centre d'un vaste domaine connu à Sainte-Anne de Bellevue comme la ferme Peter Wiliamson. Ce dernier, un écossais d'origine, avait baptisé sa propriété ''Braerob farm''. D'après M. Williamson, ce nom de Braerob vient évoquer de manière poétique la beauté et la richesse historique des lieux. Le mot ...
Remembering the Mount Royal Funicular
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Just 90 years ago (it seems like yesterday!), you would have been able to transport yourself from the corner of Park and Duluth to the top of the mountain in a matter of minutes, thanks entirely to the Mount Royal Funicular Railway.
Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed Mount Royal Park, didn't want Montrealers to have a quick way to reach the top of the mountain; he intended for them to leisurely stroll along the winding path that begins near the Sir George Étienne Cartier Monument. But even in the nineteenth century, people had things to do ...
January 16th, 2008
Photo du jour: View from atop the Aldred Building
By Chris Erb // 3 Comments
Looking east from one of the top floors of the Aldred Building in Old Montreal.
Photo taken May 2007 .
A lesson we need to learn from Albania
By Christopher DeWolf // 10 Comments
The downtown west end is one of my favourite parts of Montreal. Densely-populated, teeming with life and resolutely multicultural, it feels unique because it departs so radically from the low-rise scale common in most neighbourhoods. In the blocks around de Maisonneuve, Lincoln and Tupper, between Guy and Atwater, there's almost something Manhattanesque about the mix of old rowhouses and walkup apartment buildings with big postwar towers.
But, for all its vibrancy, pretty much anyone would be forced to admit that this part of Montreal is ugly. Hideous, even. The true extent of its laideur becomes evident ...
January 17th, 2008
Photo du jour: Do you miss summer yet?
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
If it were a hot, sunny day in July, instead of yet another miserly day in January, I'd probably be craving water right now. Sometimes I'll quench my proverbial thirst by heading to the pond at Lafontaine Park. But other times the only way to satisfy myself is to corrall a bunch of friends to go to one of the city's outdoor pools. We usually go to the John F. Kennedy pool in Outremont, about a 10 minute walk from my apartment.
July 22, 2007
Association cantonaise de divertissement pour l’âge d’or
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
LO Ha, de l'Association cantonaise de divertissement pour l'âge d'or
Samedi dernier, je me suis promené au Quartier Chinois avec mes grands-parents, c'est-à-dire les parents à ma mère. Ça fait plus d'une vingtaine d'années qu'ils se sont installés à Montréal, et le Quartier Chinois est pour eux l'endroit où ils retournent et peuvent évoluer dans leur langue, le Cantonais. Pourtant l'un des deux dialectes les plus parlés par les chinois ...
Terrasse trouble in Ville Émard
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Who would have thought that patios could be so controversial? For nearly a year, since the Sud-Ouest borough approved a pilot project that installed restaurant and bar terrasses on Monk Blvd. in Ville-Émard, people in the southwest have been divided over whether or not they should exist. Terrasse supporters have banded together with business owners and the borough's opposition Vision Montreal councillors; terrasse opponents, meanwhile, have rallied around the borough's Union Montreal mayor, Jacqueline Montpetit, who is dead set against them.
Most of the terrasse opponents cite noise and disorderly behaviour as their main concerns. Others ...
Michel Dallaire will design the new bike sharing system
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Later this year, Montreal will enjoy the beginnings of a new bike sharing program modeled on Paris' hugely popular Velib. As we mentioned last fall, the system will eventually include 2,400 bicycles parked at 300 stations across town.
Now it seems that we will not only be able to borrow bikes for a small cost, we'll be doing so in style. This week, Montreal's parking authority, which will run the program, announced that industrial designer Michel Dallaire will design the bikes and docking stations. Créativité Montréal has more:
À la suite d'un appel aux ...
January 18th, 2008
Photo du jour: Bagel man
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
I don't know why I find the St. Viateur bagel mascot so disturbing.
June 1, 2007
Bike show at the auto show
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
WHAT? "The Bike Show" just outside the car show
WHERE? Corner of St. Urbain and Viger (in front of Place d'Armes metro)
WHEN? The afternoon of Sunday, January 20th
I've always found it a bit odd to see car ads in the metro (although I can't begrudge the STM for going after such a large and lucrative source of advertising revenue) but it was especially perplexing to arrive at Place d'Armes station the other night only to find all of its ad space taken over for a Dodge-sponsored promotion of the Montreal International Auto Show, which will take place ...
January 19th, 2008
Photo du jour: Street-savvy monks
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Is it normal for monks to go mingle with the public? I spotted these two guys on Ste. Catherine St. last summer. They seemed amiable enough, but they were accosted by two separate people who were either eager to discuss theology or had problems with their flagrant display of piousness.
June 8, 2007
Cinéma Sun Ko Wah
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
It was through a quick search to see whether the Sun Ko Wah (新國華) boutique and bookstore on this picture still existed (it probably does), that I realized that Chinatown's now-defunct cinema on St-Laurent Boulevard (near René-Lévesque) was also called the Sun Ko Wah! Yes, according to infos on the web, this cinema existed between 1989 and 1995. My memories seem to point to a much earlier period, but the end of it may indeed ...
Another photo flashback: Montreal in the 1980s
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
I had completely forgotten about John Allison's great photos of Montreal in the early 1980s (in both colour and black-and-white) until Kate McDonnell reminded me of them with a post on her Montreal City blog yesterday.
You know how much I love photos from recent decades. These are now exception. Not only are they exceptionally thoughful and well-composed, Allison focused on many of the urban details that define the essence of a place at any given time. While the landscape we seen in his photo is fundamentally unchanged, it's the details---the ...
STM service improvements: the real deal
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Earlier this month, we asked if the STM's recent service improvements were actually cutbacks in disguise, pointing to an investigation by blogger Steve Faguy that revealed that, even though weekday bus service on three important routes has been increased, weekend service has been cut.
In today's Gazette, Faguy asks STM spokesperson Marianne Rouette about these cutbacks. Here's what she had to say:
Gazette: Three of the city's bus lines (18 Beaubien, 24 Sherbrooke and 121 Sauvé/Côte Vertu) have improved service on weekdays, but fewer departures at some other times compared with the fall schedule. ...
January 20th, 2008
Photo du jour: Chow mein
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Forget smoked meat, bagels, poutine, steamés and souvlaki: what really unites Montrealers is cheap chow mein slathered in dubious peanut sauce sold by street vendors and takeaway restaurants on the Main.
Where are Montreal’s public recycling bins?
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
This summer, a new type of residential recycling container will be tested in some Montreal boroughs, with the goal of ultimately replacing the green plastic bins that are now used in most parts of the city. The new container will be made with "recycled and waterproof polyethylene fabric and extruded plastic," reports the Gazette. "The bottom is perforated for easy drainage. It can hold 70 litres of paper, plastic, glass and metal. It has a hinged cover that retracts for easy emptying. You can carry it with one hand."
Anyone who has wandered through the ...
Explore the underground city
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Want to explore Montreal's underground city? Here's your chance. On February 24th, the annual "Montreal Downtown & Underground Event," part of the High Lights Festival, will offer its participants a chance to snake their way through five kilometres of underground malls and tunnels, up and down more than 1,000 steps, from Place Montreal Trust to the Desjardins complex.
The day will start at 8am with a race; if you're a runner and you want to participate, you'd better hurry, because it usually fills up pretty quickly. Registration costs $17.72.
For those of us who break out ...
The Apple Store is blocking your sidewalk
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
Mac lovers have been closely following the construction of the new flagship Apple Store on Ste. Catherine St. just west of Mountain. When it opens this fall, it will be the first Apple flagship in Canada and one of just ten around the world. Originally, Apple wanted to pay the city $30,000 in order to remove the two parking spaces in front of the store, so as not to mar its trademark façade, but the city refused.
Apparently, parking spaces are worth a lot more than pedestrian spaces, because the Apple Store's contractors have been ...
January 21st, 2008
Photo du jour: Winter transport
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
You know it's winter when you see kids, groceries, furniture, garbage and dogs being dragged along the sidewalk in plastic sleds.
Bernard and Jeanne Mance, Mile End, December 17, 2005
L’Université de Montréal vers 1975
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Photo par Jean-Pierre Sam, prise vers 1975 d'une tour d'habitation du Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges.
Le Pavillon Maximilien-Caron se trouve à gauche de l'image, tandis qu'à droite, on retrouve la fameuse tour phallique du Pavillon Roger-Gaudry.
Plusieurs autres pavillons se sont ajoutés depuis 1975. En 1987, c'était la bibliothèque Samuel-Bronfman qui ouvrait ses portes, suivi du Pavillon Paul-G.-Desmarais en 1996. Le dernier ajout à cette vue fut les Pavillons Jean-Coutu et ...
Élections fédérales in March? Federal election en mars ?
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
The potential federal election last November never materialized, but it is back on the table for political analysts to argue about. We then asked readers of Spacing Montreal to send in pictures of their best electoral posters.
La probable élection fédérale en novembre dernier n'a jamais eu lieu, mais le sujet est réapparu sur la table des analystes politiques au pays. Nous avions alors demandé aux lecteurs de Spacing Montréal de nous envoyer leurs meilleures photos de pancartes électorales.
Photo prise sur l'esplanade de la Place des Arts, ...
Time to bring back trolleybuses?
By Christopher DeWolf // 16 Comments
Before there were bio-buses, there were electric trolleybuses. In 1953, when the above photo was taken at the corner of St. Laurent and Van Horne, many of Montreal's buses were powered by the same overhead catenary as its streetcars, emitting no pollution and very little noise as they travelled through the city.
While trolleybuses can still be found in some North American cities, Montreal switched to diesel buses a long time ago. Now, with the rising cost of fuel and a better grasp of how air pollution damages the city, the STM is in the ...
January 22nd, 2008
Photo du jour: Recycling day
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
If you live in the Plateau borough, don't forget you put out your recycling tonight.
Prince Arthur near St. Urbain, April 11, 2006
Griffintown News Roundup #1: Jan. 9-Jan. 21
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
Rue Ann looking north, January 2008
Griffintown has graced the pages of the local media a great deal over the last couple weeks. Here is a rundown of many of the stories concerning the neighbourhood and Devimco's proposed redevelopment:
Jan. 9: La Presse reports that the Conseil du patrimoine is deeply critical of the “Village Griffintown” project. They’re worried that a development that is to be carried out by demolishing all but a few historically significant buildings may completely erase the area’s Irish and industrial heritage that goes back well over 200 years.
Jan. 10: The Gazette ...
Soap Opera STM: here’s the latest scoop
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
Things are a-happenin' at the STM, Montreal's most dramatic transit agency. Here's a round-up of stories from the past few days.
You are being watched: Yesterday, the federal government dished out $6.5 million to transit agencies in Quebec, more than half of which will go to the STM. This money will be used to install 500 more security cameras in the metro system. The transit agency assures us that, for the most part, the cameras are not used to spy on transit users but to reconstruct events after they have already occurred.
Drive for ...
January 23rd, 2008
Photo du jour: Park Avenue diptych
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
October 25, 2007
Feeling one’s way through the Metro system
By Paul Erlichman // 2 Comments
In light of all the 'drama drama' that is surrounding the STM these days, here's something interesting that they are doing. An announcement was quietly made last October that they would be teaming up with L'Institut Nazareth & Louis-Braille to create an item that would aid the blind while using the metro.
The INLB, using the process of thermoinflation (?), has created tactile cards that have representations of a station's layout. Using braille and relief designs, these cards include landmarks such as ticket booths, halls, stairs and boarding points. ...
No debate on the Notre Dame highway
By Christopher DeWolf // 10 Comments
This story slipped through Spacing Montreal's normally impenetrable news-fishing net, but I've managed to retrieve it. On Sunday, Bruno Bisson reported in La Presse that last week's consultations on the Notre Dame highway project failed to offer any chance for debate about the plan's fundamentals. No specific details were offered and residents did not have a chance to engage with officials about their concerns. I'll quote his article at length because it's pretty revealing:
Mercredi dernier, le ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ) et la Ville de Montréal recevaient la population locale à la Maison de ...
Election sign vandalism
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
In response to our request for election sign photos (we've especially interested in photos taken during campaigns in the 1990s or earlier), Kate McDonnell sent us a few she took during the 2003 provincial election.
All of the signs she photographed had been vandalized, which can sometimes reveal some interesting things about what people really think of political candidates. The ADQ's posters seem to attract more Hitler moustaches and dollar signs than those for other parties; posters for the Liberals are often the target of messages about corruption.
Two of Kate's photos ...
January 24th, 2008
Photo du jour : Sainte Catherine la belle
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
La rue Sainte-Catherine vue depuis le pavillon EV de Concordia. Le 15 septembre 2005
Big changes ahead for Mile End’s garment district
By Christopher DeWolf // 18 Comments
The old industrial area in the east part of Mile End, between St. Laurent and Henri Julien is set for a makeover. Yesterday, the city announced that $8.8 million will be invested in a two-year project meant to polish the district's streets and improve its connections with surrounding neighbourhoods.
Later this year, overhead electrical wires will be buried, new lampposts installed and sidewalks widened along St. Viateur from St. Laurent to de Gaspé. Then, next year, the city will extend St. Viateur from de Gaspé to Henri Julien. Finally, in 2010, a new pedestrian bridge will ...
Urbanism and independent art: Last minute announcement
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
If you're looking for something to do this cold January evening, check out Citymess, put on by the fine folks at Indyish. It promises to be an eclectic mix of music (Lake of Stew, among others), film (highlighting Griffintown history) and visual arts. Also, AJ Kandy will be showing his alternative New Urbanist plan for Griffintown.
This event takes place at Studio 300 in Old Montreal. From Métro Place d'Armes, walk south to Notre Dame and then west 2 blocks to St-François-Xavier. Doors at 8:30. The show will start at 9pm.
Keepin’ it Green
By Misha Warbanski // 5 Comments
Montreal has launched a new protection plan for Mount Royal. It's effective immediately once it goes through council this week. Helen Fotopolous, who's the City's executive committee member responsible for environment, says this isn't just another exercise in planting bushes. Rather it is a $30-million plan to be rolled out over five years. It deals with everything from improving public transit access to the Mountain, to protecting views of the mountain from about 100 points in the city. Ruining the view, ...
Deconstructing the Turcot Interchange
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Last year, the provincial government announced that the Turcot Interchange, at the junction of highways 20 and 15, will be completely rebuilt at a cost of $1.5 billion. Between 2009 and 2015, the current elevated structure will be replaced with a new surface interchange surrounded by berms and embankments.
Nearby residents are worried about the impact of the new interchange, not to mention the six years of continuous construction that will lead up to it. As you might remember from last fall, NDGers are particularly concerned about access to the Falaise St. Jacques, while ...
Heritage Montreal: a manifesto for new development
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
It has been decades since Montreal has seen this much development activity. In addition to the many condominium, retail and office buildings proposed or under construction, and giant public projects like the two superhospitals, there are at least four massive, multi-billion dollar development plans in the works for Griffintown, Viger Station, the Radio-Canada site and the area around Rosemont metro.
How will these new real estate ventures integrate into Montreal's existing urban fabric? It's an important question, one that was ignored at great cost in the 1960s, the last time Montreal underwent such a large development ...
January 26th, 2008
Photo du jour: PVM
By Christopher DeWolf // 10 Comments
Montreal's business district is unfortunately quite bland, lacking the canyons and imposing prewar architecture of the financial districts in Boston or New York or the important, money-making bustle of King and Bay in Toronto.
It does, however, have a few inspiring corners. One of them is Belmont St., whose imposing greyness frames a gorgeous vista of the cathedral's dome at the end of the street. Another is the corner of University and René Lévesque, from which Place Ville Marie rises triumphantly and the view down René Lévesque reveals the Sun Life Building, CIBC Tower and now ...
The Habitat 67 experience
By Christopher DeWolf // 14 Comments
Yesterday, I visited someone who lives in Habitat 67. It was the first time I had been inside the landmark apartment complex, built as part of Expo 67 and based on Moshe Safdie's McGill master's project, and I was surprised at what an awe-inspiring experience it was to wander through it.
Although Habitat is known around the world for its unique modular design (The Walrus' current issue has an interesting look at the ideas behind its design), what makes it a truly spectacular building is the way it relates to its surrounding environment. It's ...
January 27th, 2008
Photo du jour : En attendant ses billets
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
En ligne pour acheter des billets de hockey, devant le Centre Bell, le 16 septembre 2006.
Ode to the nighttime metropolis
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Kate at Montreal City points the way to a nice essay in today's Guardian on the pleasures of nighttime wandering. Writer and "confirmed nightwalker" Kate Pullinger even has some nice passages about Montreal:
I've always loved the city at night, even before I knew what it was like. I come from a rural suburb of a small town on the west coast of Canada and I spent my adolescence dreaming of cities in the dark. To go anywhere when I was a kid you had to drive; there was no public transport. And when you ...
Cultural space to be built on Saint-Laurent metro
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
One of the more inexplicable vacant lots in town has been always been the one surrounding Saint-Laurent metro, at the corner of the Main and de Maisonneuve. You'd think that, being right on top of the metro and in such a central location, it would have been developed a long time ago. Well, that's finally about to happen: forty years after it first came into being, this patch of empty space will finally make way for a new building.
Earlier this week, the city announced that it has mandated the Société d'habitation et de développement de ...
January 28th, 2008
Photo du jour : Coin Stanley / Ste-Catherine
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 16 septembre 2006.
Nos patinoires
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Spacing n'est pas un magazine sportif, mais nous faisons quand même valoir l'importance des arénas dans la vie des montréalais. Que ce soit au Centre Bell, en tant que spectateur à un match des Canadiens, ou au complexe sportif, pour un match plus ou moins amical après le travail avec des amis, ou encore à son aréna de quartier à montrer les rudiments du sport au petit dernier, les arénas font partie intégrante de l'environnement de la vie urbaine.
Si vous avez une photo d'une patinoire, d'un ...
When Chinatown was a Jewish neighbourhood
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Did you know that today's Chinatown was once Jewish? From 1890 to 1920, thousands of Yiddish-speaking Jews came to Montreal from Eastern Europe and settled in the streets around St. Lawrence and Dorchester (now René Lévesque). In today's Gazette, I take a close look at the evolution of this neighbourhood:
If Chinatown’s Jewish heritage isn’t obvious, it’s probably because it has been erased by time and redevelopment, swept away like Chenneville St. and its quietly imposing synagogue.
(...)
Located on a small street (now shortened and written as Cheneville) between St. Urbain and Jeanne Mance Sts., ...
Les grandes étapes de l’urbanisme français
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
QUOI? Conférence sur l'urbanisme français
QUAND? Le mardi 29 janvier à 17 h 00
OÙ? Amphithéâtre Hydro-Québec, local 1120, 2940, chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine
Les passionés de l'urbanisme s'intéresseraient à la conférence « Les grandes étapes de l’urbanisme français » qui aura lieu demain soir à la Faculté de l'aménagement de l'Université de Montréal. Jean-Jacques Terrin, architecte, urbaniste et professeur à l'École d’architecture de Versailles, discutera des grands enjeux urbains en France. Voici quelques détails :
L’actualité récente a mis un projecteur pas toujours flatteur sur un certain nombre d’évènements touchant à l’urbanisme français, sans toutefois donner beaucoup de ...
January 29th, 2008
Photo du jour : Green’s Superette
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
According to the Wikipedia entry, its name "Superette" is derived from Supermarket, compounded with the suffix "ette" meaning "smaller version of". In Quebec, we call these Dépanneurs.
Photo taken on September 16th, 2006.
Toronto Tuesday: Urban fabric, street trees and streetcars vs. cars
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we'll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Urban fabric around the world: Robin Chubb looks at the efforts to create an urban friendly city centre in Mississauga by comparing its typically suburban street pattern with those in other cities around the world, including London, New York, Paris, Barcelona an downtown Toronto. "The comparisons expose the inherent problems ...
Big changes in store for the lower Main
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
La Presse has discovered that negotiations are underway to transform the west block of St. Laurent, from the Monument National to Ste. Catherine St., into a "pôle vert," a mixed-use, green-themed project with office space for architecture, video production and design firms, shops selling fair-trade, organic and locally-sourced products as well as cafés and bars.
Most of the development would consist of a new multi-storey building that would incorporate St. Laurent's existing façades and retail space. The plan also calls for the complete pedestrianization of Clark Street, which would be lined by new retail space. ...
Snow day!
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
[youtube]NwqgZ4vzi9o[/youtube]
Tomorrow's forecast might call for rain but we certainly haven't had any shortage of snow this winter. This fun video does a good job of capturing the cold, wet but strangely exhilerating atmosphere of Montreal during a snowstorm. It starts with timelapse footage of a man digging out his car before heading off to explore the city's streets in all their snowy glory.
I can't tell whether this was shot in the eastern Plateau or in Rosemont --- anyone?
January 30th, 2008
Photo du jour : Graffiti sur Aylmer et Milton
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise le 16 septembre 2006.
New look for the Ritz-Carlton
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, one of Sherbrooke Street's most recognizable landmarks, will soon be transformed with a $100 million renovation and expansion. Over the next two years, the number of hotel rooms will be reduced and new condominium units added in an effort to modernize the hotel's offering. What might interest Montrealers, however, are the changes planned for the hotel's exterior, which will include the construction of a new glass wing on the building's west side as well as the addition of two floors to its roof.
Last week, the Globe and Mail looked at the history ...
January 31st, 2008
Photo du jour : Station C
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
Ancienne station postale "C", transformée en espace artistique, au milieu du village gai de Montréal.
Photo prise le 4 décembre 2007.
La maison Redpath
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Située sur l'avenue du Musée, cette demeure de style Queen Anne fut construite en 1886 pour John Redpath, un riche industriel et fondateur de la raffinerie de sucre du même nom.
Voici la résidence vers 1896 et en 2007 :
En 1986, la maison fut partièllement démolie illégalement sans permis. Héritage Montréal parvint à faire arrêter la démolition mais l'irréparable était déjà commis. La partie arrière de la maison fut entièrement démolie et celle-ci est désormais exposée aux intempéries depuis plus de 2 décennies....
Les nouvelles passes photo de la STM
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Comme un changement n'arrive jamais seul, la STM a également décidé de modifier le concept graphique de ses cartes Autobus-Métro. Au lieu des dessins faits au logiciel de dessin vectoriel, la passe mensuelle de la Société de Transport de Montréal arbore maintenant des photographies sobres et mystérieuses de ses stations de métro (et ensuite des abribus les plus fréquentés de la ville?), un peu comme celles sur notre site gastronomique, Métro Boulot Resto.
Quand la STM a débuté avec Angrignon, je me demandais ...
News from around the town
By Misha Warbanski // No Comments
Here are some stories from other media that Spacing Montreal finds interesting.
Good news for car owners
CBC reports the city will let people park for free in some private parking lots after snowstorms. They hope this will speed up the snow-clearing process.
Does this mean those annoying alarm trucks will stop waking me up in the wee hours reminding people to move their cars?
Waiting in the cold
The Gazette asks why Montreal's buses are so full. One dedicated public transit rider is questioning his decision to leave his ...
Guerilla advertising?
By Misha Warbanski // 8 Comments
Hello readers,
I need your help!
On my bike ride home from campus this evening, I passed a PT cruiser on the corner of Metcalfe and de Maisonneuve. There was a projector on top throwing a huge Nike ad onto the side of a building across the street. There was no company name on the car and I unfortunately didn't have my camera to grab the scene. I've gotten used to seeing ad trucks rolling through the downtown (see above) but this "temporary" ad is a first.
Has anyone else seen this or know anything about it?
February 1st, 2008
Photo du jour: Downtown death defiance
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Kristian Gravenor of Coolopolis found this old newspaper photo of a stunt performed high above Stanley Street. Here's the full scoop:
August 5, 1953, Benny Fox and wife Betty Fox danced around on an 18 inch platform atop a building on Stanley Street. They were veterans of the sport, having started out doing such stunts on a much larger 24 inch platform during the depression. The stunt was a promo for their act at Belmont Park.
Listen to the city’s dreams: one day only!
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
What? Audio and visual performance of Karen Spencer's Dream Listener project
When? 4pm, Monday, February 4
Where? Galerie Espace, 4844 St. Laurent (near St. Joseph)
How much? Free!
Some of you might remember last year's Dream Listener, a project by Karen Spencer that saw the Montreal artist write her dreams on scraps of discarded cardboard which she then placed at various locations around town. During the run of her project, which ended in November, Spencer maintained a Dream Listener blog; she was also featured in the Gazette not once but twice, in Steve Faguy's blog column and ...
February 2nd, 2008
Photo du jour: Fairmount Avenue
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Crossing Fairmount at Park during another snowstorm --- this one on December 15, 2003
An east end expedition in Mercier
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
In November, as the season's last leaves fell from the trees, I took the metro out to the east end for an afternoon stroll around Mercier. I don't know much about the neighbourhood's history and I still can't find much online, except that it started to develop early in the twentieth century and was named after former Quebec premier Honoré Mercier, who died in 1894. But I was intrigued by an article in Voir that described it as an unfashionable but quietly pleasant neighbourhood, distinguished by its eclectic housing stock, which includes old workers' cottages, classic duplexes and triplexes, postwar veterans' houses and new condos.
My walk started at Cadillac metro and my instinct told me to head south, towards the St. Lawrence. Along the way I passed by lots of small cottages built by the federal government for returning soldiers in the late 1940s. The laneways between many of them were unpaved, which I found odd consider that this certainly wasn't the case elsewhere in the neighbourhood.
I noticed new condo construction throughout the neighbourhood, including this one project that seemed to be built on a former institutional site next to a school. These duplex-style condos were arranged along a courtyard; a row of mature trees had been preserved at the back of the lot. Mercier might not seem like the most obvious place for new condominium construction but, if you think about it, the location is convenient and the metro is just a few minutes away by foot.
Like I said, the housing in Mercier is nothing if not heterogeneous.
Montreal West wins right to rebuild its barricade
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
The concrete barricades shortly after they were moved off the road last year.
After a year of court battles, the concrete barriers the town of Montreal West erected on the border between the town and the neighbourhood of Ville St-Pierre in the borough of Lachine is in the news again [note, the links are to three different stories in the Gazette which all say pretty much the same thing]. The dispute started last year when Montreal West originally put up the barricades allegedly to calm traffic until Lachine took the town to court. Steve Faguy summed ...
February 4th, 2008
Photo du jour: Queen’s no more
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
J.D. Gravenor at Coolopolis reminded us of the Queen's Hotel, which stood at the corner of St. Jacques and Peel until it was torn down in the 1980s, replaced by a parking lot.
Griffintown News Roundup #2: Jan. 23-Jan. 31
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
Griffintown continues to make waves in the local media. On the footsteps of our last news roundup, here, in chronological order are many of the news stories and blog posts written about the proposed redevelopment over the last couple weeks. Also included are dates of presentations concerning the redevelopment that are planned for the near future:
Jan. 23: Le Devoir runs three stories concerning the redevelopment: One about the various cultural institutions that are planned, another concerning developer Devimico's commitment (or lack thereof) to historic preservation, and finally an excellent opinion piece from ...
How to not screw up Montreal’s schools
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Just as it prepares to invest $140 million in upgrading its schools, the Commission scolaire de Montréal, the city's largest French school board, is moving to protect its 250 schools from misguided renovations. A new guide outlines the variety of architecture found in the commission's schools and the steps that need to be taken to maintain their integrity. Le Devoir has more:
Au début des années 2000, la commission scolaire montréalaise avait confié à des experts de l'École d'architecture de l'Université de Montréal, notamment du programme de maîtrise en conservation du patrimoine bâti, le soin ...
Using street furniture as a canvas for art
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
I'm in Calgary right now, visiting my family, and despite the frigid weather (it's 17 degrees below zero as I write this) I've tried my best to wander around town. It's been a year since my last brief visit and even in that short time the city has changed considerably, which is exactly what you would expect of the fastest-growing and most economically robust metropolitan area in Canada. Despite all of the new condo towers, office developments and high-concept retail stores, though, one thing that has really caught my attention has been the way Calgary has ...
February 5th, 2008
Photo du jour: Van Horne Viaduct
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
The Van Horne Viaduct (also known as the Rosemont Viaduct) is surprisingly unobtrusive as it passes down Marmier Street in the industrial area next to the CPR tracks north of Mile End. If the city has its way, this entire area will be redeveloped as a new mixed-use neighbourhood; the viaduct could become an interesting element in that redevelopment project. Would it be feasible for the space underneath to be used for retail and office space, as is the case for the Westway in London? At the very least, some benches, fountains and greenery ...
Parking in the snow
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Steve Faguy has an interesting post on Fagstein about the creative measures Montrealer drivers take when they need to park their cars after a big snowstorm. "When faced with a free spot knee-deep in snow, there are three options," he writes:
1. Find some temporary place to stash the car and dig the spot out with a shovel, hoping nobody swoops in and steals the spot after you’ve cleared it (this also presents the recursive problem of where to put the car when you’re clearing the spot)
2. Declare the spot unparkable, and keep going looking for another ...
Yesterday’s ideas, today’s problems
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Savvy Montrealers know that the best place to be on Thursday evenings, post-cinq-à-sept, is the Canadian Centre for Architecture, when admission to the museum is free. Seeing its exhibitions without paying anything is great enough as it is, but the next two months will give you even more reason to make your way down to the CCA: this week sees the launch of "Yesterday Today," a series of three lectures and a film screening that looks at the architectural ideas of the 1970s in the context of today's problems.
The first lecture, "Designing the Post-Oil World," will take ...
Griffintown: Meetings and more meetings
By Misha Warbanski // No Comments
I was at the Sud-Ouest Borough council meeting tonight where they announced a series of public consultations on the Griffintown project. The first will be on Feb. 21 at the ETS (on Notre Dame and Peel). At the meeting I met Chris and Judith Gobeil who live in the area and are starting up a committee to take a stand against Devimco's proposal. They're having a meeting tomorrow, open to all.
Here are the details:
Open meeting: Wednesday February 6, 7:00 P.M.
741 des Seigneurs (just north of St. Jacques)
The Committee for the Sustainable Redevelopment of Griffintown is having a public meeting for ...
February 6th, 2008
Photo du jour: Park Ex blue
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Durocher Street just below Jean Talon, Park Extension. September 28, 2006
Grumbling about Griffintown
By Misha Warbanski // 3 Comments
A couple big things happened at the Sud-Ouest borough council meeting tonight. The most important: borough Mayor Jacqueline Monpetit annouced a series of public consultations on redeveloping Griffintown (Mark your calendars: Feb 21, 7pm at the ETS, 1100 Notre-Dame Ouest.) Also important: council adopted it's urban development framework for the area.
Lots of people seem worried about the development as proposed by Devimco. But so far I haven't met anyone who is completely against some kind of development plan. In fact, some property owners in the area would like ...
Le théâtre de Quat’sous n’est plus !
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
C'est ce matin vers 7h30 que commenca la démolition de l'édifice situé au 100 avenue des Pins occupé par le théâtre de Quat'sous.
La démolition avait été autorisé par l'arrondissement du Plateau-Mont-Royal lors d'une réunion de son conseil le 3 décembre 2007.
L'édifice construit vers 1896 qui abritait à l'origine 3 résidences domestiques avait été convertit en synagogue en 1912.
Fondé en 1955, le théâtre de Quat'sous avait inauguré ses locaux sur l'avenue des Pins le 3 décembre 1965 ...
February 7th, 2008
Photo du jour: Workers of the world unite!
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
I spotted this protest poster in Park Extension last June. I'm pretty sure it's written in Bengali, but can anyone confirm?
Remember the Mountain Street viaduct
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
If you were around before the 1970s, you might still remember the Mountain Street viaduct, which spanned the Canadian National tracks between St. Jacques and Notre Dame. These photos, taken around 1930 and scanned from the city archives by Coolopolis' Kristian Gravenor, show a particularly lively and substantial part of the city. It's now unrecognizable, the victim of highway construction, road widening and urban renewal. Nothing you see here remains today.
I still don't know the exact year of the viaduct's demolition. Can anyone help me out?...
Concerns about the east end’s “Decarie expressway”
By Christopher DeWolf // 27 Comments
East end residents will finally get their say on the Notre Dame highway project today, when about fifty groups and individuals submit statements as part of the scheme's public hearings process.
One of the concerned groups is Radio-Canada, which fears that the new highway would scuttle its plans to redevelop the vast parking lots of the CBC headquarters with new housing. "We expected an urban boulevard. This is the Decarie expressway," fumed Vianney Bélanger, the project's would-be developer. He questions the wisdom of converting Notre Dame into an eight-lane downtown highway. "There's no ...
February 8th, 2008
Photo du Jour: Clark Street, 6pm
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Clark and Guilbault, June 15, 2007
What if public art came to life?
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
[youtube]nyiktNfn4AA[/youtube]
I don't think I've ever been more awed---or creeped out---by public art as I was when I first passed through Monk metro, beneath the giant metal sculptures meant to represent the construction workers who built the metro. In the vast concrete belly of the station, there is something eerie, otherworldly and epic about them; their frozen state seems impermanent, as if they will resume their work as soon as I turn away.
That's the idea behind Terminus, a short film posted earlier this week by Andrew Chau on urban-ism. Set in 1970s Montreal, and mostly in the metro, it ...
Talkin’ ’bout green roofs
By Paul Erlichman // 1 Comment
If you're interested in green roofs, you might find this interesting.
What: Dr. Thomas Lawrence from the University of Georgia will be speaking on the topic of Green Roofs and Cool Roof Technologies. Dr. Lawrence has over 25 years of experience in sustainable design. The talk is being co-sponsored by ASHRAE and Sustainable Concordia.
Where: EV Building at Concordia (Corner of Guy and Sainte-Catherine)
Room 2.260/238/204 (2nd floor, the room has 3 entrances).
When: This Monday, February 11 at 3pm. The talk will last about an hour.
Toronto Friday
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
A belated Toronto Tuesday...
Walk21 Toronto Community Conference : "To enable any Torontonian with an interest in walking to experience some of the insights of the conference, the City of Toronto, in partnership with TCAT and Spacing, has organized a “Walk21 Toronto Community Conference.” Local experts who presented at the Walk21 conference are going to present their material again to the public, for free, at an open conference at Metro Hall on March 1."
Plowed Bike Lanes Vital to Winter Biking : Tammy Thorne writes on the city's invitation for winter biking and the ...
February 9th, 2008
Photo du jour : Métro Beaudry
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise le 20 décembre 2007.
Underground scavenger hunt this afternoon!
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Snow again? If you think the weather sucks, take refuge underground. This afternoon, a scavenger hunt organized by flashmobbers Improv Everywhere will take place in the underground city, starting on top floor of the Eaton Centre (where the cinema used to be) at 3pm. Here are some details from the event's Facebook page:
The scavenger hunt will take place in the underground city of Montreal. Teams or individuals (no more than 3 people per team) will have approximately one hour to collect as many items as possible from the list provided at the start of the ...
Comme les Chinois
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
In today's Gazette, Steve Faguy profiles Comme les Chinois, a blog about Chinese people, culture and society in Montreal that was launched earlier this winter by Spacing Montreal's own Cedric Sam. Although it touches obliquely on issues of urbanism and public space---Cedric has written about cinemas in Chinatown, Cantonese associations and Chinatown in 1984---it has more to do with something else that is just as important: Montreal's social and cultural space.
Our everyday lives take us through streets, parks, malls and other physical space, but they also pass through the more abstract space of culture ...
February 10th, 2008
Photo du jour : Stationnement interdit – on déneige!
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 21 décembre 2007, au Quartier Chinois.
Toronto Tetris
By Misha Warbanski // 3 Comments
I know this is about Toronto, but I thought it was cute.
February 11th, 2008
Photo du jour: Nun’s Island from afar
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Nun's Island seen from lower Westmount, just above Highway 20. November 9, 2007
Stefan Ohrhallinger builds another igloo
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Stefan Ohrhallinger, the Concordia PhD student who made headlines in the Journal de Montréal last month for building an igloo on Mount Royal, has done it again. Yesterday, he trekked up to the top of the mountain to build a second igloo, which he says is 1.5 metres in diameter and height "and is very comfortable for two people." He posted some advice for igloo-builders on his blog:
Last sunday I went again the the Beaver Lake on the Mont-Royal to attempt the construction of a new igloo. The old ones have melted away without any traces ...
Montreal housing under the microscope
By Misha Warbanski // 9 Comments
Image by Sasha Plotnikova for The McGill Daily
The McGill Daily's special issue on Housing is on newsstands and they've invented a new word for the invasion of student in the city -- studentification.
There's more talk about Griffintown with a nice overview of the proposed Devimco project with comments from residents, urban planners and fellow blogger A.J. Kandy.
And a reminder about why the Milton-Parc neighbourhood is often called the McGill Ghetto and why longtime residents are fed up. Graffiti anyone? "We’re not just talking about noise. We’re talking about pissing ...
Going to the dep
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Corner stores have always fascinated me. I'm amazed by their adaptability and the way they change from one city to the next, from the Arabes du coin in Paris to the bodegas of New York and the tiny and astoundingly ubiquitous si doh of Hong Kong. Despite the fundamentally similar services they provide, corner stores exist in markedly different social, economic and cultural contexts around the world.
Montreal's depanneurs are a very nice example. With 1,127 on the island, most of them independent and owner-operated, we have a pretty unique local convenience store culture that has evolved over the past few decades. Being able to sell alcohol gives deps a huge advantage over corner stores in other Canadian cities; Montreal's high population density and provincial laws regulating beer prices and store opening hours also pay depanneurs a big favour. In Saturday's Gazette, I examined the economic and social side of the depanneur trade, with one article discussing overall trends in the industry and another that takes a close look at the owners of two Park Avenue depanneurs.
Depanneurs are the most local of businesses---they serve a market that often consists of less than a thousand people and ranges for just a few blocks---but they're also profoundly global, since they are mostly owned and staffed by immigrants, many of whom have arrived in Canada only recently. There are nine depanneurs within a five-minute walk of my apartment. One is owned by a North African man and is often crowded with men who use it as a social club; two more are owned by Greek families and the rest are run by recent immigrants from mainland China.
What makes the depanneur trade so appealing to immigrants is that it is easy to enter and easy to exit: you don't need much money to buy a depanneur and, if you ever decide to move on, it's easy to sell. When I spoke to Jimmy Wang, the mild-mannered owner of the dep closest to my apartment, he told me that he was a computer engineer in a city near Beijing before he moved to Canada. He had no illusions about being able to work in his field once he came --- he just wanted his future children to be raised in a stable country with a social safety net. (He now has one daughter, who was born shortly after he arrived in 2004.) Eventually, he plans to sell his store and perhaps invest in another business.
February 12th, 2008
Photo du jour: Street sale
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Shopping for clothes at the Ste. Catherine street festival. July 15, 2007
Test your geographical knowledge of Montreal
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Spacing Montreal seems to be riding a wave of renewed blogosphere interest in Montreal. In the past two years, a bunch of good blogs with unique perspectives on the city have been launched, including Walking Turcot Yards, Coolopolis and Expo Lounge.
Fagstein is another one with frequent posts on media, culture, politics and urban issues in Montreal. When transit fares went up at the beginning of the year, it was Fagstein, and not the STM's website or any of the major newspapers, that had the clearest and most concise list of what ...
Montreal’s murals on show
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
WHAT? An exhibition of photos of Montreal's murals
WHEN? Vernissage on Thursday, February 14 from 6 to 9pm; exhibition open on February 16, 17, 23 and 24 from 11am to 4pm
WHERE? Espace Les Neuf Soeurs, 1900 Wellington St., Point St. Charles
McGill architecture professor Pieter Sijpkes is known amongst his students and colleagues for living in a landmark bank building at the corner of Wellington and St. Madeleine in Point St. Charles. More than just his home, though, Sijpkes has turned that building into Espace Les Neuf Soeurs, a multipurpose space where he has hosted plays, music, ...
Toronto Tuesday: Streetcars, winter cyclists and historic preservation through demolition
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Streetcars and LRT: Sean Marshall looks at Toronto's streetcar system in the context of the light rail resurgence of the past thirty years (he provides some background on modern LRT in an earlier post). As much as Toronto might benefit from its streetcar system---the largest remaining prewar network in ...
February 13th, 2008
Photo du jour: Daddy’s hat
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Hasidic Jewish street festival, Jeanne Mance and Bernard, June 8, 2005
Seasonal pedestrianization of the Gay Village
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Early next month, the Ville-Marie borough council will decide whether or not to go ahead with a proposal to pedestrianize Ste. Catherine Street in the Gay Village for most of the summer. The plan is being pushed by the Village's merchant association which has successfully organized several temporary pedestrianization schemes over the past two years, including one that saw Ste. Catherine closed to traffic during the 2006 Outgames. If the merchants get their way, Ste. Catherine would be pedestrianized from Berri to Papineau in the months between St. Jean Baptiste Day and Labour Day.
This is ...
Un “parc linéaire” au dessus de l’autoroute Notre-Dame
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
plan tiré de www.projetnotredame.qc.ca
Tel qu'annoncé en décembre dernier, la société Radio Canada considère un projet immobilier de 1500 à 2000 logements sur son site de la rue Notre-Dame. Il a aussi été rapporté lors des audiences publiques de la semaine dernière que le projet se voit compromis face aux plans de "modernisation" de la rue Notre-Dame. Les plans d'élargissement de cette artère, déjà bien connus, soulèvent une énorme controverse au sein de la communauté montréalaise. En réaction au projet routier, la SRC propose de couvrir l'autoroute d'un "parc linéaire" s'étendant du centre-ville ...
February 14th, 2008
Photo du jour: ¡Bienvenido a bordo!
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
When Montreal bought a bunch of Novabuses in the 1990s, it sold its classic 1970s New Look buses to whoever would take them. Toronto has a bunch and at least one made it to Cuba, where the guys at Coolopolis spotted it roaming the streets in 1998.
Poor neighbourhoods more dangerous for pedestrians
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
"Pauvres piétons" exclaimed the front page of La Presse today. Inside the paper, a series of articles look at pedestrian safety in the city, noting that the number of pedestrians injured each year continues to increase.One article makes the startling---though not surprising---revelation that low-income pedestrians are far more vulnerable to being injured by cars, the reason being that wealthier neighbourhoods are much likelier to restrict automobile traffic than poor ones. You can see this for yourself: wander around Outremont or Westmount and you'll notice stop signs on every corner, well-marked crosswalks, speed bumps and (especially in ...
Winter-bound wandering
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
[youtube]jbDznfxIT-8[/youtube]
I don't think I can take it anymore. This endless procession of snowstorms has made the winter combo of cold temperatures and grey skies even more unbearable. Even walking around the city, my favourite pastime, has lost its appeal when it feels like a struggle just to walk a few blocks along snowy sidewalks. (Luckily, I'll get an early break from winter this year when I jet off for a month and a half in Hong Kong at the end of next week.)
Despite my winter doldrums, though, I thought this music video, for the song "Samedi" by 3 Gars ...
February 15th, 2008
Photo du jour : Rendez-vous à « Park Ex »
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Rue de Liège, Parc-Extension, le 23 juillet 2007
February 16th, 2008
Photo du jour: Trombone
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Italian marching band member after the parade, St. Viateur street festival, June 1, 2007
Police response to pedestrian safety: stop jaywalking
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
Yesterday's pedestrian safety dossier in La Presse seems to have launched the issue into the public spotlight. Today, the Gazette reported that the SPVM's response to the 24 pedestrian deaths we saw in 2007 will be to crack down even more on jaywalking, which is blamed for 50 percent of pedestrian fatalities. The police already issues 8,000 tickets for jaywalking last year and they promise to hand out even more in 2008.
While the police are only doing their jobs in enforcing the law, their approach to jaywalking often seems haphazard and opportunistic. I can't even begin ...
POLL: Are Montreal’s boroughs too big?
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
One of my professors at McGill used to refer jokingly to "NDG angst," which is what people who lived in NDG felt when they compared their middle-class but somewhat ratty neighbourhood with the fine polish of next-door Westmount. It's more than just a joke, though: in terms of the quality of its municipal services, NDG fares poorly not only in comparison to the wealthy municipalities that surround it on three sides but even to Côte des Neiges, with which it shares the city's largest borough, Côte-des-Neiges---Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
Maybe being part of such a large borough is the reason why ...
February 17th, 2008
Photo du jour: Soccer break
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Jeanne Mance Park, July 29, 2007
Routes intelligentes?
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Verra-t-on le jour où les piétons, cyclistes et automobilistes de Montréal se déplaceront sur des surfaces plus responsables et respectueuses de l'environnement? Selon un article paru dans Le Devoir de samedi, une nouvelle génération de routes pourrait bientôt voir le jour au Québec. Recyclage d'asphalte, bitume à l'huile végétale, revêtement thermosensible et auto-nettoyant, marquage lumineux modifiable intégré... Comme le stipule très bien l'article, nous sommes ici dans la même veine contradictoire que la prétendue "voiture écologique".
Les constructeurs de route en rajoutent évidemment en nous annonçant la «route verte» pour demain. Encore une fois, l'incrédulité ...
Interesting Mont-Royal roofs
By Paul Erlichman // 1 Comment
One area of town that is lesser-known to many anglophones is the commercial strip along Av. du Mont-Royal E. While most tend to frequent the area around Saint-Laurent and Saint-Denis, the area is bustling until well past Papineau and De Lorimier. While much of the area is architecturally pleasant if non-descript, there are exceptions, including the monastery at the corner of Saint-Hubert and these domed roofs on street-corner buildings. Pointing to the first era of major development in the area, time stamps of "1906" and "1912" on the first two prove that many buildings in the neighbourhood are reaching the century mark. ...
The baby cops’ debut
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Every summer, Montreal’s police department sends its most fresh-faced cadets to patrol Ste. Catherine Street. For police headquarters, it’s a way to train their newest recruits and ensure a police presence on the street without shelling out for real, fully-salaried traffic cops. For the cadets, who are sometimes known as “baby cops,” it’s more like a hazing ritual. Baby cops, you see, are entirely powerless: they can’t issue tickets and they can’t arrest anyone — they can only call for backup. Their job is to attempt, as best as they can, to control a river of ...
February 18th, 2008
Photo du jour: Calories
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Summer evening at Ste. Catherine at Gladstone, Westmount. July 13, 2007
February 19th, 2008
Photo du jour: Hangul
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
La Maison Bulgogi, Ste. Catherine at Chomedey, February 4, 2006
Toronto Tuesday : Mapping income, Paris subway intervention and sustainable transportation plans
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Mapping our urbanism. Part VI of a series of maps looking at watersheds, water mains, snow ploughing, language and city limits in Toronto. This new post looks at income distribution.
I can feel it coming in the subway tonight … In a series of reports on public ...
Norman Bethune Square’s makeover confirmed
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
Pretty much anyone who spends time in the west end of downtown will agree that Norman Bethune Square, at the corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve, desperately needs a makeover. Although plans for renovating the square have been floating around for almost three years, there hasn't been any funding or concrete timeline announced for the project --- until now.
Earlier today, the city unveiled new plans for the square and it announced that $22.4 million has been committed to its redevelopment. If the renderings released today are any indication, the new square will be ...
Griffintown News Roundup #3: Feb. 6-Feb. 21
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
Still from the 1982 NFB film Albedo, a film about the late David Marvin who documented the history of Griffintown. The film can be viewed at the NFB's CineRobotheque at the corner of de Maisonneuve and St-Denis.
News about the proposed Griffintown redevelopment is once again piling up so, here, in chronological order are all the news stories of interest concerning the project as well as meeting times, and other announcements since my last roundup:
Feb. 6: Le Devoir critiques Devimco’s redevelopment plan and gives examples of times in the past when public pressure and ...
February 20th, 2008
Photo du jour : Mosaïcultures 2000
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise en 2000, lors des Mosaïcultures au Vieux-Port de Montréal.
8e manifestation internationale de Champ Libre
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Forêt / Forest : 8e manifestation internationale de Champ Libre
Appel aux créateurs : la biennale de Champ Libre est de retour.
La MANIFESTATION INTERNATIONALE de CHAMP LIBRE est un événement biennal. ...
Sammy Forcillo dead set against pedestrianization
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
When Ville-Marie mayor Benoît Labonté came up with a plan for the seasonal pedestrianization of Ste. Catherine Street in the Gay Village, between Berri and Papineau, it seems he forgot to consult opposition councillor Sammy Forcillo, who represents the Village at City Hall. Today, the Journal de Montréal reports that Forcillo is dead set against the project:
«Je suis contre cette idée surtout pour des raisons de sécurité, a-t-il dit au Journal, mais aussi à cause des nombreux problèmes de circulation, de stationnement et de fréquentation des commerces que cette fermeture pourrait causer.»
Le conseiller ...
February 21st, 2008
Photo du jour : Autoroute Transcanadienne à Kirkland
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise le 6 octobre 2007, du viaduc du Boulevard St-Charles à Kirkland au-dessus de l'Autoroute 40.
The songs of Montreal’s banished street vendors
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Montreal did away with a big chunk of its cultural heritage when it started cracking down on street vendors in the 1960s. Food vendors were the first to go and, although City Hall has been easing its restrictions on street vending for a number of years, allowing people to sell art and crafts on Ste. Catherine Street and at the tam tams, it still refuses to allow anyone except mobile ice cream vendors to sell food on the street. This makes us one of the only major cities in the world with a near-total ban on ...
If Calgary can do it, why can’t we?
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
I've written before about posters and, in particular, the need for more legal postering space in Montreal. My recent trip to Calgary revealed that, even there, the city provides plenty of spots for people to glue their posters. The fact that most of Calgary's posters are bland and uninspired, while many in Montreal are works of art, only exacerbates an already unfair situation.
February 22nd, 2008
Montreal in Dublin
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
IRELAND: A day trip to Dublin reveals many fine things but none finer than this bus with a Montreal advertisement seen yesterday moving up the city's main drag, O'Connell Street. It's interesting to see home (or near home) represented abroad. I have never seen an ad for Toronto (in my unscientific and casual survey of various cities), but perhaps because Air Transat is headquartered in Montreal it was a natural fit. Of interest are the "Quebec" and "Quebec: City and Area" logos on the signs, indicating some kind of partnership with Air Transat.
Cross ...
An elegy for Griffintown
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
[youtube]XqxurfvV5bM[/youtube]
There's something remarkably honest about the United Steel Workers of Montreal. Far from being a contrivance, their country and bluegrass music feels earnest and appropriate, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the new video for their song "Émile Bertrand."
This elegy for the lost working-class life of Montreal's southwest is named in honour of the Émile Bertrand restaurant, a snack bar at Notre-Dame and Mountain that was famous for its home-brewed spruce beer. It closed in 2006 when its owner, Barbara Strudensky, died of cancer, so the USWM filmed their video in Point St. Charles' Paul Patates, ...
February 23rd, 2008
Photo du jour: In front of Moishe’s
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Hanging out at St. Laurent and Bagg, September 4, 2004
American suburbs the new slums?
By Matthew Blackett // 3 Comments
In a bizarre reversal of urban decay, many homes and streets in American suburbs are being abandoned due to a number of reasons, including the fallout of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The Atlantic magazine's Christopher B. Leinberger wonders if the 'burbs will become 21st century slums.
Strange days are upon the residents of many a suburban cul-de-sac. Once-tidy yards have become overgrown, as the houses they front have gone vacant. Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading.
At Windy Ridge, a recently built starter-home development seven miles northwest of Charlotte, ...
A peek inside Yiddish Montreal
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Yiddish was Montreal's third language for the entire first half of the twentieth century. Up and down the Main, people gossiped in Yiddish, shopped in Yiddish, read the Kanader Odler, Montreal's daily Yiddish newspaper, and flocked to Yiddish theatre at the Monument National. For the tens of thousands of Jews who fled to Montreal from the pogroms and poverty of Russia and Eastern Europe, Yiddish was the lingua franca that united a community with diverse geographical origins.
Gradually, all of that began to change as new generations of Jewish Montrealers, educated at Protestant schools, turned ...
February 24th, 2008
Photo du jour : Boucherie Sabra
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Ontario coin Saint-Dominique, le 7 juin 2005
February 25th, 2008
Photo du jour: Movie in the ruelle
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Alleyway projection during the St. Viateur street fair, June 1, 2007
Eugene Yao, 1946-2008: A Chinese Activist
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Eugene Yao was born in Shanghai in 1946, and came to Canada in 1969 as a student of McGill University in electrical engineering, where he met his wife-to-be, Winnie Ng, a sociology student. He was later president of the Chinese Canadian National Council. In recent years, he became known for starting a commuter bicycle shop in Toronto called The Urbane Cyclist. (Toronto Star | Activist Magazine)
My friend Bethany knew him personally and this is what she had to say ...
Articulated bus seen on Avenue du Parc tonight
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
While waiting for the bus tonight at the corner of Du Parc and Des Pins, I saw this articulated bus speeding down Du Parc, following a regular #80 STM bus. I took my camera out, and managed to snap this picture... Has anyone seen more of this variety of bus circulating on regular routes? It looked like this vehicle was not taking passengers, since the display panel at the front had the manufacturer's name, rather than the route number.
My colleague Chris ...
Photo du jour: Little Portugal
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Rachel Street in the Plateau's Portuguese neighbourhood. July 16, 2007
Des publicités plein immeuble
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
Cette affiche publicitaire prenant la forme d'une toile couvrant les quelques premiers étages de l'immeuble Air Transat, rue Léo-Parizeau, est immanquable pour les nombreux automobilistes et utilisateurs du transport en commun dévalant chaque jour l'Avenue du Parc. Bien que ce genre de pubs plein immeuble soit omniprésent dans des villes comme New York ou Hong Kong, là où un espace publicitaire vaut son pesant d'or, celles-ci sont encore rares à Montréal. J'en ai noté une autre en décembre dernier, ...
Toronto Tuesday : Fire on Queen West, Suburban Slums and Drastic Economic Measures for the City
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Queen West Fire. Wednesday morning a fire destroyed a stretch of buildings on Queen Street West near Bathurst. One article posted the same day of the blaze links to news coverage of the disaster. In two separate posts, Matthew Blackett reflects on the growing number of unofficial media sources ...
La rue Belmont
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Cette rue d'a peine 400 mètres, est aujourd'hui utilisée presque uniquement par les camions de livraisons et les automobilistes en quête d'un stationnement. Située derrière la gare centrale et l'hôtel reine Elisabeth, elle n'a désormais plus rien pour plaire.
Ouverte en 1843, elle fut nommée ainsi en l'honneur d'un ancien Sulpicien, M. François Vachon de Belmont. Vers la fin du 19e siècle, c'était une rue riche et verdoyante bordée de nombreuses résidences bourgeoises. S'étendant à l'époque de la côte ...
February 27th, 2008
Photo du jour: Fiesta independencia
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Poster in Spanish in front of the Santa Cruz church, Rachel and St. Urbain
Le métro de Montréal by metro
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 2 Comments
photo de la station UdM par Guillaume Goyette
Le site www.metrodemontreal.com est peut-être déjà connu de plusieurs d'entre vous, mais je viens, personnellement, de le découvrir et je ne pouvais passer outre. Le site semble contenir à peu près tout ce qu'on voudrait savoir sur le métro. Les photos des stations sont superbes et l'auteur du site, Matt McLaughlin, y va même d'un système de pointage maison pour noter les différentes stations (de la "médiocre" Guy-Concordia au "chef-d'oeuvre Lionel-Groulx).
L'introduction au site :
Tandis que bien d'autres systèmes de métro comptent des kilomètres ...
Les audiences publiques sur le projet de Griffintown se poursuivent ce soir
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 1 Comment
Lors du dernier "news roundup" sur Griffintown du 19 février, je ne crois pas que les audiences publiques d'hier soir et de ce soir (26-27) aient été mentionnées. Désolé de mettre la nouvelle en ligne si tard, mais je viens de l'apprendre. Je n'ai par contre vu aucun article mentionnant ces réunions sur les différents blogs dédiés au quartier -j'espère que l'information obtenue n'est pas erronée! Voici le communiqué de presse :
MONTREAL, le 27 fév. /CNW Telbec/ - L'assemblée de consultation publique relative au programme particulier d'urbanisme (PPU) du secteur Peel-Wellington (Griffintown) se poursuit ce ...
February 28th, 2008
Photo du jour: Dépanneur Win Long
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Now you know where to buy your lottery tickets.
(Sorry.)
St. Hubert in Villeray, July 25, 2007
L’architecture de Montréal à pied ou en métro
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Deux livres parus récemment nous suggèrent de découvrir l'architecture de Montréal le long de promenades à pied, en vélo, ou en métro. Comme le mentionne Martin Houle sur Kollectif, les deux guides sont complémentaires, le premier s'arrêtant aux début des années 80, et l'autre couvrant les 25 dernières années.
Sur les traces du Montréal moderne et du domaine de l'Estérel au Québec
Ce guide vise à faire connaître le patrimoine architectural moderne particulièrement riche à Montréal et dont l'importance a été reconnue par la Ville de Montréal dans sa politique du ...
February 29th, 2008
Photo du jour : la pile de détritus à côté du Métro Beaudry
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
On a procédé cette semaine à la destruction de l'immeuble abritant l'ancienne succursale de Subway au Village Gai, juste à côté de la bouche du Métro Beaudry, rue Ste-Catherine. Ça faisait depuis de nombreux mois que le commerce a été fermé.
Photo prise le 21 février 2008.
Nuit Blanche
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
QUOI : Nuit Blanche (Festival Montréal en lumières)
QUAND: de samedi à dimanche (1er au 2 mars 2008)
OÙ: Vieux-Montréal / Vieux-Port, Centre-Ville / Quartier des spectacles, Plateau Mont-Royal
Le Festival Montréal en Lumières revient cette année avec la 5e édition de la Nuit Blanche. En plus du Vieux-Montréal / Vieux-Port et du Centre-Ville / Quartier des Spectacles, les festivités auront aussi lieu cette année sur le Plateau Mont-Royal. Plus de 75 activités sont prévues entre 20h samedi et 6h du matin dimanche.
Les nuits blanches, dont Paris a été la première ville à organiser un tel ...
Frozen commuters at Berri-UQAM
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53jXg7kUqRU[/youtube]
Overlooking a sunny Victoria Harbour and enjoying the perfect spring breeze blowing in from an open window, it's hard to bring my mind back to Montreal's late-February drudgescape, but I'll do it for this week-old video. Last Saturday, blogger and journalist Steve Faguy checked out a flash mob at Berri-UQAM. "About 50-60 people showed up, then entered the metro station and gathered in the area around the puck on the mezzanine. For five minutes, they all stood frozen, quiet, as regular travellers passed them by," he wrote.
The Journal de Montréal sent a reporter to cover the big freeze:
Au ...
March 1st, 2008
Photo du jour : Maison Wing’s
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 24 février 2008, au coin de De La Gauchetière et Côté, au Quartier Chinois de Montréal.
Get your own personal bike rack!
By Chris Erb // No Comments
A friend of mine has informed me that a phone call is all that is needed to get a bike rack installed wherever you see a need for one. Although the city mainly only installs bike racks near commercial property, they will put them in residential areas if there seems to be a need. I have yet to try this out as I have no justifible need for one anywhere but if you of somewhere in the city that is lacking in bike parking (such as near your work or on a street where ...
March 2nd, 2008
Photo du jour : Complexe Guy-Favreau et Palais des congrès
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 24 février 2008.
Évolution d’une rue #4
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Le coin des rues Sainte-Catherine et St-Laurent en 1900, 2007 et 2008.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.813.1§ion=196
MP-0000.813.1
March 3rd, 2008
Photo du jour : Enfant qui court
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
En faisant le tour de la ville lors de la tempête du 16 décembre dernier, deux enfants étaient passés en courant juste à côté de moi, se demandant l'un l'autre qu'est-ce que ce type faisait à prendre des photos en un temps pareil. Ils se sont enfuis bien vite, prenant leurs jambes à leur cou, en plein milieu d'une Avenue du Mont-Royal transformée en piste skiable...
Toronto Tuesday: Green Fleet, Mayoral Power and Moorish Revival
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Green Fleet is a go This week city council passed its Green Fleet Plan which calls for a greater use of alternative fuels, idling limits for city staff, a pilot testing for green truck technology and a bike share program for city employees. Apparently the plan would mean a reduction ...
New blog: The Transitive
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Local blogger Steve Faguy recently wrote a post about some new Montreal-based blogs that were all created as part of a citizen journalism class at Concordia University. My favourite (and probably the most relevant to Spacing Montreal readers) is The Transitive: Montreal in Transit. It's a new blog with only eight or nine posts so far so it is difficult to know in what direction exactly the writers plan to take it but they seem to be focusing more on being a rider of transit in Montreal than the actual workings of ...
La construction de la Place des Arts.
By Guillaume St-Jean // 18 Comments
Bien avant le métro de Laval et le stade olympique un projet d'envergure ayant connu des coût de construction faramineux vit le jour à Montréal il y a prêt de 50 ans.
Durant la construction en 1962
Le projet de la Place des Arts aura coûté en 1963 près de 25 millions, alors qu'au départ il avait été estimé à 12 millions. Ce montant est minime aujourd'hui mais à l'époque, il était énorme. Une des principales raison de la hausse des coût fut le 4,5 millions déboursé en frais d'expropriation. Entre ...
March 5th, 2008
Photo du jour : Bac Moi!
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
L'une des corbeilles à recyclage, déployées peu après le lancement des journaux gratuits Métro et 24 Heures à Montréal...
Photo prise le 26 février 2008.
March 6th, 2008
Photo du jour : Ultramar au coin de Villeneuve et Du Parc
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 26 février 2008.
The pedestrianization of Sainte-Catherine
By Paul Erlichman // 4 Comments
Sainte-Catherine will be a little busier than this in a few months.
After years of contemplation, the Gay Village will finally be pedestrianized, at least for the summer. On Tuesday the borough of Ville-Marie decided that Sainte-Catherine will be closed to traffic from Berri to Papineau, with traffic still flowing south onto Berri and Labelle to allow for traffic and access to a hospital, respectively. This stretch of about 15 blocks will be this way from June 17 and September 3, a period during which Just For Laughs, the Jazz Festival and Les Francofolies will take ...
Skyline Planning
By Alanah Heffez // 17 Comments
This image caught my eye as I was browsing the Plan D'Urbanisme...No, it isn't plans for the some-day domed city of Montreal.
A Ville-Marie Borough regulation requires all buildings to fit within the silhouette of the downtown area, even if they surpass the height of their neighbours. The goal is to maintain the importance of Mount Royal within the urban landscape. The urban plan doesn't make it clear whether neighbourhing boroughs are expected to squeeze ...
March 7th, 2008
Photo du jour : Tim Hortons à saveur de Village Gai
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Comme beaucoup de commerces rue Ste-Catherine, aux alentours du Métro Beaudry, le Tim Hortons du coin a été décoré de la bannière arc-en-ciel de la communauté LGBT.
Photo prise le 26 février 2008.
Karine Giboulo: Of Pig and Men
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Like every year for the past three years, I did the Montreal All-nighter, and like a lot of people, I stopped by Karine Giboulo's All you can eat installation at the Hall des Pas perdus in Place des Arts. Giboulo was making a comeback to the Nuit Blanche, with her unmistakable comic strip-style scenes created through figurines and miniature-size objects locked in a box-building with windows inviting visitors to peek inside.
This time, the Montreal-based artist ...
La Place des Arts en 1970 et en 2008
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Pour faire suite à l'article : La construction de la Place des Arts, voici un montage photo de 1970 et de 2008 représentant le site avant son réaménagement et la construction du Complexe Desjardins.
March 8th, 2008
Photo du jour : Le Métro arrive !
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise le 26 février 2008.
March 9th, 2008
Photo du jour : L’édifice Godin
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
L'édifice Godin en 2003 avant sa restauration.
Under the bridge: creative use of space
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
It's a bit of a paradox --- bridges are meant to connect two sides of a gap, to bring them together, but they often act quite intentionally as barriers because the space beneath them is so problematic. There is a tendency to leave it unused and overgrown with weeds, or to give it up for some perfunctory use, like parking.
But there are many creative solutions to dealing with the space underneath a bridge. I came across one of them when I walked under the Manhattan Bridge in New York's Chinatown. Shops, retail arcades and produce ...
March 10th, 2008
Photo du Jour: St. Henri Sunset
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
Taken from the CN tracks near Place St. Henri, looking west. In the distance the Turcot Interchange is visible.
Taken January 14, 2008.
Conférence SITQ sur les grands projets urbains
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Les grands projets urbains comme réponse au déclin des villes industrielles
QUOI: Conférence de Thomas Werquin
QUAND: Mardi 11 mars, 17h
OÙ: Facuté de l'aménagement, 2940 chemin de la Côte Sainte-Catherine, local 1120
Avec la disparition de l’industrie sur laquelle elles s’étaient développées, Lille et Bilbao ont perdu dans les années 1980 toute attractivité et semblaient condamnées à voir fuir leurs travailleurs vers d’autres villes plus attractives.
Pour enrayer ce déclin, les acteurs publics ont investi massivement dans des projets urbains très ambitieux qui avaient deux grands objectifs: créer les conditions favorables à l’installation de nouvelles activités économiques et casser l’image ...
City cut corners in “Red Light” demolition
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
I've only been glancing at the Montreal headlines since I've been in Hong Kong, but this one caught my eye: it seems that the city was in such a rush to tear down the building at the corner of Ste. Catherine and St. Laurent that it forgot to apply for the necessary demolition permits from the provincial Ministère de la culture, which maintains a 500-foot protected area around the Monument National.
La Presse has more details:
«C'est malheureux, mais dans le contexte d'expropriation, et parce qu'il y avait des risques d'effondrement, on a reçu l'ordre de démolir ...
March 11th, 2008
Photo du jour : Nuit blanche à Montréal 2008 (1 de 8)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Devant la Place des Arts, ce grand panneau lumineux style rétro nous invitait à l'intérieur pour des renseignements.
Photo prise le 1er mars 2008.
Bâtiment disparu #4 : La résidence de George Caverhill
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1915-2008
Construite vers 1909, cette somptueuse résidence en pierres est identifiée dans les archives du musée Mccord comme étant la maison de Mme Galt en 1912 et de George Caverhill en 1915. Située du côté ouest de la rue Simpson, près de l'avenue du docteur Penfield, elle semble avoir subsistée jusqu'à la fin des années 1960.
...
Toronto Tuesday: Streetcar-oriented development, McDonald’s architecture, Toronto travelling trends
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Streetcar oriented development Sean Marshall looks at the possible streetcar-oriented development emerging with Toronto's push to revitalize urban and suburban arterials. This type of development is apparently nothing new to the city; present examples include North Toronto, the Beach and Mimico. As Montreal is presently looking into streetcar revival, this ...
March 12th, 2008
Photo du jour : Nuit blanche à Montréal 2008 (2 de 8)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Hall des pas perdus, Place des Arts.
Photo prise le 1er mars 2008.
City Hall wants to pedestrianize St. Paul Street
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
Despite the political storm brewing over the seasonal pedestrianization of Ste. Catherine Street in the Village, city officials has their eyes set on pedestrianizing even more streets. La Presse reports that City Hall is set to announce the partial pedestrianization of St. Paul Street between the Bonsecours Market and St. Laurent Boulevard:
Selon les informations obtenues, on compte s'inspirer de la piétonnisation estivale du marché Jean-Talon, dans Rosemont-Petite-Patrie, qui s'effectue du vendredi au dimanche, avec une plage horaire en matinée pour les camions de livraison. La possibilité d'accorder des vignettes de passage à certains résidants est ...
Snow is driving Montrealers crazy
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
I don't think it's possible for me to express exactly how glad I am not to be suffering through yet another winter storm. When I left Montreal at the end of February, I was so sick of what had been the snowiest winter of my life that it was a huge relief even to encounter New York's chilly but snow-free streets, not to mention the warm spring sunshine of Hong Kong.
I can't say my angst was normal: for the most part, I don't mind too much snow, and like many others I find a good snowstorm ...
Cyclist awareness test
By Matthew Blackett // 1 Comment
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47LCLoidJh4[/youtube]
Transport for London has a great public service video that highlights the need for drivers to be aware of cyclists. It may also have one of the best punchlines ever.
Thanks for Leah Rajesky for the tip
March 13th, 2008
Photo du jour : Nuit blanche à Montréal 2008 (3 de 8)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Devant le panneau sensible au mouvement (il paraitrait), également juste devant la Place des Arts.
Photo prise le 1er mars 2008.
March 14th, 2008
Photo du jour : Nuit blanche à Montréal 2008 (4 de 8)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
La Nuit Électronik au Métropolis de Montréal.
Photo prise le 2 mars 2008.
CBC Digital Archives: Moshe Safdie
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
In my day job, I work as a computer programmer, and one of the recent projects that I participated in was the revamping of the CBC Digital Archives (and its sibling, the Archives de Radio-Canada), unveiled this week. I was already a end-user of the website before working on it, but while coding and testing it, I discovered how much more contents the site in fact had beyond what the original design allowed the average user to ...
March 15th, 2008
Photo du jour : Nuit blanche à Montréal 2008 (5 de 8)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Installation interactive à la Société des arts technologiques.
Photo prise le 2 mars 2008.
March 16th, 2008
Photo du jour : Nuit blanche à Montréal 2008 (6 de 8)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Une des navettes gratuites fournies par la Société des transports de Montréal.
Photo prise le 2 mars 2008.
You will listen to our low prices on bok choy!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Find where it's coming from.
Old sales tactics, new technological means. Two weeks ago, I was strolling in Montreal Chinatown, to do my groceries as usual. As I was walking on De La Gauchetière, when I reached Clark, a loud and lively (and amplified) voice coming from thirty meters down the latter woke me up from my peaceful walk. Woaw! Where did that came from?
It came from the loudspeaker outside grocery store Wing Cheong Hong, ...
Montage du jour : La rue Aylmer
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1870 et en 2008
Ces 2 photos montrant la rue Aylmer entre Milton et Sherbrooke furent prises à près de 138 années d'intervalle. Au premier regard, le paysage semble avoir totalement changé mais la réalité est tout autre. Les maisons situées le plus au Nord de cette section de rue furent remplacées par de nombreuses conciergeries mais au sud de ces dernières, le paysage d'autrefois subsiste encore. Bien que les portiques de bois ainsi que les crêtes de fer forgé sur les toits furent retirés avec le temps, ...
March 17th, 2008
Photo du jour : Nuit blanche à Montréal 2008 (7 de 8)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Glissades aménagées Place Jacques-Cartier.
Photo prise le 2 mars 2008.
March 18th, 2008
Photo du jour : Nuit blanche à Montréal 2008 (8 de 8)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Sphères chauffantes à la fête dans le Vieux-Port.
Photo prise le 2 mars 2008.
Toronto Tuesday: Icy sidewalk frustration, Jarvis Street transformation project, Walk 21 Community Conference
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Passive aggression in Cabbagetown : Shawn Micallef fantasizes about ways of correcting negligent Torontonians who leave the sidewalk in front of their house icy and snowed-in. Two notes are found in front of such a house in Cabbagetown.
Jarvis Street transformation project : The City of Toronto is ...
March 19th, 2008
Photo du jour : If only the metro got you all the way there…
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
Metro maps tampered with to serve a commercial purpose? Done and redone. This is the latest, for a gum advertisement that apparently lasts longer than any other. There was the vodka ad, and then the religious establishment one. Can you think of something else?
This photo was taken on February 26, 2008.
A smorgasbord of Montreal transportation stats
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
A recent Stats Can report on Canadians’ transportation habits entitles Montrealers to some bragging rights: car usage in Montreal’s metro area was the lowest in the nation in 2006, with only 65% of the residents making all trips by car, either as a driver or passenger.
Still, this hardly makes us a "ville verte par excellence" as reported by Le Devoir. After all, 65% of the people in this city are still getting behind the wheel for everything from the daily commute to work to the emergency ...
March 20th, 2008
Photo du jour : Désolé
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Désolé, but coming soon, to a metro station near you (see Spacing's previous coverage).
This photo was taken on March 10, 2008 at Métro Beaudry.
Crossing the harbour
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
NEW YORK and HONG KONG --- The driver of the S62 bus let me on even though there was no value left on my borrowed Metrocard.
"Just don't let it happen again," he said, waving me back.
Twenty minutes later, after a bumpy ride down Victory Boulevard, a narrow commercial street that winds its way across the northern half of Staten Island, New York's fifth and forgotten borough, we arrive at the best way to get to Manhattan: the Staten Island Ferry. I say it's the best because, unlike the US$5 express bus, which takes you across ...
Beep beep beep!
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
When it comes to audio announcements, Montreal's metro system is so conservative, it's almost Puritanical. For the most part, the only regular information conveyed over the PA system is the name of the next stop --- and even then, there are many occasions when no announcements are made at all. By contrast, many other cities announce connection information, warn passengers to stand clear of the doors when they are closing and let people know when trains are approaching the platform. (In Hong Kong, these announcements are even made in three languages.)
All of this must make the ...
March 21st, 2008
Photo du Jour : We Put Out
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
McGill Daily wins a student vote that threatened its existence by a large margin last week.
This photo was taken on March 12th, 2008.
Les manchettes
By Catherine Vandermeulen // 2 Comments
L'hôtel de ville...
En bref - Le son à Montréal [Le Devoir]
Projet Griffintown - L'OCPM doit être utilisé [Le Devoir]
The siege of Griffintown [The Montreal Mirror]
Les Montréalais favorables au projet Griffintown [Cyberpresse.ca]
Tree tracking [Hour.ca]
Immobilier...
Nouveau projet immobilier près du métro Rosemont [Mon toit.ca]
Les projets immobiliers les plus en vue de 2008 [Mon toit.ca]
Béton et blancheur dans la Cité du multimédia [Mon toit.ca]
Concordia cash crunch? [Hour.ca]
Divers...
Snow fatigue part of Montreal landscape [Suburban.com]
L'intendant de Montréal [Cyberpresse.ca]
March 22nd, 2008
Photo du Jour : L’ancien palais de justice de Montréal au crépuscule
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise sur la rue de Bullion, le 2 mars, 2008.
March 23rd, 2008
Photo du Jour : hommes jouant aux dames chinoises
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 16 août 2003, sur Clark au Quartier Chinois de Montréal.
Toronto putting out Montreal’s fires
By Chris Erb // 2 Comments
This city has a tendency to be one of those places where, so often, you will see something that just doesn't seem to make any sense whatsoever. Montreal fire trucks speeding down the street emblazoned with "City of Toronto" insignia is just one of such examples.
Montreal's fire fighters have been feeling slighted by the city recently; they have been without a contract for over a year and have received no pay increases unlike their counterparts in Toronto who are seeing increases of almost 10% and already receive larger paycheques than fire fighters in Montreal. Our ...
March 24th, 2008
Photo du Jour : Cocoa Locale, boutique gâteau
By Cédric Sam // 6 Comments
Cocoa Locale, sur Du Parc, au nord de Villeneuve.
Photo prise le 13 janvier 2008.
Griffintown News Roundup #4: Feb. 21-March 24
By Chris Erb // 2 Comments
It has been over a month since I've done my last new roundup so, because there have been such a large number of news items over such a long period of time I will simply give an overview of events concerning Griffintown and the proposed redevelopment from the last month.
-Over 500 people filled up a room at ÉTS for the first in a series of public consultations on February 21st. The city and developer Devimco each gave presentations, then fielded questions from the audience. So many people signed up to ask questions that extra days ...
March 25th, 2008
Photo du jour : La fièvre des séries!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Le Canadien de Montréal s'assure une place dans les séries de fin de saison avec sa victoire au Centre Bell hier soir contre les Sénateurs d'Ottawa.
Photo prise le 24 mars 2008.
Toronto Tuesday : TTC sation “diversification”, TTC new director of communications, and Controversy-raising stricker
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
TTC station heritage threatened : The TTC is considering the renovation of most of its subway stations (63 out of 69) in what it calls a "diversification" plan. In a subsequent post warning about these possible changes, Matthew Blackett presents a Spacing graphic that shows the colour sequence of ...
March 26th, 2008
Photo du jour: Winter bike parking, Montreal style
By Asa Bergman // No Comments
No snow clearance, but clever design?
This photo was taken on March 18, 2008, at McGill University
Closing time at the street market
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
[youtube]CSHup9MNXPQ[/youtube]
HONG KONG --- Montreal has a handful of fine public markets, but what it lacks are some good street markets. We have approximate, ephemeral versions of these every summer when many streets---Ste. Catherine and the Main, the Plaza St. Hubert and Wellington, Ontario in Hochelaga---close for lively street fairs. But we don't have any permanent markets of the type that are so common in most European and Asian cities.
In Hong Kong, nearly every neighbourhood has at least one market street where people shop for cheap clothes and accessories and, more importantly, fresh meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. Each street ...
Crossing the street in Bangkok
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Unlike people in most Canadian cities, Montrealers don't take being able to cross the street for granted. For our own sake, we always assume that an oncoming car will not stop, so we calculate our trajectory accordingly when we attempt the seemingly simple task of getting from one side of the road to the other. This applies to jaywalking, of course, but also to crosswalks: the only cars that ever stop at zebra crossings have Ontario licence plates.
That gives us something in common with Bangkok, where pedestrians hold no illusions about being very high in the ...
Where did Jesus go?
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Rue de Courcelle, corner Saint-Jacques, Summer 2007
Rue de Courcelle, corner Saint-Jacques, Spring 2008
A statue of Jesus has been removed from the front yard of the abandoned Ste Elizabeth Church in Saint-Henri.
Demolition of the abandoned church as been in the works ever since the Catholic church sold the buildings 3 years ago. Although the 1950s era church is not much to look at, a 2006 report (pdf) by the Conseil du Patrimoine de Montreal ...
March 27th, 2008
“Mobile” advertisement
By Cédric Sam // 6 Comments
During a routine Chinatown stroll on a Friday evening two or three weeks ago, I came across an unusual form of advertisement on the wall adjacent to the empty space left by the burnt-down building at the corner of St-Laurent and De La Gauchetière. I saw the familiar logo of a well-known telecommunication company, which then quickly shifted back to the sales pitch, lit on an otherwise blank building side.
Where could this come from, we wondered? After looking behind ...
Photo du Jour: Lave auto 5 minutes
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Car wash tucked away on Rue Drolet, just above Rachel.
March 28th, 2008
Photo du jour : Maison sur le chemin de la côte-des-neiges
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Photographiée pendant la grève de l'été 2007, elle semble être perdue au fond d'un champs...
Les manchettes – du 22 au 28 mars
By Catherine Vandermeulen // 1 Comment
La ville de montréal
Platform pilfered, Projet Montréal complains - then shuts up [The Gazette]
City to name Park a Greek village [The Gazette]
Des arrondissements pour une culture de proximité [Le Devoir]
Montréal se dit satisfaite de son taux de récupération [Canoë.ca]
Nids-de-poule: Montréal modifie sa recette [La Presse]
Urbanisme et architecture
Les Amis sound alarm on Mount Royal plan [The Gazette]
Riverfront plans just keep rolling along [The Globe & Mail]
Griffintown hearings 'a dangerous precedent' [The Gazette]
In Full View: Public Space in Montreal [Canadian Architect]
Divers
À Montréal d'agir [Le Journal de Montréal]
Confessions ...
March 29th, 2008
Photo du jour : Avenue du Parc à 17h30
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Photo prise le 21 mars 2008.
The lights go out tonight
By Chris Erb // 4 Comments
Before and after shot of Sydney Australia participating in Earth Hour from this morning (to us).
Tonight is Earth Hour across the planet and Montreal is taking part. Various cities around the world will turn off the lights for one hour between 8pm and 9pm local time in an effort to raise awareness about emission output caused by overuse of electricity. The story in the Gazette explains further:
The purpose is to save electricity, cut greenhouse gases and spark dialogue about other ways we can act to save the planet.
"During that hour, we hope that Montrealers ...
March 30th, 2008
Photo du jour : La traversée
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Un couple de personnes âgées traversant Casgrain sur Jean-Talon, près du Marché Jean-Talon.
Photo prise le 21 mars 2008.
Bâtiment disparu #5 : Le refuge Ste-Bridget
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Photographies prisent vers 1896 et en 2008
En 1847, de nombreux immigrants irlandais quittèrent leur pays alors ravagé par la famine, la maladie et la pauvreté pour venir s'établir à Montréal. De nombreuses personnes malades furent alors hébergés dans divers centres temporaires jusqu'en 1869, année où fut inauguré le refuge Ste-Bridget. Cette demeure de pierre de 4 étages fut alors construite à la demande du Père Patrick Dowd au coût total de 28 978, 48 $. À l'origine, le bâtiment servait de foyer pour les personnes âgées et infirmes, pour les ...
March 31st, 2008
Photo du jour: Anticipating the pedestrianization of Saint-Paul
By Asa Bergman // 5 Comments
As announced by André Lavallée of Ville de Montréal earlier this month, Saint-Paul will be a car free street between 11am and 6am this summer. Some people act as if it were already. This photo was taken on August 22, 2007, on Place Jacques-Cartier
More community gardens to be closed
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Soil contamination has forced the Southwest borough to close two community gardens and part of a third. The Gazette has more:
The borough said it took the decision after tests analyzed by the Public Health Department showed levels of toxins higher than acceptable norms. However, levels of toxins consumed through produce cultivated in the gardens are minimal, health officials said.
"We can tell you right now, there is no worry for your health as a result of eating vegetables from this soil," Monique Beausoleil, a toxicologist with the department told about 100 gardeners at a meeting at the ...
Toronto Tuesday : Spacing Hut, Ballenford closes, TTC strike report and Bathurst Bridge redesign
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 2 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Spacing Magazine Hut: Sapcing Magazine has acquired the naming rights to the the Leslie Spit Quonset Hut. Spacing intends to convert the metal structure into a "Public Space Interpretation Centre" that will house both permanent and rotating exhibitions.
Ballenford Books closes: Toronto's great -and only- architecture bookstore Ballenford ...
Bâtiment disparu #6 : L’orphelinat St-Patrick
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1896 et en 2008
L'orphelinat St-Patrick construit en 1851 sur le terrain situé à l'ouest de la basilique St-Patrick fut démolit en 1904. Un arbre qui bordait autrefois l'allée conduisant à l'entrée subsiste encore tout comme le presbytère situé à l'extrême droite de la photo.
April 3rd, 2008
Less is more: Montreal’s new public spaces
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Montreal is in the midst of a great public space building boom. Plenty of new squares, plazas and open spaces have been created over the past six or seven years, most notably in the Quartier international, but also throughout the city. With the redevelopment of Griffintown, Viger Square and the area around Rosemont metro, along with the construction of the CHUM superhospital and the reconstruction of Place d'Armes and the Pine/Park interchange, ensuring that our new public spaces are well-designed is particularly important.
So how have we been doing until now? In the latest issue of ...
Photos from the big Pine Avenue fire
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Although it doesn't have quite the same devastating impact as February's inferno on Queen Street West in Toronto, yesterday's fire on Pine Avenue still destroyed an entire apartment building, leaving as many as 100 people homeless. Hour has a photoessay of the blaze and so does La Presse.
Kate at Montreal City Weblog, meanwhile, shares a completely unrelated but amusing anecdote about the name of the street on which the fire occurred: "Incidentally, I overheard a bus conversation recently in which two Anglos referred to this street, ...
April 4th, 2008
Photo du jour : Bâtiment abandonné sur la rue Murray
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
“Pieces of resistance”
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Montreal's marginal spaces seem to hold particular appeal for its artists. Last year, Karen Spencer decorated fences, laneways and parking lots with her oblique trilingual dreams; Julie Favreau and Caroline Dubois occupied a vacant storefront on Beaubien Street, turning an empty space into one of constant reinvention; and the artists of Dare-Dare took a forlorn corner of Mile End and made it into the centre of gravity for the city's most interesting and innovative art. Now, the wayward Heather Utah has found herself in the area around the Falaise St. Jacques, ...
Les manchettes du 29 mars au 4 avril
By Catherine Vandermeulen // No Comments
Environnement
Westmount, Côte St. Luc to expand composting [The Gazette]
Borough closes 167 garden plots [The Gazette]
City recycling takes a turn for the better [The Gazette]
Gala de reconnaissance en environnement et développement durable de Montréal [Groupe CNW]
Transport
Le rapport Montmarquette relancera le débat sur le péage à Montréal [Cyberpresse.ca]
Le 450 attire et le transport en commun est au neutre [Les affaires.com]
Affaires
Homburg veut ériger deux tours à Montréal [Cyberpresse.ca]
CIGM/Statistiques résidentielles MLS(R) de la région métropolitaine de Montréal : Bilan positif pour le marché de revente résidentielle au premier trimestre de 2008 [Corus Nouvelles]
Arts
Une exposition ...
April 5th, 2008
Photo du jour : La démolition du théâtre Quat’sous
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Strongman Park
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Parc des Hommes-Forts in Saint Henri. Photo taken March 25th 2008
"Evocation de l'admiration que provoquait la force physique dans la tradition populaire québecoise."
Parc des Hommes-Forts - a sliver of land between the intersection of Saint-Jacques and Saint-Antoine streets. One one side of the turnoff, the sign announces that the park serves as "a testimony to the admiration of physical strength in Quebec pop culture." Across the road stands the bulging bronze statue of Louis Cyr with a barbell at his feet....
Photo du Jour – Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Photo by Alanah Heffez, looking west along Belmont Street from University.
March 2008
April 6th, 2008
Photo du jour – Poppies
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
Unique brickwork adorns a St Henri duplex.
Photo by Alanah Heffez, March 25th 2008.
April 7th, 2008
Photo du Jour – Edge of the Plateau
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
Photo by Alanah Heffez, 2006
Old triplexes alongside new condo developments on Rue Garnier (I think) Rue Fabre, north of Laurier.
Ville-Marie’s war on the homeless
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Mario Paquet, target of a law preventing people from walking more than two dogs at once in Ville-Marie; photo by Ben Soo
Under the leadership of mayor Benoît Labonté, Montreal's downtown borough has done everything it can to push its social problems into the closet. New laws preventing people from being in public squares at night and walking more than two dogs at once are recent attempts to expell the homeless from downtown's public spaces; panhandling, noise and jaywalking laws are others that are often arbitrarily applied by police to target marginal people.
This might ...
Why smart cards will be good for Montreal
By Christopher DeWolf // 18 Comments
Montreal's public transit agencies will be introducing the new smart card this month after nearly six years of preparing for its arrival. (The decision to switch to a smart card came with the STM first decided to replace its antiquated fare boxes and metro turnstiles, most of which were decades old and prone to malfunction.) Over the past several months, the impending introduction of the new payment system has raised questions from public transit users, some of whom feel that the $169 million used to implement it could have been better used for other things. In ...
Peel Street’s umbrella man
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
HONG KONG --- Sitting in front of his makeshift green stall on a particularly steep block of Peel Street, Ho Hung Hee could be mistaken for one of the many fruit vendors and junk dealers that work in the narrow back streets of Central, uphill from the offices and department stores of Hong Kong's financial district and in the midst of a rapidly-gentrifying enclave of restaurants, bars and art galleries. Like the other vendors, Ho is old and withered, but his bright, expressive face, more youthful than you would expect for an 82-year-old, hints at ...
April 8th, 2008
Photo du jour: Pussy Corps
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Probably one of the more lurid of the downtown strip clubs.
December 8, 2007
Toronto Tuesday : Sidewalk psychiatry, Pedal-car, Toronto Wildlife Centre and Mayoral gun control hits the net
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Pedal-car Not Guilty : A judge ruled the "shared propulsion car" safe for Toronto streets. The case against the pedal powered car (simply the shell of an old gas powered car with the engine replaced by pedals) was thrown out by the judge who deemed the contraption, which tops ...
Sud-Ouest Grey Spaces
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Got my hands on a scanner recently and thought I'd post some pics snapped around 2001, during my first excursions through Pointe St-Charles and Griffintown (I didn't learn the names for these neighbourhoods until years later). These photos are from the period in my life when the city was transformed from an unremarkable backdrop into a personal Muse.
There was something so inspiring about discovering parts of the city that were messy and unstructured. I don't know which was more shocking: encountering horses in an urban stable, or ...
April 9th, 2008
Photo du jour: It won’t be long
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Students soaking up the sun at McGill's Lower Field, April 20, 2007
Gaz Métro to the Main: we’re sorry for ripping you apart
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
If you've been following the news over the past few days, you'll know that, just as the nearly two-long makeover of St. Laurent Boulevard comes to an end, Gaz Métropolitain has announced that it wants to rip up the newly-rebuilt street in 40 different places to make emergency repairs to its underground gas lines. Plateau borough mayor Helen Fotopoulos has declared herself furious at the company for failing to make its repairs last year, when the street was already under excavation and other utility companies, including Bell and Videotron, did work on their own ...
April 10th, 2008
Photo du jour: McGill College
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Looking north up McGill College from Cathcart, May 22, 2007
Deer hunting in Sudbury
By Shawn Micallef // 5 Comments
Two weeks ago I spent Good Friday afternoon walking around the fine and solid City of Sudbury. Because it was a holiday the city felt silent and empty. Only a few places were open, like the Tim Hortons, where the employees swear like hockey players but are very kind and funny and run the most popular place in town. With most things closed, I felt like I had the downtown to myself -- and it's quite a downtown, with interesting looking buildings and a crazy topography.
Like many Ontario cities and towns, gentrification isn't a word that applies to much of anything, and though it might have been a cinematic imagination at work, Sudbury reminded me of the Pennsylvania mining and steel town that The Deer Hunter was supposed to have taken place in. It had a similar 1970s feel with unadorned clapboard homes, clinging to rocky ground -- not run down, but slightly weathered. Times, we were told, are not so bad in Sudbury, as nickel is in demand and the mines are hiring (though some native sons and daughters may indeed be about to ship off to a far off war), so the comparison stops there. Below is a quick photo tour of Subury.
Imperial pedigree: colonial street names
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
I had travelled more than 15,000 kilometres only to stand, once again, at the corner of Peel and Wellington. Of course, it wasn't the same Peel and Wellington as back home --- with a shared colonial past, it shouldn't be surprising to find some similar street names in both Montreal and Hong Kong.
In Montreal, Peel and Wellington finds itself in the heart of Griffintown, a neighbourhood that was once a centre of industry and working-class Irish life. In Hong Kong, it sits in the middle of a busy market district in Central, an ...
April 11th, 2008
Photo du jour : La maison Bagg
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Cette maison située au coin des rues Sherbrooke et Côtes des Neige fut endommagée lors d'un incendie au début des années 1980. Quelques minutes de travail sur photoshop ont été suffisante pour lui redonner sa beauté d'autrefois. Dommage qu'il n'en soit malheureusement pas ainsi dans la réalité !
Parking ticket in Taipei
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — A few days ago, I wondered how parking tickets were handed to offending motorists in a large Asian metropolis. I had my answer the day after, while walking around in the vicinity of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in central Taipei.
It was ...
April 12th, 2008
Photo du jour: End-of-winter thaw
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Sherbrooke Street West in NDG, March 11, 2007
Notre Dame opponents will protest tomorrow
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
The snow has mostly melted and the temperature has climbed above the freezing mark --- what to do? Protest, of course.
Tomorrow, east end residents opposed to the Notre Dame highway project will take to the streets in a "grand tintamarre" that aims to catch the attention of the muncipal and provincial officials who want to transform the eastern portion of Notre Dame Street into an expressway. They've already earned the support of 24 well-known academics, politicians and activists, including architect Phillys Lambert and Hochelaga MNA Louise Harel, who signed a declaration in ...
April 13th, 2008
Photo du jour: Flower season
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Jean Talon Market, May 30, 2007
Spacing Montreal, Best of Montreal!
By Spacing // No Comments
It's an annual spring ritual: the Mirror's Best of Montreal poll is open once again. Since we launched Spacing Montreal last fall, we've tried hard to encourage critical and constructive discussion on Montreal's public spaces, appreciation for the city's history and heritage, and curiosity about its people, places and neighbourhoods. If you like what we've been doing, give us a hand by voting for us in the Best Blog category.
Last year's finalists included two other blogs with a strong focus on the city: Midnight Poutine and Montreal City. Why not add a third ...
Honking for the Habs
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPnj2r1Eu0s[/youtube]
Thanks to Fagstein (another worthy candidate for Best Blog in the 2008 BOMs, by the way) for the above video. Last night, as the Habs won their second game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the streets filled with the familiar sound of celebratory horn-blowing. Although it had nothing on the honking and flag-waving that follows even the most minor World Cup win by Italy, France, Portugal or Greece, it was still quite the ruckus --- and, unlike the World Cup, which divides Montrealers along ethnic lines, cheering for the Canadiens is something that unites almost everyone.
So far, honking ...
April 14th, 2008
Photo du jour: Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette Church on Park Avenue, May 30, 2007
Building the “anti-Griffintown” in Point St. Charles
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
On Saturday, La Presse looked at a group of Point St. Charles community activists, urban planners and architects who have come up with a plan to redevelop the Alstom-owned railyards that separate the neighbourhood from the St. Lawrence River. Described by its backers as a sort of "anti-Griffintown," referring to Devimco's controversial redevelopment scheme, the plan would include an intermodal transit hub, neighbourhood businesses, a waterfront promenade, an art museum, a high school and, most importantly, 4,000 new residential units, of which forty percent would be social housing.
"We aren't saying that 'it's this and ...
April 15th, 2008
Photo du jour: Bonsecours in sight
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Bonsecours Market from the museum at Pointe-à-Callières, May 26, 2007
“Le Toronto artistique”: hors de prix?
By Spacing // 4 Comments
In yesterday's Toronto Star's op-ed section, Martin Knelman argues that Toronto is finally getting the funds it needs to compete with Montreal as Canada's seat of cultural avant-garde. He even ups the urban-rivalry ante by writing that "Toronto's cultural all-stars [by which Knelman means the AGO, Luminato and the ROM, all of which have received millions from politicians of late] are upstaging Montreal's, which is the equivalent of the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup by beating the Canadiens in overtime."
Millions or no, I have to say that from where I sit, Toronto ...
Ride your bike to the Belgo: two new blogs
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
I have to admit that you'll rarely find me at the Belgo. Although I'm familiar with the collection of contemporary art galleries and studios, housed in an imposing old industrial building at the corner of Ste. Catherine and Bleury, I only seem to venture in once or twice a year. (Nuit Blanche, when many of the galleries are open all night, is a great opportunity to explore the building.) That's why I appreciate the arrival of Bettina Forget's Belgo Report, which provides news and reviews of art exhibitions at the Belgo. Since its launch in ...
The great fare evasion scandal!
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
The Journal de Montréal wouldn't be a tabloid if it didn't like to plunge head-first into the murky waters of sensationalism. Its attempts to generate scandal are frequent and, sad to say, frequently successful. Earlier this year, the paper's "investigation" into the use of English by store clerks in Montreal, which involved few hard figures but a sensational account of how a young reporter, Noée Murchison, was able to serve customers entirely in English while working undercover at a handful of retail stores. The investigation was manipulative, ethically dubious and cynical, but it managed to win the ...
Toronto Tuesday: Vikings, subways and streetcars
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
The Vikings have landed, reports Shawn Micallef, and they're boorish and boring. That's because they're hawking mobile phone plans in a roving ad truck, a medium all too familiar to Montrealers who have had to endure such trucks on all of our major streets. While some Torontonians are working to ban ad trucks, similar efforts in Montreal have failed.
Does Toronto's subway need a downtown relief line? Sean Marshall thinks so. With 68 stations along 64 kilometres of rail, the TTC's subway system is nearly identical in size to that of Montreal, but its ridership ...
April 16th, 2008
Photo du jour: Justine
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
St. Denis just above Mount Royal, May 30, 2007
Smart card shenanigans: Date of launch still unclear
By Pamela Shapiro // 4 Comments
Photo by Cedric Sam
April 17th, 2008
Photo du jour: Park bench
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Jeanne Mance Park, May 21, 2007
April 18th, 2008
Photo du jour: Place Royale
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Place Royale seen from above, May 30, 2007
April 19th, 2008
Photo du jour: Spring grass
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Jeanne Mance Park, May 30, 2007
Cité Bourgogne
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
I wasn't entirely sure where I was. I had just left the rambling lanes of the Taikang Road arts district and was wandering aimlessly through the streets of Shanghai's former French Concession, each one buzzing with scooters, each lined by perfectly gnarled plane trees and odd, eclectic buildings. The blocks were long but broken by lanes, most of them crowded with hanging laundry, parked bicycles and potted plants. Security guards marked the entrance to each lane, but they seemed nonetheless open to the public, and passersby ambled past me and into the lanes without so much as ...
Google’s Street View raises privacy concerns
By Spacing // 3 Comments
In May of 2007, the search-engine behemoth Google launched a new Google Maps service called Street View. As the name suggests, Street View offers users the option of looking at photographs of streetscapes taken at ground level when searching for directions on Google Maps. Although still in its initial stages, Street View has already accumulated images from 27 cities across the USA, and is slated to debut images from Canadian cities some time this year.
Needless to say, Street View has caused some concerns over privacy. Images of people caught in less-than-honourable activities (such as a break-in, ...
Montréal industriel
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
QUOI: Montréal industriel (concours de photographie)
OÙ: Centre d'histoire de Montréal
QUAND: du 14 mars au 7 septembre 2008
Depuis le 14 mars et jusqu'au 7 septembre, le Centre d'histoire de Montréal présente le résultat du concours de photographie "Montréal à l'oeil". La 29e édition du concours, organisé par le CHM, traitait sur le patrimoine industriel de la ville depuis 1850. Sur les 450 soumissions, 50 sont exposées dont les 4 clichés primés (ci-haut "Crossing" de Peter A. Berra et "Réseaux" de Marie-Laure Blaise).
Voir aussi cet article parut ...
Two new metro stations by 2013
By Christopher DeWolf // 14 Comments
After 20 years of stagnation, the metro is back in an expansionist mode: two new stations will be added to the system by 2013, joining the three new stations that were added last year in Laval. According to Radio-Canada, the AMT has announced that the blue line will likely be extended one stop east from Saint-Michel to Pie-IX and the orange line one stop north from Côte-Vertu to Bois-Franc.
On the orange line, this will allow the AMT to create an intermodal hub between the metro and the existing Bois-Franc train station; it will also ...
April 20th, 2008
Photo du jour: Ahuntsic streetscape
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
New infill and single-storey houses near St. Alphonse Park
April 21st, 2008
Photo du jour: Promenade
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Waterfront promenade near the Harbour Clock Tower, June 20, 2005
Re-thinking waste: municipal composting
By Pamela Shapiro // 3 Comments
Montreal is taking steps towards becoming a greener city, but we still have a long way to go. According to Montréal’s First Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development/Premier plan stratégique de développement durable de la collectivité montréalaise, compostable matter comprises 40% of residential waste in our region. Recently, Westmount and Côte St. Luc announced plans to expand their existing kitchen waste pick-up, however for now even these extend to only part of the respective municipalities. Montreal is planning to launch ...
Thinking about Earth Day
By Asa Bergman // 2 Comments
Montreal seen from the top of the Olympic Stadium
A few weeks ago, on March 29, Earth Hour challenged people to shut off their lights in thousands of cities all over the world, including Montreal. On April 22 it is time to celebrate a larger event: Earth Day. It all began back in 1969 when the U.S Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed a nationwide protest day to make politicians aware about the critical state of the environment. Earth ...
Meet Opus, your new smart card
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Maybe it's just me, but when I think of Opus, it's the neurotic, herring-addicted penguin from the Bloom County comic strip that comes to mind. Now I'll have to think of something else: Montreal's new smart card, which was officially unveiled today.
While we've written a lot about the card's conception, implementation and potential benefits, what I was really concerned about was what the card will be named. Around the world, many cities have given their smart cards catchy names invested with symbolism: Hong Kong named its card Octopus, which suggested that its tentacles ...
Meet Opus: smart card “launch” part II
By Pamela Shapiro // 8 Comments
The new smart card is being launched today...but may not be available until September. Although the Gazette published an article about the launch with a photo of a smart-card being used, according to various STM info sources the card will be available either in July or the fall. Magnetic-strip ticket cards, different from the re-useable Opus card, are now available for purchase at some locations.
As already discussed on this site, ...
Bâtiment disparu #7 : Le club st-James
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1870
Il est difficile de s'imaginer aujourd'hui que se trouvait autrefois en plein quartier des affaires, un club privé de style victorien.
Construit en 1864 au coin des rues René-Lévesque et University, cet édifice fut pendant près d'un siècle un endroit prestigieux où se réunissaient alors l'élite Montréalaise.
L'immeuble était dôté d'un imposant escalier central, de plafonds de 17 pieds, de grandes baies vitrées et de somptueuses boiseries....
Toronto Tuesday : Fruit in the City, Freedom of information, and Free ROM
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Fruit in the City : Not Far From The Tree is a new organization that offers to pick up fruit from the city's fruit-tree owners who don't have the time to harvest them. One third of the reaping goes to the owners, another third to the volunteer fruit pickers while ...
April 23rd, 2008
Photo du jour: Carré St-Louis
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
St. Louis Square, July 24, 2007
April 24th, 2008
Photo du jour: Pedestrian tunnel
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Sometime in the 1930s, a pedestrian tunnel was built between Lafontaine Park and the Notre-Dame Hospital on Sherbrooke Street. It has since closed and I've never noticed the entrance --- does anyone know if it's still there?
Photo from the Montreal city archives
Proje(c)t(ions)s urbain(e)s
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
WHAT? Ideas for the Van Horne/Rosemont viaduct and its surroundings
WHERE? Dare-Dare's art space at St. Laurent and Van Horne
WHEN? Tuesday, April 29 at 8:30pm
Earlier this month, on the year's first truly warm evening, I needed to get from my apartment to Rosemont metro, the closest orange line station. I decided to walk, which involves a pleasant saunter down Bernard Street and a stroll over the Van Horne Viaduct, also known as the Rosemont Viaduct, which bridges the CPR tracks and brings you straight from Bernard to the metro. It had been awhile since I had made ...
Metro party tomorrow night
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Three McGill students will be celebrating their birthdays and the end of the school term with a metro party tomorrow night. Guests are asked to bring "friends and costumes and instruments" --- but no alcohol, markers or cigarettes, because anyone who breaks the STM's rules could result in the whole party being shut down by the metro cops.
Three metro parties were held last year, each to varying degrees of success. The first, organized in late March by Toronto's newmindspace, was attended by 107 people, including Steve Faguy, who covered it for the Gazette. Metro ...
April 25th, 2008
Photo du jour: Spring vs. Habs
By Asa Bergman // 3 Comments
As the Montreal Canadiens advance in the playoffs, the visibility of this particular flag is steadily decreasing.
This photo was taken on April 25, 2008, on Rue Wolfe.
Student fined $628 for sitting in a park
By Christopher DeWolf // 36 Comments
Lawbreakers? Photo by Karu-san
Watch out, Montrealers: if you sit anywhere in a park other than on a park bench, you could be risking a $628 fine. At least, that's what it seems after Brendan Colin Jones, a 25-year-old Concordia student, was fined for sitting on a marble ledge in Émilie Gamelin Park (also known as Berri Square). Jones' official citation is for "using urban equipment for uses other than those intended," which seems particularly absurd considering that the park's ledges are designed to be sat on, and there are almost always dozens of people making use ...
A Beijing Subway interchange station at rush hour
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
BEIJING, CHINA — One of the bizarre things with the Beijing Subway's interchange stations, like Xizhimen (西直门) in the northwest of central Beijing, is that you need to walk an incredible distance between the stations on both connected lines. Xizhimen is the station that connects Beijing's original circular line, Line 2, or the Blue Line, with its new Line 13, or the Yellow Line, which is a city rail line that takes more than ...
April 26th, 2008
Photo du jour: People-watching on Prince Arthur
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Prince Arthur and Laval, August 2004
Saint Paul: so much for pedestrianization
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Ville-Marie mayor Benoît Labonté has shelved plans to pedestrianize the portion of St. Paul Street between Place Jacques-Cartier and St. Laurent Blvd. this summer. Although he claims that politics has nothing to do with his decision---more discussion with merchants is needed, he says---the folks in City Hall say that Labonté is just posturing in anticipation of his mayoral campaign in 2009. You might recall that, although Labonté supports the seasonal pedestrianization of Ste. Catherine St. in the Village, it was City Hall's transport plan that recommended turning St. Paul into a pedestrian street.
Here's what the ...
April 27th, 2008
The Linked Hybrid in Beijing
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
BEIJING, CHINA — Last weekend, I was given a tour of the Linked Hybrid's construction site out in Dongzhimen, to the northeast of Central Beijing. Designed by Steven Holl Architects, the Hybrid is a 8-tower habitation complex, complete which outstanding feature is a "link" of bridges connecting the towers at the 20th floor. These structures will be public spaces: shops, cafés, and even a swimming pool.
The Dongzhimen (东直门) hub sees the 2nd ring road traverse ...
Photo du jour: Laundry
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Rose de Lima Street, St. Henri. May 12, 2004
Bâtiment disparu #8 : L’édifice de la compagnie générale des bazars
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1891-2008
La compagnie générale des bazars, une société d'importation d'articles de maisons et de cadeaux, fut fondées à Montréal en 1889 par 2 marchands français : le baron Louis de la Polinière et le comte Jean de Plan de Sieyès.
L'année à laquelle cet édifice fut démoli est inconnue.
En conséquent, l'immeuble de 3 étages qui se dresse maintenant au coin Sud est des rues St-Laurent et Sainte-Catherine fut quant à lui, construit en 1950.
April 28th, 2008
Photo du Jour – Hockey Season
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Street hockey in NDG. April 20th 2008.
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Mathieu et Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1930-2008
April 29th, 2008
Photo du Jour: Park Extension
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Jean Talon near L'Acadie, Park Ex. April 21, 2006
Montage du jour : L’édifice Labelle
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Vers 1920 et en 2008
Construit en 1910 pour H. P Labelle, au coin des rues Sainte-Catherine et Hôtel de ville, cet édifice qui abritait autrefois un commerce de meubles fut considérablement agrandit en 1921.
Montage du jour : Le cinéma Palace
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1927-2008
Le cinéma palace, d'abord connu sous le nom du théâtre Allen ouvrit ses portes en 1921. L'édifice est maintenant occupé par une bijouterie.
Toronto Tuesday : TTC strike; Graffiti; and Public petitions
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
TTC strike : In the early hours of Saturday, the TTC went on strike as workers rejected the contract recommended by their own union executive. Mayor David Miller, obviously vexed the TTC did not uphold its promise of giving Torontonians a 48 hours notice before closing down the transit ...
Council gives green light to Griffintown project
By Chris Erb // 16 Comments
Monday's municipal council meeting was the night when Griffintown's future was finally decided. Despite recent pleas from experts to stop the project, a city councillor asking for a delay on the vote, and a demo/mock funeral which led around 200 people through Griffintown to city hall, the PPU which will allow Devimco to build their massive 1.3 billion dollar mixed-use development was approved.
The motion to approve the PPU was passed by all but three councillors (Marvin Rotrand and Warren Allmand from Tremblay's Union Montréal party as well as Richard Bergeron from Projet ...
April 30th, 2008
Photo du jour: Villeray duplexes
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Duplexes in Villeray, near Jarry and St. Hubert. July 25, 2007
Montage du jour : La maison de George Drummond
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
1891-2007
La maison de Sir George Alexander Drummond, construite vers 1888 s'élevait autrefois à l'angle sud-est des rues Sherbrooke et Metcalfe. Entièrement recouverte de grès rouge, cette demeure victorienne d'inspiration romane fut démolie en 1926.
Source : Musée McCord
VIEW-2458
Spacing nominated for two National Magazine Awards
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing is happy to announce that our Summer 2007 issue, focused on water issues in Toronto, has been nominated in the Best Editorial Package category. This is the third year in a row that Spacing has been nominated in this category.
Spacing is also excited to announce that Edward Keenan's piece on Markham and Lawrence East, published in our Spring 2007 issue focused on Toronto's intersections, has received a nominated in the Essay category. Keenan's nomination is Spacing's first ever outside of the Best Editorial Package category.
Spacing contributing editor John Lorinc received three ...
YMCA vs. YMHA
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
In 1936, when these photos were taken, Montreal was just beginning to climb out of the Great Depression, which had hit this industrial city with particularly brute force. Unemployment remained high and thousands of the city's inhabitants lived in squalour --- but not in Mile End. Though far from wealthy, the north end neighbourhood was reasonably prosperous, home to upwardly-mobile Jews, French-Canadians, Irish and immigrants from across Europe.
That diversity was reflected in Mile End's built fabric. The neighbourhood boasts a particularly impressive collection of churches, synagogues and other institutional structures: there's the Byzantine mystery of ...
May 1st, 2008
Photo du jour: Terrace season
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Clark Street near Bernard, June 15, 2007
Montage du jour : La gare Windsor
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1950-2008
Les maison situées en arrière plan furent démolies vers 1964 et remplacées par l'hôtel Champlain.
May 2nd, 2008
Montage du jour : Le cinéma Palace
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1927-2008
Le cinéma Palace qui ouvrit ses portes en 1921 fut d'abord connu sous le nom de théâtre Allen. L'édifice est maintenant occupé par une bijouterie.
Photo du jour: Alley cat
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Laneway behind Park Avenue, near Van Horne. July 23, 2007
May 3rd, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2007
Photo du jour: McTavish Field
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Soccer on the McTavish Field (which was once a reservoir), May 23, 2006
May 4th, 2008
Photo du jour : Une Algérie Glorieuse
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Election posters for Montreal's candidate in the 2007 Algerian elections. Like Italy and several other countries, overseas Algerians are represented by their own candidates in that country's parliament.
Jean-Talon near Henri-Julien, May 21, 2007.
It’s not easy being green
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Sing it, Kermit: it's not easy being green, as Le Devoir demonstrated this weekend in a feature on Montreal's trees. Despite the vital role they plan in improving the city's air quality, cooling its streets and improving the city's ambiance, our 265,000 street trees suffer from abuse by snowplows, road salt and mean-spirited passersby. (Last winter, I saw a snowplow destroy a fairly sizable tree, and last summer, I witnessed three drunk men snap a baby tree in half on Ste. Catherine Street.) Here's more from Le Devoir:
Exposés au vent, à la pollution, aux ...
Antlerheads in Toronto
By Spacing // 1 Comment
The following was originally posted by Patricia Simoes on Spacing Toronto on Wednesday, April 30th.
We are constantly bombarded by ads. On buses, garbage bins, TTC shelters and in the sky line they are hard to escape. But after a while of living in the city, one becomes immune to their carefully constructed lure. For better or worse, ads are a part of the urban fabric that you can learn to ignore. However, once in a while an ad comes along that captures our attention. It’s intriguing and beguiling. It’s edgy and cool…but, it’s an ad.
This ...
Antlerheads in Montreal
By Christopher DeWolf // 20 Comments
Earlier this week, while walking to a friend's place on Coloniale Street on the Plateau, I came across an unusual piece of street art. Pasted on an abandoned mattress that was leaning against the side of a building, it depicted the body of a skinny-jeaned, cardiganed hipster topped by the head of a motorized scooter. Its position on the mattress created an interesting optical illusion that gave the scooter-man an extra sense of depth; looking at it head-on, it seemed to be standing up straight in front of me. Later that day, heading home on the ...
New initiative to increase downtown gardening space
By Pamela Shapiro // 1 Comment
A group of undergraduates at McGill University are working to give downtown students, and others, access to gardening space and a better connection to their food. Access to green space is difficult for downtown dwellers and even more difficult with the recent (temporary) closing of 167 community garden plots. It is especially difficult for the city’s many university students, who are much more likely to be apartment dwellers, and much less likely to be in town long enough to get access to the increasingly rare garden ...
May 5th, 2008
Photo du jour: Save Park Avenue
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Poster opposing the proposed renaming of Park Avenue after former Quebec premier Robert Bourassa. November 21, 2006
Montage du jour : Le théâtre Parisiana
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2007
Le théâtre Parisiana se trouvait autrefois à l'emplacement du bar «Les Foufounes Électriques».
Walking Westmount’s little streets
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Westmount is probably the most heavily stereotyped municipality in Quebec. It is the epitome of anglophone privilege and WASP snobbery, a posh district best represented by the "elderly women in pink suits" on Greene Avenue. While there is a grain of truth to that, as with any stereotype, Westmount is far more interesting than its reputation would suggest.
In fact, Westmount is one of my favourite places to wander on a sunny day, and my favourite place in Westmount is below Ste. Catherine, near the CPR tracks, where a procession of little streets contain a ...
May 6th, 2008
Photo du jour : Demi-dépanneur
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Dépanneur sur l'avenue des Pins près de Saint-Urbain, le 3 mai 2008.
Ça me fait penser au fameux 7½ étage dans le film Being John Malkovich (v.f. : Dans la peau de John Malkovich).
Toronto Tuesday : LRT, Cycling benchmark, and TTC as an essential service
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
High rise apartments and Transit City : A look at the continued discussion on the Transit City proposal that would bring the LRT (light rail transit) to the Toronto inner suburbs. Graeme Stewart of the Toronto Tower Renewal project has produced maps linking the existing and proposed LRT lines ...
May 7th, 2008
Photo du jour: Advertising versus traffic safety?
By Asa Bergman // 12 Comments
This photo was taken on May 6, 2008, on Saint-Laurent and Sherbrooke
Montage du jour : L’orphelinat Notre-Dame de Liesse.
By Guillaume St-Jean // 13 Comments
1913-1979-2008
Cet édifice à bureau situé sur le chemin de la Côte de Liesse était autrefois un orphelinat. Construit entre 1912 et 1914, cet immeuble de style mission, dôté d'une structure d'acier et de béton armé fut le premier immeuble d'un immense projet de 5 million de dollars à être construit sur le terrain de la ferme des soeurs grises. Ce projet ne fut malheureusement jamais complété.
À l'extrême est de l'orphelinat, se dressait alors la crèche d'Youville. Aujourd'hui démolie, elle aura accueilli ...
The Walking Bike reinvents the wheel
By Spacing // 2 Comments
Originally posted by Patricia Simoes on Spacing Toronto.
No, it’s not a shoe rack, although it can probably serve as one. This is the Walking Bike, an art project by UK designer Max Knight. The artist literally reinvented the wheel when he took a standard bike wheel, typically comprised of a rim, tire and spokes, and replaced it with eight shoes on metal rods. These new “wheels” were then incorporated into the existing chain and gear mechanism thereby allowing the bicycle to be fully functioning.
There is no denying that the Walking Bike is a quirky and ...
St-Michel Smart Center goes to Public Consultation
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
The pattern is increasingly familiar: undeveloped urban land is a beacon for commercial developers, developers who inevitably demand changes in the urban plan to accommodate suburban-style, plunk-'em-down-anywhere malls.
Fortunately, the development of a SmartCenter shopping mall in St-Michel's abandoned quarry has gone to the Office de Consultation Publique de Montréal, a democratic step that has been skirted by the city in other recent developments. The proposed SmartCenter would require changes to the urban plan's density, zoning, building height and parking regulations.
Of course even the best democratic planning hardly guarantees enlightened urbanism, especially in a area that ...
Strolling through history
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
It isn't a blog that is updated very often, but when it is, Histoire du Plateau Mont-Royal is definitely worth reading. Its latest post, an historical walking tour of Mount Royal Avenue, from Park Avenue in the west to d'Iberville in the east, is a particularly good example. Here's a sample:
# 1 / À la place du Pétro-Canada, on a longtemps retrouvé le terminus d'au moins sept lignes de tramways, lesquels relevaient de presque autant de compagnies de tramways. à sa fermeture, il devint le «club» Minuit qui fut très populaire et qui dit-on ...
May 8th, 2008
Photo du jour: Laundry day
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Alley in eastern Villeray, near Jean-Talon. May 21, 2007
“My Winnipeg” at the CCA tonight
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
WHAT? Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg
WHEN? Tonight at 7pm
WHERE? Canadian Centre for Architecture
1920 Baile (Guy metro, St. Mathieu exit)
HOW MUCH? Free!
For some reason I'm not surprised that a city as cold, isolated and haunted by ghosts as Winnipeg has produced a filmmaker like Guy Maddin. Like a feverish dream, Maddin's films are bizarre in a way that is alternately off-putting and enticing. Now, Maddin has made his first "documentary," My Winnipeg, turning his attention to the city that has given him so much inspiration. Here's a bit from a CBC article on the movie from last ...
Montage du jour : Le terrain de la Place des Arts
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1948-2008
Le terrain situé au coin des rues Sainte-Catherine et Jeanne-mance était autrefois occupé par l'école les Buissonnets. Construit dans la seconde moitié du 19e siècle, l'édifice utilisé par les soeurs grises jusqu'en 1913 était au départ un institut pour aveugles.
May 9th, 2008
Photo du jour: Westmount Park Willow
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Photo taken May 5th 2008
Movies on the Champ de Mars
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
The Champ de Mars is one of Montreal's most storied places. It derives its name from the French colonial era, when it was a military parade ground, but in the eighteenth century it was the site of the city's northern wall. After the wall was torn down in the early nineteenth century, the Champ was used as a farmer's market. Eventually, in the twentieth century, it was converted into a municipal parking lot.
While the field was restored and converted into a public park in the 1980s, it still maintains the essence of the parking lot it ...
May 10th, 2008
Photo du jour: Sidewalk hammock
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Clark Street near Pine Avenue, in front of the Place de la Roumanie. May 6, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Victoria
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1973-2008
La rue Victoria, aujourd'hui totalement oubliée, était autrefois bordée de part et d'autre, de maisons en rangées construites vers 1875.
May 11th, 2008
Photo du jour : L’externat Sophie-Barat
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Construit à partir de 1855 et agrandi à 2 reprises soit en 1864 et 1914, cet édifice fut détruit par le feu en 1997 alors qu'il était vacant depuis quelques années déjà.
Montage du jour : La caserne d’incendie #10
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1938-2008
Dû à l'évolution des voitures à incendie au fil du temps, les portes de la caserne furent agrandies !
Inside the world of the transit fan
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
I'm a fan of transit but I could never honestly call myself a transit fan. Even though I am interested in the design, sociology, history and culture of public transit, my interest pales in comparison to those people, many of whom lurk on discussion boards like the one at metrodemontreal.com, who obsess over the smallest and most arcane details of buses and trains. I've always wondered what drives them, so it was nice to see an article by Steve Faguy in yesterday's Gazette about the day he spent with a group of transit fans who ...
May 12th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Laurent depuis St-Jacques
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1960-2008
Mouvement boulevard Lucien-Rivard
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
Walking around this weekend I noticed a procession of odd posters around the Main: "Québécois et Québécoises ! Montréalais-Montréalaises ! Prenez part à un mouvement HISTORIQUE !" they declared rather excitedly. "Le mouvement boulevard Lucien-Rivard propose de rébaptiser le boulevard Saint-Laurent à Montréal : boulevard Lucien-Rivard." Above was what appeared to be a mugshot, a streetsign reading "boulevard Lucien-Rivard," a photo of Schwartz's and a boulevard Saint-Laurent street sign that had been angrily crossed out.
"This has got to be a joke," I thought to myself. The mere fact that the name "Mouvement boulevard Lucien-Rivard" rhymes seems to suggest that this is a jibe at the whole Park Avenue affair and the city's eagerness to rename its streets. I made a mental note to check out mblr.org, the website advertised on the posters.
Thing is, after looking at the website, I'm not entirely sure it's a prank after all. It actually seems pretty earnest. Here, in the same excitable prose as on the posters, is an outline of the MBLR's motivation:
On parle beaucoup de Lucien Rivard ces temps-ci et c’est comme si tout le monde l’avait oublié!! Lucien Rivard fait partie de ces personnages historique qui dérangent on dirait...
Trop de rues dans notre belle province portent les noms de saints inconnus ou de politiciens corrompus, ou encore des symboles serviles du système. Mais qu’en est-il des Québécois plus marginaux ?? Des personnalité hors-normes comme les Monica Proietti, le Grand Antonio, Denis Vanier ou Lucien Rivard ?
As for why the Main ought to be renamed, there's an answer for that too: "La «Main» de Montréal est un boulevard au caractère symbolique pour tous les canadiens-français. À l’Ouest les anglais et les riches, à l’Est les pauvres canadiens français opprimé et manipulé par les institutions et les politiciens à la solde du pouvoir. Qui peut dire qui était Saint-Laurent ou ce qu’il a accompli ? Pensons-y... Quel rapport entre un homme d’église espagnol mort sur le gril en l’an 258 à Rome et la «Main» (à part les hot-dogs toastés?)???"
Building green neighbourhoods
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Green laneway in the lower Plateau
WHAT? Presentation on "green" urban planning
WHEN? Wednesday, May 14 at 7pm
WHERE? Salle de la Fraternité des policiers et policières de Montréal, 480 Gilford (across from Laurier metro)
Despite having a strong indigenous urbanism, Montreal seems to stumble with new development, as many of the underwhelming residential projects of recent years --- including the Angus Yards, Faubourg Québec and others --- can attest. It's always useful, then, to see what's going on elsewhere for inspiration. This Wednesday, as part of the lead-up to the unveiling of the Plateau's official transportation plan, urbanist Jayne ...
May 13th, 2008
Photo du jour: St. Paul afternoon
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
St. Paul St. just east of St. Laurent, May 7, 2008
Toronto Tuesday : thinkToronto competition, Books set in Toronto, and Laundromats
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
thinkToronto urban design ideas competition : Spacing launches thinkToronto, a competition on urban design for the city. Participation is open to anybody under 35 willing to submit and present their plan for making Toronto's shared public spaces more sustainable, attractive and functional. Deadline is Friday August 29th, 2008.
Literally ...
Montage du jour : le cimetière de la rue Papineau
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1895-2008
Sous le parc des vétérans à l'intersection de l'avenue Papineau et de la rue Lafontaine reposent 2 anciens cimetières protestants soit, le cimetière civil St-Mary burial ground et le cimetière militaire, illustré sur la photo ci-contre . Ceux-ci furent exploités de 1815 à 1944.
Charles Hindelang, un célèbre patriote protestant français ayant été pendu devant la prison du Pied-du-courant en 1839 fut inhumé en ces lieux. Il semblerait par ailleurs que ses restes y demeurent ...
A publicity stunt “with a life of its own”
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
When I wrote on Sunday about the Mouvement boulevard Lucien-Rivard, I mused that the campaign to rename the Main after the 1960s gangster was one of the "quixotic quests" that are as much a part of Montreal's history as any underworld hero. Many readers were a bit more cynical: they suggested that it was little more than a viral marketing campaign for Charles Binamé's new movie, "Le piège américain," starring Rémy Girard as Lucien Rivard, which will be released this summer.
Turns out those readers were right: Alan Hustak confirms in today's Gazette that the MBLR ...
Spring revelations
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
One of my favourite passages from Leonard Cohen comes from his 1966 novel Beautiful Losers. "In Montreal spring is like an autopsy," he wrote. "Everyone wants to see the inside of the frozen mammoth. Girls rip off their sleeves and the flesh is sweet and white, like wood under green bark. From the streets a sexual manifesto rises like an inflating tire, ‘The winter has not killed us again!'"
Montreal's short spring is always a revelation. It begins with the first mild days in March and April, when the streets suddenly fill with people who, once ...
Salon du livre anarchiste
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
QUOI: Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal
QUAND: samedi 17 mai et dimanche 18 mai
OÙ: CEDA, 2515 rue Delisle (métro Lionel-Groulx)
Le salon annuel du livre anarchiste de Montréal est de retour avec sa neuvième édition. C'est encore au CEDA que les activités prendront place: kiosques, projections, ateliers, conférences et activités pour enfants. Plus d'information est disponible sur le site officiel du salon www.salonanarchiste.ca.
C'est une belle occasion de rencontrer certains groupes d'activistes de Montréal (et d'ailleurs), ou simplement de découvrir livres et auteurs traitant de la réappropriation de notre espace commun. Les sujets sont tellement variés et ...
May 15th, 2008
Photo du jour: May flowers
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Place Ville-Marie looking up McGill College. May 14, 2008
Montage du jour : Les condos Beauxarts
By Guillaume St-Jean // 10 Comments
2004-2008
Les condominiums Beauxarts, se situent au coin des rues Sherbrooke et St-Mathieu. Amorcé en 2004, cet ambitieux projet consistait à préserver la façade de 7 maisons de villes construites en 1877 et d'ériger à l'arrière une tour d'habitation de 20 étages.
Les façades restaurées des anciennes demeures bourgeoises redonnent un air de prestige à cette portion de la rue Sherbrooke, mais que dire de cette nouvelle tour de béton? Celle-ci est située tellement près de sa voisine immédiate, ...
Montrealers’ fourth-favourite blog
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
The results of the Mirror's annual popularity contest are in and Montrealers have voted Spacing Montreal as the fourth-best blog in Montreal. We were bested by Midnight Poutine, the Montreal City Weblog and Pregnant Goldfish (a street style blog). All I can say is that they deserve their spots on the list. Thanks, Montreal.
On a related note, I always enjoy reading the Best of Montreal, even though many of its results are the same from one year to the next and even if the whole thing is essentially an advertising grab. It's entertaining, at the very least, and it's also a good way to gauge what is currently in fashion among young anglophone Montrealers. (And I do mean anglophone --- there is often a striking difference between the BOM's results and those of its French counterpart, the Top d'ICI.)
Below, I've cobbled together some results that might interest Spacing Montreal's readers.
May 16th, 2008
Photo du jour: Garment district
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Casgrain Street looking north towards the Mile End garment district. May 12, 2008
May 17th, 2008
Photo du jour: Ice cream corner
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Laurier east of Laurier Park. May 12, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Laurent depuis la rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1920-2008
May 18th, 2008
Photo du jour: Balcony life
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
'Tis the season.
Villeneuve near Esplanade. May 17, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison de Samuel Carsley, rue Guy
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1905-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-8713§ion=196
VIEW-8713
Rebranding Park Avenue
By Christopher DeWolf // 10 Comments
The first banner was incongruous enough: "Avenue du Parc," it read in a vaguely Hellenic font, set to a pale blue background. Underneath was the logo of the City of Montreal. Then, a couple of days later, I noticed other banners, these ones much more inscrutable: each featured a portrait of someone that was pulled up in the lower left corner, like a page being turned, to reveal part of a Greek flag. The city still seemed to be in the process of installing of them, and as far as I could see, there were only two kinds of portraits, one of a thirtyish man of Southern European appearance and another of a little Asian girl --- not usually the kind of person you imagine when you think of someone Greek.
Earlier this year, the city announced that it would spend $50,000 to polish Park Avenue and emphasize its Greek heritage. Flowers would be planted, more benches installed and banners erected. I guess this is the fruit of those efforts (and dollars). Unfortunately, they reek of compromise --- the worst kind of compromise that is unsatisfying and underwhelming to everyone involved. For years, Park Avenue's Greek merchants have pushed to have the street declared a Greektown or "Quartier hellenique" that would have the same symbolic value for Montreal's many Greeks as Little Italy does for its Italians and Chinatown for its Chinese. More importantly, the merchants reason, it would be an opportunity to consolidate their resources, promote the street and draw more outside shoppers.
After a brief spate of investment in what might be called "ethnic infrastructure" --- former mayor Pierre Bourque's administration invested heavily in sprucing up Chinatown and Little Italy, and it built new community-themed parks like Portugal Park on the Plateau and Athena Square in Park Ex --- the city has shied away from recognizing the city's ethnic and cultural communities in any significant manner. The idea for a Quartier hellenique on Park Avenue is just one of several ethnic theme districts that have been proposed by shopowners in recent years. In the area around Jean Talon and St. Denis, where dozens of Vietnamese-owned businesses are located, one merchant has advocated the creation of a "Vietnamville." North African businesspeople on Jean Talon east of St. Michel are now pressing for the creation of a "Petit Maghreb." Each of these movements has been met with the same indifference from city officials.
In 2006 and 2007, though, mayor Gérald Tremblay's attempt to rename Park Avenue angered so many people that his administration is still cleaning the muck off its face. City Hall must have felt that it had political capital to regain among those who had protested loudly against the name change, so it committed itself to investing more heavily in Park Avenue. Many took that to mean than it would finally support the creation of the Quartier hellenique but, as the $50,000 it has decided to invest in flowers and benches indicates, it is simply not willing to go that far.
Ste-Elizabeth’s Last Stand
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Photo taken May 17th, 2008
A statue of Jesus disappeared from the church yard earlier this spring - now a mosaic depicting Ste Elizabeth has emerged from the rubble. Strangely, I don't remember seeing the mural the last time I was inside the church.
Inside Ste Elizabeth Church, August 2007
May 20th, 2008
Photo du jour: Cyclist corner
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Boyer at St. Zotique in the Petite Patrie. May 17, 2008
Montage du jour : Inondation rue St-Antoine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1914-2008
L'inondation fut produite suite à la rupture d'une canalisation sur la rue St-Urbain.
Plateau makes life easier for cyclists, McGill makes it harder
By Christopher DeWolf // 24 Comments
Over the course of the summer, the Plateau Mont-Royal administration will more than double the number of bicycle parking spaces in the borough, thanks to new parking meter loops, sidewalk stands and on-street bike parking areas.
On-street parking, which removes parking spaces for cars and replaces them with space for bikes, is particularly interesting. It doesn't obstruct the sidewalk and it also sends a strong message that, in an area like the Plateau, cycling is far more efficient than driving. Currently, on-street bike parking area are found on St. Viateur, Mount Royal, Laurier and a ...
Learn about Laval Avenue’s trees
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
WHAT? Tree tour of Laval Street Avenue
WHEN? Tuesday, May 21 from 5pm to 7pm
WHERE? Northeast corner of Laval and Sherbrooke
HOW MUCH? $10 regular, $5 stuents, elderly; children free
Spacing Toronto readers will be familiar with Tree Tuesday, the feature that takes readers to a new stop on one of Toronto's Tree Tours each week. Now Montrealers can partake in tree tours of their own. This summer, La Forêt de Montréal will be offering tours of trees throughout the city. The season's first tour already took place on Mount Royal this past Saturday, but there will ...
Toronto Tuesday : Telephone booths, Subway screen doors, and Metrolinx
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
The nostalgia of phone booths : Ceding to the advance of cellular technology, public phone booths are quickly disappearing from our streets. In an effort to capture some of the last remaining "retro" booths in Toronto, Matthew Blackett walked the CNE grounds armed with his camera.
Screen doors on subway ...
Photo du jour: Talk to the hand
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Stencil art on Park Avenue between Fairmount and St. Viateur. May 18, 2008
May 22nd, 2008
Photo du jour: Lucky Cat
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
I came across this lucky cat (known as maneki neko in Japanese and jiu choi mao in Cantonese) on Park Avenue. It is commonly found in Chinese and Japanese businesses, where it is meant to beckon customers and attract wealth, but many people keep one in their homes, too. Maybe one of Park's merchants stuck it on a lamppost to improve the street's fortunes?
May 18, 2008
Montage du jour : La cathédrale Marie-reine-du-monde
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Museum Day highlights
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
The Darling Foundry before its conversion into a multidisciplinary arts space
This Sunday is Museum Day, which means that Montrealers will enjoy free access to 29 museums between 9am and 6pm. Here are some highlights that might interest Spacing Montreal readers. Free shuttle buses will run between the museums until 4:30pm; check out the official website for more info.
McCord Museum
690 Sherbrooke Street West, McGill metro
"Simply Montreal," the McCord's permanent exhibition, "offers myriad glimpses of this unique city and immerse visitors into the very heart of the rich and varied experience it offers." If you've ever ...
May 23rd, 2008
Photo du jour: Congee and beer
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Strip mall at the corner of Rome and Stravinski, Brossard.
November 3, 2007
Where to find the city’s best bike co-ops
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Even though I'm not much of a cyclist, I've been reading Kate Molleson's new Gazette-sponsored cycling blog, On Two Wheels. In her most recent post, Kate hands over la parole to Kelly Ebbels, a bike-loving former news editor at the McGill Daily, who did a survey of Montreal's bike co-ops:
I used to think that cycling was a solitary pastime. But lately I've come to realize, through taking long bike trips with roommates, watching gaggles of bike racers on TV, or working on my bike at a local bike co-op – that the best cycling experiences ...
Montage du jour : Le cimetière de la rue Papineau
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1915-2008
L'histoire complète ici.
“All love is powerful” tonight
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
WHAT? Opening and reception of "All love is powerful," a new public art intervention
WHEN? Tonight (May 23), from 4:30pm to 11pm
WHERE? Mile End Mission (99 Bernard West, at St. Urbain) and the Park With No Name (Van Horne and St. Laurent)
Dare-Dare, the Mile End arts centre, continues its tradition of innovative community-based art with "All love is powerful," a new creation by Buenos Aires-based artist Andrea Cavagnaro. Over the past two weeks, Cavagnaro has covered part of the façade of the Mile End Mission, a social service organization at the corner of St. Urbain ...
May 24th, 2008
Photo du jour: Lost volcano!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Bernard and Waverly. May 21, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine au coin de St-Laurent
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
vers 1900-2008
Mile End’s doors are open
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
The doors to Mile End's many art studios, galleries and other spaces are open all weekend as part of Ateliers Portes Ouvertes, which includes 20 different sites, most of them concentrated in the garment district around de Gaspé Street. Dozens of artists will be participating; the event's brochure should give you an idea of the breadth of the talent involved.
Since I'll be heading out shortly to check out some of the art myself, I'll leave you with a bit from La Presse about APO:
«Vivre pour conspirer». C'est la devise inscrite sur la porte ...
May 25th, 2008
Photo du jour: Plateau alley
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Laneway between Laval and Hôtel de Ville, north of Rachel.
May 21, 2008
Montage du jour : Les condos Beauxarts depuis la rue St-Mathieu
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
2004-2008
May 26th, 2008
Photo du jour: City seal
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
While many of the streetlights on major streets appear to be fairly recent (even if they are meant to look history), it's easy to find much older lampposts in the city's back lanes, like this one I came across near Laval Street just above Sherbrooke. Each of them bears the imprint of the City of Montreal's seal.
May 21, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine au coin de la rue Bleury
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1910-2008
In NDG, a ghost sign is revealed
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Last week, someone named BK McCabe sent me an email about an old tobacco ad that had been revealed when a fire-damaged building was torn down on Sherbrooke Street West in NDG. Not too long after, another NDGer, Grant Martin, emailed me about the same thing.
"Interestingly, one of the first results you get by googling 'Turret Cigarettes' is Mordecai Richler talking about smoking them when he was in high school. Mid-1940s I guess. Makes you wonder how many more of these there are, preserved from the elements but completely hidden by brick," he wrote. "I don't ...
May 27th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’institut des sourdes-muettes
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1910-2008
Photo du jour: Hidden house
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Laneway houses, old or new, are one of the city's great secrets. Montreal has a lot that were built around the turn of the last century when thousands of migrant workers poured into the city. This particular house is found in a small unnamed laneway just off Durocher Street in the McGill Ghetto (its address is technically on Durocher --- I'd love to see a delivery guy find that place!).
Toronto Tuesday : Toronto Urban Centre, Bungalow Cool, and New park
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Does Toronto need an Urban Centre? : Following the closure of Ballenford Books, Toronto is left with no physical venue where the city's urban issues are exhibited and debated. Shawn Micallef imagines the creation of a Toronto Urban Centre. As much a museum as a research centre, it would THE ...
May 28th, 2008
Photo du jour: Stacked street signs
By Asa Bergman // 3 Comments
This photo was taken on May 25, 2008, on Alexis-Carrel and Gouin, Rivière-des-Prairies
Montage du jour : La rue René-Lévesque depuis le square Dorchester
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Storefront theatre in Emery Street
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
WHAT? Unique street theatre in the Latin Quarter
WHEN? Wednesday, May 28, between 9pm and 11pm
WHERE? Emery Street between St. Denis and Sanguinet
HOW MUCH? Free!
In a city with as many festivals as Montreal it's easy to overlook things. Sometimes, though, they surprise you. I hadn't given much though to the Festival Transamériques, an annual dance and theatre event, until yesterday evening, when I was wandering through the Latin Quarter with a few friends. As we walked up St. Denis we noticed that Emery Street was closed off and full of people --- unusual on an otherwise ...
Planting seeds, looking for treasure
By Paul Erlichman // No Comments
WHAT? So You Think You Can Plant? hosted by Greening Duluth
WHEN? Wednesday, May 28, starting at 7:30 (Tonight!)
WHERE? Meet on the front terrace of House of Friendship / Maison de L'amitié (120 Duluth E. - between Coloniale and de Bullion)
HOW MUCH? Free!
Greening Duluth will be hosting a seed-planting treasure hunt tonight, assuming that is a real term. Groups will use clues to find spots in the Plateau where they can spread some seeds. Attendees will get the chance to see their contributions grow throughout the season, all around the ...
May 29th, 2008
Photo du jour: i love you…
By Christopher DeWolf // 33 Comments
Graffiti on St. Viateur near de Gaspé, May 24, 2008
Montage du jour : La résidence de M. McNaughton
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1866-2008
Cette résidence était autrefois située sur le boulevard René-Lévesque à l'endroit exact où se prolonge désormais vers le sud la rue Mackay .
May 30th, 2008
Photo du jour: St. Henri dep
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Dépanneur at the corner of Sainte-Émilie and Bourget. May 11, 2008
Montage du jour : La résidence de George Hague
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1895-2008
Cette demeure fut construite en 1887 pour George Hague, le directeur général de la «Merchants bank». En 1920, soit 5 ans après son décès, ses enfants mirent la propriété en vente. Ne trouvant aucun acheteur, ils firent donc démolir la propriété.
Getting around town: recent transport news
By Christopher DeWolf // 10 Comments
The air's getting worse and it's because the number of Montrealers who are driving is growing faster than those who use public transit. Between 2003 and 2006, an additional 50,000 cars were registered on the island of Montreal and 41,000 more cars were travelling into the city from off-island suburbs each day. Not coincidentally, the number of smog days continues to increase, averaging 64 per year between 2003 and 2006.
Although the city is expressing hope that, faced with gas at nearly $1.50 per litre, more and more people will opt for public transit, ...
Bike safety, circa 1958
By Matthew Blackett // 3 Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOfo2d4N16U[/youtube]
Nothing like some good ol’ fashioned bike fear mongering, 1950-styles. I’m surprised the narrators didn’t equate risky bike riding with the Soviets.
May 31st, 2008
Photo du jour: Gaspé reflections
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
View from the top floor of Fashion Plaza on de Gaspé Street. May 24, 2008
Montage du jour : La résidence de Alfred Savage
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
1905-2008
Cette résidence de style gothique construite pour Alfred Savage dans les années 1860 se dressait autrefois sur la rue Peel, au sud de l'actuelle avenue du docteur Penfield.
June 1st, 2008
Photo du jour: Mission Old Brewery, Chinatown
By Kimberley Mok // 5 Comments
Photo taken May 30, 2008 at Blvd. St. Laurent and Ave. Viger
Montage du jour : La maison Lyman
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1870-2008
Cette maison construite en 1862 pour Alderman Henry Lyman se dressait autrefois sur la rue Mctavish. En 1941, la propriété fut démolie et le lot subdivisé. Un immeuble à logements multiples se dresse aujourd'hui au même emplacement.
Walking Mile End’s laneways
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
In many ways, Montreal is a remarkably heterogeneous city, and its built form is no exception. Each individual neighbourhood is distinct enough to provide the aimless walker with enough visual cues to figure out where he or she is.
Alleys, too, vary from one part of the city to the next. In nineteenth-century neighbourhoods, they're often aimless, terminating in dead ends and unexpected courtyards. Twentieth-century lanes are more standard in their arrangement, but even then, there is a great deal of difference between them. Many of the alleys in the old town of Delorimier, on the Plateau, ...
Montréal en quartiers
By Christopher DeWolf // 14 Comments
I've been spending part of the afternoon poking around Montréal en quartiers, known less memorably in English as Montreal InSite, a new website created by Heritage Montreal and Heritage Canada. It's an interactive, Flash-based guide to the history of Montreal's neighbourhoods, with enough chronologies, maps and videos to keep you distracted for at least an hour or two.
Currently, thirteen districts are covered: Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Old Lachine, Point St. Charles, St. Henri, downtown, the Golden Square Mile, the Latin Quarter, Lafontaine Park, Côte des Neiges, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, the Petite Patrie, Little Italy and Sault-au-Récollet.
As much ...
June 2nd, 2008
Photo du jour: Condoscape
By Christopher DeWolf // 14 Comments
Apartment buildings on lower Mountain Street, near Notre-Dame, on the edge of Griffintown.
May 23, 2008
Montage du jour : L’institut Trafalgar
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1903-2008
L'institut Trafalgar, qui fut la première école anglaise pour filles à Montréal ouvrit ses portes en 1887 derrière la maison de Alexander Mitchell. Cette demeure qui fut alors utilisée comme école fut possiblement démolie au cours des années 1970.
June 3rd, 2008
Photo du jour: Alley rain
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Lane behind Park Avenue after a brief rainstorm. May 23, 2008
Toronto Tuesday : Gardiner Expressway, Street food, and Scarborough Bluffs
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
The future of the Gardiner Expressway : The Gardiner Expressway, Toronto's elevated highway (much like the Metropolitain here), will be dismantled between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway. In its place is planned an 8 lane boulevard that should see traffic within 4 years. In an other Gardiner related story, the ...
All about Opus
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
You read about my thoughts on Montreal's new smart card, Opus, when it was officially launched in April. Now you can read my article in the Gazette that adds a few quotes and some facts to my musings. I speak to an STM spokesperson about how Opus got its name and to a Boston journalist about how people there have taken to the CharlieCard. Here's an excerpt:
When Montreal’s new public transit smart card was officially launched in late April, most of its details had already been known for months. There was, however, one surprise: its ...
Tous Azi-what?
By Julie Fournier // 9 Comments
If you're a bus rider in Montreal you've probably used Tous Azimuts, the STM's interactive trip planner. Though it's a little rough around the edges visually, it's a pretty thorough and effective service. It was also ahead of its time, launched in 1998, before most cities had an online trip planner. (In comparison, poor, vast Toronto still doesn't have one, at least not an official one.)
I've used Tous Azimuts for years and found it quite helpful in my journeys to places I've never been before, but being a robot, it occasionally comes ...
Ruelles with potential
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Montreal is one of the most dynamic and engaging cities in North America, but sometimes I wish that creativity would be reflected in our urban planning. So many corners of this city brim with potential --- but much of that potential is being wasted. Consider the case of two downtown laneways: Mount Royal Place and the ruelle Nick Auf der Mar. Each could be transformed into engaging public spaces but, for the time being, they are little more than urban afterthoughts.
Mount Royal Place is named for the old Mount Royal Hotel, ...
June 4th, 2008
Photo du jour: Night tracks
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
On the CPR tracks near Park Avenue at 3am. June 1, 2008
Montage du jour : Le couvent de la providence
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Le couvent des soeurs de la providences se dressait autrefois au coin des rues Sainte-Catherine et St-Hubert Cliquez ici pour voir une vue aérienne du secteur dans les années 1960.
Ground broken for Swatow Plaza in Chinatown
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
I returned from a six-week trip to China some three weeks ago, and the first time since then that I ventured in our Montreal Chinatown was last week. The first thing that I noticed while walking around with my camera was that ground has been broken for the Swatow Plaza (see a previous Spacing Photo du Jour post), a brand new commercial centre with a main entrance on St-Laurent (Google Maps), and stretching behind on ...
June 5th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque et l’avenue Edgehill
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1964-2008
Depuis le boulevard René-Lévesque, nous pouvions autrefois accéder à l'avenue Edgehill où se dressaient jusqu'à la fin des années 1960 de somptueuses demeures bourgeoises. Pour de plus amples détails, voir l'article posté précédement : L'avenue Edgehill.
Photo du jour: Ladder transportation, whatever works
By Asa Bergman // 6 Comments
This photo was taken on June 3, 2008, on Sainte-Catherine Ouest.
In Laval, cheap transit on smog days
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Laval might be a postwar car-oriented suburb like any other, but the arrival of the metro last year seems to to have sparked a shift in thinking. Public transit use is up, city officials are talking about densifying metro station environs, and now Laval's public transit agency, the STL, will be sending a message to those who drive even when the air is thick with smog. From now on, when Environment Canada issues a smog warning for the Montreal area, Laval will slash its bus fares from $2.50 to $1. In the public's mind, it will ...
Fruit & Flowers
By Julie Fournier // 11 Comments
Inspired by this great post by Leah Sandals over on the Toronto Spacing blog, I've been thinking about those wonderful gems of depanneurs that keep a bounty of potted plants and cut flowers through the summer season.
My favourite in Montreal is Fruiterie YM at Bernard and de l'Esplanande in Mile End. I first noticed this little shop one morning in May, as I sat with a friend eating brunch in the window of Senzala Restaurant across the street. ...
It’s street fair season again
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Street fair season is upon us. Starting today, and running through Sunday, six streets across the city will be closed for various festivities. Grab your flâneur hat (that would be a fedora, right?) and hit the pavement.
Nuit blanche sur tableau noir, a combination street fair and arts festival, will take place on Mount Royal Avenue, from St. Hubert to de Lorimier, all weekend. Tonight, from 10pm to 2am, 46 artists will participate the "Grande Fresque de Nuit" by painting various frescoes right on the pavement. During the day, commerce and art ...
Photo du jour: Ghost building
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Last August, Thomas-Bernard Kenniff wrote about the "bâtiments fantômes" you see around town. Here's a particularly nice example in a downtown parking lot next to the Hôtel de la Montagne.
May 31, 2008
June 7th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque depuis la Côte du Beaver Hall
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1960-2008
Photo du jour: Spring flower
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Jeanne Mance near Laurier. May 31, 2008
Camping in the Park With No Name
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? Outdoor camping-themed arts event
WHERE? Park With No Name, St. Laurent and Van Horne
WHEN? Today and tomorrow, 9am to 11pm
When it moved to Mile End in 2006, the artist-run centre Dare-Dare quickly transformed a vacant lot at the corner of Van Horne and St. Laurent into the "Parc sans nom," a dynamic arts space open to the public at all hours. Now, though, Dare-Dare is set to move out of the neighbourhoods, and when it leaves the park will be sealed off and paved over by the borough. This weekend, "Camping aux bons plaisirs fugaces" will be ...
Introducing the city’s trees
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? Tree tour of McGill's upper campus
WHEN? Tomorrow, Sunday June 8 at 10am
WHERE? Meet in front of the Redpath Museum
HOW MUCH? $10 adults, $5 students
Bronwyn Chester will be hosting another tree tour tomorrow. Over the course of the summer, she hopes to make this a regular event, travelling across Montreal to explore the trees of the city's different streets, parks and neighbourhoods. In today's Gazette, I have a brief article describing the tour she gave of Laval Street two weeks ago.
Chester began by handing out a list of trees found on and near Laval Ave. ...
June 8th, 2008
Montage du jour : La résidence de Olivier Faucher
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
1899-2008
Cette demeure était située au coin nord-ouest du boulevard René-Lévesque et de la rue St-Mathieu.
Photo du jour: Groucho Marxist
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Stencil in an alley near St. Viateur. May 16, 2008
Antlerheads transformed
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Not too long ago I wrote about the "Antlerheads" that had appeared around Montreal as part of a guerilla marketing campaign for Vespa. I defended the ads, arguing that their corporate sponsorship did not diminish their artistic integrity, but many Spacing readers disagreed.
While we were sitting at our computers arguing, though, some other Montrealers were out in the streets, subverting the Antlerheads and their message. Over the past couple of weeks, nearly every Antlerhead that I have seen has been literally defaced by the street artist Zato1, who has covered ...
June 9th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le collège Sainte-Marie
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1961-2008
Le collège Sainte-Marie, 2e collège classique à s'établir à Montréal fut en opération de 1848 à 1969 sur la rue de Bleury. Il fut démolit au début des années 1970.
Photo du jour: Forza Italia
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Jeanne Mance near Bernard, Mile End. June 8, 2008
June 10th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque vers l’est depuis la rue de Bleury
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1961-2008
Photo du jour: rue de la Gauchetière
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Nobody quite seems to know how to properly write the name of the street that forms the central axis of Chinatown. I've seen De la Gauchetière, de La Gauchetière, La Gauchetière and just Gauchetière. Since the street was named after Joseph-Daniel Migeon, sieur de la Gauchetière, the proper rendition would seem to be "rue de la Gauchetière."
But really, who cares? This is the city whose heart and soul is "la Main," after all.
Fringe for free
By Julie Fournier // 4 Comments
It's officially festival season in Montreal, and next up is the annual Fringe Fest (properly named le Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal), starting this Thursday and running until Sunday the 22nd.
As usual, there will be a number of events taking place in public spaces, mostly at Parc des Amériques, corner St-Laurent & Rachel. I'll be posting each evening with the next day's free events for you to take in. This year's selection includes a number of indie-music shows put on by Pop Montreal, a couple of craft ...
Toronto Tuesday : PUG Awards, Unsung Beautifiers, and Bathurst Bridge Virtual Charrette
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
PUG Awards: And the winner is? : Since 2004, the PUG Awards celebrate new construction in the (former unamalgamated) City of Toronto by asking the public to pick favourites and well, lemons. Although the requirements for entry are rather restricted (over 50,000 square feet in the residential ...
Detroit 1965
By Shawn Micallef // No Comments
The above video was made as part of Detroit’s bid to host the Olympics, and if you have 18 minutes to spare, it’s worth a look. ...
June 11th, 2008
Photo du jour: Baby blue
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
At the corner of Groll and Waverly in Mile End, somebody has painted all of the street furniture --- mailbox, planters, hydro poles, fire hydrant --- baby blue. I have no idea why.
June 7, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison de Duncan McIntyre
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1890-2008
En 1889, Duncan McIntyre, l'administrateur général des chemins de fer du Grand Tronc fit construire au sommet de la rue Drummond, une immense demeure dont le style et l'ornementation s'inspiraient alors des riches châteaux d'Écosse.
Cette dernière fut malheureusement démolie vers 1930 ...
Trouve mon nom
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 6 Comments
La ville de Montréal organise un concours pour trouver le nom de son futur service de vélo libre-service. Le concours est ouvert à tous et durera jusqu'au 8 août, date à laquelle nous pourrons voter afin de déterminer un gagnant. Le tout se déroulera en ligne à l'adresse suivante www.trouvemonnom.ca. L'idée semble intéressante et aidera surement à dénicher quelques succès, sinon quelques jeux de mots débridés (sans mentionner une certain économie: je me demande quels seraient les honoraires d'une boîte de marketing...).
Tel que déjà mentionné sur Spacing, notre futur service de vélo libre-service, basé ...
Yesterday’s big storm
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
I always marvel at how a winter storm can so alter the experience of the city. Under a blanket of snow, streets that are normally wide and imposing become more personal.
Summer storms have their impact, too, albeit one that is far more fleeting. Yesterday's afternoon thunderstorm was sudden and impressive. I was probably sheltered from its worst effects here on Park Avenue, but as pretty much anyone in the city can attest, it struck the city with surprising speed and force. Power was cut to many parts of the city, trees fell and all things ...
Fringe for free: Thursday the 12th
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Tomorrow is opening day at the Fringe Fest, and the opening party will be taking place at Parc des Amériques, corner St-Laurent and Rachel. Admission is free. Here are the details:
June 12 Juin @ 18h00
Fringe opening night party with Paul Cargnello and the Unsettlers (free)
Soirée d'ouverture avec Paul Cargnello et les Unsettlers (gratuit)
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: English / français
June 12th, 2008
Photo du jour: Post-interchange
By Christopher DeWolf // 18 Comments
For all of the potential I think is being wasted --- the empty grass lot at its southeast corner is a shamefully suburban way to treat such a prominent junction --- it's a small miracle that the new Pine and Park intersection even exists. The old interchange was such a decrepit and forlorn place it's hard to believe that in less than two years the whole thing was demolished and replaced with a pretty decent surface intersection. Even in its current state there is a lot of pedestrian and bicycle traffic. People leisurely amble across the ...
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque vers l’est depuis la rue Drummond
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1950-2008
En 1937, l'église presbythérienne américaine qui se dressait depuis 1865 au coin sud est du boulevard René-Lévesque et de la rue Drummond fut démoli afin de permettre la construction d'un terminus d'autobus qui fut lui-même rasé quelques décennies plus tard.
Fringe for free: Friday the 13th
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Tomorrow sees two Fringe-fest events with free admission.
June 13 juin @ 14h15
Hanging by a Branch: a circus-theater fairytale acrobatics, dance, trapeze and spoken word (free, in English)
Hanging by a Branch: un cirque-théâtre de fées acrobatie, danse, trapèze et de l’oral (gratuit, en anglais)
Starts at Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]; proceeds to Parc Jeanne-Mance
Link: English / français
June 13 juin @ 14h00-21h00
Indyish Marathon Mess: Jam with Sun Ra Arkestra, circus performers, choir, the Winks, and more (pay-what-you-can, bilingual)
Indyish Marathon Mess: Jam avec Sun ...
June 13th, 2008
Photo du jour: Bicycle cop
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Ste. Catherine and Drummond. June 7, 2008
Antlerheads erased
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
Vandalized Antlerheads that could still be seen earlier this week, on the windows of the old Du Parc / Mont-Royal McDonald's have now disappeared. The article that my colleague Chris wrote generated quite some discussion over at the first entry on what was an advertisement campaign by Vespa, a scooter manufacturer.
Because of all the talk, I couldn't help but notice that someone has taken matters into their own hands and erased the Antlerheads standing in front of the abandoned fast-food restaurant. Whoever ...
Cards, tokens and chips
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
The STM is slowly rolling out new transit cards that will replace the CAM and bus/metro transfer tickets in the course of the year to follow. I have not been taking the bus very often because bike season is open. Today, I boarded the 80, and was surprised to find that my old bus ticket was exchanged for one of the brand new transfer / single-journey and six-journey cards.
During a brief stop in the city of ...
Fringe for free: Saturday the 14th
By Julie Fournier // 1 Comment
Here's tomorrow's free offering from the Fringe Fest:
June 14 juin @ 18h00
Hanging by a Branch: a circus-theater fairytale acrobatics, dance, trapeze and spoken word (free, in English)
Hanging by a Branch: un cirque-théâtre de fées acrobatie, danse, trapèze et de l'oral (gratuit, en anglais)
Starts at Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]; proceeds to Parc Jeanne-Mance
Link: English / français
Bad bike racks
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
Montreal has been investing a lot in its cycling infrastructure, especially in terms of bike parking: thousands of new spots will be added across the city this summer. That's a relief, because we've long been stuck with these frustrating and ineffective racks, which date back to the 1990s. Each one holds up to six bikes, but they're hard to deal with, easily damaged and take up a lot of space. They're also hideous.
Instead of having one of these on each block, I wish Montreal would install post-and-ring racks like the ones in Toronto. They're simple, easy ...
June 14th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Laurent depuis la rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Around 1910-2008
Photo du jour: “Ass or Gas”
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Grand Prix weekend always brings out the best side of Montreal, like this jeep inscribed with a warning: "Ass or gas... no free rides!" Charming!
Metcalfe near Dorchester Square. June 7, 2008
Fringe for free: Sunday the 15th
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Here are tomorrow's free Fringe events:
June 15 juin @ 12h45
The Big Moves 2nd Annual Community Pancake Breakfast (free, bilingual)
Le Big Moves deuxième communauté déjeuner aux crêpes (gratuit, bilingue)
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: English / français
June 15 juin @ 14h15 + 17h00
Hanging by a Branch: a circus-theater fairytale acrobatics, dance, trapeze and spoken word (free, in English)
Hanging by a Branch: un cirque-théâtre de fées acrobatie, danse, trapèze et de l’oral (gratuit, en anglais)
Starts ...
June 15th, 2008
Photo du jour: Mohawk
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
On the 80 bus at Bleury and Ste. Catherine. July 30, 2007
Montage du jour : L’académie commerciale
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1950-2008
L'histoire complète fut publiée précédemment dans l'article : La construction de la Place des Arts.
Fringe for free: Monday the 16th
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Here are tomorrow's free Fringe events:
June 16 juin @ 18h00
Dr. Sketchy Fringe Special: life drawing lounge (free, bilingual)
Dr. Sketchy Fringe Special: dessin avec des modèles (gratuit, bilingue)
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: English / français
Photo by Coreyu on Flickr.
June 16th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le monument de sir John A. Macdonald
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Ce monument fut dévoilé lors d'une cérémonie officielle le 6 juin 1895.
Photo du jour: Mountain tram
By Christopher DeWolf // 16 Comments
Before the construction of the voie Camillien-Houde and Remembrance Road on the mountain in the 1960s, the quickest way to get up was by tramway. For decades, the number 11 tram line, the predecessor to today's number 11 bus, trundled up the slopes of Mount Royal.I'm not entirely sure what happened to the streetcar tracks. There's an even bigger mystery, too: in the STM archive photo above you can see that, at one point, the trams passed through a tunnel. Is it still there? If not, what happened to it?
Fringe for free: Tuesday the 17th
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Here are tomorrow's free Fringe events:
June 17 juin @ 14h15
Hanging by a Branch: a circus-theater fairytale acrobatics, dance, trapeze and spoken word (free, in English)
Hanging by a Branch: un cirque-théâtre de fées acrobatie, danse, trapèze et de l’oral (gratuit, en anglais)
Starts at Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]; proceeds to Parc Jeanne-Mance
Link: English / français
June 17 juin @ 19h00
The Uncalled-For All-Star Fringeprov Jam (free, in ...
Odd things around the Darling Foundry
By Chris Erb // 4 Comments
Everyday, on my way to work, I bike by the Darling Foundry. Being a rather eclectic arts centre, it's not surprising that the area around the building features some very odd things. The first of which is the street in which the building itself is on. Last month, the last block of Ottawa Street between Prince and Queen was shut down to traffic and turned into car-free public space. Picnic tables have been installed and long narrow gardens jut out from the sidewalk. A sign explaining the project was ...
June 17th, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison Van Horne
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1965-2008
Voici une rare photo représentant la maison Van Horne sur la rue Sherbrooke. Celle-ci fut démolie en 1973 et remplacée par une tour à bureaux de 17 étages, maintenant occupée depuis 2003 par l'hôtel Sofitel.
Ce montage sera le dernier publié pour le moment.
Le parc Belmont et la mort du parc d’attractions ailleurs dans le monde
By Cédric Sam // 5 Comments
Téléchargez
Adieu parc Belmont! (Archives de Radio-Canada)
Le site des Archives de Radio-Canada recèle de nombreux petits trésors, dont ce clip vidéo sans narration de sept minutes, datant de 1963 et qui traite du parc Belmont. Le célèbre parc d'attractions était situé à Cartierville au nord-ouest de Montréal et ferma définitivement ses portes en 1983, après 60 années d'existence.
Les problèmes du parc Belmont débutent dès la création de La Ronde, lors de l'exposition universelle de 1967. Malgré une année record, en 1972, de 750 000 entrées, le nombre de visiteurs ...
Photo du jour: Beaver Lake, 1am
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
On a warm Saturday night, groups of friends sat around Beaver Lake, chatting and drinking in the strange artificial light. Every ten minutes or so, some people in the distance set off a firework. The sound of stereos thumping in the parking lot near the cemetery floated through the trees.
June 15, 2008
Labatt wins street fair exclusivity
By Christopher DeWolf // 18 Comments
You've probably noticed some of Labatt's new St-Jean-Baptiste-themed ads around town lately. "On est tous Québécois, même à Montréal," they read, which I think is kind of cheeky and cute, even if it's grammatically incorrect (shouldn't it be "québécois," since it's an adjective?). But Labatt is doing more than just spreading good will on June 24th: it's clearly angling for a bigger market share in Montreal and it is even going so far as to impose itself on a major street fair.
From now until the end of August, Ste. Catherine St. in the Village will be ...
Fringe for free: Wednesday the 18th
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Here is tomorrow's free public Fringe event:
June 18 juin @ 19h00
Dramaturkey: Local playwrights read some of their most embarrassing work (free, in English)
Dramaturkey: Dramaturges locaux vont lire leurs travaux plus embarrassant (gratuit, en anglais)
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: English / français
Photo by sfllaw on Flickr.
Toronto Tuesday : Rooftop fights, New street furniture, and Counterfeit tickets
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 1 Comment
Rooftop fights, part II : In a bizarre blurring of public and private space, Matthew Blackett offers a "killer view" at rooftop kickboxing. Part II? That's right.
Toronto's new street furniture : Toronto unveils prototypes for it's new street furniture. While the rendered models of the designs have been criticized for quite some time, now is the chance to test and criticize the actual objects.
TTC employee arrested for selling counterfeit tickets : Adult tickets will be phased out by September to combat ongoing counterfeit operations. Counterfeit tickets would amount to, apparently, $300,000 to ...
Solstice tree tours
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? Tree tours of the McGill campus
WHEN? Wednesday, June 18th (French) and Thursday the 19th (English) at 5pm
WHERE? Steps of the Redpath Museum
HOW MUCH $10 adults, $5 students
The longest days of the year are upon us, so what better way to celebrate that than with an evening tour of McGill University's trees? Bronwyn Chester --- whom I wrote about not too long ago --- will be offering two tours this week, one in French, the other in English.
Revered for their size, beauty, wood, healing powers, fruit and flame, certain trees have played important roles ...
June 18th, 2008
Photo du jour: Portuguese pride
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Most neighbourhoods in Montreal have a diversity of flags flying in support of the countries participating in this year's Euro Cup. Not so for the neighbourhood just south of the Chabanel Street garment district. (Does it have a name? Or is it just Chabanel?). As I biked through there on Sunday, there were dozens of Portuguese flags flying from cars, balconies and windows. In fact, every flag that I saw was Portuguese, except for one lonely Turkish flag.
June 15, 2008
Know Hope: Mont Royal
By Kimberley Mok // 2 Comments
By Dave Bergeron and Kimberley Mok
"Know Hope" will be a series of illustrative vignettes exploring and re-imagining Montréal's urban spaces, cultural life and other compelling urban mysteries which are always in the process of unfolding. Psychogeographical* in nature, this series of humourous visual reveries hopes to chart a slightly different map of urban consciousness.
This first installation is a mandala** depicting Mont Royal and her environs, inspired by a daydream of the tam-tams as the locus of intense energy in the city during Sundays, prompting the angel statue to fly off in ...
New recycling bins at the Jean-Talon Market
By Christopher DeWolf // 13 Comments
Last Saturday, as some friends and I wandered through Little Italy in the muggy afternoon, we stopped by the Jean-Talon Market. I noticed that new recycling bins have been installed inside the main market hall --- recycling bins identical to those installed last year on McGill's lower campus. Back then, I praised their ease-of-use and attractiveness and suggested that Montreal install them on its streets. One commenter pointed out a design flaw --- the bins can't be emptied when someone locks their bike to them --- and another suggested that installing them city-wide would be ...
Montreal’s missing beaches
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Beach in Cartierville, on the Rivière des Prairies, around 1910
Nathalie Collard has a column in today's La Presse lamenting the lack of access Montrealers have to their waterways. "Les Montréalais habitent une île, mais n'ont pratiquement pas accès à l'eau. C'est aberrant," she writes. It's true: despite being surrounded by water, including a variety of lakes, basins, channels, rapids and one of North America's great rivers, Montreal is one of the least water-accessible cities I know. Whatever local instinct we once had to head to the water has been quashed by pollution, industry and highways. ...
Fringe for free: Thursday the 19th
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Lots of public events at the Fringe tomorrow, gearing up to the final weekend:
June 19 juin @ 12h00
Indyish Art Marts craft sale (free, bilingual)
Indyish Art Marts vente d'artisanat (gratuit, bilingue)
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
English / français
June 19 juin @ 14h15
Hanging by a Branch: a circus-theater fairytale acrobatics, dance, trapeze and spoken word (free, in English)
Hanging by a Branch: un cirque-théâtre de fées acrobatie, danse, trapèze et de l’oral (gratuit, en anglais)
Starts at Parc des Amériques, ...
June 19th, 2008
Photo(s) du jour: Dance party
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Italian dance party on Dante Street. June 14, 2008
Fringe for free: Friday the 20th
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Today's free Fringe events include one that's not free, but will be held in an interesting public location, the Bain St-Michel on St-Dominique Street. Could be worth checking out.
June 20 juin
Music / Musique (free/gratuit)
Maurice Benjamin @ 14.00
Lee Mellor @ 15h00
The Wells @ 16h00
Rockabillyfillyhamer @ 17.00
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: English / français
June 20 juin @ 14h15
Hanging by a Branch: a circus-theater fairytale acrobatics, dance, trapeze and spoken word (free, in English)
Hanging by a Branch: un cirque-théâtre de fées acrobatie, danse, trapèze et de l’oral (gratuit, en anglais)
Starts at Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel ...
June 20th, 2008
Popolo dans le parc / Popolo in the Park
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
As part of the yearly month-long Suoni per il Popolo music festival held at Casa del Popolo and Sala Rossa, Popolo in the Park takes the famed fest's avant-garde and experimental music outside to Parc Lahaie, located at the corner of St-Laurent and St-Joseph.
The family-friendly afternoon fête features saxophonist Matana Roberts, performers from improv group
Kalmunity Vibe Collective, and Head And Hands Youth.
The ...
Photo du jour: M9
By Chris Erb // 14 Comments
Rear end of the M9 condo development (phase 1) on rue Prince in the Cité Multimédia.
Madness on the Main!
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Main Madness, the giant St. Laurent street fair that stretches from Mount Royal all the way down to Sherbrooke, happens twice a year, but the June edition is always the best. Summer is still fresh and, most importantly, there is always a ton of stuff happening. Along with the street fair itself, there are a number of activities happening along the Main, including Popolo in the Park and the Fringe Festival (check out Julie Fournier's daily updates of free Fringe activities). Here are a few more things that might interest you.
Up the Yangtze: There's ...
Fringe for free: Saturday the 21st
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
June 21 juin @ 12h00
Indyish Art Marts craft sale (free, bilingual)
Indyish Art Marts vente d'artisanat (gratuit, bilingue)
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: English / français
June 21 juin @ 16h00
Drag Races: drag-queen showdown concluding with the crowning of "Queen of the Fringe" (free, bilingual)
Drag Races: Compétition "drag queen", conclure avec le couronnement de "La Reine de la Fringe" (gratuit, bilingue)
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: English / ...
June 21st, 2008
Photo du jour: Odd graffiti
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Atwater metro, June 14, 2008
Fringe for free: Closing day, Sunday June 22nd
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Tomorrow is the closing day of the Fringe. Before they pack up for the year, here are the final day's free public events:
June 22 juin @ 12h00
Indyish Art Marts craft sale (free, bilingual)
Indyish Art Marts vente d'artisanat (gratuit, bilingue)
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: English / français
June 22 juin
Music / Musique (free/gratuit)
Puff & The Pill Poppers @ 14.00
Eric Lawrence @ 15.00
On Bodies @ 16.00
Fraser Macdougall @ 17.00
Parc des Amériques, St-Laurent/Rachel [map]
Link: ...
L’exposition « Hochelaga-Maisonneuve en trois temps » au Château Dufresne
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Carte postale du boulevard Pie-IX vers 1920 (détail)
Peu de gens le savent, mais 2008 marque le 125e anniversaire de l'annexation de la ville d'Hochelaga par Montréal, et aussi du 125e anniversaire de la fondation de Maisonneuve, sa voisine directement à l'Est.
Dans mon unique cours à vie en architecture, au cégep, je me rappelle avoir été présenté l'idée de cette nouvelle bourgeoisie canadienne-française, s'étant bâti une ville moderne à la fin du 19e siècle quelque part dans l'est de Montréal. Je me souviens surtout du Château Dufresne, construit par ...
June 22nd, 2008
Photo du jour: TV in the metro
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Lionel-Groulx station, June 14, 2008
June 23rd, 2008
Photo du jour: North end
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Gouin near Saint-Michel in Ahuntsic. June 15, 2008
Bonne St-Jean!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Tomorrow is the Fête nationale des Québécois or, as everyone who is not the government puts it, la Saint-Jean-Baptiste. I'm not big on national holidays in general but what makes this one so agreeable is that it involves a ton of great public celebrations, including dozens of small-scale neighbourhood parties, in every corner of town. The official Fête nationale website has a comprehensive list, by district, of the celebration. Some are more exciting than others (personally, I'm not willing to get out of bed before noon for face-painting and clowns) but there's at least plenty ...
Montrealers don’t have equal access to pools
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
If you want easy access to a good and spacious pool, you're better off living in the west end or a demerged suburb, La Presse reported on Sunday. There's nothing surprising there---that's often the case with any kind of municipal service---but the disparity in pool access in different neighbourhoods is pretty astonishing:
Après avoir comparé le nombre d’habitants à celui des piscines des arrondissements et des villes reconstituées, on remarque que ces dernières sont nettement avantagées.
Les écarts sont énormes. Dans la petite municipalité de Senneville, on compte une piscine pour 967 habitants. Dans l’arrondissement de Ville-Marie, ...
June 24th, 2008
Photo du jour: St-Jean barbecue
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Barbecue on an apartment terrace behind Park Avenue. June 24, 2004
La rue Ste-Catherine, piétonnière de Berri à Papineau
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
Depuis le début de l'année, Spacing vous a proposé quelques articles sur la piétonnisation de la rue Ste-Catherine, entre Berri et Papineau (1 | 2 | 3 - articles en anglais). Voilà que depuis la semaine dernière, des bornes ont été posées, et les terrasses des propriétaires de commerce, allongées, tout au long de l'artère commerciale montréalaise traversant entre autres le Village Gai de Montréal:
Cette portion de la rue Sainte-Catherine Est sera fermée en permanence sauf les deux voies sud de celle-ci ...
Toronto Tuesday: The Bike Film Fest, ROM Rooftop Garden, and What We Think of the Gardiner
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments. Bike Film Festival: This year 17 cities worldwide had the chance to explore a filmic celebration of bikes. This past weekend, the festival’s films graced the screen of The Royal cinema, located on College ...
June 25th, 2008
Photo(s) du jour: Cycling on planks
By Asa Bergman // 3 Comments
Corner of Saint-Denis and De Maisonneuve, looking west.
Corner of Saint-Denis and De Maisonneuve, looking east.
Biking along De Maisonneuve on the recently named Claire-Morissette bike path I noticed the change of surface and the works en cours in the UQAM area, between Sanguinet and Berri. Riding on the planks was pleasant enough, yet made me slow down somewhat, which is what I suppose is the purpose of these planks.
Montreal Ritz Carlton is modernizing
By Nithya Vijayakumar // 7 Comments
CTV reported on Monday that the Ritz-Carlton is getting a makeover! The Ritz finally got the message: it's a little bit frumpy. The solution? Auction off everything old in the rooms and add a modern extension to the almost 100-year old building.
Miscellaneous items for sale.
The auction is June 25-26, but if you have no interest in trying to snag that chair Queen Elizabeth sat on (who are you?) then you can also peruse the items for sale at ...
June 26th, 2008
Shoes in the Sky
By Julie Fournier // 4 Comments
When I began writing for Spacing Montreal I planned to write an exposé on mysterious shoes hanging from power lines. Just a couple of days prior I'd woken up to find a pair of yellow sneakers dangling from lines right in front of my bedroom window, and it had got me thinking about this strange phenomenon.
I asked a few friends what they thought these shoes signified, and heard a hilarious variety of theories of what they marked: drug dens, a speakeasy, gang territory, murder ...
Montreal’s hotel boom
By Chris Erb // 12 Comments
The Gazette reported today that, within the next couple years, Montreal will be home to Canada's first location of the prestigious Waldorf=Astoria Hotel (artist's rendition above) to be built at the corner of Guy and Sherbrooke:
Local real estate company Monit Investments will spend $200 million developing and building the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel & Residence Montreal on what is now a parking lot it owns near Guy and Sherbrooke Sts.
The 32-storey hotel, consisting of twin towers, will be modelled on its namesake on New York City's Park Ave.
Like the Manhattan hotel, the Montreal version will be luxuriously appointed, featuring ...
Photo du jour: Bière froide à la caisse
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Dep at St. Vallier and St. Zotique, Little Italy/Petite Patrie. May 17, 2008
June 27th, 2008
Photo du jour: Football
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Soccer in Jeanne Mance Park. June 14, 2006
Feux d’artifice
By Julie Fournier // 5 Comments
Montreal's annual fireworks festival — properly (and clumsily) named l'International des Feux Loto-Quebec presented by Telus — began last weekend and continues each Saturday (and some Wednesdays) until early August.
The fireworks are shot from La Ronde, and the promoters obviously encourage spectators to buy park admission to watch, but surely there are lots of opportune places all over the city to view the spectacle from without spending any money.
Where do you think is ...
June 28th, 2008
Photo du jour : Sur la piste cyclable
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Cette photo a été prise hier sur la rue Rachel, où passe la principale voie est-ouest cyclable du Plateau Mont-Royal.
McGill University’s Molson & McConnell Halls
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
Molson Hall
McConnell Hall
McGill's Molson and McConnell Halls are adjacent to each other, and both located above Molson Stadium. To outsiders, such as myself (a McGill alumni who did not live in residence), the world of student halls is a foreign one, belonging to some parallel universe. These particular staircases have always fascinated me.
Sometime during my undergrad studies, I ventured up the residence area north ...
Some weekend headlines
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
Les cols bleus à la disposition des déménageurs | Moving is a dirty job - for city crews: one of the several down-sides of having a coordinated "moving day", for sure. Yuck.
Critics fear more development at Benny site. NDG citizens worry that the planned construction of a sports complex across from Benny Farm will bring other, less community-minded development.
Later store hours debated | Montreal seeks later hours ...
A couple of cautionary tales
By Julie Fournier // 18 Comments
⋅ Man dies in hit-and-run in Montreal | Délit de fuite mortel | Le conducteur d'un scooter meurt dans un délit de fuite
An SUV hit and killed man on a scooter around 2 am Saturday near St-Laurent and Villeneuve. The SUV driver then dragged the scooter all the way to Rachel and de l'Esplanade. The police later found the vehicle outside a bar in Vieux-Montreal.
What a horrifying story. It's difficult to know what to take ...
June 29th, 2008
Photo du jour: Vacant lot sculpture garden
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
One of my favourite things about the area around the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks in Mile End is that they seethe with life: there's always something going on along them, and often enough, it's something creative. In a vacant lot at the corner of St. Urbain and Van Horne, the artist Glen Lemesurier has created a sculpture garden, a surreal collection of art made from recycled materials. It's a particularly well-located garden, too, located at the end of the CPR bike path at a spot where many people cross over the tracks.
Le Devoir's Odile Tremblay ...
Street party for Spain
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
This morning, my friends---all of them Spain supporters, except for one, who kept quiet---decided to watch today's Euro Cup final between Spain and Germany at the Club Español de Quebec, the unofficial hub of Montreal's Spanish immigrant community. We arrived early, at noon, to secure a table and have lunch, but it was already packed. By the time the game actually started the building was crammed full beyond capacity, the noise of the crowd deafening.
By the 85th minute of the game it became clear that Spain would win; they had scored a goal early on ...
June 30th, 2008
Photo du jour: C.W.A.C.
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Until the 1960s, signs and advertisements were far more loosely regulated than they are today, as you can see in this 1943 photo of Papineau and Mount Royal. (The billboard you see here is for the Canadian Women's Army Corps.)
Close, but no cigar
By Julie Fournier // 2 Comments
I frequently notice that parking posts with bike rings are installed as far out of the way of pedestrians as possible. I don't disagree with this on principle — sidewalks are primarily for pedestrians, and bike parking takes up space. But in many cases, the posts are so close to the buildings that only one bike can be parked at each. On occasion I've wedged my bike between the post and the building successfully, but sometimes my basket makes this impossible.
It seems like just ...
July 1st, 2008
Photo du jour: Happy Moving Day
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Also known in some parts of the country as Canada Day.
Sherbrooke and Ste. Famille, July 3, 2004
Toronto Tuesday: Murmur, the Bike Train, and new maps.
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
Murmur
Since it began in Kensington Market in 2003, the Murmur project has provided Torontonians with a unique way to experience their city. Scattered throughout Toronto's neighborboods are bright green Murmur signs containing a phone number and code. Whoever stumbles upon these ...
July 2nd, 2008
Photo du jour: Verdun Plymouth
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
1960s-era car, triplexes and unusual rowhouses on a sidestreet in Verdun.
September 21, 2002
Some mid-week news
By Julie Fournier // 6 Comments
Night flights to end over Laval, St. Laurent
The agreement, made in 2006, was to merely test night flights over those areas, and the airport has decided not to continue. Lachine will still be seeing the flights until a decision is made there.
When I first moved to Quebec I lived in Ville St-Laurent, a couple of blocks from Cote-Vertu metro, and while regular flights from YUL stop between 1 AM and 7 AM, when they passed my ...
July 3rd, 2008
Photo du jour: Public art
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
As usual, Jeanne Mance Street is closed for the jazz fest, but this year the parking lot on its west side has been replaced by a large construction site for a forthcoming plaza. In the meantime, a portion of the construction hoarding has been turned into a free-for-all mural.
June 26, 2008
July 4th, 2008
Photo du jour: Hasidic celebration
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Bernard Street in Outremont. June 27, 2008
The Moving Day mess
By Christopher DeWolf // 10 Comments
115,000 households packed up and moved on Tuesday, making it quite possibly the single largest instance of a mass moving day in North America. Even on normal days there's a lot of junk left out in Montreal streets and alleys, but nothing compares to the days following July 1st, when thousands of people get rid of surplus or unwanted furniture by simply leaving it for someone else to take.
Needless to say, this creates quite a problem with cleanliness, especially since there is usually several times more trash dumped on the street than actual reusable objects. ...
New life for the Mile End garment district
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
In this week's edition of the Mirror I have an article outlining some of the issues surrounding the city's planned redevelopment of the Mile End garment district. This summer, work will begin on refurbishing the portion of St. Viateur between St. Laurent and de Gaspé; a new sidewalk will also be built on the east side of de Gaspé, where one does not currently exist. Next year, St. Viateur will be extended east from Gaspé to Henri-Julien, and after that a new footbridge will be built over the CPR tracks connecting the area to Rosemont metro. ...
July 5th, 2008
Photo du jour: Outremont evening
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Lajoie and Querbes, June 27, 2008
Weekend news
By Julie Fournier // 10 Comments
4Cyclist hit, dragged by car on St. Denis around 3pm Thursday afternoon. First she was doored, which threw her into traffic, where she was hit and then dragged. She's now in critical condition. A reminder that these things can happen in plain daylight too. I hope she pulls through OK.
4Night-flight plans temporarily grounded | ...
July 6th, 2008
Photo du jour: Park Ex dep
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Dépanneur at the corner of Ogilvy and Durocher in Park Extension.
June 24, 2008
July 7th, 2008
Photo du jour: Cross
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Pine Avenue with the Hôtel-Dieu in the foreground and Mount Royal and its cross behind.
June 22, 2008
Roadsworth’s downtown street stencils
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Who doesn't remember Roadsworth, the artist whose quirky street-and-sidewalk stencils vaulted him into street art stardom in 2004 after he ran into trouble with the law? Since then, Peter Gibson---the artist's real name---has made a living working in a perfectly legal capacity with City Hall and various other public organizations. Last spring, the Commission scolaire de Montréal commissioned him to redesign a concrete schoolyard at Bernard and St. Urbain; in the fall, the Ville-Marie borough invited him to paint a giant chess board at Berri Square.
The fruits of Roadsworth's most recent effort can ...
Jean Talon Market vendors told to quit BBQing
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Restaurants, butchers and other vendors at the Jean Talon Market have been told to stop cooking food outdoors or they will risk a $200 fine. Apparently, the Rosemont---Petite-Patrie borough decided to issue a warning after it received several complaints about barbecue smoke from nearby residents. Here's the full story from the CBC:
Jean Talon Market shop owners warned against grilling food outdoors say they will continue their time-honoured summer practice, despite complaints about the smell.
Several butcher shops at the popular Montreal market have received warning letters from the Rosemont-Petite-Patrie borough informing them the practice of cooking ...
July 8th, 2008
Photo du jour: Bridge to nowhere
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
I distinctly remember walking over this footbridge that links St. Roch in Park Ex to Jarry Park and the tennis stadium on the other side of the train tracks. There's a great view of the tracks and the Parc commuter train station. Now, though, the staircase leading up to the bridge has been destroyed. What gives?
June 24, 2008
Toronto Tuesday: Selling the David Dunlop Observatory, Pride Week, and a lesson from WALL-E
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
David Dunlop Observatory Sold
The University of Toronto has announced its plans to sell the David Dunlop Observatory. Located in Richmond Hill, the building was home to the discovery of black holes in the 1970s. This choice was made on the grounds that David Dunlop's memory could be better preserved ...
The hits just keep on comin’
By Julie Fournier // 4 Comments
4Public transit workers okay strike mandate: 'Bargaining tool'; Might walk if wages remain frozen in '07 | It's a safe bet there will be snow on the ground when city drivers walk out. A couple of perhaps-premature scare stories about the idea of a public-transit strike.
4Montreal transit cards sidelined because (oh, Montreal!) they were too confusing to people. The six-trip cards won't be sold again ...
July 9th, 2008
Photo du jour: Ontario Street
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Ontario seen from Valois in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
September 25, 2007
Crosswalk pranks
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Thanks to Fagstein, I've been introduced to Improv Everywhere's new Urban Prankster blog, including its latest post, with video footage of some creative sidewalk pranks in France and Israel.
"I can’t imagine any Montreal driver having such patience. Or, for that matter, stopping at the crosswalk in the first place," he writes, and I would have to agree. How would you pull stunts like these in a city where drivers don't even stop for pedestrians in the first place?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvsYl-MX1HI[/youtube]
July 10th, 2008
Photo du jour: Forgotten wall
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Old wall in a parking lot near Victoria Square. May 28, 2008
Beijing: Public exercise spaces
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Megan Hall, Spacing Toronto's correspondent in Beijing this summer, wrote a very interesting post on public exercise equipment in Beijing's parks and playgrounds. Back in April, I stayed in Beijing for two weeks, and also had the opportunity to discover how Beijingers invested the public spaces to keep in shape. Megan's post inspired me to do a quick search of my own through my photo collection.
For ...
Fantasia and Nomad Circle: outdoor movies this weekend
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Chinatown is the place to be this weekend for all those who like to combine interesting film with public space. (Isn't everything better when you do it outdoors?) In the Parc de la Paix, just outside the Chinatown gates on St. Laurent near René Lévesque, Fantasia is teaming up with the SAT to host a series of movies, music and visual performances. Show up tomorrow night at 9pm and you'll be able to catch some of the best animated shorts shown at last year's edition of the festival. Check out the Fantasia website for ...
July 11th, 2008
Photo du jour: Monsieur Hot Dog
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Old diner sign, now gone, on Sherbrooke near Concordia's Loyola campus.
March 29, 2007
July 12th, 2008
Photo du jour: Dairy Queen
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Dairy Queen on Bellechasse near Christophe-Colomb in Rosemont.
May 17, 2008
The Saturday paper
By Julie Fournier // 1 Comment
4Attention à la dermatite du baigneur. Grossness at lac Mephrémagaog.
4Un homme de 60 ans entre la vie et la mort | Montreal pedestrian in critical condition after being hit by car while crossing against a red light.
4La STM fait la guerre aux fraudeurs. New systems bring new problems.
4...
Montreal’s public washrooms
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
La Presse has taken upon itself to evaluate the state of Montreal's public washrooms. While this might seem, in some respects, like an exercise in summer-brand Journalism Lite, it's actually a pretty important topic. Public toilets are an essential but woefully overlooked aspect of public space, if only because they enable people to actually use that space --- after all, everybody's gotta pee at some point or another, and it just isn't right to expect them to run home or into a private business to relieve themselves. For people who spent most of their time in the ...
July 14th, 2008
Photo du jour: Colonial
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
Montreal is often compared to Boston, in the kind of good twin/evil twin way, but it's rare to find any sort of American colonial architecture here. This corner in NDG is the exception.
July 2, 2008
July 15th, 2008
Photo(s) du jour: Red Light District
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Back in the winter, when Montreal was a completely different city, I interviewed lighting designer Axel Morgenthaler about his work in the Quartier des spectacles. You can see some of his work in front of the SAT, where I found myself last Thursday during Pecha Kucha night.
Toronto Tuesday: Rethinking the suburban arts, the Queen Street Market’s story, and passive-aggressive posters at the AGO
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
An afternoon on Toronto's Center Island.
Exhibition Review
In his review of "Fringe Benefits: Cosmopolitan Dynamics of a Multicultural City," currently showing at Toronto's Design Exchange, Dylan Reid tempts readers to expand the geographical barriers of what they perceive to be Toronto's cultural core. In the second edition of this post, he elaborates on the exhibit's theme of "informal urbanism," looking at how suburban communities transform their space to accommodate their needs.
This Ain't the St. Lawrence Market
Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler takes a look at the history of the Queen Street market- an inconspicuous building on Queen ...
Dancing in the streets
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-2EuNC5ejk[/youtube]
One of my favourite things about summer in Montreal is the sheer abundance of street closures. Of course, they aren't closures at all, they're openings --- streets given over to pedestrians. This past weekend, cars were banned from at least seven areas, including most of the streets in the Latin Quarter, all of Ste. Catherine St. in the Village, Plaza St. Hubert, Crescent St. and, most impressively, the entire two-kilometre stretch of Ste. Catherine from St. Urbain to St. Marc. Although it was pouring rain for most of Sunday, Saturday was a perfect day to get out and explore the ...
July 16th, 2008
Photo du jour: Lonely House
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Towers Street in the downtown west end. July 1, 2008
Mid-week headlines
By Julie Fournier // 4 Comments
4Discrimination raciale: Des agents du SPVM sont blâmés
4Agression dans Côte-des-Neiges: une adolescente se rend
4Road deaths less than in '07: SAAQ but there has been in increase in the last few weeks.
4Moins de journées de smog | Quatre fois moins de smog cet été. I guess that's good news.
4...
Roadsworth, the movie
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Roadsworth's notoriety, already well-entrenched in Montreal and the art world, is about to spread. Director Alan Kohl and the National Film Board have just released a new documentary about Peter Gibson and his imaginative stencil graffiti. Here's the official synopsis to accompany the six-minute trailer you can see above:
Roadsworth: Crossing the Line details a Montreal stencil artist’s clandestine campaign to make his mark on the city streets. As he is prosecuted at home and celebrated abroad, Roadsworth struggles to defend his work, define himself as an artist and address difficult questions ...
Making the ad creeps pay
By Julie Fournier // 1 Comment
In an interesting case from the Pacific Northwest, the city of Portland, Oregon, is suing employment-classifieds site Jobdango for the almost $5500 it cost to remove hundreds of illegal chalk advertisements the company placed on sidewalks last fall. The suit was filed by the city after waiting ten months for the company to pay the fines they were issued.
The September Jobdango ad campaign was essentially a big old middle finger to the city of Portland, ...
Sidewalk-cleaning graffiti
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Guerilla advertising in the form of sidewalk stencils is nothing new---Julie's post below details the city of Portland's lawsuit against one company that made persistent use of this medium, which is illegal---but a series of Telus ads I saw recently on McGill College Avenue struck me as unusual. Instead of being painted on the surface of the sidewalk, the advertisements are actually created by removing dirt from a particularly grimy section of it.
As with most forms of guerilla advertising, this one has its origins in street art: in this case, a peculiar form of ...
July 17th, 2008
Photo du jour: Delivery
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
La Gauchetière near St. Urbain. July 9, 2008
July 18th, 2008
Photo du jour: Canal bridge
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
I have a confession: if I were riding my bike and I came across this bridge, I probably wouldn't dismount either.
Lachine Canal at the Atwater Market, July 8, 2008
July 19th, 2008
Photo du jour: Boxes
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
La Gauchetière at St. Laurent. July 9, 2008
Saturday headlines
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
4Large pothole shuts Turcot ramp in Montreal | Hole discovered in Montreal's Turcot interchange | Travaux d'urgence | Un trou sur l'échangeur Turcot provoque une congestion. This doesn't come as much of a surprise to me, considering the conversation I had with a friend recently about how when we're on the Turcot we just close our eyes and pray we make it to the other side.
4Montreal man charged in sex assaults of 4 prostitutes | Police ask alleged sexual assault victims of ...
July 20th, 2008
Photo du jour: Kien Vinh
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
St. Laurent near La Gauchetière. July 9, 2008
‘Transit freak’ stole Dade buses for kicks
By Julie Fournier // 1 Comment
Here's an odd little story from Florida. On June 1st, an 18-year-old transit fan, James Harris, walked straight past security guards at the Miami-Dade Transit bus depot and selected a bus, which he then used to pick up fares on the 123 South Beach Local route. He was wearing a uniform he'd been given by bus drivers he'd befriended, one of whom later reported him.
While out on bail for burglary and grand theft, Harris took another bus from a different depot. Dispatch used the on-board GPS to locate the bus, ...
Walking Outremont’s parks
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
On a warm day---or, even better, on a warm night---I like to walk through Outremont. It's one of Montreal's most picturesque boroughs, with streets as orderly and genteel as many of its inhabitants. Like Westmount, Outremont was conceived almost from the beginning as an enclave of the well-to-do. Building codes mandated large setbacks, abundant greenery and the use of high-quality building materials in order to keep housing costs high. Architectural features perceived as unsightly and working-class, like outdoor staircases, were banned.
One happy consequence of all this was that Outremont ended up with a collection of ...
July 21st, 2008
Photo du jour: Strange house
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
I've walked up the block of Rose de Lima between Notre Dame and St. Ambroise many times, but for some reason I only recently noticed this odd house tucked away between two small duplexes. The the entire thing must be no more than 15 feet wide; it appears to be crooked, too, as if it were cowering under the stern glare of the Atwater Market's clock tower.
July 8, 2008
The Gazette wants your transit complaints
By Christopher DeWolf // 22 Comments
The Gazette wants to hear you complain about public transit. Oops, sorry -- I mean it wants you to ask intelligent questions about public transit. That's the goal of a new column that invites questions from readers that will be answered by someone from the STM. In the inaugural edition, one reader asks why the metro car doors close so quickly. "I was caught between the doors about a month ago and thankfully, my backpack took most of the blow. I bore a bruise on my upper arm for almost a month due to this ...
July 22nd, 2008
Photo du jour: Bernard Street, Outremont
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Bernard at Champagneur, Outremont
July 7, 2008
Toronto Tuesday: Streetcars, a San Franciscan on Toronto and a lesson from Shanghai
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
A scene from Streets are for Picnics, held on July 13th.
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts with you from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
TTC suspends streetcar purchases
Toronto’s bright red streetcars are a unique and wonderful part of the city’s character. The current vehicles, however, no longer live up to the Toronto's transportation needs. Last month, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone announced plans for 120 kilometers of new light rail tracks and the addition of new and accessible ...
July 23rd, 2008
Photo du jour: Bernard Street, Mile End
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Bernard at Esplanade, Mile End
July 7, 2008
Mid-week news overview
By Julie Fournier // 2 Comments
Billboards are here to stay, city says. (A proposed bylaw in provincial capital would ban the signs from its territory.)
Opération économie d'essence à la police | New wheels are causing a stir: article includes a Youtube link to show the cops' new T3 Motions in action.
Gay Village is in full party mode - and loving it. This story doesn't mention the objections made by emergency workers earlier in the summer about access, but it does tell us that ...
Montreal in the 1950s and 60s
By Christopher DeWolf // 19 Comments
The NFB is about to release La mémoire des anges, a new film by Luc Bourdon about life in 1950s and 60s Montreal, created by stitching together footage from the NFB's vast archives. If this trailer is any indication, it will be an absolutely fascinating look at a city that, for all intents and purposes, no longer exists. The Montreal you see here is brash and cocky, a self-assured metropolis still unaware that it would be forced to suffer a prolonged existential crisis in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
Thanks to Kate ...
Montage du jour : Le cinéma Loew’s
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1924-2008
Vers 1915, l'exploitation cinématographique est en plein essor. Ainsi donc, les cinémas de type «super palaces» conçu pour attirer une clientèle plus aisées firent leur apparition à Montréal.
Construit en 1917, le cinéma Loew's était alors doté de toutes les caractéristique d'un «super palace». On y accédait depuis la rue Sainte-Catherine par un immeuble de faible envergure qui donnait sur un hall tout en longueur. La salle de spectacle était dotée d'un foyer principal orientant la ...
July 24th, 2008
Photo du jour : L’ange
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Dimanche aux tam-tams, le 6 juillet 2008
Treestump Garden
By Sherwin Tjia // 3 Comments
The other day while biking up Laval st. in the Plateau, I passed by this entirely charming reclamation of a treestump. It was obvious that someone had lovingly filled the hollow with black soil and planted this pretty array of flowers and plants. I liked it so much I had to take a picture. Usually I examine stumps very closely out of sheer curiousity. I like to count the rings and figure out how old a tree that big is. Sometimes they have graffiti carved into them. But this discovery was ...
July 25th, 2008
Photo du jour: Mets chinois
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
It's always a delight to find an old sign like this that uses that hilariously clichéd and outdated font, Rickshaw, which surely ranks with Comic Sans as one of the biggest groaners in the world of typefaces.
Sherbrooke Street West in NDG. July 2, 2008
July 26th, 2008
Weekend news
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
4Good news: Raw sewage flows back to right place. City workers say 48 Isle des Soeurs households' toilets were flushing right into the river.
4A greener way to park it. Montreal à Velo holds a "park-in" at a parking spot on Mount-Royal near St-Denis, but got busted after two hours.
4Tornado-like waterspouts seen in Montreal this past Wednesday.
4L'autoroute Ville-Marie encore entravée: "Après la découverte de trois piliers fracturés, des travaux imprévus qui se sont ...
July 27th, 2008
Photo du jour : Autoroute 15, Ville Mont-Royal
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
A subtle stretch of autoroute Décarie (highway 15, between the 20 and 40), which is the main artery bringing traffic to downtown Montreal from the north, belongs in Ville Mont-Royal (Town Mount Royal - or TMR). In fact, few people realize that between what was formerly Ville-St-Laurent (now a borough of Montreal) and Côte-St-Luc, lies a outgrowth of TMR that mostly consists of industries, including Kraft Foods' Montreal factory (it might smell of KD cheese mix when you pass on ...
Policing our parks
By Christopher DeWolf // 19 Comments
In last week's edition of Hour, Jamie O'Meara in last week's Hour touched on the behaviour of Montreal's police in city parks, and in particular their arbitrary enforcement of closing hours, which last from 11pm to 6am in most parks and midnight to 6am in others. (The article has already been taken offline, but you can see a Google cache version here.) I'm willing to bet that most Montrealers have made a late-night excursion into some park or another without any trouble. Every so often, though, an unlucky few are targeted by police, who seem ...
July 28th, 2008
Photo du jour: Laneway soccer
By Chris Erb // 6 Comments
Two kids try to play a couple more minutes of soccer in a Villeray alley before yet another unexpected rainfall forced them inside.
Photo taken July 20, 2008
A trip to Montreal East
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
Earlier this month, Montreal City's Kate McDonnell took a trip with her friend Ben Soo to Montreal East, where they poked around the vast industrial areas that make up most of the small, overlooked town on the east end of Montreal Island. Kate posted some shots on Urbanphoto and wrote a bit about the place:
There’s always a tang of sulphur in the air from the hydrocarbon cracking. The streets are in poor shape and the sidewalks rudimentary: people mostly don’t walk here, they drive to and from work, and big tanker trucks ...
July 29th, 2008
Photo du jour: Harper sucks!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Graffiti in an alley on the eastern Plateau, near Papineau and Mount Royal.
June 9, 2007
Toronto Tuesday: The Igor Effect, rising ROM prices and instant downtowns
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
The Igor Effect
Discourse on bike security has snowballed in the Toronto media since the recent arrest of Bicycle Clinic owner Igor Kenk. Police found Kenk's shop to be filled with stolen bikes, and have found thousands of bikes connected to his business hidden in warehouses around the city. Dylan Reid argues that this event and the publicity surrounding it could lead to a major change in Toronto's bike security, if the community seizes this opportunity.
The ROM- How much is too much?
The ROM's alluring exterior may attract potential visitors, but its recent admission ...
Neighbourhoods of Canada, unite!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Not too long ago I picked up a copy of an interesting little zine, Savfaire, from the counter of a Mile End boutique. Now, with the launch of its second issue, featuring a cover illustration by Jack Dylan, I'm even more intrigued.
Based in Vancouver, but loaded with contributions from Toronto and Montreal, Savfaire has turned its attention to the neighbourhoods of those three cities, travelling all the way from Park Ex to Mount Pleasant via NDG, Rexdale and Gastown, among others. Even Beaconsfield gets a nod with ...
Mount Royal by bike — at night
By Christopher DeWolf // 8 Comments
For years, I ignored the brooding hulk of Mount Royal at night, pausing only occasionally to contemplate the shape of its silhouette or the glow of the cross atop it. It was only recently that I actually began to venture onto the mountain after dark, well after most park-goers head home, and when the woods become especially dark and spooky. Sometimes I would head up to its lower reaches, alone or with friends, to lie on the grass, drink some beer and look out over the city. On a couple of occasions, I biked all the ...
Montage du jour : La caserne d’incendie #16
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1896-2008
Cette caserne d'incendie située au coin des rue Rachel et Amherst fut construite en 1894.
July 30th, 2008
Photo du jour: Place d’Armes metro
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Corner of Viger and St. Urbain, just outside Place d'Armes metro.
July 24, 2007
Montage du jour : La rue Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1890-2008
La rue Notre-Dame avant et après le prolongement vers le sud du boulevard St-Laurent.
Mid-week headlines
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
4Artificial soccer turf a health hazard, Jeanne-Mance Park users say [CBC.ca]
4Le tarif réduit passera par l'Opus [Radio-Canada.ca] | La STM cible d'abord les étudiants pour la carte OPUS [La Presse] | Les étudiants feront l'essai de la carte Opus [LCN] | New student bus passes useless to thieves [Montreal Gazette]
4Woman killed by bus [Montreal Gazette] Not many details, but the incident ...
Bike movies every Friday in August
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Kate Molleson, who runs the Gazette's On Two Wheels cycling blog, received an email last week telling her about a series of bike-themed movies that will take place every Friday evening for the rest of the summer. Last Friday's movie was Les Triplettes de Belleville and there are a number of other great films that will be screened in August.
Each night will begin with a group ride leaving from Parc de la Bolduc (Rachel + Berri) at 8:45 pm. Email me at jacques_gallant@hotmail.com for info, if looks like it might rain, or to ...
Get your bus schedules on the fly
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Students will start getting their Opus cards soon, but for those who have snapped up Apple's iPhone, perhaps from the shiny new Apple Store on Ste. Catherine Street, will get to play with a new transit-related application. STM Mobile, available for download from Apple for 99 cents, is an attractive and interactive timetable for the STM's bus and metro lines. As Fagstein notes, however, the poor saps who are still using humdrum mobile phones can always turn to busmob.com, a lightweight website that also contains timetable information.
If you're one of ...
July 31st, 2008
Photo du jour: Supermarket
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
St. Laurent near La Gauchetière. October 9, 2005
Notes from Calgary: Scramble!
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
I'm in Calgary at the moment, en route to Hong Kong, where I will be doing a master's degree for the next couple of years. This is a fast-growing, fast-changing city, and there are a couple of interesting changes that I noticed while I was here. One of them is the introduction of two new scramble crossings in the Eau Claire neighbourhood of the city's downtown area.
Often associated with Tokyo's famous Shibuya Crossing, scramble crossings are in fact a North American invention, originating in Kansas City and Vancouver in the 1940s. Basically, the ...
Spacing Montreal wants YOU!
By Spacing // 2 Comments
It's been a little over a year since Spacing Montreal was officially launched. Since then, our readership has grown quickly, to nearly 2,000 unique visitors per day, and we've tackled a number of topics that were under-represented or absent in Montreal's media. Soon, though, a number of Spacing contributors will move on: Thomas Bernard-Kenniff is leaving for London, Christopher DeWolf is moving to Hong Kong and Misha Warbanski has already left for Whitehorse. We need new people to fill their shoes.
Spacing Montreal is dedicated to covering all aspects of public space and public life in ...
Spacing Montréal cherche des collaborateurs !
By Spacing // 3 Comments
Spacing Montréal a tout juste célébré son premier anniversaire de fondation cet été. Depuis lors, notre lectorat s'est élargi rapidement pour atteindre les 2000 visiteurs uniques par jour, et avons couvert plusieurs sujets alors sous-représentés ou encore juste absent des médias montréalais. Malgré cela, quelques uns des collaborateurs de Spacing partiront bientôt sous d'autres cieux : Thomas Bernard-Kenniff s'en va à Londres, Christopher DeWolf déménagera à Hong Kong et Misha Warbanski est déjà partie à Whitehorse. Nous avons besoin de gens qui prendront leur place.
Spacing Montréal est dédié à couvrir tous les aspects de l'espace public et ...
Montage du jour : La rue St-Antoine depuis le champs-de-mars
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1983-2008
“Pedestrian Modern” : Conférence au CCA ce soir
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // No Comments
QUOI: conférence Pedestian Modern par David Smiley
OÙ: CCA, 1920 rue Baile, métro Guy-Concordia
QUAND: 31 juillet 2008, 18h
RÉSERVATION NÉCESSAIRE! Appeler au 514 939 7001 x. 1409
Le Centre Canadien d'Architecture présente Pedestrian Modern: Stores, Shopping Centers and American Architecture, 1950, une conférence donnée par David Smiley, maître assistant d'architecture et études urbaines au Collège Barnard de l'Université Columbia.
La plupart des histoires architecturales du modernisme présentent les magasins et les centres commerciaux comme des entreprises secondaires, compromises et circonscrites, dépourvues de pertinence professionnelle ou disciplinaire.
Pedestrian Modern montre en revanche que les projets de vente au détail, petits et grands, ...
August 1st, 2008
Photo du jour: Liquidacion final
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
St. Laurent near Mount Royal. May 18, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Peel depuis la rue St-Jacques
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
Vers 1935-2008
August 2nd, 2008
Photo du jour: Khadija Assad
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Concert poster on Jean-Talon near Papineau.
May 21, 2007
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke depuis la rue Simpson
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1966-2008
L'église unitarienne située au coin des rues Sherbrooke et Simpson fut détruite lors d'un incendie allumé par un pyromane le 24 mai 1987. Les maisons en rangée situées autrefois à l'est de l'église furent quant à elles remplacées en 1966 par un immeuble de 33 étages nommé le Port Royal.
Près de 20 ans plus tard, les ruines de l'église furent démolies et une luxueuse tour de 12 étages comprenant 36 unité de condominiums est actuellement en construction sur le ...
Hydroelectricity’s Landscape
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Les Escaliers des Géants: Spillway of the Robert Bourassa Hydroelectric Dam. Photo by Lily Pan, June 24th 2008. Used with permission.
1300 kilometers north of Montreal, I have reached the end of the road.
To the west, the town of Radisson perches below the Robert Bourassa (LG-2) hydroelectric complex, buzzing under a thick forest of electrical towers. To the east, towards James Bay, lies the infamously displaced Cree community of Chisasibi.
Montrealers have all, indreictly, had a hand shaping the landscape of this remote hinterland. Our city is connected to this place by a direct lifeline or, more precisely, by over 60,000 kms of aluminum powerlines.
Second-hand happiness in a tiny, tiny park
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
I doubt many people think of the Parc du Bonheur d'occasion as a park. A small plaza, sure, or maybe a glorified bus stop, but not a park. Sure enough, though, this small triangle of greenery, at the corner of Rose de Lima and Notre Dame streets in St. Henri, is an officially designated park, and one named after a particularly important work of Canadian literature to boot.
In today's Gazette, I take a look at this park and ask city officials why it even exists. Turns out that the folks in City Hall, as helpful as they ...
August 3rd, 2008
Montage du jour : Le théâtre du nouveau monde
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1960-2008
L'édifice moderne que nous connaissons aujourd'hui s'est passablement transformé depuis sa construction en 1912.
En effet, les lieux servirent de théâtre de 1912 à 1932, de cinéma de 1932 à 1941 et redevinrent un théâtre après 1941.
En 1956, l'acteur Gratien Gélinas acheta la bâtisse et la fit rénover. Le théâtre portait alors le nom de la «Comédie canadienne».
Enfin, le Théâtre du nouveau monde fut totalement remodelé en 1997 afin de répondre aux ...
Photo du jour: Giant rabbit
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Alley near Pine and St. Urbain. June 5, 2008
Norvick, Saint-Laurent
By Mathieu Payette-Hamelin // 5 Comments
Il y a de ces secteurs qui semblent directement sortis d’une autre époque. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais les quartiers de war time housing m’ont toujours fait cette impression. Norvick, un secteur de ville Saint-Laurent, fait parti de ces ensembles résidentiels construits pendant la Deuxième Guerre par le gouvernement fédéral pour y loger les ouvriers attachés à l’effort de guerre. J’avais déjà visité ce secteur de la ville il y a quelques années, si bien qu’en me promenant sur la piste cyclable longeant la rivière des Prairies, j’ai décidé de ...
August 4th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue McGill college
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1920-2008
La photographie ci-dessus nous présente l'hôtel prince de Galles qui occupait alors les maisons situées aux numéros 17 et 19 de l'avenue McGill college.
En effet, cette rue, autrefois à vocation purement résidentielle, était bordée de part et d'autre de maisons en rangée construites vers 1875.
Photo du jour: Dorchester Square
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Dorchester Square, which is still widely known by its original name, Dominion Square, is set for a makeover. $3.5 million will be invested in giving it, along with the adjacent Place du Canada, "a little contemporary twist," according to one landscape architect working on the project. Something tells me the picnic tables that currently dot the squares will be scrapped.
August 5th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’église Baptiste de l’oratoire
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1910-2008
L'église Baptiste de l'oratoire, probablement démolie au cours des années 1960, occupait en 1910 les numéros civiques 14 à 20 de la rue Jeanne-Mance.
This weekend~cette fin de semaine: 2008 Fête Bio-Paysanne
By Julie Fournier // 2 Comments
Cette fin de semaine, de vendredi à dimanche, La Tohu (une organization qui est associer avec l'École nationale de cirque) sera l'hôte de la cinquième édition de la Fête Bio-Paysanne.
Je n'ai pas y allé encore mais cette année je suis heureux d'y aller. La site Web à beaucoup des détails qui je ne vais pas raconter içi, mais attendez le marché, échantillons alimentaires, animaux de ferme, visites guidées du Complexe environnemental de Saint-Michel, et plus. J'espère que le méteo sera coopérer!
Maintenant, je voudrais savoir comment y aller en ...
Photo du jour: Porte cochère
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Looking through a porte cochère into a St. Henri courtyard.
July 8, 2008
Toronto Tuesday: Beijing, poor tree planting and Old Markham
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Beijing’s central axis
Beijing correspondent Megan Hall traces the development of the city’s central axis from its earliest buildings to the erection of the Water Cube and the Birds nest, designed specifically for the Beijing Olympics.
Tree Neglect
Despite the fact that raised concrete planters are some of the worst homes for trees, they are found all over the city of Toronto. Matt Blackett takes a look at one particular patch of trees that have clearly not benefited from the numerous torrential downpours that have made this the wettest Toronto summer in recorded local history ...
Tree Tuesday: The Amur Maple
By Bronwyn Chester // 6 Comments
Editor's note: We're pleased to introduce a new weekly column by the writer and tree enthusiast Bronwyn Chester. Each Tuesday, Bronwyn will guide Spacing Montreal readers around the trees of Montreal; if you're keen to know more, she also offers regular tree tours of Montreal's parks and neighbourhoods. We'll post details before each tour.
Welcome to the first week of Tree Tuesday, an offshoot of Spacing Toronto’s column of the same name. Like Todd Irvine of Toronto Tree Tours, I’m convinced that knowing more about our silent, woody neighbours makes life in the city just ...
“Tempest in a beer cup”
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
The Globe and Mail turned its attention to the summer pedestrianization of Ste. Catherine St. in the Village today, focusing in particular on the controversy over the local merchants' association's requirement that all of the street's bars, café and restaurants serve only Labatt's products on their terrasses. It includes a couple of quotes from yours truly, along with some interesting comments from Steve Davies, VP of the New York-based Project for Public Spaces.
Across North America, summer festivals run by private entities take over parks and streets, often with exclusive rights to allow access and to sell ...
August 6th, 2008
Photo du jour: Filles
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
School on Côte des Neiges Road. July 12, 2008
Montage du jour : La caserne d’incendie #10
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
La caserne d'incendie numéro 10 était autrefois située sur la rue Sainte-Catherine près de l'intersection de la rue Guy. Un immeuble à logements construit en 1935 occupe aujourd'hui les lieux.
Beijing’s Nanluogu Xiang: hutongs for tourists
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
For the entire first week of my two-week stay in Beijing last April, my host, an American-Chinese living in Beijing, has been chanting me praises of Nanluogu Xiang (Nanluogu Lane or 南锣鼓巷 in Chinese characters), a narrow alleyway (also called "hutong") typical of Beijing, at the heart of the city, now lined with trendy shops and Western-style cafés catering to an expat and tourist crowd.
Nanluogu Xiang is located on Beijing's central axis, described by Spacing Toronto's Megan Hall ...
Bubble battle this Saturday
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Flashmob and urban prank enthusiasts will want to head down to Phillips Square on Saturday, where a mischievous/playful group of people will be staging a "bubble battle" at 4pm. Here's more information from the event's Facebook page:
This Saturday, come blow bubbles with us at Phillips Square. Watch people's eyes light up as millions of bubbles soar majestically through the air. Bring friends, cameras and, of course, what you need to create bubbles
I guess that's all there is to it. Don't forget to bring your bubbles.
via Fagstein
Photo of bubble battle in New York by MacRonin47
August 7th, 2008
Photo du jour: Rainy days
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Ogilvy Street in Park Ex. July 22, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Antoine depuis la Place Jean-Paul Riopelle
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2008
The Greek goddess at Pine and Park
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Last year, Montrealers were invited to share their visions for the new Pine/Park interchange. Eventually, something will be done with the two parcels of land straddling Park Avenue just south of Pine, but for the time being, they are sitting empty, covered with turf and nothing else. Glen Lemesurier, the Mile End artist whose sculpture garden along Van Horne Avenue, next to the CPR tracks, has won him a lot of attention, was fed up with the dilly-dallying, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. Earlier this week, he installed a sculpture made from ...
August 8th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’édifice Roger & King
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1891-2008
Le mur avant de cet édifice construit vers 1885 est maintenant devenu un bel exemple de façadisme. En effet, ce dernier fut intégré au Palais des congrès lors de son expansion.
Photo du jour: Gassing up
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Gas station at Sherbrooke and Jeanne-Mance. July 16, 2008
August 9th, 2008
Photo du jour: Down the hill
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
St. Urbain at Sherbrooke. July 16, 2008
The weather sucks, here’s some news
By Julie Fournier // 2 Comments
4Montreal's Chinatown Olympics celebration not hampered by cloudy skies | Cérémonies d'ouverture: Les yeux rivés sur Pékin The Olympics will be broadcast live at Sun Yat-Sen Park from 10am-10pm every day right up to the closing ceremonies.
4Agression sauvage sur un itinérant Awful.
4Guerre confirmée avec la mafia
4Cellulaire au volant: 1700 contraventions à Montréal This is interesting news. I was just thinking the other day while witnessing guy talking on his phone while ...
Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in Montreal Chinatown
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
On Friday morning, I went to Chinatown to watch the opening ceremony to the 2008 Olympic Games. Sun Yat-sen park was full by 7:45AM, when I arrived. As soon as the speeches were done, there was a lion dance, before the organizers switched off the mute button on the Radio-Canada Television feed. The crowd naturally reacted with ohs, ahs and applause to the best parts of the initial choreography, like the switch blocks that formed the ancient and modern representations ...
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine depuis la rue Guy
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1909-2008
August 10th, 2008
Photo du jour: Van Horne shadows
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Van Horne at Waverly. July 11, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison Shaughnessy
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1924-2008
La maison Shaughnessy, composée de 2 résidences construites en 1874 est maintenant intégrée au Centre Canadien d'architecture. Lors des travaux de transformation en musée, l'ajout construit en 1897 sur la maison est fut malheureusement démoli. Cette partie comportait à l'origine, 2 chambres de domestiques au sous-sol ainsi qu'un cellier, une salle de billard au rez-de-chaussée, 1 chambre à l'étage et enfin, 2 chambres additionnelles au 3e niveau.
L’Institut Marie-Clarac, un ensemble moderne à Montréal-Nord
By Mathieu Payette-Hamelin // 2 Comments
C’est entre le boulevard Gouin et Henri-Bourassa, juste à l’est du boulevard Saint-Michel, que se situe l’Institut Marie-Clarac, l’un des plus intéressants exemples d’architecture moderne de l’arrondissement de Montréal-Nord. Composé d’un hôpital, d’une école et d’un couvent, cet ensemble conventuel fut construit entre 1963 et 1965 pour la congrégation des Sœurs de la Charité de Sainte-Marie par l’architecte Pierre Cantin.
C’est en plein boom immobilier que Cantin conçoit l’ensemble sur un terrain bordant la rivière des Prairies. S’il était à l’origine l’un ...
August 11th, 2008
Photo du jour: Faces
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
In the alley behind St. Michael's Church, near St. Viateur St., July 10, 2008
Montage du jour : Le cinéma Rivoli
By Guillaume St-Jean // 10 Comments
Vers 1984-2008
Construit en 1926, le cinéma Rivoli ferma ses portes en 1982. Le somptueux décor intérieur fut alors démoli et remplacé par les étagères métallique d'une pharmacie.
Scenes from away
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Early in 2007, when the city was under cover of snow, somebody stapled pictures of lush gardens and inviting squares onto the wooden hydro poles around Mile End. "This is where we make good on life," it was written below one of the photos. It was a nice gesture, reminding us that gentler weather was ahead, and perhaps commenting in on the state of our public spaces by showing examples of good urban design.
Last month, the same person (or maybe just an imitator) stapled new photos around Mile End. This time, though, they depict ...
Radiant City
By Catherine Vandermeulen // No Comments
DocVille is presenting Radiant City at Cinema du Parc Thursday the 14th @ 19:00. Christopher Gobeil a spokesperson for the Committee for the Sustainable Redevelopment of Griffintown will be moderating a debate after the screening.
DocVille présente "Radiant City" au Cinéma du Parc Jeudi le 14 @ 19h00. La projection sera suivie d'un débat avec Christopher Gobeil, porte-parole du Comité pour le sain redéveloppement de Griffintown.
Pour plus d'information - For more information: http://www.ridm.qc.ca/fr/accueil.html
August 12th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le théâtre Monkland
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1984-2008
Construit en 1929, le théâtre Monkland, qui comportait alors 1500 places fut le premier théâtre au Canada à être conçu spécialement pour le cinéma parlant. En 1985, l'intérieur du théâtre fut totalement détruit et l'édifice est utilisé depuis à des fins commerciales.
Toronto Tuesday: A sacred tree on Queen, the Igor saga continues, and a pomo promo
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
A Sacred Tree on Queen
In response to the mysterious destruction of a tree stump on Queen Street that has functioned as a canvas for public graffiti, Matthew Backett asks Spacing readers what should take its place.
What should be done with Igor's bikes?
A couple of weeks ago I summarized an article about infamous Toronto bike thief Igor Kenk. This week Dylan Reid puts forth ...
Photo du jour: Strange shrine
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Toronto just lost its beloved "graffiti tree" on Queen Street West, but we still have our... whatever it is. I came across this strange collection of flowers, stuffed animals, Christmas decorations and magazine clippings in Little Italy, near Dante Street. I have no idea if it's maintained permanently or if it was a one-off thing. Either way, it's pretty oddball.
Incredible online map collection
By Julie Fournier // No Comments
The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, started in the 1980s and digitized gradually over the last 10 years, now has over 18,000 maps available online.
One of the maps, Montreal 1815, can be overlaid with varying transparency on Google Maps to demonstrate the tiny boundaries of 1815 Montreal compared to today's metropolis.
There are so many ways to view this massive collection I can't even begin to make a recommendation (the site itself could use some maps) so start at the home page and ...
Our friend, Côte-de Liesse
By Julie Fournier // 1 Comment
I had an opportunity to spend some time on l'Autoroute de la Côte-de-Liesse on foot one rainy day last week. Don't ask — just trust that I sometimes make decisions like these on very little sleep.
The picture I posted not only depicts the industrial/commercial blight one is immersed in on Côte-de-Liesse, but somehow also captures the emotional state the area imposes on a pedestrian. So far as I could tell, everything is walkable — sidewalks line the road, and where cross-streets ...
Tree Tuesday / Le mardi des arbres: The American elm (Ulmus americana, Orme d’Amérique)
By Bronwyn Chester // 8 Comments
Many thanks for the warm reception of last week’s inaugural column. One thing I forgot to mention was that the language of the column will alternate from week to week. Alors, la semaine prochaine, cherchez Le mardi des arbres.
Tree Tuesday reader “Sid” wondered about the fate of the elm in Montreal. Was the iconic parasol-shaped tree of farmers’ fields and grand city streets wiped out by Dutch elm disease? As you will conclude from this photo taken at the corner of McTavish and Dr. Penfield streets: No, not completely. The elm – the American elm that ...
August 13th, 2008
Photo du jour: Concrete and glass
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Concordia's EV building and an apartment building behind it.
September 13, 2005
Montage du jour : L’hôpital Royal-Victoria
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1920-2008
Il fut un temps où les aires de stationnements publics n'existaient pas...
What to make of the Montreal North riots?
By Christopher DeWolf // 26 Comments
[youtube]uZ_kgFcFGy8[/youtube]
Montreal is no stranger to riots. Over the course of its history, it has seen political riots, sports riots, nationalist riots and punk riots. From 1844 to 1849, Montreal was the capital of a united Canada, but imperial authorities stripped it of that status after rioters (most of them conservatives angry over the supposedly light punishment given to the 1838/39 rebels) trashed and burned down the colonial parliament. A little over a century later, Montrealers angry over the suspension of Maurice Richard left Ste. Catherine St. in tatters; the Richard Riot, as it was known, signalled the dawn of the ...
“Point de rencontre” in Cabot Square
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? "Point de rencontre," an artistic intervention in Cabot Square
WHERE? Cabot Square, corner of Ste. Catherine and Atwater
WHEN? August 1st through 15th 2008, between 9:30 AM & 12:30 PM and 1:30 PM & 4:30 PM
DON'T MISS! Picnic and vernissage, August 15th 2008, between 6:00 PM & 9:00 PM
Dare-Dare, the artist-run centre that made great use of its site in Mile End's "Park With No Name," has decamped for the west end of downtown, where it is now occupying Cabot Square. "Point de rencontre," an artistic intervention that will take place until Friday, when it will ...
Public underwear art battle on Thursday
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
WHAT? Lunchtime art battle against cancer
WHERE? Victoria Square
WHEN? Thursday, August 14th, between noon and 2:30pm
An underwear-themed "art battle" will take place in Victoria Square tomorrow afternoon to raise awareness about "cancers below the waist" (such as prostate, colorectal, cervical and ovarian) and to benefit the Jewish General Hospital's research on those cancers.
Several noted Montreal artists are squaring off in an “art battle” to raise awareness about the Segal Cancer Centre’s Underwear Affair. Local artists, Arnaud Bayssett, Stephanie Bush, Dana Dale Lee, and Peter Farmer will be painting large pairs of underwear on canvasses right before ...
“Hampstead still hates the environment”
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Back when areas like the Plateau were considered old, decrepit and nasty, rather than trendy and desirable, a number of affluent suburbs did all they could to distance themselves from the working-class neighbourhoods downtown. One popular move was to ban clotheslines, which were considered unsightly and indicative of poverty --- after all, only those who couldn't afford dryers would hang their clothes outside.
Now, of course, it's well-understood that dryers are inefficient energy hogs and clotheslines are a perfectly effective and energy-saving way of drying clothes. In fact, drying clothes in the sun actually has ...
August 14th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’église Saint-Jacques
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
August 15th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke depuis la rue Sainte-Famille
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1955-2008
Up the Yangtze encore at the Forum
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
If you didn't get a chance to catch Montreal filmmaker Yung Chang's excellent documentary, Up the Yangtze, it will begin an encore run at the AMC Forum starting tonight, screening daily at 2:30, 5:00, 7:40 and 10:15.
Back by popular demand, Up the Yangtze will return to theatres this Friday August 15 for an open run at Montreal’s AMC Forum. The epic documentary provides another face to China not shown during the Olympic Games, exploring the lives of people living along the Yangtze River, forced to deal with flooding from the ...
Photo du jour: Vive la Commune!
By Chris Erb // 5 Comments
Corner of St-Hubert and Faillon, Villeray.
August 16th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’édifice du crédit foncier franco-canadien
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1911-2008
L'édifice du crédit foncier franco-canadien, construit entre 1907 et 1908 était autrefois situé aux coins des rues St-Jacques et St-Laurent. Cet immeuble dont les pierres furent importées des carrières de l'Indiana fut démoli à la fin des années 1960 pour être remplacé par la place de la justice.
Photo du jour: Satan’s gas station
By Chris Erb // 4 Comments
Gas station under construction at Beaubien Rosemont and Christophe-Colomb.
August 17th, 2008
Montage du jour : La synagogue Chevra Kadisha
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
Vers 1914-2008
Construite en 1903, la synagogue Chevra Kadisha, fréquentée par les juifs d'origine Polonaise se trouvait autrefois sur la rue St-Urbain, juste au sud du théâtre Gayety, aujourd'hui le TNM. Elle fut malheureusement détruite lors d'un incendie en 1920.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-10760§ion=196
VIEW-10760
Église Sainte-Germaine-Cousin, Pointe-aux-Trembles
By Mathieu Payette-Hamelin // 4 Comments
L’église Sainte-Germaine-Cousin, située dans l’arrondissement de Pointe-aux-Trembles, constitue sans aucun doute l’un des exemples d’architecture religieuse moderne les plus intéressants de l’île de Montréal. Construite par l’architecte Gérard Notebaert, elle se démarque par l’audace de ses formes ainsi que par sa forme pyramidale.
Cette église, qui fut construite entre 1960 et 1962, témoigne du renouveau de l’architecture des églises du Québec. Après le concile Vatican II, tenu à la fin des années 1950, l’architecture religieuse connaît une intense période d’expérimentation. C’est dans ce contexte d’exploration que Notebaert construit ...
August 18th, 2008
Photo du jour: Ad scooter
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
Maybe the companies that run ad trucks down the city's major streets finally realized how wasteful that was --- it now seems that at least some of them have switched to scooters. Kate McDonnell snapped this photo last week. "Two of these things zipped past me yesterday on Saint-Viateur," she wrote. "They may be slightly less damaging to the environment than the ones using pickup trucks, but they're just as ugly. And they're recruiting, so expect to see more.
Montage du jour : L’édifice de la compagnie Montréal Light Heat and Power
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1910-2008
Cet immeuble se situait aux coins des rues St-Antoine et St-Urbain.
On second thoughts, don’t bike here
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Photo taken Aug 14th, 2008 on De Maisonneuve near Vendome Metro.
It seems that the city has realized that white paint and good intentions alone do not guarantee cyclists' safety on the streets.
The bike chevrons indicating cyclists' right of way been blacked out along de Maisonneuve between Décarie Blvd and Claremont Ave. I'm hoping that those dotted lines are the first sign of a more enlightened plan for the hundreds of cyclists who commute downtown along this path each ...
Island life in Hong Kong
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
HONG KONG --- One of my favourite things about Hong Kong is its geographic diversity. In an area of just 1,100 square kilometres --- about twice the size of Montreal Island --- you'll find astoundingly dense urban areas, rural villages, country parks, mountains and dozens of islands. The islands are particularly noteworthy. Traditionally home to fishing villages, many are now laid-back escapes from the stress of city life, car-free and connected to the rest of the world only by ferries and the damp sea breeze.
Earlier this year, when I was last in Hong Kong, my girlfriend and I caught a late-afternoon ferry to Cheung Chau, a small but densely-populated island. Its name means "Long Island" in Cantonese and, on a map, you can spot it by its barbell-like shape: two chunky and misshapen pieces of land linked by a narrow isthmus. The ferry from Central, which takes about 30 minutes, brings you right to the heart of the isthmus, on which the bulk of Cheung Chau's population lives. On one side is a busy fishing harbour; on the other, a sandy beach.
The first thing you notice about Cheung Chau is the lack of cars. The island has been inhabited by centuries and most of its development has taken the form of tightly-packed buildings, few of them taller than three stories, set along narrow, winding streets. Pedestrians and bicycles rule the island; the only motorized vehicles are little gas-powered trucks used by the fishing industry and tiny electric police cars, fire trucks and ambulances. Coming from central Hong Kong, where bikes are used only by deliverymen, it's a pleasant surprise to find a community where they form an essential part of daily life. Hundreds of bikes are parked all along the waterfront promenade, and nobody bothers locking them, presumably because there's nowhere a thief could take them; anyone caught surreptitiously loading bikes onto a boat would probably be viewed with suspicion, to say the least.
August 19th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le bain Morgan
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1916-2008
Le bain Morgan, situé sur l'avenue Morgan fut construit en 1915.
Bien que l'extérieur soit resté le même, l'intérieur à quant à lui subit de nombreuses transformations depuis ses débuts.
Plusieurs éléments décoratifs intérieurs tels que des colonnes ainsi que les douches et bains privés qu'utilisaient autrefois les travailleurs des usines du quartier furent retirés en 1962. De plus, afin de mieux répondre aux besoins des familles d'aujourd'hui, l'édifice à subit une nouvelle cure de rajeunissement en 2005.
Bref, le bain Morgan est peut-être devenu ...
Photo du Jour: Free-for-all
By Chris Erb // No Comments
In April, a massive fire destroyed this apartment building on ave des Pins forcing over 100 people to move and rebuild their lives elsewhere. Since then, the windows have been boarded up and a huge blue tarp covers the top floor. However, the building's vacancy and the ample balconies running the entire length of the building have since created an easy blank slate for graffiti writers.
Photo taken August 15th, 2008.
Tree Tuesday/Les arbres du mardi : Le temps des cerises; le merisier, Prunus pensylvania, Pin cherry
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
Bonjour du Bas-du-fleuve où je suis en vacances. Avant de vous parler de l’arbre de ce mardi, le merisier, j’ai quelques commentaires par rapport à l’arbre du mardi dernier, l’orme d’Amérique. Bien des lecteurs avaient des souvenirs des ormes à raconter. Charles, de Côte-des-Neiges, a écrit qu’un des plus grands ormes à Montréal se trouve au Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges. Adam nous a rappelé que les ormes de Winnipeg sont encore nombreux à 200 000 et en bonne santé. Là-bas la maladie des ormes est arrivée seulement en 1975 tandis qu’à Montréal c’était en 1944, première ville atteinte ...
Toronto Tuesday: Streetcar turnaround, Atwood’s Toronto and the “Hug Me” tree
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Streetcar turnaround
According to the New York Times, North American streetcar use is on the rise. Citing the example of Cincinati’s streetcar resurgence, Monica Warzecha writes about the popularity of this time-honored means of urban transportation.
Atwood’s Toronto
Shawn Micallef has posted a link to a travel article on Toronto written in 1982 by Margaret Atwood, housed in the New York Times archives. Providing an account of ...
August 20th, 2008
Montage du jour : La morgue de la rue St-Antoine vue depuis le Champs-de-Mars
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2008
Conçu au départ comme une église méthodiste française, ce bâtiment de pierres située aux coins des rues St-Antoine et Sainte-Élisabeth fut vendu en 1909 à la compagnie H. Bourgie Limitée qui transforma alors l'édifice en morgue.
Photo du jour: Crotch shot
By Christopher DeWolf // 12 Comments
Urbania magazine has had some memorable covers over the years...
St. Laurent near Guilbeault
How much private involvement in our transit?
By Christopher DeWolf // 9 Comments
Yesterday, La Presse revealed that the Agence métropolitaine de transport has awarded a private company a contract to operate two "luxury" express bus lines. One will run between Vaudreuil and Côte-Vertu and another will connect the new Bell Canada campus on Nun's Island with the South Shore. Both routes will feature air-conditioned buses, more comfortable seats and possibly even wifi internet.
L’AMT a confirmé à La Presse, hier, que le consortium Transdev-Limocar s’est vu attribuer pour cinq ans les contrats d’exploitation des nouveaux autobus express qui seront mis en service dès septembre prochain, et dont personne ...
Cities at night from space
By Shawn Micallef // 2 Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEiy4zepuVE[/youtube]
A neat video showing photographs of cities from space with a resolution and quality not seen before. The ability of these rocket scientists to construct a mechanism to cancel out the earth’s orbital movement so the photo does not blur is amazing, though perhaps what one expects from rocket scientists.
If you can’t see it, this is the direct YouTube link.
Via the Creative Class blog.
August 21st, 2008
Montage du jour : Le Baxter block
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1915-2008
Le Baxter Block situé du 3660 au 3712 du côté ouest de la rue St-Laurent fut construit en 1892. Lors de sa conception, l'ensemble devait contenir 28 magasins, des logements aux étages supérieurs ainsi qu'une salle de théâtre de 2500 places. Le projet de théâtre ne vit jamais le jour.
Photo du Jour – Storm brewing over Place D’Armes
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo taken August 18th 2008.
August 22nd, 2008
Montage du jour : L’intersection de l’avenue du Parc et des Pins
By Guillaume St-Jean // 11 Comments
2005-2008
L'échangeur des Pins inauguré en 1962, fut démoli en 2005. Celui-ci est désormais remplacé par un tout nouveau carrefour dont l'aménagement, critiqué à maintes reprises, donna lieu à de nombreuses consultations publiques. En effet, tous les projets de nouvelles constructions furent finalement rejetés et le terrain fut transformé en espace vert.
From the NFB archives: 23 Skidoo
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
23 Skidoo
Julian Biggs, 1964, 8 min 12 sec
"If you erase the people of downtown America, the effect is bizarre, not to say disturbing. That is what this film does. It shows the familiar urban scene without a soul in sight: streets empty, buildings empty, yet everywhere there is evidence of recent life and activity. At the end of the film we learn what has happened."
The National Film Board recently launched a new digital archives, still in beta version, at which you can watch hundreds of films and animations. Through the ...
Main walking tour this weekend
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
WHAT? Walking tour of Mile End's Main
WHEN? Sunday, August 24th from 2pm to 5pm
WHERE Buy tickets at St. Laurent and Marie-Anne today, tomorrow and Sunday
HOW MUCH? $12
If you're heading down to the end-of-summer Main Madness this weekend, you might want to take a break from the crowds to explore a quieter part of the Main: this Sunday, Mile End Memories and Les Amis du boulevard Saint-Laurent will be hosting "The Voices of Mile End’s Main," a walking tour of St. Laurent Boulevard from Mount Royal to Van Horne.
Meet municipal politicians and owners who contributed ...
August 23rd, 2008
Montage du jour : L’hôtel Dominion
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Année inconnue-2008
Cet édifice, actuellement occupé par le Pub Dominion est situé sur la rue Metcalfe.
McGill University’s new life sciences buildings
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
In a past life, I was a university student in biochemistry at McGill University. Toward the end of my degree, there were talks that entrepreneur and scientist Dr. Francesco Bellini (who played a big role in Biochem Pharma, the maker of 3TC, an important drug for treating HIV) would give money to build a brand-new biological research centre at McGill University. The year was 2002.
Fast-forward to mid-2008: the Bellini building and the adjoining Cancer Pavillon ...
Photo du jour: Aiguisage Tony
By Christopher DeWolf // 16 Comments
I still find it amazing that there is a knife sharpener who drives around the city playing ice-cream-truck music.
June 10, 2008
Very local produce
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Please don't squeeze the tomatoes, reads a hand-written sign above a basket of oddly-shaped tomatoes at this veggie stand on Sherbrooke Street West. Stephen Homer, the friendly farmer behind the stand, easily convinced me to put down sixty cents for an organic purple heirloom tomato. He explained that the veggies were cultivated at Ferme du Zéphir, one of the only remaining farms on the Island of Montreal.
Homer divides his time between his home in NDG and an apartment near his farm in the West Island. ...
August 24th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’édifice de la Sun Life
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1918-2008
Inauguré en 1918, l'édifice de la Sun Life fut agrandi à maintes reprises depuis ses débuts. L'église Knox situé à l'est de l'immeuble fut démolie et remplacé en 1923 par une nouvelle aile s'étendant jusqu'à la rue Mansfield. En1927, une nouvelle phase d'agrandissement força la démolition de plusieurs résidences le long de la rue Metcalfe. Enfin, la tour de 24 étages débutée à l'automne 1929 fut complétés en 1933.
Photo du Jour – A Good Soaking
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Photo taken July 24th, 2008 in Westmount Park.
August 25th, 2008
Montage du jour : The Young Men’s Christian Association building
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1907-2007
L'immeuble du Y.M.C.A situé au coin des rues René-Lévesque, autrefois Dorchester, et Metcalfe fut démoli en 1914.
Photo du jour: Acadian houses
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
These houses at the bottom of L'Acadie Boulevard, right next to the metro station, have always struck me as a bit odd. They're completely unlike the rest of the housing stock in Park Ex and, in fact, they don't even look much like Montreal houses at all.
September 24, 2005
Showing the Olympics in Chinatown
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
It's hard to believe that the Olympics are now finished! "F-I-NI, fini", as you would say in the local idioms. This was a picture taken this Saturday of the outdoor presentation of Radio-Canada's coverage of the Beijing Games, from 9 to 9, in Parc Sun Yat-sen at the heart of Montreal's Chinatown. It was a remarkable use of this public space, as people of all ages gathered to watch....
From the NFB archives: Our Street Was Paved with Gold
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Our Street Was Paved with Gold
Albert Kish, 1973, 28 min 37 sec
"Filmmaker Albert Kish revisits Montreal's St Lawrence Boulevard - the Main - the road from the docks to the heart of immigrant Canada. This is a little Europe, a street of many languages, foods, and small courtesies that make a stranger feel at home. For the filmmaker his prevailing memory is of the seventeen steps of a walk-up apartment, but for all Canadians this film will evoke a shared multicultural experience."
The Main is easily the most nostalgic street in ...
The maybe-not by-election signs in Westmount—Ville-Marie
By Cédric Sam // 11 Comments
These signs are in the order at which each candidate's parties finished in the January 2006 election. Interestingly, none of these candidates ran in this riding during the last general election. According to the latest news, we may not even have this September 8th federal by-election, depending on how the game of chess unfolds this week.
Marc Garneau / Liberal Party...
Event Space / Espace Événements – August 26-31
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Starting in September, I will post a bi-weekly bilingual listing of events around town that explore public art, public space, architecture, urban planning and other favourite Spacing themes. To get things started, here are a few things going on around town this week. If you know of an event that would be of interest to SpacingMontreal readers, please contact me at alanah.montreal @ gmail.com
Débutant en Septembre, je rassemblerai une liste bilingue d'évenements locaux liés à l'art public, l'espace public, l'architecture, l'urbanisme, et les autres thèmes favories de Spacing. En attendant, voici quelques évenements qui auront lieu cette semaine. Si vous ...
Chez Schwartz’s à côté
By Cédric Sam // 10 Comments
Saw this sign two or three weeks ago, but it was only tonight that I had my camera with me to snap a picture. I literally fell down my virtual chair when I saw this sign posted next to Schwartz's. In terms of Montreal food landmarks, there is none other next to Schwartz's and its delicious melt in the mouth smoked meat (always get the large fat), besides maybe La Banquise's poutine or the St-Viateur/Fairmount bagels.
I think that part of Schwartz ...
August 26th, 2008
Photo du Jour – Pénitencier Pour Nains de Jardins Fugitifs
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Photo taken August 24th on Rivard, between Rachel and Marie Anne
Montage du jour : Le monument aux braves de la guerre Anglo-Boer
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1913-2008
Le décor environnant ce monument érigé dans le carré Dorchester s'est totalement transformé depuis la première photographie prise en 1913. En effet, l'ancien édifice du Y.M.C.A. fut démoli en 1914 et remplacé par la suite par celui de la Sun Life.
Toronto Tuesday: Mopeds, a hidden park and Dandyhorse
By Chloe Ellingson // 3 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Mopeds in Shanghai
In their functionality mopeds are somewhere between bikes and motorcycles. Their batteries are charged electrically and they don’t come with the licensing and safety requirements of larger motor bikes. Having recently spent some time exploring Shanghai by moped, Megan Hall explores the delights and downfalls of the means of transportation, and its absence in Toronto.
Ireland Park
A stroll through the streets of any city is ...
Tree Tuesday: Respecting Our Elders – the Red Elderberry
By Bronwyn Chester // 7 Comments
How can I ever get it together/Without a wife in line/To pick the crop and get me hot/On elderberry wine
Lyrics from Elton John’s Elderberry Wine, 1972
Like the pin cherry/merisier of last week’s column, the red elderberry is in full fruit – at least in the Gaspésie where this photo was taken – and its clusters of tiny, scarlet berries distinguish it from other trees now in fruit. In this photo, for instance, you will notice the difference between the red fruit of the elderberry and the orange berries of the showy mountain ash (sorbier décoratif, ...
August 27th, 2008
Montage du jour : Vue de la ville depuis le Mont-Royal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1870-2008
Photo du jour: Mendy’s Boulangerie Homemade
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Victoria Avenue across from Nelson Mendela Park. October 18, 2007
Montage du jour : La Plaza St-Hubert
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2008
En guise de complément à l'article publié en décembre 2007 : «Plaza Saint-Hubert before the green awning»
August 29th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le silo à grain #2
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1912-2008
Construit en 1912, derrière le marché Bonsecours, le silo à grain # 2 était alors décrit dans les journaux comme étant un des plus gros silo du monde. Cet ensemble dont la structure était entièrement conçu en béton armé fut démoli en 1978 suite à l'élaboration du projet : «vue sur le fleuve».
Photo du jour: FFR from above
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
Farine Five Roses and Point St. Charles from several stories up.
July 16, 2007
August 30th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le square Philips
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1925-2008
Photo du jour : 24 saveurs de crème glacée molle que vous ne savourerez pas
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Une délicieuse histoire se cache derrière cette vitrine de la rue Sherbrooke Ouest, angle Harvard, dans le coin très anglo de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
Si vous regardez de plus près, vous verrez que des boîtes sont entassées devant, et que finalement, cette crèmerie n'en est plus une depuis plusieurs années. Chris DeWolf a trouvé pourquoi, et raconte sur son blogue que les propriétaires du commerce ont commencé à vendre des sirops pour mettre sur de la crème ...
August 31st, 2008
Montage du jour : Le château Dufresne
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1918-2008
Photo du jour : No garbage: do not feed pigeons please!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo taken on August 22nd, 2008, on Sherbrooke West, between Wilson and Harvard.
September 1st, 2008
Montage du jour : Le marché Bonsecours
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1892-2008
From the NFB archives: Au Parc Lafontaine
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Au Parc Lafontaine
Pierre Petel, 1947, 6 min 9 sec
Il y a toujours au parc Lafontaine des ours noirs, des renards, des chats sauvages, des oiseaux de proie; il y a toujours des enfants qui s'amusent sous l'oeil attendri des parents, des amoureux qui se croient au pays des rêves et qui tantôt vont manquer leur dernier autobus, des âmes ardentes qui d'un monument à l'autre reconstituent l'histoire du passé. On y rencontre des gens de tous les âges, tous les types, tous les genres, car chaque jour tout Montréal a rendez-vous ...
Centre communautaire de l’Est, Pierrefonds-Roxboro
By Mathieu Payette-Hamelin // 12 Comments
Aujourd’hui, je délaisse un peu les questions de patrimoine pour m’intéresser à un bâtiment contemporain que j’ai récemment découvert. Comme de fait, son inauguration n’a pas encore eu lieu. Il s’agit du centre communautaire de l’Est de l’Arrondissement Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
Ce bâtiment, situé sur le boulevard Gouin Ouest, est implanté sur une partie du parc d’À-ma-Baie, face à la station de train Sunnybrooke. Sa construction, commencée il y a quelques mois, vient tout juste de se terminer. Aujourd’hui, on est d’ailleurs à finaliser les derniers détails avant son ouverture officielle, le 13 septembre prochain....
Event Space / Espace Événements 1 – 15 Sept.
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Spacing Montreal's biweekly, bilingual listing of events around town that explore public art, public space, architecture, urban planning and other favourite Spacing themes. If you know of an event that would be of interest to our readers, please contact me at alanah.montreal @ gmail.com
Voici la liste bilingue des évenements locaux liés à l’art public, l’espace public, l’architecture, l’urbanisme, et nos autres thèmes favories publié sur Spacing Montréal aux 2 semaines. Si vous connaissez d’autres évenements qui pourraient intéresser nos lecteurs, vous pouvez me faire parvenir l’information à alanah.montreal @ gmail.com.
02/09 - Atelier sur les toits verts
Le Centre d'Écologie Urbaine ...
September 2nd, 2008
Montage du jour : Le cinéma Strand
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1915-2008
Le cinéma Strand ouvrit ses portes en 1912 au coins des rues Sainte-Catherine et Mansfield. Rebaptisé le Pigalle en 1968, il fut démoli en 1973.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.2327.402.4§ion=196
MP-0000.2327.402.4
Photo du jour : Plaza d’achats Lachine
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Taken in Lachine, Rue Notre-Dame, near 28th Avenue, on August 31st, 2008.
This is a picture that I took on Sunday afternoon, on a pleasant walk that I did in what would be Old Lachine, in the area where the Lachine canal starts. Sure, there are new condos being built in the area, but the neighbourhood feels like it's straight out of the 60s, with signage like this. The Dairy Queen on the corner with 32nd Avenue surely adds to the ...
Le mardi des arbres: l’Olivier de Bohême, l’olivier prétendant
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
Mon voisin a résolu un mystère qui se passait dans ma cour. Mon olivier de Bohême (Russian olive, Elaeagnus angustifolia) est un arbre facilement reconnaissable pas ses feuilles minces et grises pâles et sa forme tordue comme l’olivier méditerranéen. Dernièrement, l’arbre perdait beaucoup de petits bouts de branches. Pourtant, il avait l’air en bonne condition, pas de feuilles décolorées, par exemple. Je croyais que c’était des camions de construction ...
Toronto Tuesday: Dundas scrambles, TTC reopens streetcar bids, ads hit London’s bike lanes
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Do the Scramble
Toronto's bustling Dundas and Yonge intersection can now be identified as not only home to the Eaton Center and Dundas Square, but also to Toronto's first scramble intersection. The scramble will allow pedestrians to traverse the intersection on a diagonal, and is said to be implemented soon at Yonge and Bloor and Bay and Bloor. Toronto photographer Sam Javanrouh documented a scene ...
September 3rd, 2008
Montage du jour : Le «English Provision Company»
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1894-2008
Cette épicerie qui ouvrit ses portes en 1891 au coin des rues Sainte-Catherine et Drummond offrait alors à ses clients un service de livraison sans frais... en carriole !
5 sens; 1 lieu
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
Performers from last year's festival
This weekend, the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood is hosting its sixth annual street festival, entitled '5 continents, 5 sens'. The event takes place along chemin de la Côte-des-neiges from noon-5pm, Sunday, September 7. Its theme this year highlights historic trades and craftspeople and will feature an artisans village, a shuttle tour of historic sites and street sales. In the words of the organizers, it is "[u]n événement festif visant à rassembler le milieu des affaires et le milieu communautaire afin de célébrer la richesse culturelle, communautaire, économique et sociale du quartier ...
Street Sleeper
By Sherwin Tjia // 5 Comments
Riding my bike home one morning, around 7AM, I came upon this dude taking advantage of the late August moving day purge. This is the alleyway just west of Clark, and that's Duluth you see right there. As of this writing, all that stuff is gone. But the dude is around. I see him every once in a while.
Photo du jour: Dragon’s beard candy
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
La Gauchetière Street near Clark. August 25, 2006
September 4th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le palais des congrès
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1984-2008
September 5th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’épicerie St-James
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1894-2008
Cette épicerie était située au coin sud-est des rues Sainte-Catherine et Drummond, soit juste à côté de son compétiteur, le «English Provision Company».
Photo du Jour – Swing Bridge
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Defunct Lachine Canal Swing Bridge, built by Canadian Pacific in 1915.
Local artist Scott McCleod has captured it as part of his Lachine Canal Project:
Spacing Montreal wants YOU!
By Spacing // 1 Comment
It's been a little over a year since Spacing Montreal was officially launched. Since then, our readership has grown quickly, to nearly 2,000 unique visitors per day, and we've tackled a number of topics that were under-represented or absent in Montreal's media.
Spacing Montreal is dedicated to covering all aspects of public space and public life in Montreal. That includes architecture, urbanism, design, art, history, transportation, politics and social issues. We're looking for contributors who are passionate and curious about their city, who enjoy discovering the quirks of its streets and history, and who are looking for a ...
Spacing Montréal cherche des collaborateurs !
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing Montréal a tout juste célébré son premier anniversaire de fondation cet été. Depuis lors, notre lectorat s'est élargi rapidement pour atteindre les 2000 visiteurs uniques par jour, et avons couvert plusieurs sujets alors sous-représentés ou encore juste absent des médias montréalais.
Spacing Montréal est dédié à couvrir tous les aspects de l'espace public et de la vie publique de Montréal. Ceci inclut des sujets touchant l'architecture, l'urbanisme, le design, l'art, l'histoire, le transport, la politique et la société. Nous cherchons des collaborateurs curieux, passionnés de leur ville, qui aiment découvrir l'inusité dans ses rues et son histoire, ...
September 6th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le cinéma Princess
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1920-2008
Le cinéma Princess ouvrit ses portes en 1917. Celui-ci fut renommé le cinéma Le Parisien en 1963 et il ferma malheureusement ses portes en 2007.
Photo du Jour – Too Hot
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Photo taken Fall 2005 around St-Hubert and Ontario Street.
Is Expo-Driven Development what Montreal Needs?
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Moulin à Images by Robert Lepage, Sept 1st, 2008. Sorry for the poor image quality - I was standing on a fire hydrant...
I was in Quebec City last weekend and got a taste of the 400th anniversary frenzy. Its impressive what a city can create (or what kind of creativity the city will let flourish) when it goes into official celebration mode.
Robert Lepage's Moulin à Images is remarkable for its shear grandeur: The entire old port of Quebec is transformed into a ...
TIFF goes to Montreal
By Shawn Micallef // 5 Comments
I was content to let the Toronto International Film Festival pass by without any personal involvement -- even riding out my way around Yorkville to avoid seeing the desperation of people trying to get into films and producers tying to sell their ideas -- until last night when I saw a screener of the new NFB film La Memoire des Anges (The Memories of Angels). It's a collage of bits of NFB films produced about Montreal and takes us on the most fantastic journey -- often from a pedestrian's point of view -- of that ...
September 7th, 2008
Montage du jour : La place royale
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Photo du Jour – Allée des Bouquinistes
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Photo prise le 6 sept, 2008, coin Savoie et De Maisonneuve.
L'Allée des bouquinistes: Plusieurs vendeurs de livres d'occasion et d'illustrations s'installent toutes les fin de semaines, du 9 août au 12 octobre, dans les petites cabines en arrière de la Grande Bibliothèque (entre Saint-Denis et Berri).
J'ai ramassé une copie de Bonheur d'occasion (Gabrielle Roy) pour $3 hier. Mon but sera de lire, éventuellement, tout les romans qui se déroulent à Montréal.
September 8th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Antoine au coin de la rue Côté
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1906-2008
Ces maisons construites au cours de la première partie du 19e siècle furent remplacées en 1925 par un terminus de tramway qui fut lui même démoli en 1980.
Know Hope: Gnome Yo’self Graffiti in Mile End Laneway
By Kimberley Mok // 3 Comments
By Kimberley Mok
The first "Know Hope" installation back in June was a visual reinterpretation of the Mont Royal tam-tams going on in full swing. Now after a stroll down Mile End's quaint maze of laneways, here's the newest whimsical reverie about what happens when one encounters a short door (made for the Little People?) and a graffiti commandment to "Gnome Yo'self" (original photos below)?
Photo du Jour – Hobo / Hipster Railroad Party
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Photo taken September 6th, 2008 in downtown Montreal.
22 septembre : En ville sans ma voiture !
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
Whether it's something to plan for or something to plan around, car-free day is returning for a 6th edition in Montreal, on Monday September 22nd. In the pamphlet that I got in my mail today along with the first federal election fliers, it said that car-free day is followed in 1500 other cities in the world.
Basically, Ste-Catherine Street between McGill College and St-Urbain, as well as cross-streets in between, will ...
September 9th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’école des métiers de l’automobile
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
1962-2008
Photo du Jour – Empress Theatre
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
The old Empress Theatre, located on Sherbrooke Street W, corner Marcil, in NDG. Photo taken April 27th, 2008.
Built in 1927 the Egyptian-style building began its life as a vaudeville theatre, and then, in 1962 was re-incarnated as a burlesque dinner theatre called the Royal Follies. In 1968, it became known as Cinema V, and in the '70s switched to a repertory movie house and home of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. A fire in 1992 damaged the theatre and it has been closed ever since.
The Empress ...
Toronto Tuesday: [murmur] hits the Junction, mobile haikus, lawn parking in Parkdale
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Street performers q&a at the Junction Arts festival
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
[murmur] launches in the Junction
Murmur recently announced the installation its seventh Toronto chapter, located in Toronto's Junction. This west-end neighbourhood seems to be unknown to many Toronto residents, and the strong sense of history and community displayed by many of the Junction's denizens truly gives it the sense of a village within a city. The Junction Arts Festival also took ...
Tree Tuesday/Le mardi des arbres: The Ash That No One Knows
By Bronwyn Chester // 3 Comments
Before I pick up where I left off in last week's column on the subject of true members versus imposter members of the olive family, I'd like to announce that this Saturday in the abandoned Canadian Pacific railway yard, located where Henri-Julien meets the tracks, you will have the opportunity to meet most of the trees I have presented over the past six weeks, including today's. These are all trees that have made their own way to the abandoned lot. In addition, urban flower specialist Roger Latour will introduce you to ...
September 10th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’intersection des rues Hôtel-de-ville et Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1905-2008
Ces maisons furent remplacé en 1906 par l'édifice de La Patrie. L'église de la scientologie qui a acheté l'immeuble en 2007, au coût de 4,25 millions de dollars occupera bientôt les lieux.
Photo du Jour – Foundations
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Foundations for the Louis Boheme condo tower, on the corner De Maisonneuve and Bleury. Photo taken September 4th, 2008.
September 11th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’hôtel Chateau St-Louis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1950-2008
Cet hôtel situé sur la rue St-Denis près du carré St-Louis est toujours en opération. Il possède toutefois une aile en moins...
September 12th, 2008
Montage du jour : Les terrasses Harp
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1910-2008
Les terrasses Harp furent construites en 1864 au coin des rues Sherbrooke et St-Laurent.
This weekend: Remember Griffintown
By Chris Erb // No Comments
This weekend, members of CUTV (Concordia University Television) will be hosting Remember Griffintown, an event which organisers say is a way to "allow the citizens of Montreal, as well as anyone else, to get to know a forgotten part of Montreal." and is "a celebration of the rich history this area has to offer." Organiser Paul Aflalo discusses the event and his reasons for staging it at length in a story featured last month in The Gazette.
Most of the events will take place in or around the New City Gas building at 950 rue Ottawa and in ...
September 13th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le théâtre Gayety
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1912-2008
Le théâtre Gayety construit en 1912 fut renommé : Théâtre du nouveau monde en 1958. Fait intéressant, la synagogue Chevra kadisha est visible sur la photo ancienne au sud du bâtiment.
September 14th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke depuis la rue Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
September 15th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’église St-Jacques
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1972-2007
Cette photographie aérienne représente l'îlot de l'église St-Jacques délimité par les rues Sainte-Catherine, de Maisonneuve, Berri et St-Denis avant et après la construction des pavillons de l'UQAM.
Les éléments intéressant à observer sont les suivants :
1) La sacristie et le presbythère de l'église St-Jacques
2) L'édifice de l'ambulance St-Jean situé au coin nord est des rues St-Denis et de Maisonneuve
3) L'ancienne école St-James qui fut ...
Photo du Jour – Pointe Dep
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Photo prise le 14 Septembre 2008, sur le coin de Charlevoix et Chateauguay, dans le quartier Pointe-Saint-Charles.
Event Space / Espace Événements 15 – 30 Sept.
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Spacing Montreal’s biweekly, bilingual listing of events around town that explore public art, public space, architecture, urban planning and other favourite Spacing themes. If you know of an event that would be of interest to our readers, please contact me at alanah.montreal @ gmail.com
Voici la liste bilingue des événements locaux liés à l’art public, l’espace public, l’architecture, l’urbanisme, et aux autres thèmes favorie, publié sur Spacing Montréal aux 2 semaines. Si vous connaissez des événements qui pourraient intéresser nos lecteurs, vous pouvez me faire parvenir l’information à alanah.montreal @ gmail.com.
15/09 - 15/12 - Exposition Coin St-Laurent Ste-Catherine
La Maison ...
September 16th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque près de la rue Mackay
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1961-2008
Les immeubles situés du côté sud du boulevard René-Lévesque entre les rues Guy et Lucien-L'Allier furent rasés pour ne jamais être remplacés. Quelqu'un saurait-il si ceux-ci furent démolis en 1987, lors de la saga de l'îlot Overdale ?
Sidewalk Terrace: Social Mixing or Public Nuisance?
By Alanah Heffez // 32 Comments
Everyone knows that walkable streets and sidewalk terraces enrich and enliven public space. But what happens when pedestrians and diners are vying for the same bit of sidewalk?
This summer, Pois Penché has rolled out the red carpet and set up a dinning room on the sidewalk of De Maisonneuve, at the corner of Drummond. Some pedestrians seem content to share the alley between tables with bow-tied waiters. Others don't feel comfortable strolling through the restaurant's terrace and prefer to make the detour into the adjacent bike lane....
Photo du jour: Post-industrial shadow
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
Corner of Richelieu and du Collège in St. Henri. September 13, 2007
Le mardi des arbres: l’Érable à sucre, reine de notre domaine forestier
By Bronwyn Chester // No Comments
Si on dit que notre érable le plus célèbre, l'érable à sucre, est la reine de la Forêt Montréal, qui en serait le roi? Et pourquoi avoir photographié celle-là et non celui-ci? C'est parce que le roi est moins flamboyant que la reine dans notre domaine forestier, l'érablière à caryer cordiforme. En fait, ses feuilles ressemblent beaucoup aux feuilles d'un autre arbre discret, le frêne rouge (red ash), dont il était dans ma chronique du mardi dernier. Peu importe que le roi soit d'allure modest, il ...
Toronto Tuesday: Portugal’s public space design, exploring Toronto’s campuses and new ideas for city streets
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Photo by Patricia Simoes
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Public space design in Portugal
Here Patricia Simoes shares series of photographs documenting her impressions of public space in the Portuguese communities of Coimbra, Figueira da Foz and Santana. Her photos draw light to the country's wide array of street signs, a form of art using ceramic tiles called azulejos and a type of pavement used in Portugal known as calçadas.
Exploring ...
September 17th, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison de L.G. Papineau
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1906-2008
Cette maison située rue St-Denis, entre Ontario et Maisonneuve fut construite en 1885.
Photos du Jour – NDG Laneway
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
A path of hard packed earth littered with the season's first fallen leaves meanders between Melrose and Draper street backyards in NDG. Although the pedestrian alley is only one block long - between Monkland Ave and Terrebonne - this lane-way feels completely removed from the city's concrete grid.
The alley has just always been this way, says a Melrose street resident who has lived there for over 25 years. A tree growing in the centre of the path is evidence for her ...
Election notes from Hong Kong
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
As longtime readers well know, I have a thing for election signs, so I was particularly happy to see La Presse dedicate an article last week to their analysis. In a broader sense, though, I am really interested by the way that elections make themselves felt in public space, which are not usually so explicitly political. With that in mind, here's a brief dispatch from the weekend before last, when people in Hong Kong went to the polls to elect a new Legislative Council.
--
It's election time in Hong Kong. Today, hundreds of thousands of ...
Election signs: prenez la ligne orange
By Chris Erb // 12 Comments
While SpacingMontreal doesn't officially endorse any particular political party during elections, we do, however, often focus on election signs when they inevitably spring up during election time and discuss various topics surrounding them, usually their effect on public space (Christopher DeWolf's article, directly below, being an example). This evening's rain storm forced my bike and I onto the Metro and, upon exiting my train at Jean-Talon station, I was greeted by this election ad for the NDP on the wall.
This ad in particular is notable for many reasons, the first being that it is just incredibly clever. ...
September 18th, 2008
Montage du jour : Une vue du vieux-port
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1953-2008
La photographie de 1953 nous présente un vieux port bien différent de celui que nous connaissons aujourd'hui. En effet, nous pouvons apercevoir : le silo # 2, le marché Bonsecours alors dépourvu de son dôme, puisque celui-ci avait été endommagé lors d'un incendie en 1948 ainsi que l'édifice du poste de police de la cité du Havre.
Photo du Jour – Urban Language Breakdown
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
This sculpture entitled "Langage Urbain" by Ken Story has stood in front of the Bank of Montreal Telus building on Réné-Levesque, corner University, since 1992. Originally, the two massive earhorns were engineered to rise and fall, always out of synch, briefly brushing by eachother along their paths. Even at the age of 12, that was a metaphor I could grasp.
These days, the two earhorns sit snuggled together, as if they are whispering secretes. According to a security guard at the building, "Langage Urbain" broke down 2 or ...
September 19th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la miséricorde
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1952-2008
Situé sur la rue St-Hubert, cet édifice fait aujourd'hui parti du CHSLD Jacques Viger.
“As a second car, consider a duplex.”
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Despite the condos that are popping up all over town, Montreal experiencing a suburban exodus, and loses thousands of families each year to the surrounding areas.
This ad by the City of Montreal, which aims to stop the flow toward the suburbs, brought to mind a study that I did a few years ago, while working on Équiterre's ecological transportation project. As an educator about alternative transportation, I spoke with many people who claimed that they were "prisoners of their cars" (a direct quote) because they lived in suburban areas that were not serviced by adequate public ...
Photo du Jour – Skinny House
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
Photo taken Sept 19th 2008, in St-Henri.
This skinny little clapboard house is squeezed between St-Augustin street and the train tracks, where they cross St-Ambroise. It makes me think of the house that they move into in "Bonheur d'Occasion" (which I recently bought here, and just finished reading), the one that Rose-Anna knows right the family will never be happy in.
September 20th, 2008
Suck It Up – Underground Trash-Vaccuuming to Replace Dump Trucks in QDS
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
The automated waste collection system sucks away trash, recyclables and organic waste through underground pipes with a 90 km per hour sucking power. Image from Envac website.
There aren't going to be any dump trucks blocking up the streets in Montreal's new Quartier des Spectacles. Last Wednesday, the City approved a proposition to replace public trash cans with receptacles for garbage, recyclables and compostables, all hooked up to an vacuum-powered collection system. Waste placed in each receptacle would be sucked ...
September 21st, 2008
Lachine Canal, looking east
By Jacob Larsen // 4 Comments
Photo du Jour: Lachine Canal
Taken November, 2oo7.
Photo du jour: Canada Malt Plant dans St-Henri
By Spacing // 16 Comments
Photos et article by Jean-François Villeneuve
A massive, abandonned, tetris-like building, found near the Lachine Canal. This place is a perfect place for intrepid urban explorers but a scary one nonetheless. I would never go inside one of those buildings, just in case they decide to collapse and/or something alive in it wouldn't want me to be there. Alive.
For more info on this building, you can look here.
Un monstre sur le bord du canal Lachine, bordé de condos tous neufs dans un St-Henri qui essaie ...
Reminder: Monday is Car Free Day
By Jacob Larsen // 5 Comments
This Monday Montreal celebrates En ville sans ma voiture, the local manifestation of International Car Free Day. Although many of us will hear about the slight inconveniences caused by a few closed roads on the morning traffic report, there are events scheduled thoughout the day.
Map of car-free zone during the day
The car free zone will extend from de Maisonneuve to René Levesque and McGill College to St. Urbain. A full schedule of events is available here. In addition to official events, a "die-in" will be held by cyclists to draw attention to the persistant ...
September 22nd, 2008
Montage du jour : L’oratoire St-Joseph
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1937-2008
Le Conseil du patrimoine religieux du Québec se met à l’heure du podcast
By Mathieu Payette-Hamelin // No Comments
Récemment, le Conseil du patrimoine religieux du Québec décidait d'innover en matière de diffusion patrimoniale. À l'instar de l'église Saint-Roch de Québec et du Churches Conservation Trust de Grande-Bretagne, le conseil met maintenant à la disposition de tous et chacun une visite guidée de l'église Saint-Pierre-Apôtre de Montréal sous format mp3. Cette expérience de baladiffusion (podcast) est une première en ce qui a trait aux églises montréalaises.
Le fichier mp3 est disponible en anglais et en français sur le site web du Conseil du patrimoine religieux à l'adresse :
www.patrimoine-religieux.qc.ca/fr/activites/balado.php
Cette initiative subventionnée par l'Entente sur le ...
September 23rd, 2008
Montage du jour : L’immeuble d’appartements le colisée
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1965-2008
Montreal and Toronto Mayors Unite for Urban Funding
By Olivier Plessis // 4 Comments
Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay and Toronto mayor David Miller held a press conference at Montreal City Hall this morning to repeat their demands for greater federal support in the managing of Montreal, Toronto, and cities across Canada. In a federal election campaign with no dominant issue, the mayors hope to draw attention to the national parties' lack of engagement with issues facing Canadian cities. Unlike past demands from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) that have focused on specific proposals, such as devoting a portion of GST revenues to cities, Tremblay and Miller stressed that what is needed now is a willingness to engage in a real partnership rather than just more piecemeal action. In fact, the rhetoric of both mayors painted the lack of funding for cities as an urgent, non-partisan issue of national importance. The municipal model, they say, is broken.
Tree tuesday/Le mardi des arbres: Beware the Marge Simpson maple
By Bronwyn Chester // 4 Comments
Believe it or not, the trees in this photo are all Norway maples. You are likely familiar with the tree in its natural form which looks much like the sugar maple. Bred to grow in a columnar form, this Norway maple (Érable de Norvège, Acer platenoides) has been widely planted in areas of the city where the sidewalks are narrow and there is no or little garden space in front of houses and buildings. For obvious reasons, my children call this tree the Marge Simpson maple.
I remember when the trees in the photo were planted ...
Toronto Tuesday: Transit plans, OCAD’s architecture and sidewalk cycling
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Augusta Avenue's earthy car retrofitted by Streets are for People. Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities. ...
September 24th, 2008
Montage du jour : La banque Dominion
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1935-2008
Images of a Car-Free Future
By Jacob Larsen // 7 Comments
There has been much criticism of the City's and the AMT's half-hearted 'journée sans voiture' which took place Monday. Perhaps rightly so, given its toothless roads closures (timed not to interrupt rush-hour traffic) and the fact that the STM was not even willing to support the event by offer free rides for the day, as in past years. Those displeased with this lackluster showing should have come to the 'Die-In', an annual cycle advocacy event which draws attention to the handful of cyclists killed or injured in our city each year. According to one report, 1 522 pedestrians and ...
Photo du Jour – Fine European Cabinetry
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Photo taken today on De Maisonneuve Blvd near Marcil
Le faubourg à m’lasse
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Vers 1925
Surnommé le faubourg à m'lasse, le quartier où se situe maintenant la tour de Radio-Canada comptait vers 1880 plus de 16 000 habitants. Ce dernier avait été surnommé ainsi en raison de la forte odeur de mélasse qui flottait dans l'air en raison du déchargement sur les quais de tonneaux contenant cette substance sucré.
En 1930, quelques années seulement après la prise de cette photographie, le quartier fut sectionné en 2 suite à ...
September 25th, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison de F.W. Thompson
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1908-2008
Cette maison située sur la rue Redpath fut possiblement démolie vers la fin des années 1960.
Mapping the Commute: Income and Driving to work
By KC Bolton // 9 Comments
In the spirit of Monday’s car-free day, this post asks the question: are those who earn higher incomes more likely to drive to work? Using 2006 Canadian Census tract data for the island of Montreal, I’ve created a map showing the city’s distribution of median personal income (after-tax), along with a map showing the percentage of workers who commute by walking, biking, or public transit. The third map merges the two...
Generally, higher income is significantly associated with higher percentages of car-commuters (no surprise there). However, there are areas within Montreal where both low median incomes and low percentages of non-car ...
Photo du Jour – Marché Maisonneuve
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Community garden behind the marché Maisonneuve. Photo taken on rue Rouen, Sept 20th 2008.
This market was built between 1912-1914 by Marius Dufresne, municipal engineer of Maisonneuve (then its own municipality). Many grandiose projects around that time, including purchasing the land for parc Maisonneuve, and construction of the impressive bain Maisonneuve, poste d'incendie, and Hotel-de-ville buildings, were followed by a sudden halt to local growth during the 1st world war. The municipality ended up in great debt and, in 1918, it was annexed to the city ...
Subway trains become office space
By Matthew Blackett // 3 Comments
If you find yourself in London, England anytime soon, you may want to check out the work of the Village Underground in the Shoreditch neighbourhood. They have taken discarded London subway cars, placed them on top of a renovated Victorian warehouse building and converted the trains into creative workspaces. All the cars have carbon-neutral heat and power and are ecologically outfitted. [ via Treehugger ]
images courtesy of Village Underground
bottom photo by Matt Cowley
Plenty of parking, no path to get there
By Michael Dunkelman // 6 Comments
The Mcgill University administration has of late come under criticism for their cycling restrictions in their downtown campus. Scenes of security guards enforcing the rules are now common. However, despite the on campus restrictions, Mcgill students are fortunate to have several cycling links from the city to their campus. The Mcgill Ghetto is crisscrossed with designated bands. The southern and eastern flanks of the campus are served by the Maisonneuve and Park ave bike paths respectively. Over on the other side of Mont Royal, the University of Montreal’s students are not so lucky. Although there are no restrictive measures in ...
September 26th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine depuis la rue St-Denis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1961-2008
Photo du Jour – Mounted Police
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Coin Rachel & St-Laurent, le 25 Septembre 2008.
September 27th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Denis près de Sainte-catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1961-2008
The Lost Village of Fort George
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Many weeks ago, in this post about hydroelectricity's environmental footprint, I promised to write about the Cree community that was displaced by the LG hydro complex. I admit that I've had a lot of trouble pulling together my thoughts on this touchy subject, but its finally time to give it a go...
I had always thought that Fort George was underwater.
The massive LG hydroelectricity project has diverted 4 rivers into La Grande's watershed, nearly doubling its volume. Located downriver from the dam, near the mouth of La Grande, Fort George was vulnerable to being washed away if ever the dam were to break. With the dam in place, La Grande's flow became erratic and ice cover unreliable, transforming the ecosystem on which Cree hunters and fishers have relied for generations. Furthermore, the sandy banks on which the community once stood are rapidly eroding away. In 1980, the year that the LG-2 dam was completed, the Cree community voted to relocate their village to the river bank.
But on a recent trip up North I learned that, for the moment at least, the remains of the abandoned Fort George community are still standing.
September 28th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Denis au coin de René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1960-2008
Creatively vandalized electoral signs (Part I)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Perhaps because a by-election was planned for September 8th in Westmount—Ville-Marie before it got canceled by the general election, "vandals" have had an extra month to get to work. For instance, it seems that the NDP's Anne Lagacé-Dowson was a fairly popular target, especially because one of her sign configuration goes at street level. Some markings seen around were somewhat less-flattering.
By comparison, the Liberals' Marc Garneau, their star candidate in Westmount—Ville-Marie (he was a former ...
Remants of the Ste-Catherine streetcar tracks
By Cédric Sam // 15 Comments
When walking or biking around town, I would regularly notice these tracks that periodically appear due to pavement degradation. This previous photo was taken on Ste-Catherine (near Stanley), where one of the major streetcar arteries in Montreal used to pass through. There are occasionally discussions about reviving Montreal's streetcar network, done for in 1956 for most of the downtown areas, but nothing new has emerged recently. Except perhaps nostalgia....
Photo du Jour – Sun Dial
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
This solar clock was given to the city of Montreal by the city of Rotterdam as a 325th birthday present, and stands in front of the planetarium on Peel and St-Jacques.
This photo was taken Sept 10th, at around 11:30 am - which means that the sundial is about an hour off from the time on my cellphone...I'm not sure if daylight savings could be to blame? (The orange line is for the month of September.)
Event Space / Espace Événements 30 Sept – 7 Oct.
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
30 / 09 - 14 élus de Montréal au soirée Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha Montréal, Design Montréal et la Chaire UNESCO en paysage et environnement de l’Université de Montréal vous invitent à une rencontre inédite entre des élus de l’île de Montréal et le milieu du design. Lors de cette soirée, le maire de Montréal, douze maires d’arrondissements et de villes liées de l’agglomération de Montréal viendront présenter à un auditoire de créateurs impliqués dans le devenir de Montréal ainsi qu’au grand public leurs points de vue sur le caractère identitaire et les opportunités ...
September 29th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque depuis la rue St-Denis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Vers 1960-2008
Photo du Jour – Wired
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Photo taken Sept 25th on the corner of Marie-Anne and Hotel-de-Ville.
Kristian Gravenor recently reported on his blog that that electrical poles have been illegal in Montreal since 1905. Facilitating snow removal was one of the main reasons for the passing the municipal bylaw over a century ago. But not only have wire tangles like this remained in many neighbourhoods, above-ground wires continue to be incorporated into new developments.
Also, check out the second 40-foot pole which appears to exist solely to prop up the no-parking and one-way street signs.
“As a second car, consider a duplex”
By Alanah Heffez // 16 Comments
Despite a whole lot of urban residential development projects lately, Montreal is still losing about 20,000 young people to the surrounding suburbs each year. The city recently released this ad campaign which targets young families.
The second ad immediately brought to mind some research that I did while working on Équiterre's ecological transportation project a few years ago. As as educator in alternative transportation, I regularly met people who claimed that they were "prisoners of their cars" (a direct quote) because their suburban neighbourhoods were not serviced by adequate public transit, and were to ...
September 30th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Denis depuis le boulevard René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2008
Photo du jour : Quartier des spectacles
By Cédric Sam // 7 Comments
Photo prise le 27 septembre 2008, à l'angle de Ste-Catherine et Jeanne-Mance.
Toronto Tuesday: Climate change, China’s Detroit, retrofitted subway cars
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.Climate Change With an election fast approaching, now is the time to consider taking reactive and precautionary measures to allay the effects of global warming. Citing Ronald Wright's message in his book A Short History of ...
Le mardi des arbres: les couleurs de La Fontaine
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
Arrivée au Parc La Fontaine, j'ai été éblouie par la beauté des arbres. En pensant à la photographie pour cette chronique, je cherchais l'arbre le plus exceptionnel parmi la centaine de bons candidats. Pas possible. Alors, au lieu d'écrire sur une seule espèce d'arbre j'ai décidé de vous parler de la palette de couleurs que nous offre ce grand parc central de Montréal. (D'ailleurs, il me semble qu'étant donné le nombre de nuances de rouge, de jaune et de ...
October 1st, 2008
Photo du jour : Warhol Live
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Warhol Live est une exposition retraçant l'inspiration musicale et des arts de la danse chez le roi du pop-art Andy Warhol. Elle se tiendra jusqu'au 18 janvier 2009 au Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal.
(Oui, c'est toujours à moitié prix sur le prix régulier les mercredis.)
Montage du jour : Vue aérienne près du pont Jacques-Cartier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1927-2008
Les bâtiments de la Dominion Oil Cloth & Linoleum Co Ltd, situées au premier plan de cette photographie furent détruit lors d'un incendie, possiblement au cours des années 1990.
October 2nd, 2008
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Sainte-Rose et Papineau
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2008
L'îlot où se situait autrefois l'académie Sainte-Brigide, que nous voyons en arrière plan, est occupé depuis 1977 par une tour de 11 étages comportant 237 logements.
Photo du Jour – MadVac
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
Parc des Amériques, coin Rachel et St-Laurent.
The only thing more ridiculous than cleaning a park with a polluting vehicle that has the capacity to suck up about 1 candy wrapper at a time is actually calling the thing a Madvac.
October 3rd, 2008
Montage du jour : Une vue du vieux port près de la rue McGill
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1960-2008
Photo du Jour – Mania
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
"Among many of the best stripclubs you’ll find in Montreal Canada is Bar Sexe Mania. Montreal is well renowned for its gorgeous and hottest strippers." --LapDanceCity.com
Election signs around town
By KC Bolton // 11 Comments
Sighted on a walk last weekend:
Seen above, the Bloc's Marcela Valdivia's no-nonsense visage has become a bit less no-nonsense with a slight modification on St. Viateur (and elsewhere).
Meanwhile, Conservative Lulzim Laloshi seems to have lost his visage altogether on Bernard in Outremont.
Toronto to Montreal: nice benches!
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
If you ignore the cliché in the lead (does every Toronto story about Montreal need to mention separatism?), it's worth checking out Christopher Hume's latest column in the Toronto Star, in which he lavishes praise on our benches:
Compared with Toronto, where finding a place to sit out on the streets is next to impossible, Montreal positively invites visitors to sit down and watch the passing parade. Benches are everywhere you turn.
In the new Quartier international, for example, the streets and squares are filled with literally dozens of benches.
In their own way, they are even more ...
October 4th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue St-Laurent près de la rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2008
Photo du Jour – Cross Makeover
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Photo taken on Duluth and St-Urbain, Oct 2nd 2008.
For the last couple weeks, the cross atop Mount Royal has not illuminated the night skyline. The 80-year-old structure is being sand-blasted, repainted and refitted with new multi-coloured, energy-efficient lights. This million-dollar makeover is supposed to be finished in February 2009.
I wonder what colours - besides the traditional white and passed-pope-purple - the new cross will feature?
Election signs – “Could be worse”
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Defaced election sign on De Maisonneuve, near Bishop.
Jack: "I would like to be honest but I'm afraid"
Jack and Anne: "Could be worse!"
Anne (thinking): "Could be way worse!!"
October 5th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’intersection des rues St-Paul et Nazareth.
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1965-2008
La rue St-Paul ne se prolonge plus à l'est de la rue Nazareth. Celle-ci, tout comme les maisons de la photo ancienne furent remplacés au cours des années 60 par un tronçon d'autoroute.
Photo du Jour – Love Disco Style
By Spacing // 5 Comments
Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Taken on the corner of Rachel and Henri-Julien. An interesting juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane?
Photo by Anna Marutollo
Event Space / Espace évenements Oct 7 – 14
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
26/09 - 12/10 - Opération Patrimoine Architectural de Montréal
La Ville de Montréal et Héritage Montéal vous invite à découvrir l'architecture locale à travers d'expositions de photos, activités dans les musés et bibliothèques, conférences, circuits de découverte à pied et en autobus, et activités pour tout la famille. Visiter le site web pour la programmation complète.
Discover Montreal's architectural heritage through photography exhibitions, activities in museums and libraries, conferences, guided tours on foot or by bus, activities for the whole family. See the online program for all the details.
08/10 - Urban Connect: Art & Community Activism
Panel discussion with ...
October 6th, 2008
Photo du jour : Puces Pop
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Pop Montreal's flea market DIY Festival and Arts & Crafts Fair Puces Pop, this past weekend at St. Michael's Church at St-Viateur and St-Urbain. If you missed it, I bet you will see at least some of the vendors at Expozine in late November.
The Big City Vote – The Issues
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Illustration by Cedric Sam
This might be the first time that traditionally municipal issues are being brought to the forefront of a federal election campaign. On Sept 23rd, Spacing reported that the mayors of Montreal and Toronto, along with the president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), called on all the federal parties to commit to engage in a partnership with cities.
As of 2006, 80% of ...
October 7th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la Providence
By Guillaume St-Jean // 12 Comments
Vers 1890-2008
Imaginez un peu ce à quoi pourrait ressembler aujourd'hui le quadrilatère formé par les rues Berri, de Maisonneuve, St-Hubert et Sainte-Catherine si l'asile de la Providence n'avait pas été démoli.
Construit de 1841 à 1843 pour les soeurs de la Providence, cet édifice a abrité des vieillards et ses œuvres ont permis de servir des bols de soupes aux sans-abri pendant plus de 120 ans.
Près d'un demi-siècle plus tard, l'endroit est toujours fréquenté par les sans-abri. Le seul hic, c'est que le refuge, lui, ...
Photo du Jour – Schoolyard Cricket Game
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Saturday afternoon game of cricket in front of FACE school (Oct 4th).
The Big City Vote – The Greens
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
“Canada’s biggest fiscal imbalance is the imbalance between municipal governments and everyone else,” the Green Party claims in their Looking Forward Plan, and then go on to flirt with Canada's big cities by referencing Jane Jacobs.
In order to address this issue, the Greens propose doubling the amount of federal funding available to cities, using three mechanisms:
1. Increasing the federal Gas Tax Transfer to municipalities from 2.5 to 5 cents/litre (in the initial gas-tax transfer proposal, the federal gas tax transfer is supposed to increase to ...
Tree Tuesday: The Spindle Tree Leans On
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
This tree bewitches. You can get lost in the intricate and irregular weave of its bark. It invites one to climb, to get close to its silky green-now-turning-pink, lance-shaped leaves, paired symmetrically on its wandering branches, to get close to the remaining fruit on the bow, the oddly-shaped, pink, four-lobed capsules that give the tree its name in French: bonnet d'évesque, or bishop's bonnet. It's more common name in French is fusain d'Europe, the same fusain -- or charcoal -- used by artists. Logically enough, the extremely hard wood of this tree made -- and still makes -- ...
Putting the POP in Montreal
By Olivier Plessis // 4 Comments
The 7th Annual POP Montreal festival wrapped up on Sunday, and, as has been the habit over the past few years, the biggest star of the festival ended up being the city. POP Montreal is known for juxtaposing pop shows with unconventional urban spaces, and as a result it's a great way of discovering new parts of the city. As part of the effort to limit the ground festivalgoers need to cover to go from show to show, each year festival organizers dig deeper into unexpected locations to maximize venue use. In the past, places like the Ukrainian Federation and l'Eglise St. Jean Baptiste have been introduced to a whole new audience through POP. Here are my top spaces discovered this year at POP Montreal:
1) Cinema L'Amour
This gorgeous former Yiddish theater on St. Laurent and Duluth is now a Porn cinema, and two separate shows in this year's POP utilized the space, although only one used the...ahem...functionality of the space as it currently exists (I'll give you a hint: it was called PornPop). If you're not squeamish, this theatre is definitely worth a look.
Toronto Tuesday: City budget, Nuit Blanche, and bringing the TTC to our living rooms
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Toronto's 2009 budget
Mayor David Miller has announced his financial priorities for the upcoming year. Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler outlines some of the budget's details, which include increased service levels for the TTC, waterfront renewal and the redesign of Nathan Philips Square.
Nuit Blanche
Last Saturday Toronto witnessed a flock ...
October 8th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine depuis la rue St-Hubert
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1930-2008
Voici ce à quoi ressemblait cette intersection il y a de cela 78 ans, lors de la fête du travail. L'édifice situé sur le coin nord ouest était le couvent des soeurs de la Providence.
The Big City Vote – The Conservatives
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Image from the Conservative "True North Strong and Free" plan.
"Ottawa has stuck its nose into provincial and local matters. Into areas where they didn’t have much expertise. While at the same time neglecting what it had to do. Accordingly, our roles and responsibilities in our respective areas of jurisdiction have become muddled." - Harper's 2006 speech to the FCM.
At a time when cities are urgently calling for concrete Federal involvement, it seems the Conservative government wants to un-muddle themselves from the cities agenda.
1st anniversary PARTY du 1er anniversaire!
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Since Spacing Montreal was launched one year ago, our readership has grown quickly to nearly 2,000 visitors per day. To celebrate our first year anniversary, we’d like to invite our readers – and everyone who cares about the city – to join us on Sunday October 19th at Café L’Escalier for drinks and discussion, as well as birthday cake and party games. A special presentation of photography and adventure tales by Controleman, urban explorer extraordinaire, will provide a unique glimpse into the Montreal’s hidden and abandoned corners.
WHEN: Sunday October 19, starts at 7:30
WHERE: Café L'Escalier, 552 Sainte-Catherine E
HOW MUCH: ...
October 9th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine près de Mansfield
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1962-2008
Les éléments à surveiller :
1) Le magasin Woolworth, 2) Le cinéma Loew's, 3) Le cinéma Strand,
4) Le restaurant Dunn's
The Big City Vote- The Liberals
By Olivier Plessis // No Comments
This week, Spacing Montreal takes a look at what each federal party has in store for cities. For an overview of the issues, see Monday’s post.
The Liberals are a largely urban party. Their willingness to partner with cities is clear from their platform, and from the positive reaction this platform has received from city leaders. Jean Perrault, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), says: “The Liberal plan would provide critical tools for turning the tide on the municipal infrastructure deficit. It is the most significant, longest-term, national infrastructure funding plan released to date.” The Liberals can also pride themselves on introducing the Gas Tax transfer to cities back when Paul Martin was in power, a transfer they would maintain in addition to the following promises:
October 10th, 2008
Photo du jour : Changing colors
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo taken a few weeks ago, before the leaves started falling.
Montage du jour : La rue Crescent près de la rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2008
Les 2 maisons situées dans le coin droit de la photographie d'époque sont désormais disparues. Toutefois, une partie de l'arche qui encerclait autrefois la porte de la maison de gauche subsiste toujours. Bien que celle-ci soit cachée derrière un arbre sur la photographie, elle peut être facilement observée depuis la rue. De plus, l'empreinte de la forme du toit sur le mur de la maison voisine qui elle, est maintenant dépourvu de son 3e étage est elle ...
The Big City Vote – The Bloc Québécois
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
This week, Spacing Montreal takes a look at what each federal party has in store for cities. For an overview of the issues, see Monday’s post.
Unsurprisingly, the Bloc’s response to questions about municipal infrastructure and services is "more money for Quebec" (and the other provinces).
It doesn’t matter where the money comes from: the Bloc would like the Canada to combine funding sources like the gas tax transfer and a portion of the GST, into a “single, unconditional, recurring transfer fund.” Once the provinces received this guaranteed this lump-sum, they could chose to share ...
October 11th, 2008
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Peel et de la Gauchetière
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1948-2008
Big City Vote – The NDP
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
This week, Spacing Montreal takes a look at what each federal party has in store for cities. For an overview of the issues, see Monday’s post.
As one of our commentators recently pointed out, NDP leader Jack Layton has held the role of president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and began his political career as a city councillor in Toronto in 1982. Layton's position on municipal issues certainly caters to cities, although the deciphering the financial promises can feel a bit like unpacking Russian dolls...
In addition to existing programs, the NDP want to increase spending on cities by $7 billion per year over the next 4 years. The new funding would come from:
Increasing municipalies' share of the Gas Tax Transfer from 5 cents per litre to 6 cents per litre and
Making big polluters pay, by capping emissions and then auctioning emissions credits to polluting companies.
Note that, the NDP promise to invest the equivalent to 1 cent of the GST in urban and community priorities refers to proceeds from the increased gas-tax and carbon auctions.
Photo du Jour – Mordor Montreal
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
This wild meadow with an otherworldly backdrop is neither private property nor maintained parkland. One of my best friends grew up near here and spent a good chunck of his childhood imagining he was exploring the land of Lord of the Rings.
October 12th, 2008
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Peel et de la Gauchetière
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1962-2008
October 13th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’école Aberdeen
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Parmi les nombreuses erreurs commises au cours des années 1970, la démolition de l'école Aberdeen pour la remplacer par l'édifice de l'ITHQ en fut une monumentale. Un prix citron avait d'ailleurs été décerné au projet en 1974 par la société d'architecture de Montréal. Bien que l'édifice fut récemment rénové au coût de 20 millions de dollars, il ne s'intègre toujours pas à son environnement et malgré tout les efforts déployés, cette erreur ne pourra jamais être corrigée.
Source : Musée McCord...
Photo du jour : Bofinger
By Cédric Sam // 9 Comments
Photo taken on August 22nd, 2008. This is Bofinger, a restaurant located in the NDG section of Sherbrooke West. The area is so very anglo that it felt like being in Toronto!
Creatively vandalized electoral signs (Part II)
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
There were some "creatively" vandalized electoral signs seen around town - one of the Layton-Mulcair couple on Des Pins (with a pink heart drawn around them) and a few others of various parties on St-Joseph between St-Laurent and St-Denis - of which I can't blog about here, for not carrying my camera with me at the time.
The one you are seeing here is of the "not standing a chance" category. Caron, other than being a synonym to a more well-known hockey ...
October 14th, 2008
Montage du jour : La caserne d’incendie #7
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Cette station située sur la rue Notre-Dame fut en opération de 1899 à 1984.
Event Space / Espace Événements 15 – 21 Oct
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
16 / 10 - Tom Vanderbilt talk: Traffic
Tom Vanderbilt, New York City-based independant writer on architecture, design, technology, science, speaks as part of the CCA lecture series (in English).
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct 16, at 7:00
WHERE: Canadian Centre for Architecture, 1920, rue Baile.
COSTS: Free
18 / 10 - The Trees of Clark Street: from Milton to Duluth.
Clark Street and its alleys are home to some of Montreal’s rarest and biggest trees. There is no match elsewhere in Montreal, for instance, for the size and number Kentucky coffee trees at Milton and Clark. In a little known green alley, birds have successfully seeded ...
Le mardi des arbres: les chicots qui remplissent le ciel
By Bronwyn Chester // No Comments
Tout le monde qui fait parti du flot de vélos qui vient de l'est vers le centreville via les rues Prince Arthur, Clark et Milton ne peut que remarquer l'énorme masse de verdure qui emplie le ciel au coin de ces deux dernières rues. Dans une de ces places oubliées où l'usage n'est pas encore déterminé, pousse un bosquet d'arbres peu commun et à Montréal et au Québec. Il s'agit des chicots féviers qu'on appelle également des chicots du Canada (Kentucky coffee tree, Gymnocladus diocus).
Dans ce terrain vague, qui auparavant faisait parti du terrain de la ...
Toronto Tuesday: Shenzhen, Babylon and Detroit
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Babylon: Myth and Truth
Dylan Reid provides a history of conceptions of cities as decadent and corrupt, stemming from the ...
October 15th, 2008
Montage du jour : La caserne d’incendie #26
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1910-2008
Cette caserne située sur l'avenue du Mont-Royal fut endommagée lors d'un violent incendie en 1999. Bien que l'édifice fut rénové, les fenêtres du 3e étage sont toutefois placardées depuis.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.829.3§ion=196
MP-0000.829.3
Photo du Jour – Birdhouse collection
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Photo prise le 11 octobre, coin Boyer et Rosemont.
Mayor’s launches 5 Shukos at Pecha Kucha night
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Shuko: Japanese...an idea, a project, a plan.
Gerald Tremblay opened the Pecha Kucha des Élus with a challenge. He invited the audience - a crowd of mostly architects, planners, designers and media folks - to devise design solutions to 5 local priorities.
The mayor's energetic 6-minute presentation prompted the Pecha Kucha night's host to exclaim: "Don't ask what your city can do for you, but what you can do for your city." This is my favourite attitude to urban living, and I'm so pleased that the mayor seems to feel the same. So go ahead and put your creativity to ...
October 16th, 2008
Montage du jour : Les apartements Linton et l’église du Messie
By Guillaume St-Jean // 11 Comments
1947-2008
Photo du Jour – Carte Mosaic
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Mosaic sur l'église Portuguais Santa Cruz sur Rachel et St-Urbain.
"Si vous visitez Montréal, passez par le quartier St-Louis. Vous y verrez des rangées enitères de maisons bariolées avec des jardinets volés à l'asphalte. Vous pouvez frapper sans crainte, ce sont des portugais."
October 17th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque près de la rue Bishop
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Around 1965-2008
Photo du Jour – aligned
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Photo taken on Guy, below Ste-Caterine, looking East.
Where does your garden grow?
By Spacing // No Comments
A recent post of a great stairway garden on Apartment Therapy.com made me wonder, in the last days before winter, where can one find urban, alternative garden spaces in Montreal.
Photos by Anna Marutollo.
The where of newly immigrated residents in Montreal
By KC Bolton // 4 Comments
Over 1 in 5 people (20.6%) residing in the Montreal metropolitan area immigrated from abroad according to the 2006 Census. This is up from 18.4% in 2001 and 17.8% in 1996. Within Montreal, there has been a significant shift in where new immigrants choose to settle.
This post describes where in the city new immigrants chose to settle during two periods: 1986 to 1991 and 2001 to 2006. The shift in settlement patterns occurred for various reasons, including cost-of-living factors, source countries, and changes in the social networks that ...
October 18th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Notre-Dame depuis l’hôtel de ville
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1870-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.1452.46§ion=196
MP-0000.1452.46
La tour de Trafalgar
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
La tour en 1926. Source : BANQ, Pistard, P600,S6,D4,P61
Cette minuscule tour gothique dont l'emplacement ne semble pas figurer sur aucune carte ancienne devait vraisemblablement se trouver quelque part au fond des bois derrière le séminaire des sulpiciens, du côté ouest du boulevard de la côte-des-neiges.
Ce qui est particulier de ce lieu, mis à part le fait qu'il semble impossible de réussir à le localiser avec précision, est qu'il a été reconnu pendant de nombreuses années comme étant un endroit maudit. Plusieurs personnes ont d'ailleurs affirmés y avoir été témoins de ...
Photo du jour – Automne
By KC Bolton // No Comments
Photo prises sur le côté nord-est du Parc Mont Royal, Octobre 2008
Ville-Marie’s Mega Ads
By Alanah Heffez // 17 Comments
Sept 28th - Workers replace the gigantic ad on the corner of St-Laurent and Ste-Catherine.
Last year, the borough of Ville Marie joined the city of Calgary as the only places in Canada that allow large-scale advertising on construction sites. But he company that manages these ads is knocking on borough doors across the island, trying to convince them to follow suite. Vancouver allows construction sites to be "camouflaged" - covered in canvases that mimic the building's original architecture.
In an article headlined "payant pour ...
Richard Florida on Montreal’s Street-level Creative Energy
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and Who's Your City?, published an epic, upbeat editorial in the Gazette yesterday, putting Montreal ahead of the curve in terms of North American cities with the creative energy to overcome the pending financial crisis:
With credit tight and in some cases unavailable, the real economy, real people and real creativity replace finance capital as the new coin of the realm. Montreal has this in spades.
My research shows that more than a third of the region's workforce comes from the creative class - scientists, technology workers, entertainers, artists and designers, as well as managers and financial types - putting it in the top 10 per cent of all regions in North America, and a global leader as well. Nearly a fifth of the Montreal region's workforce forms a super-creative core made up of the techies plus cultural and entertainment types.
...Montreal also benefits from its dense, compact geography. Most experts agree that innovation and productivity are driven by density, and Montreal ranks third among all North American cities in average population density.
1ière avenue, part 1: Verdun
By Chris Erb // 16 Comments
Corner of Wellington and 1re Avenue in Verdun. These street signs are unique to Verdun's Wellington Street "Downtown" commercial strip.
Due to decades of annexes, mergers, and demergers of former municipalities, the City of Montreal has accumulated a number of duplicate street names, especially in the outer boroughs which were added later on in the city's existence. While not entirely unusual for a growing big city, it can create confusion for those unfamiliar with the existence of the duplicate street names for different parts of the city. One of the most unusual aspects of these duplicate ...
October 19th, 2008
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine et Bleury
By Guillaume St-Jean // 16 Comments
2007-2008
Photo du jour: Under the overpass
By Chris Erb // 5 Comments
This part of Côte-St-Paul is one of the strangest parts of Montreal I've ever been to. Dilapidated houses, graffiti covered abandoned store fronts, auto repair shops, and new condo construction all sit in the shadow of an overpass connecting to the Turcot Interchange. The area has an unsettling post-apocalyptic feel to it.
Photo taken June 3, 2007
It’s TONIGHT! 1st anniversary PARTY du 1er anniversaire!
By Spacing // No Comments
Since Spacing Montreal was launched one year ago, our readership has grown quickly to nearly 2,000 visitors per day. To celebrate our first year anniversary, we’d like to invite our readers – and everyone who cares about the city – to join us on Sunday October 19th at Café L’Escalier for drinks and discussion, as well as birthday cake and party games. A special presentation of photography and adventure tales by Controleman, urban explorer extraordinaire, will provide a unique glimpse into the Montreal’s hidden and abandoned corners.
WHEN: Sunday October 19, starts at 7:30
WHERE: Café L'Escalier, 552 Sainte-Catherine E
HOW MUCH: ...
October 20th, 2008
Spacing Montreal celebrates its first anniversary
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Merci d'être sortis en grand nombre pour célébrer avec nous le premier anniversaire de Spacing Montréal ! / Thank you for turning out in large numbers to celebrate Spacing Montreal's first anniversary!
Montage du jour : Le boulevard St-Laurent près de Crémazie
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1951-2008
October 21st, 2008
Montage du jour : La caserne d’incendie #23
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Around 1900-2008
Construit en 1883, l'ancien édifice de hôtel de ville de St-Henri qui contenait aussi une caserne de pompier fut remplacé en 1930 par la caserne #23.
Photo du jour – A familiar vista
By KC Bolton // No Comments
Taken from the Mount Royal lookout. October 2008.
Toronto Tuesday: Bus technology, Adelaide walk, and tree pit designs
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
A tried and true alternate bus technology
Sean Marshall provides a history of transportation methods in Toronto, and looks at the benefits of electric trolley bus networks....
Seen in Montreal
By Shawn Micallef // 5 Comments
In the washroom of the cafe where we held our Spacing Montreal anniversary party on Sunday, I found this statement scrawled on the chalkboard wall. We could make out the part about Toronto not understanding the concept as it's too democratic, but couldn't decipher what that concept was. The CMSWW above would appear to be part of the statement, but googling doesn't bring anything up. Any ideas? Will crosspost this to Spacing Toronto for further input.
In an effort to promote pan-Canadian understanding and fellowship, we may have left our own chalk ...
Tree tuesday: Caramel hearts fall from the Katsura
By Bronwyn Chester // 4 Comments
In the succession of trees whose leaves turn yellow in the fall, the red ash are pretty much denuded of their lance-shaped leaflets. Other yellow-leafers, like the black walnut are taking their place while the ginkgo, the last to go yellow, patiently waits her turn.
One little-known member of the autumn yellow-leafers is the katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum). Like the longtime favourite, now-gone Montreal restaurant of the same name, the katsura is Japanese. If you know any teenage ginkgo trees, you will notice the similarity in shape: the straight central trunk and low-parting branches. While the young ginkgo's branches grow ...
Event Space / Espace Événements 22 – 31 Oct
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
24/10 - La mémoire des anges - presentation by the director
Ce film, produit par l'ONF et réalisé par Luc Bourdon, décrit la vie Montréalaise des années '50 et '60. Selon la bande-annonce ce film se sert des images originales pour nous donner un regard fascinant sur une ville qui est maintenant entièrement tranformée. Le film jouera au Cinéma Excentris jusqu'au 30 octobre (horaire).
This NFB film by Luc Bourdon about life in 1950s and 60s Montreal, created by stitching together footage from the NFB’s vast archives. When the trailer was ...
October 22nd, 2008
Montage du jour : L’église baptiste Olivet
By Guillaume St-Jean // 12 Comments
Vers 1905-2008
L'église baptiste Olivet fut construite en 1903 au coin nord-est des rues René-Lévesque et Guy. La congrégation qui la fit construire l'occupa jusqu'en 1954 et déménagea par la suite dans une nouvelle église à Côte-St-Luc.
October 23rd, 2008
Montage du jour : L’église Chalmers
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1910-2008
Cette église construite en 1872 sur la rue St-Laurent près de Prince-Arthur fut possiblement démolie au cours des années 1940.
Photo du jour: Wall of leaves
By Matthew Blackett // 3 Comments
Wall of leaves at Clark and Prince Arthur
Garbage week in Quebec
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Oh boy! Not only is it garbage day on my street, it is garbage reduction week all across Quebec from October 19-26th! Lets celebrate with some exciting trash statistics:
In 2006 (the most recent available data), the average Montrealer produced about half a tonne - or to be precise 541 kg - of waste.
78% of this ended up in off-island dumps - with the greatest amount going to the Lachenaie landfill. The other 22% was diverted to recycling plants, composting plants, or eco-centres.
In 2006, 37% of ...
Pedestrian Ste-Catherine may extend to QDS and beyond
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
This morning, Ville-Marie borough mayor Benoit Labonté announced that the experimental pedestrianization of Ste-Catherine street between Berri and Papineau this summer was an overwhelming success.
The numbers weren't hard to crunch: 95% of the residents of the Village neighbourhood were pleased with the project and a full 86% of the business were also happy (Commercial associations have protested against pedestrianization of other streets such as Mount Royal avenue). Furthermore, 100% of terrace owners felt the benefits of the vibrant street-life that pedestrianization created.
While the number of people who flowed through the neighbourhood increased last summer, complaints from local residents went ...
Un tramway rue Sainte-Catherine ?
By Cédric Sam // 6 Comments
Comme en font foi ces photos prises sur la rue Sainte-Catherine, les rails de l'ancien tramway de Montréal n'ont pas tout à fait été rayés de la carte (voir article). Voilà qu'on rapporte aujourd'hui dans Le Devoir que l'artère pourrait devenir piétonnière en permanence, entre Jeanne-Mance et Papineau. On ...
October 24th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’église Chalmers
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1942-2008
Comme le démontre les enseignes, cette église fut à une certaine époque transformée en garage
Photo du Jour – Autumn lofts
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
Residential loft building that would may be expropriated and demolished to make way for the construction of the new Turcot interchange.
October 25th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque près de la rue Peel
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1962-2008
Photo du Jour – Breadcrumbs
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Women feeding pigeons and gulls in Cabot Square, October 23rd 2008.
Montreal – the cutting edge of recorded music since 1900
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Park Emile-Berliner (1851-?). Inventeur du gramophone et du disque.
How did a tiny corner park in St-Henri end up dedicated to the inventor of the recording disk?
Afterall, German-born inventor Émile Berliner was living in Washington DC in 1888 when he figured out a revolutionary way of recording sound onto a flat disk. In 1893, Berliner's company commercialized the Gramophone, entering into direct competition with the Phonograph, a cylindrical sound-recording device invented by Thomas Edison.
But in the early 1900ds, the firm that oversaw marketing for the Gramophone teamed up with Columbia ...
October 26th, 2008
Creatively vandalized electoral signs (Part III)
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
This one was sent in by one of our readers, Damian M Gryski.
Montage du jour : Le centre canadien d’architecture
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1986-2008
Photo du Jour – Book Case
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Bargain bins outside Pages Bookstore, on St-Jacques, across from Lionel Groulx metro. The cozy neighbourhood second-hand bookstore also features comfy - if scruffy - armchairs, wireless Internet, a coffee bar, a back-alley terrace of sorts, and performances by local musicians in the evenings.
October 27th, 2008
Montage du jour : Une vue du vieux Port
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1915-2008
À remarquer :
1) Les installations du marché St-Jacques 2) Le hangar #2
3) Le pont Jacques-cartier alors inexistant sur la photo ancienne
Mind the Gap – What the Tropical Jungle can Teach the Concrete Jungle about Diversity
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
I've been running around this week, interviewing some people about the creative ways that they use public - or not so public - space for an article to appear in Spacing magazine. Biking between the Turcot yards, a Mile-End Meadow, and an East-end quarry, I began to have flashbacks to a tropical ecology course in Panama, back when I was doing my bachelor's in Environmental Science.
For one lab report, we sought out a clearing where a massive, 40-m tropical trees had toppled over, leaving behind a gap in the dense rainforest canopy. Then we set about cataloging the environmental conditions and biological diversity within the gap.
When an old tree falls down, sunlight hits the forest floor for the first time in decades and conditions suddenly become ideal for smaller grasses and leafy plants. These "pioneer species" take root and flourish for a while, but eventually become overwhelmed by taller bushes, palms and trees that cast the forest floor into shadow once again. A few decades later, one tree will manage to out-compete its fellows - taking up most of the soil nutrients and blanketing the gap with its canopy. (This massive tree will also provide homes for thousands of other living things like vines, orchids, insects and birds). By that time the pioneer species will be long gone and spot will once again reach it's "climax growth." Its a very micro-scale version of ecological succession.
One the reasons that tropical rainforests are so famous for their biodiversity is that gaps are always being created and filled in somewhere or other. Climax communities and pioneer species exist side by side.
Growing Pains in Suburbia
By Michael Dunkelman // 22 Comments
The main entrance into Cote-Saint-Luc, a city of 30 000 inhabitants surrounded on all sides by train-tracks is through the Cavendish underpass. This underpass was constructed in the 1960s. Since then its capacity has long been reached due to several factors. Firstly, there has been much construction of new Condo buildings along and beside Cavendish, and secondly there has been increase car usage since that time period. Most of the traffic that goes through the underpass ends up in the left turning lane, which heads towards fleet and eventually Decarie. In the morning rush hour, the left lane is clogged ...
Photo du jour: smiling at green light
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Cute graffiti at stop light, Ste. Catherine and Sanguinet
Toronto Tuesday: Toronto Flaneur, TTC improvements, renaming the Toronto Reference Library
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities
Toronto’s corridor of power
Shawn Micallef shares a photo essay of ...
October 29th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Cartier près de René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1937-2008
71 ans se sont écoulées depuis la prise de la première photo. Cette rue qui semblait autrefois vivante et remplies d'enfants n'est désormais plus agitée du tout. En fait, la présence d'enfants dans ce secteur est presque inexistante.
Cela s'explique notamment par sa situation soit, entre les rues Sainte-Catherine et René-Lévesque, à la limite du quartier gay et à quelques rues à peine du pont Jacques-Cartier.
Le mardi des arbres: l’arbre aux abricots argentés, le ginkgo
By Bronwyn Chester // No Comments
La langue française est géniale pour sa capacité de donner un seul nom pour décrire un collectivité d'arbres, une capacité que l'anglais n'a pas. Lachenaie, par exemple -- même si on pense plus à la municipalité qu'au chêne, d'où vient le mot -- indique une chênaie, l'endroit où pousse une concentration de chênes. Même chose pour une prûcherie ou une érablière. En anglais, par contre, on est obligé d'utiliser deux mots ou plus pour parler d'une oak forest, a grove of tamarack or a sugar bush.
Mais, lorsqu'il s'agit d'une arbre qui n'est pas indigène dans un ...
Photo du Jour: graffiti blends in
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
In parking lot southeast of St. Laurent and Sherbrooke
Public Online Forum to Inspire Bellechasse PPU
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
Rosemont-Petite-Patrie is creating a Plan Particulier d'Urbanisme (PPU) for the Bellechasse sector, bordered by St-Laurent, St-Denis, Bellechasse and the train tracks to the south. Its an area that desperately needs some cohesive planning, but it's sure to be touchy as residents of Mile End and Little Italy tend to get emotional about this place. From the much-hated pedestrian under-pass at St-Laurent, to the adored green corridor along the train tracks, and the love-it or hate-it Van-Horne Viaduct.
Last month, the borough put out an open call for multi-disciplinary ...
“Room to make it real”
By Chris Erb // 15 Comments
After spending $487 000, with another $200 000 to go, Greater Montreal (not to be confused with the slightly smaller Montreal Metropolitian Community) finally has a "brand". The colourful "M" with the slogan "Room to make it real" in English and "Le Grand Montréal: L'espace pour se réaliser" in French was developed with the hope of giving the greater Montreal area (an area encompassing 78 municipalities with a total population of approximately 3 635 571 people) an identity as well a way to promote itself internationally. Yesterday, The Gazette spoke to Laurent Pepin, a partner and senior vice-president at National Public ...
Calling all Montrealophiles: Free tickets to Memoires des Anges @ Cinema Ex-centris
By Olivier Plessis // 13 Comments
Remember how annoyed you would get when your Mom would take pictures at family events? That is, until you grew up and realized how lucky you were to have someone documenting your experiences. In "Memoires des Anges", the NFB is like your Mom, and your childhood is like Montreal of 50 years ago. Watching this film, a loving re-mix of dozens of documentary and live-action films from Montreal in the 50's and 60's, one realizes how lucky we are to have an institution like the NFB contibute to ...
October 30th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’hôpital Sainte-Justine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1952-2008
L'hôpital Sainte-Justine ouvrit ses portes en 1907 dans une maison de la rue St-Denis. Cet immeuble qui ne pouvait accueillir que 12 patients s'avéra rapidement trop étroit. L'hôpital déménagea donc l'année suivante dans une résidence sur la rue de Lorimier mais celle-ci était aussi de taille trop modeste pour répondre à la forte demande.
La construction d'un nouvel hôpital moderne commença alors en 1912 au coin des rues St-Denis et Bellechasse. L'hôpital ouvrit donc ses ...
Photo du Jour – Football Fans
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
The roar of the Molson Stadium crowd (bottom left-hand corner) was clearly audible from the Belvedere lookout point at last Sunday. A little further East, you could even catch a glimpse of the action on gigantic screens, through the remaining autumn leaves. The Als lost 24 - 23 to, uh, the W-team. Football not being my forte.
October 31st, 2008
Montage du jour : L’hôpital Sainte-Justine lors de sa démolition
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1963-2008
Photo du Jour – Neon Warning
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
With many downtown churches abandoned or recycled, its can be easy to forget how Catholicism once reigned the landscape in Quebec and Montreal. This church on Papineau near Logan street flashes a neon reminder.
On that note, have a great Halloween everyone!
November 1st, 2008
Montage du jour : intersection des rues St-Laurent et Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2007-2007-2008
Photo du Jour – No Fear
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
I love this graffiti message by the bike path on de Maisonneuve in NDG.
November 2nd, 2008
Montage du jour : L’hôtel Couillard
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1890-2008
Construit en 1877, cet édifice situé dans le quartier St-Henri, fut connu comme étant l'hôtel Couillard de 1879 à 1896.
Photo du jour : Dunkin’ Donuts sur la Transcanadienne/Métropolitaine
By Cédric Sam // 13 Comments
We at Spacing Montréal are mostly residents of Montreal's urban centre, but some of us do occasionally venture out to the suburbs. This picture was snapped from a car passing on the Trans-Canada highway, where the 15 joins with the 40 for the 4km in the former Ville St-Laurent, Ville Mont-Royal and Ahuntsic neighborhood of Montreal.
It's constantly jammed, and I remember that a decade ago, they even went to propose building a parallel highway linking both north-south segments of the ...
Photo du Jour – Plateau Distroboto
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
The city of Montreal has recently adopted four distrobotos, the indie art distributors made of retired cigarette vending machines. Brain child of local author Louis Rastelli, the innovative distrobotos scored a mention in New York Times' 2001 Year in Ideas article. But up until last September, they were located exclusively in artsy venues like Caigibi, Zoobizarre and Salla Rossa.
Now they hold up prominant spots in the maisons de la culture of the Plateau, Cote-des-Neiges, Mercier, and the salle de diffusion Park-ex. Which means the two-dollar mini-cds, Montreal magnets, ...
Welcome Back America — November 4th Celebration
By Shawn Micallef // 29 Comments
Oct 29 Update: There are 557 people signed up on the Facebook page, many from Toronto, but there are growing Montreal numbers. If you're on board with the idea, please help us spread the word by inviting your friends (especially those in other cities) and posting on your blogs. There will likely be a small piece about this in the Montreal Gazette on Monday -- my question to our readers is this: do we know where Montrealers gather in public for spontaneous celebration?
If the event below appeals to you, go to the Facebook event page and join, and then invite all your people to join -- especially if they're in a different city. This is not an "organized" event -- but we've been overhearing people asking "where will you be election night" so why not encourage a giant civic celebration?
If the rest of the planet could vote, Barack Obama would win the American 2008 election in an unprecedented landslide. It's safe to say that much of the world is waiting anxiously for the Obama victory -- think of the 200,000 people that saw Obama speak in Berlin last July.
The United States has lost moral support and sympathy around the world over the last eight years. The Obama win is a chance for a new start and to patch up both its reputation and its international relationships. We need to send a big fun signal of good faith that we're ready to have them back. Let's do that by gathering together in our public squares to celebrate this new era and show our American friends they are not alone in the world.
Here's how it will work: When CNN declares victory (since it's the news organization most internationally available) head to your city or town's main square where public celebrations usually take place. If it's a square with a big video screen maybe they'll broadcast results so you can go early, or watch the victory speech after. Like when your sports team wins, it's better to celebrate in public with everybody else.
In Toronto, the natural place to head is Dundas Square. It's got the space, those big TVs, and after every hockey championship, it is naturally filled with people. Where is Montreal's natural gathering spot?
Though planning this before results are in risks a "Dewey Defeats Truman" scenario (let's all knock wood) it's worth the risk. We may not agree with everything the United States does or even with all of Obama's platform, but let's put all that aside and, for once, celebrate America's new start. Welcome back America!
November 4th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le cinéma Séville
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1952-2008
Ce cinéma de 1148 sièges fut en opération sur la rue Sainte-Catherine de 1929 à 1985. L'intérieur fut par la suite démoli et le mur est s'effondra de lui-même en 2001.
Tree Tuesday: the good service tree
By Bronwyn Chester // 3 Comments
I was too young at the time to recall the discussion regarding the design of the Canadian flag but I've often wondered how the sugar maple leaf was decided upon as national symbol. Look on any tree distribution map and it's clear that this cherished tree of Ontario, Quebec and the maritime provinces -- minus Newfoundland -- is hardly representative of the entire nation state. Among the prairie provinces, for instance, only Manitoba shows any presence of sugar maples and they grow only along the Canada-United States border.
Had the powers that be in the early 1960s been ...
Know Hope: Tesseract
By Kimberley Mok // 1 Comment
By Kimberley Mok
The ubiquitous mansard roofs* of Montréal have always fascinated me. From the monumental to the ordinary vernacular, these distinctive roofs inspired by the once-popular Second Empire** style give the built surface a tactile depth to the multi-layered character of the city. Some stand rotting on dilapidated corners, now only silent witnesses to better times. On other streets they are painted in proud colours, basking in the rosy light of another setting sun, somehow opening onto other dimensions of imaginations about the city.
*A ...
Toronto Tuesday: Unbuilt Toronto, Transit City, and the Regent Park Film Fest
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Unbuilt Toronto
Shawn Micallef announces the opening of the Royal Ontario Museum’s new exhibit, “Unbuilt Toronto: The City That Could Have Been.” Featured projects include entries for the 2005 Regent Park Housing Competition, plans for Metro Center, and Buckminster Fuller’s futuristic plan ...
November 5th, 2008
Montage du jour : Maisons sur la rue Crescent
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1969-2008
In absentia maps Mile End stories
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
in absentia, a web-based art project presented by Dare-Dare, reads as a cross between a map and a novel. When you have lived in a place for long enough, every street corner is inhabited with memories and meaning, and a tour through in absentia feels like exploring a much-loved place with a long-time local.
The artist behind the work, JR Carpenter, is also releasing her first novel, Words the Dog Knows, this Friday November 7th. The novel and web-project co-evolved and draw on many of the same stories.
Over café au laits at Club Social on Saint-Viateur, JR Carpenter says she vowed to move to Montreal and study art as a 12-year-old growing up in rural Nova Scotia. In preparation, she read books set in the city. By 1992, she found herself living on St-Urbain street, in the exact neighbourhood she had discovered through Mordecai Richler's stories as a child...and writing about her old life on the farm.
It wasn’t until nearly 15 years later that Carpenter felt able to write about this city with the familiarity of home rather than the wide-eyes of a beguiled visitor. Many of her texts began as oral stories – scenes spied in neighbours' windows or overheard in back alleyways: a cursing Greek matriarch, kids splashing in a back-yard pool, an upstairs neighbour’s urgent love-making. An earlier web-based work, Entre Ville captures the inevitable voyeurism of the neighbourhood's close quarters.
Doubling the downtown population, with the private-sector
By KC Bolton // 3 Comments
Of the 864 census tracts in the Montreal Metropolitan Area, only three doubled their populations between 2001 and 2006. Two of the three cover areas in the Ville-Marie borough, as seen in the map below. Such rapid growth in population is in large part due to public-private programs designed to bring residents downtown, albeit with somewhat different outcomes in each tract. In this post I want to show a difference in how private-sector influence in urban development can affect changes taking place within a city.
View ...
November 6th, 2008
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues de la montagne et Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1969-2008
Les éléments à noter : le nom W. Sherbrooke street sur l'enseigne ainsi que la maison Van Horne que l'on aperçoit dans le reflet de la vitrine.
Photo du jour – Painted paint plant
By KC Bolton // 2 Comments
Paint plant door at rue Marmier and rue Henri-Julien in Rosemont
Société Radio Canada plans to re-create dense urban neighbourhood
By Alanah Heffez // 24 Comments
The Office de Consultation Publique de Montréal is holding and information session and three workshops this month on the Radio Canada's site.
This post by Guillaume St-Jean describes how the site was once a bustling neighbourhood that counted 778 homes, 12 groceries, 13 restaurants, 8 garages, 4 print-shops and 20 factories. Once known as the Fauboug M'lasse (molasses town) because of the smell that permeated the dense, working class neighbourhood, this area was home to 16,000 people in 1880. The construction of Jacques Cartier bridge in 1930 sliced the area in half and demolished several ...
Photo du jour – Les mégots et les gommes, c’est assez!
By KC Bolton // 7 Comments
Part of a city campaign against litter. Photo of stencil (and gum) taken at de la Gauchetière O and de la Cathédrale.
Event Space / Espace Événements 7 – 18 Nov.
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
7/18 - Launch party for Words the Dog Knows
J.R. Carpenter's new novel Words the Dog Knows (conundrum press) captures the details of daily life in Mile End and the effects of gentrification that has taken place over the last decade. The novel draws on the authors' previous web-based works, Entre Ville and in absentia (which was presented by artist collective Dare-Dare). Read Spacing Montreal's interview with the author here.
WHEN: Friday November 7th, 7pm
WHERE: skybluedoor (5403B boul. Saint-Laurent)
COST: Free to attend; $15 for a copy of the book
8/11 - Colloque sur le statut de métropole ...
Hunting season in Montreal
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Police and wildlife agents spent hours tracking a wild deer through Parc-ex this morning, before managing to corner it in a fenced in area near a train yard in Outremont. It was tranqued and released near Farnham in the Eastern Townships. Wildlife officers speculated that the deer, a young male in heat, swam across the river from Laval in search of a mate. La Presse comments that the cops camo pants, worn a union pressure tactic, were unusually a propos.
In other news, a dog was mortally wounded by a beaver trap on Ile-des soeurs last week. The borough of ...
November 8th, 2008
Montage du jour : Intersection des rue Peel et Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1978-2008
Photo du Jour – Tis the season
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
The illuminated Christmas tree at the base of McGill College street is a great spot for some romantic stargazing.
November 9th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’édifice d’Hydro-Québec
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
195?-2008
Photo du jour: Little boxes
By Chris Erb // 12 Comments
One of a bunch of housing tracts that have sprung up around the Quartier Dix30 mall in Brossard.
Photo taken July 12, 2007.
Modest Rebel: Roadsworth @ Montreal Documentary Fest
By Olivier Plessis // 7 Comments
Every morning, as I walk to the metro, I pass by a garage door next to my apartment. Like much of this section of the Plateau, this door is covered in graffiti, but one lyrical expression seems to stick out, written in giant letters: “Nique ta mere, par l’avant comme par l’arriere”. Poetry, to be sure, but one gets the sense that the neighbourhood is not exactly better off for it.
Yet how do we decide what is good graffiti? Why does some graffiti cause anger in the general, non-tagging public, while other graffiti is tolerated and even appreciated? And why, sometimes, does a street artist like Montreal’s Roadsworth have such a groundswell of public support that municipal authorities are swayed to overlook the law? I sat down this week with Roadsworth and Alan Kohl, the director of the new NFB documentary, “Roadsworth: Crossing the Line”, to talk about public art in Montreal.
November 10th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’édifice du ministère de la santé
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2008
Cet édifice situé au coin des rues St-Hubert et de Maisonneuve fut détruit lors d'un incendie en 1966.
Place-Based Election Posters
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Despite the general feelings of aggravation at being faced with yet another election this fall, this poster for Green Party candidate Peter McQueen deserves a mention for the way it makes local issues so tangible. Located on the corner of De Maisonneuve blvd and Addington in NDG, the arrow to the left points at the bike path, and the arrow to the right points to a new exit of the Décarie expressway that remains closed....
November 11th, 2008
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues de Maisonneuve et Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1961-2008
Photo du Jour – Wooden window sill
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo taken Nov 10th at 480 de la Gauchetière West.
By-law passed against cat owners in Rosemont – La Petite Patrie
By KC Bolton // 24 Comments
Be advised: according to this morning's CBC Radio broadcast, the Rosemont - La Petite Patrie borough has passed a by-law that limits each household to three cats. A filed complaint will result in a home inspection by borough officials, and a fine if the owner refuses to give away any cats over the limit.
Anyone seen feeding stray cats will also be fined. The borough reasons that these measures will reduce the number of strays living in its area.
Meanwhile, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Montreal (SPCA) announced recently ...
Devimco Griffintown project on ice
By Jacob Larsen // 11 Comments
In our current economic climate where even hundreds of billions of dollars don't make problems go away, it has been increasingly difficult to secure financing for new building projects. With suspicion regarding the solubility of major financial institutions abounding, it seems that financial uncertainty has made it to Montreal. As reported in the Gazette, Devimco announced today that it would suspend the beginning of construction in Griffintown until June 2010 rather than the projected September 2009 start date. Assuming the project does begin according to its revised schedule (and isn't affected by the decade-long recession that is increasingly being ...
Toronto Tuesday: AGO Revamped, 1914-1918 Vigil, bike sharing
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.AGO RevampedThe long-awaited reopening of the Art Gallery of Ontario is happening this month. Shawn Micallef shares some of his posts from the ...
November 12th, 2008
Montage du jour : Une vue du square Victoria
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1960-2008
Photo du jour : L’église St-Sauveur
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Au contraire du Spectrum et du Bens, l'annonce de la démolition du théâtre de Quat'sous fut annoncé en grande pompe dans tous les médias. L'église St-Sauveur sera t'elle démolie de façon discrète ou auront nous la chance de connaître en avance la date où cette page d'histoire sera effacée ?
Le mardi des arbres: le chêne des marais, le dernier rouge
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
D'abord, je m'excuse du retard de cette chronique -- pas à cause d'un manque d'arbre mais d'un surplus du travail. Alors, cette semaine: short and sweet. Et il est sweet ce chêne des marais. En fait, cet individu est le plus rouge des trois rangées de ce chêne qui se trouve au Parc La Fontaine le long du côté ouest du terrain de tennis. Son rouge varie d'un écarlate foncé à un rose cuivré.
On ne voit que rarement le chêne des marais à Montréal. En fait, c'est le seul endroit que je connais, à part le ...
Hopeful about Les bassins du nouveau havre
By Alanah Heffez // 28 Comments
"Actually, they are the basins of the ancien havre but that 's what happens when the branding guys get hold of this," commented Mark Poddubiuk, an architect who has worked on the project, in his email inviting me to the Canada Post site open house today.
A detail perhaps, but the historical significance of this area has profoundly shaped the project. Located between rue Ottawa and the Lachine Canal, and bordered by Richmond street and Rue du Séminaire, this site was once the cradle of Montreal's industrial revolution. The Bassins du nouveau havre project would excavate the four St-Gabriel Basins, which were built between 1848 and 1885 and later filled in with earth from the metro system.
Two of the basins would be completely excavated, maximizing water-front homes (and even lending some extra waterfront to the adjacent Griffintown project). Another two basins would be partially excavated to reveal their historic structure and then used as recreational green space.
The proposal would also reconnect the local street grid by re-opening rue Basin as the neighbourhood's main street. The North-South links would all be pedestrian and the canal-side bike path would bridge the reconstituted piers.
A panorama of the bassins in 1896 (from the Bassins du nouveau havre press package).
Sustainability
The Canada Lands corporation is once again working with local architecture firm L'OEUF, as they did for the international award-winning Benny Farm housing development. Mark Poddubiuk, an architect with L'OEUF, says that the proposal meets the criteria for LEED neighbourhood development certification.
Neighbourhood commerces and a focus on pedestrian and cycling infrastructure mean that car-ownership will be far from a necessity. One innovative system would divert all the rainwater runoff from the site into a filtration pond located in the 2nd basin, rather than into city's storm sewers. A central waste processing system for garbage, compost and recyclables has also been proposed.
Furthremore, and site will be decontaminated during the excavation of the basins and the Canada Post building will be dismantled so that the component materials can be re-used and recycled as much as possible.
November 13th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’annexe de l’hôtel de ville
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1937-2008
Photo du Jour : St-Antoine reflection
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Saint-Antoine West and the Bonaventure expressway. Photo taken Nov 10th from the elevator of the Delta Hotel.
November 14th, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison sir George Étienne Cartier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1973-2008
Source : Lieux et Monument historiques de l'île de Montréal (livre)
Photo du jour : Une vue depuis le clocher de l’église St-Pierre apôtre
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
November 15th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’église Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
1961-2008
Photo du jour: Bellechasse sous la pluie
By Catherine Vandermeulen // 5 Comments
Rosemont Viaduct & Capitol Industries Inc. at 5795 Avenue de Gaspé (Zinc die casting specialists).
Photo taken November 13th from the 12th floor of 5800 Saint-Denis.
November 16th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’édifice de la chambre de la jeunesse
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1975-2008
A Street With a View in Pittsburgh
By Shawn Micallef // 1 Comment
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIDGyRO6w2o[/youtube]
As Google Street View spreads from city to city, it's inevitable that people will try to do some fun things when the Googlemobile drives by. Two artists in Pittsburgh recently did just that, starting A Street With a View, along with a cast of dozens. Though Street View has captured some odd and funny moments, it doesn't give a sense of who lives in the neighbourhood. This project attempts to add a bit of community into the images.
Street With A View introduces fiction, both subtle and spectacular, into the doppelganger world of Google Street View.
On May 3rd ...
November 17th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke au coin de Bleury
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
November 18th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’hôtel Laurentian
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1947-2008
L'hôtel Laurentian qui ouvrit ses portes en 1948 au coin des rues René-Lévesque et Peel fut démoli en 1978.
An interview with Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable on their 10th Anniversary
By Spacing // 16 Comments
ED: Spacing is pleased to publish this guest post & interview by Montreal writer Alexandra Redgrave.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of interventionist art collective Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable (ATSA), the brainchild of dancer Annie Roy and visual artist Pierre Allard. Over the past decade, they have been redefining Canadians’ understanding of the urban landscape, changing the way we interact with our cities through public art. ATSA’s work is equal parts cheeky (Warhol’s iconic Brillo boxes are taken out of the museum and put back into a laundromat for free public use), and radical (“civilian tickets” have been handed out to the owners of gas-guzzling SUVs across the country). Torontonians will remember their bombed-out SUV parked in Dundas Square in 2005. Last month, the collective opened Change, a temporary store that will serve as retrospective and “marketing guinea pig” until it closes on December 20th. For those who can’t make it to the physical location (4351 Saint-Laurent Blvd in Montreal), Change has a permanent home on the web.
Alexandra Redgrave: Coming from your backgrounds in dance and cinema, how did you and Pierre start ATSA?
Annie Roy: When we first met there was an energy between us that sort of exploded into a series of ideas and gave us the courage to go further, bigger, and more spectacular. ATSA didn’t take off right away, though. For our first meeting, we made labyrinths out of dead leaves on the mountain and watched to see if people would walk through the sculpture, around it, or jump right into it. Even though our resources were limited, there was already the idea of putting something in the urban environment and having fun with it. Later, as a couple, we started talking about the future and having children. We wanted to take ten or so years of aesthetic baggage and turn it into something useful for our society.
What really pushed us to start ATSA was while we were watching the news one night. A report stated that the Maison du Père [a refuge for the homeless] needed 107 pairs of socks, and right after, the announcer said that Canadian banks were making millions of dollars in profit. As artists—and citizens—it was a great indignation. The symbolism was very strong for us. So we put our heads together and made a debit machine that dispensed warm socks, calling it a “Banque à Bas” or “Sock Bank.” We illegally put it in front of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, and that’s when our whole “terrorist” strategy came about. The media didn’t know who we were, and the name was very shocking and provocative at the time. It was an artistic form of terrorism, in the sense that it was a work of art that exploded in the urban environment. Of course, it’s not real terrorism at all, but rather, a sublimation of violence, an aesthetic and civilized gesture.
Event Space / Espace Événements 17 – 30 Nov.
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Beaucoup d'événements ce mois-ci: le documentaire sur l'artiste Roadsworth, une nouvelle édition de la soirée Pecha Kucha, la présentation des plans pour le secteur Bellechasse, et DJ Kid Koala au CCA!
Tons of exciting stuff going on for the rest of the month: the Roadsworth Documentary opens, a new edition of Pecha Kucha night, selected designs for the Bellechasse Sector will be unveiled, and Kid Koala spins at the CCA!
Toronto Tuesday: Artscape Wychwood Barns, Transformation AGO and CANstruction
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Artscape Wychwood Barns
Once used as streetcar repair barns, the Wychwood Barns have been out of use for some time. In parnership with Artscape, architect ...
November 19th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’école normale Jacques-Cartier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1927-2008
L'école normale Jacques-cartier qui fut construite en 1879 sur le terrain du parc Lafontaine fut détruite par un incendie en 1948. Une nouvelle école d'allure beaucoup plus moderne fut par la suite reconstruite sur le même emplacement en 1952.
Tree tuesday: À l’aise with the mélèze
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
Driving home from east side of Vermont a week ago, it was all I could do not to stop the car to photograph the stunning ocres, yellows and oranges of the tamaracks that were by far the dominant colour in the forest alongside highway 10 and the interstate 91. I can't promise you that the colour is still there. It may well have pooled in rusty puddles of needles at the foot of these unusual conifers, unusual because they are one of only two conifers (trees with cones), native to North American, that lose their leaves.
Yes, these conifers ...
Photo du Jour – Griffintown Sculptures
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
For a few days, I passed by these curious carved heads on my way to work, and then on Monday I had a chance to meet the artist, Tuto. Between my basic Spanish and his patchy English, I gathered that the owner of the lot on Ottawa street is letting Tuto use it as a workspace and gallery until January. Another neighbour who was checking on the sculptor's progress explained to me that the wood he is using comes from two old trees (poplars, I believe) that ...
November 20th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’école normale Jacques-Cartier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1898-2008
Construite en 1879, cette école fut malheureusement ravagée par un incendie en 1948.
Photo du Jour – Tangled Bike Path
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
Only in Montreal do art projects like this get permanently integrated into the urban landscape ;)
The silver lining of recession
By Jacob Larsen // 5 Comments
A completely unrelated picture, from Luc at Montreal Daily Photo
The likelihood of this worldwide recession simply blowing over Canada appears to be a increasingly ridiculous possibility. But perhaps this is the ideal time to invest in overdue infrastructure for Canada's major cities, a tried-and-tested strategy for stimulating the economy in tough times. A "New New Deal", one might call it.
In fact, that's exactly what Jean Perrault, president of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities, is telling Stephen Harper and provincial leaders. As the CBC reports:
Many economists agree it’s a tried and true way ...
November 21st, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke depuis la rue Mackay
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1947-2008
Les 5 premières maisons situées au coin de la rue Mackay furent construites en 1885. Elles sont aujourd'hui occupé par des galeries d'art.
La tour à bureaux construite en 1960 au coin de la rue Bishop remplace quant à elle 2 maisons d'un ensemble de 4 qui furent érigées en 1893.
Photo du Jour – November Canal
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
I'm not sure why, but the Lachine canal is looking a little empty these days.
Monuments (a poem)
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Last Thursday, I took part in a panel discussion about art and community action, along with Emily Rose Michaud, the artist behind the Roerich Garden in the abandoned CP rail lot in Mile End and Felix Rebolledo a member of the Committee for the Sustianable Redevelopment of Griffintown.
For this artsy occasion, I dug out a poem that I wrote a few years back, one of my first attempts to put my thoughts about the city into words. This was right around the time when Warsaw's was replaced by Pharmaprix, and everyone was freaking out that Montreal was forsaking its history, and forgetting that the city - especially vibrant parts like the Main - has always been in a state of constant flux. (I think the City and many of its citizens are still trying hard to strike a balance between preserving our sense of Place without wallowing in the past.)
Anyways, if you are into a bit of poetic musing, read on...
Photo: graffiti along the Lachine canal presents a different point of view: "There is no use looking back."
November 22nd, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison Dandurand
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1903-2008
Cette maison autrefois occupé par Ucal-Henri Dandurand fut construite en 1903 pour Adam Rutherford Bell. Située au coin des rues René-Lévesque et St-Mathieu, elle fut détruite en 1981 et remplacée par un hôtel de 8 étages.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.1750.18.3§ion=196
MP-0000.1750.18.3
Roerich Garden highlights abandoned site’s value in the face of St-Viateur expansion
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Sprout Out Loud! gardening collective in the Mile End meadow on November 2nd 2008. Photo by Melissa Campbell.
In an abandoned CP Rail lot in the Mile End, a pack of gardeners till the earth and sip Hot Toddy in the November chill. Next spring they will plant red clover and bee balm in the shape of a 20-foot wide Roerich symbol -the symbol of cultural preservation which was placed on the roofs of schools, museums, and historical monuments during WWII to deter aerial bombers.
Emily Rose Michaud, the artist behind the Roerich Garden - which has grown from art project, to gardening collective, to political statement - says her work is a message to the community and city officials that this meadow is culturally meaningful.
The meadow is both a green space and a creative place where people walk dogs, meditate, hold bonfires, play music, and build snow sculptures. Bronwyn Chester visisted the site during one of her tree tours, and over the months, Michaud has also seen ground hogs, skunks, monarch butterflies, as well as walnut and apple trees, which she believes were brought over by squirrels from the Carmelite nunnery next door. It is also a creative space where public art can be made accessible and implicate the community at large: besides the Roerich Garden, the meadow hosted the 2007 edition of Festival Artivistic.
"It's becoming a heavily gentrified area, which makes the space more relevant, more precious," Michaud says.
November 23rd, 2008
Montage du jour : La confiserie de A. Joyce
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1900-2008
Cet immeuble qui servait à la fois de résidence et de commerce pour A. Joyce fut remplacé en 1927 par l'édifice Canada Cement.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-3275.A§ion=196
VIEW-3275.A
Photo du Jour – Redpath Albertasaurus
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
With the weather getting colder and miserable-er, I've been seeking more indoor adventures around town. The Redpath Museum at McGill University is cozy and curious, and its natural history exhibits are free to the public. This albertasaurus skeleton dominates the main exhibition hall, and they also recently acquired a triceratops (which was not yet on display when I visited in early November). The second floor features an Egyptian Mummy which has been MRI-ed.
Built in 1882, the Redpath was the first building constructed to house a museum collection ...
Elevator in subway
By Michael Dunkelman // 13 Comments
The Program to equip Montreal's metro stations with elevators is now underway. What originally started in the new stations in Laval is being brought over to the island of Montreal. Firstly the major stations such as Lionel-Groulx will be addressed. I remember a couple years back when the Laval stations just opened, there were many who criticized the fact that the three stations had elevators. Where will people with reduced mobility go once they enter the station they asked. Well here is the answer, it only took a few more years but now people with ...
November 24th, 2008
Montage du jour : La caserne d’incendie #2
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1910-2008
Cette caserne construite en 1909 dans l'ancienne ville de Maisonneuve fut en opération jusqu'en 1994.
Photo du Jour – Derrière la Facade
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 12 novembre, sur la rue Clark entre Ste-Catherine et Réné-Levesque. (La façade préservée donne sur le Blvd Saint-Laurent)
Montreal to province: rethink the Turcot
By Jacob Larsen // 6 Comments
This was the news that emerged from Montreal's Executive committee today, regarding the $1.5 billion redevelopment of the Turcot Interchange. Almost 18 months after the project was announced, Montreal's executive committee has finally stood up for the ideas expressed in its 2007 Transportation Plan, namely reducing car dependency. As reported by the Gazette yesterday:
The city wants the provincial government to pay more attention to how public transit and carpooling will figure in the final version of the plan, as well as what steps will be taken for homeowners who will be displaced by the ...
November 25th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’avenue de l’hôtel de ville près de la rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Photo du Jour: Dear Gary Biscuits
By Chris Erb // 4 Comments
Photo taken July 6, 2008 somewhere on boul St-Laurent in the Plateau.
Toronto Tuesday: How Toronto’s cycling population fares, inside the GM headquarters, what can be learnt from recent cyclist accident
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
A cross-cultural look at cycling
Many European country’s boast a population of which 20-30% cycle, while a mere 1% of Torontonians are reported to ...
Le mardi des arbres: Deux arbres et un écureuil
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
En ce moment-ci de l'année, j'apprécie beaucoup les pommiers et pommetiers. Pendant les dernières trois semaines, j'ai pu observer de près le changement dans les feuilles du pommier de ma court. Jusqu'à il y a 10 jours, ses feuilles dorées ensoleillaient ma cuisine, même les journées grises. Le pommier et son confrère au plus petits fruits, le pommetier, sont parmi les derniers arbres à Montréal à perdre leur feuilles. En fait, les arbres de la famille des rosiers: pommiers, cérisiers, poiriers, pruniers, etc., gardent leur feuillage tard dans la saison.
Et même après la chute inévitable des feuilles, le ...
November 26th, 2008
Montage du jour : Maison sur la rue de la Gauchetière
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1935-2008
Photo du Jour – Port de Montréal
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Vue de la rive du fleuve, près de l'avenue Broadway à Montréal Est. Photo prise le 26 novembre.
November 27th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine depuis la rue Union
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1935-2008
Photo du Jour – Shell Empire
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
This Shell building at 10501 Sherbrooke East caught my eye, although I suppose any kind of architecture stands out amid the sea of smokestacks and petroleum tanks that make up most of Montréal-Est. This Shell Refinery is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
Bike Path Reverts to Parking in Westmount
By Alanah Heffez // 18 Comments
While the City of Montreal will attempt to clear the bike path on de Maisonneuve for year-round cycling, Westmount has no such intentions. The section of the bike path between Green and Atwater reverts to on-street parking between mid-November and April.
Although the measure provides extra parking for clients of Westmount Square and Place Alexis Nihon, it makes these destinations - as well as Dawson College - more difficult and dangerous to access by bike. East-bound cyclists find themselves heading into oncoming, ...
EXCLUSIVE: STM Shuts Down Municipal Shuttle to Metro
By Alanah Heffez // 24 Comments
Shuttle bus owned and operated by the town of Montréal-Est. Photo courtesy of Montréal-Est Town Hall.
Backed by a law that grants them a public transit monopoly in Montreal, the STM has halted one municipality's initiative to shuttle residents to the nearest metro station.
Citizens of Montréal-Est were often left waiting at bus stops in the cold as 3 or 4 overflowing buses coming from the Eastern tip of the island passed them by. So beginning on November 17th, the municipality of Montreal-Est began a pilot program to shuttle local residents to the Honoré-Beaugrand metro terminus free ...
November 28th, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison de Sheldon Stephens
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1885-2008
Cette résidence fut construite dans la seconde moitié du 19e siècle sur la rue Drummond .
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-1979.92.2§ion=196
MP-1979.92.2
Une ville sans trous
By Joel Thibert // 13 Comments
J'ai toujours été fasciné par ces trous et ces interstices dans la trame urbaine qui surgissent un peu partout dans la ville et qu'on délimite souvent par quelques blocs de béton (comme dans le cas présent), ou qu'on transforme en petits parcs (comme fréquemment dans le Village) ou alors qui deviennent partie intégrante du paysage urbain (comme ces stations-services qui ont fermées au début des années 90 et qui ont laissé derrière elles des terrains couverts de gravier qui sont restés vagues pendant une décennie) .
Celui-ci est particulièrement intriguant parce qu'il se situe à ...
November 29th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le château Viger
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Vers 1895-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-3220.1§ion=196
VIEW-3220.1
Spacing @ Expozine, ce samedi et dimanche!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Venez nous rencontrer cette fin de semaine à la septième édition d'Expozine, la foire des petites publications, zines, et artisans. Ça se passe dans le sous-sol de l'Église Saint-Enfant Jésus, au coin de St-Joseph et St-Laurent, à quelques pas du métro Laurier.
Come meet us this weekend at the seventh annual edition of Expozine, the small press, zine and art fair. It's happening in the basement of Église Saint-Enfant Jésus at the corner of St-Joseph and St-Laurent, a few steps away from Laurier Metro.
Photo du Jour – Magasin de Mannequins
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 22 octobre sur blvd Saint-Laurent dans la Petite Italie.
December 1st, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine depuis Mansfield
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1973-2008
Photos du Jour – Carrière Lafarge
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
This quarry in Montreal-Est is the last active quarry on the Island. They've got about 20 more years to go before the remaining gravel is scraped out of the pit. Then we're going to have a rather big hole to fill.
Any creative ideas for the space?
Photos taken october 4th and november 26th
Roadsworth’s Street Art To Help Revitalize Saint-Pierre
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
Most people don't venture into Saint-Pierre unless they live there, work there, or are truly lost. The neighbourhood is islated between two railway lines and a highway; its main street, a segment of Saint-Jacques, doubles as a trucking route.
But despite these challenges, this part of the Lachine borough is close to the city centre and is currently experiencing a boom in housing.
A committee of citizens and municipal employees recently took on the daunting task of revitalizing Saint-Pierre's main street and came to the conclusion that the neighbourhood lacked a distinctive monument or signature with ...
Montage du jour : Immeuble au coin des rues Logan et Champlain
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1975-2008
December 2nd, 2008
Toronto Tuesday: Toronto book review, Spacing’s face-lift, Metrolinx plan approved
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities. There Was Never a Better TimeDylan Reid reviews “There Was Never a Better Time;” the story of two men living in Toronto during the 1920s. The book’s anecdotes and archival photographs paint a picture of what the city ...
Photo du Jour: de Maisonneuve from the 12th floor of the Hall Building
By Chris Erb // 8 Comments
From the urban planning lab in Concordia University's Hall Building. Click for a larger view.
Photo taken October 31, 2007 (the bike path is just having its lines painted, the trees along the new sitewalk haven't been planeted yet, and Ben's is still there).
December 3rd, 2008
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Denis et Christin
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1944-2008
Photo du jour: Take that, Panda!
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
Chalk graffiti in an alley somewhere in the Plateau.
Photo taken July 6, 2008
Event Space / Espace Événements 3 – 10 dec.
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Head to the South-West this Friday for an exhibit of Turcot Interchange art, followed by a holiday bash organized by Dare-Dare and 3 other artist collectives. And get your alternative transportation fix through a talk on walkable cities at the Mile End Library and a UQAM conference on the new culture of mobility.
Pointez-vous vers le sud-ouest ce vendredi pour une exhibition de l'art de l'échangeur Turcot, suivi par le party des fêtes organisé par Dare-Dare et 3 autres centres d'artistes. Et les amateurs du transport alternatif peuvent se gâter avec une discussion avec l'autrice du livre Walkable Cities et une conférence sur la Culture de la mobilité urbaine à UQAM.
Tree Tuesday: The Old Ash That Was and Why
By Bronwyn Chester // 8 Comments
Despite 17 years of crossing regularly Square St-Louis, it was only last summer when I noticed a glorious old ash among the predominant silver maples. Growing along the north side of the square, in between Laval and Henri-Julien streets, its buff coloured bark, deeply crevaced in the diamond shapes that are typical of the northern red ash species (frêne rouge, Fraxinus pensylvanica), the tree suddenly stood out. I followed the great girth of its trunk skyward and locked eyes with a squirrel that had paused to negotiate its next leap.
Ash trees that size are rare in the city. ...
December 4th, 2008
Montage du jour : Campagne de sécurité routière au square Philips
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1957-2008
Photo du jour: rue Demers in full bloom
By Chris Erb // 8 Comments
Last summer, I discovered this tiny house-lined, flora-filled alley in the Plateau. I ventured back to take photos to write a post about it until I discovered that former contributor Christopher DeWolf had written about it and its history last winter.
Photo taken August 20, 2008.
December 5th, 2008
Montage du jour : Une vue du vieux Montréal depuis l’édifice de La Sauvegarde
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1947-2008
Photo du Jour – Old School
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
The pair of towers on Sherbrooke street are among the oldest structures in the city, according to the Centre d'histoire de Montréal. However, sources conflict as to whether they date from the construction of Fort de la Montagne in 1685, or whether they were erected when the wooden fortress was rebuilt out of stone after a fire in 1694.
Fort de la Montagne originally housed a Sulpician mission to convert and school Native Americans. In 1685, ...
Affiches électorales créativement vandalisées (édition provinciale)
By Cédric Sam // 14 Comments
Les élections provinciales sont ce lundi, et il est temps de faire notre récolte d'affiches vandalisées. Aujourd'hui, je suis passé devant cette affiche de Pauline Marois, chef du PQ, "modifiée" par ce qui a l'air d'être plus qu'un simple passant.
Tout près de la maison de Radio-Canada, quelqu'un muni d'autocollants de couleur pourpre s'est amusé à coller des répliques à saveur étudiante aux slogans des trois ...
December 6th, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison du juge Pike
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1880-2008
Cette maison qui fut occupé par le juge Pike et par la suite par les soeurs de la Providence était située au coin nord ouest des rues de Maisonneuve et St-Hubert. Elle fut démolie au début du 20e siècle afin d'être remplacée par l'édifice du ministère de la santé, qui fut lui même remplacé par le terminus d'autobus actuel.
December 8th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Peel près de Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
1947-2008
La fonction résidentielle sur la rue Peel est aujourd'hui presque totalement disparue au sud de la rue Sherbrooke.
Vous pourrez voir au cours des 2 prochains jours, 2 autres angles de vue de ce même endroit.
December 9th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Peel près de Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1947-2008
Toronto Tuesday: sidewalk space, sidewalk canopies and Georgian Toronto
By Chloe Ellingson // 1 Comment
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Three's a crowd
After observing diminishing sidewalk space around the city with the implementation of new bus shelters, Dylan Reid set out to get some evidence of this change, tape measure in hand. His findings demonstrate that some of these shelters leave less than the standard 2.1 meters of sidewalk space.
By George
Stemming from the Palladian architecture of the Italian Renaissance, Georgian architecture took shape during King ...
Photo du Jour – ArchitectChair
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Chair artfully suspended above the Ville-Maire Expressway at rue du Fort. According to the Canadian Centre for Architecture, who created and maintain the public garden in which this sculpture stands, "The CCA Garden restores the urban fabric of an area deeply scarred by mid-20th-century highway engineering."
Le mardi des arbres: Le févier qui frise et pique
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
C'est dur à croire que cet arbre, si distingué en hiver par ses longues gousses frisées qui crépitent dans le vent, soit le même arbre si délicat au printemps et en été avec ses maintes petites folioles ovales qui tournent en or à l'automne et couvre les trottoirs d'une poussière dorée. Mais le févier épineux (honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos) est un arbre trompeur. Arbre fétiche de ville, bien aimé pour son ombre légère, sa rapidité de croissance, et sa tolérance au sel et au sol compacté, il compte parmi les "top 10" des arbres plantés par la Ville ...
L’histoire banale d’un trou exceptionnel
By Joel Thibert // 8 Comments
Montréal n'ayant pas été planifiée au milieu du 19ème siècle, les percées visuelles qui aboutissent sur quelque chose d'intéressant sont assez rares. Il y a, bien entendu, la rue McGill College, qui s'ouvre sur le campus de McGill, le pavillon des arts, le réservoir McTavish et le Mont-Royal. Il ...
Photo du Jour – Rue Tupper
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Corner of Tupper and Saint-Marc streets, looking east, December 5th, 2008
Mordecai Richler's fictional character Duddy Kravitz rented an apartment on this street during his quest for upward mobility.
December 11th, 2008
Montage du jour : Maisons sur la rue Sherbrooke au coin de Bishop
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1945-2008
Seulement 2 résidences de cet ensemble de 4 maisons en rangées construites en 1893 au coin des rues Sherbrooke et Bishop subsistent encore aujourd'hui. Les 2 maisons de gauche furent remplacées par un immeuble à bureaux en 1960.
Photo du Jour – Bassin du Grand Séminaire
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Just to the west of the du Grand Séminaire building on Sherbrooke and du Fort, this shallow pool was built some time between 1731 and 1801 (the exact date seems to be unknown). An 1846 map of the site shows the basin in its current form. The picture above was taken on December 3rd 2008, just as the first crust of ice was forming on the surface of the water.
Measuring 158.5 by 7.6 m the basin initially ran through Fort de ...
Twin Jacques Cartiers
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
Monuments to Jacques Cartier in Saint-Henri park (above) and Saint-Henri metro station (below) are more than a little alike. So which is the 1893 original?
Event Space / Espace Événements 11 – 18 dec.
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
11/12 - Screening / Projection : You Never Bike Alone
The Canadian Centre for Architecture presents a film by Bob Alstead on the history of Vancouver cyclists' demonstrations over the past ten years and the political and social consequences of their mobilization, including changes to the urban landscape
Le Centre Canadien d’architecture présente le film de Bob Alstead sur l'histoire des manifestations des 10 dernières années réunissant des cyclistes à Vancouver et des conséquences politiques et sociales de leur mobilisation, telle la modification du tissu urbain. (Film en anglais).
WHEN: Thursday, December 11th at 19h.
WHERE: Canadian ...
December 12th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke depuis la rue Redpath
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1945-2008
Photo du Jour – ‘y neige!
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Snow encrusted rooftop of a home facing Carré Saint-Louis.
December 13th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’orphelinat Notre-Dame-de-Liesse
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1979-2008
Photo du Jour – R.I.P. Blue Bike
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Handwritten sign on Guy just below Ste-Catherine: "I loved you blue bike. R.I.P."
Our deepest sympathies.
Sounds of the City
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Perhaps even more than the rich visual details that the city has to offer, sound invades our experience of public space, yet this blog has rarely explored this city's soundscape.
Fortunately someone else - in fact a whole bunch of folks - has done exactly this and have recently released the Montreal Sound Map.
From wailing sirens sirens and hollering frat-boys, to stomping neighbours and the incessant drone of tires on concrete, the sounds of the city tend to get a bad rep. After all, how often are the urban wanderer's ears piqued by beautiful or ...
December 14th, 2008
Montage du jour : La crèche d’Youville
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1979-2008
Photo du jour: Icy branches almost damaged the Dow Planetarium
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
Luckily, it wasn't worse. Maybe you can't tell, but someone's waving gaily in the window.
December 15th, 2008
Montage du jour : La bijouterie de Gabriel L. Lucas
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
1946-2008
Situé sur la rue Sherbrooke près de la rue Simpson, cet immeuble est aujourd'hui occupé par une galerie d'art.
Photo du jour: St. Henri on fire
By Jacob Larsen // 4 Comments
There are some parts of this city that tend to catch fire more than others. I'm thinking of the Plateau and St. Henri, especially, but that includes anywhere where land values are rising fast enough for unscrupulous landlords to make a buck from fire insurance and a quick sale to a condo developer.
This was taken in the summer of 2007 and the fire was on rue Ste. Marguerite, I believe.
December 16th, 2008
Montage du jour : La maison de M.C.E. Smith
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1907-2008
Cette résidence de la rue University fut remplacée en 1911 par le Pavillion Strathcona de l'université McGill.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-166643§ion=196
II-166643
Toronto Tuesday: urban theory match, bus arrival technology and waterfront signs
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Photo by Shawn Micallef
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Kingwell vs. Florida
Both Richard Florida and Mark Kingwell have a lot to say about Toronto, and use very different analytical methods to do so. In this post Dylan Reid compares the methods and writings of these two thinkers.
TTC launches vehicle arrival program
The days of seemingly endless waits for the bus are almost over. Yesterday the Toronto Transit Commision launched a new vehicle ...
Shopping in St. Henri
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
Shopping season is upon us, but all was quiet along the CN tracks in St. Henri. With all the snow we've been getting, this shopping cart isn't likely going anywhere soon.
Ottawa transit strike brings city to a standstill
By Spacing // 6 Comments
EDITOR'S NOTE: Spacing asked Ottawa resident and University of Ottawa geography student David McClelland to give Spacing Montreal readers a big-picture look at the public transit strike currently crippling Ottawa.
- - - - - - - - - - -
At 12:01 AM on December 10th, buses stopped moving in Ottawa as the over 2,200 members of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279 officially went on strike, while at the same time over 30 centimetres of snow was falling and one of the four bridges linking Ottawa and neighboring Gatineau was only open to limited vehicular traffic due to structural concerns. If you didn't know better, you might think Ottawans are masochists.
While the snow has since been cleared and the Chaudière Bridge remains open to cars, the drivers, dispatchers and maintenance workers of OC Transpo are still on strike. OC Transpo has a daily ridership of 350,000, which represents about 20% of the commuter traffic in the city. The Société de transport de l'Outaouais, which operates in Gatineau and downtown Ottawa, meanwhile, is still operating normally.
The ATU voted to strike on December 3rd, with 98% of members in favour of taking job action. It isn't about money, either—the union went on strike for three main reasons:
1. To maintain their shift-booking system in some form, which allows drivers to select routes and shifts themselves with preference given to the most senior drivers. The City claims drivers are abusing this system and wasting Ottawa's money.
2. Ending the City's ability to contract out work, such as maintenance and body work on buses. If this issue can be resolved along with the scheduling issue, the strike will likely end.
3. Parity with other City employees on sick days. OC Transpo drivers receive just six unpaid sick days annually, while other City of Ottawa employees receive between 12 and 15 paid sick days annually.
Both sides have dug in their heels, neither budging on the key issues, meaning that the strike could become quite protracted.
December 17th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’avenue McGill college
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1938-2008
Ouverte en 1856, l'avenue McGill college était autrefois une rue à vocation résidentielle. Sur la photo ci-haut, on peut déjà constater que les résidences avaient dès lors été transformées en commerce dans les années 1930. Ces immeubles disparaîtrons ensuite graduellement entre les années 1960 et 1980 afin de permettre l'élargissement de la rue.
Photo du Jour – Canada Malting from above
By Jacob Larsen // 7 Comments
This building was very dangerous to access and I strongly recommend against anyone going there. That said, the view from the roof over the southwest and downtown was spectacular.
December 18th, 2008
Tree Tuesday: Back to Yggdrasill: sacred tree of the solstice
By Bronwyn Chester // 4 Comments
As chance would have it, the tree I return to today is Yggdrasill, winter Solstice tree of Norse mythology, known here as the ash, a tree I wrote about two weeks ago when a senior of its clan was felled in Carré St-Louis. Given that the Solstice falls this Sunday, it's time to get to know this humble city tree, long venerated by many peoples of the Earth. In fact, had the city workers that had the sad task of cutting down the fragile old ash (as we call Yggdrasill, pronounced eeg-dra-zil) been aware of its magic ...
Photo du Jour – Public Transit Plaque
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Plaque at Berri-UQAM metro station commemorating the inauguration of Montreal's public transit system in 1861 and the metro in 1966.
According to an STM timeline, the 1861 Montreal City Passenger Railway Company operated 6 miles of railway along Notre-Dame street and owned one stable, one shed, 8 vehicles and 14 horses. By 1894, the last horse-drawn cars were replaced with electric streetcars affectionately known as Rockets.
The plaque, which is about a meter in diameter, sits face-up in the centre ...
December 19th, 2008
Montage du jour : L’académie commerciale catholique
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1899-2008
Cet édifice qui fut démoli dans les années 1960 pour faire place à un vulgaire terrain de stationnement fut décrit comme suit dans le livre sur le diocèse de Montréal publié en 1900 :
« L'académie commerciale a été fondée en 1853, rue Cotté, et a été transférée au Plateau en 1871. L'établissement, largement ouvert à l'air et à la lumière, occupe un site admirable et parfaitement dégagé, entre les rues Sainte-Catherine, Saint-Urbain et Ontario ; le sol est élevé de 25 pieds au-dessus de la rue Sainte-Catherine, sur laquelle donne l'entrée principale, et d'où l'on a accès au Plateau par une large et magnifique avenue en pente douce.
Le bâtiment principal, élevé parallèlement à la rue Sainte-Catherine, et comprenant un sous-sol et trois étages, a 165 pieds de longueur sur 45 de largeur ; l'architecture est du style ogival du XVI siècle, avec pavillon central en saillie sur les façades d'avant et d'arrière, et d'autres pavillons aux extrémités. Le pavillon central porte un cadran de grande dimension, qui donne l'heure au loin du côté de la rue Sainte-Catherine ; au-dessus de la porte d'entrée, on voit en relief, l'écusson spécial de l'Académie avec la devise : Suaviter et fortiter (avec douceur et fermeté).
Notre gravure offre une vue d'ensemble de la façade du bâtiment ; c'est du côté de la rue Ontario que se trouve la cour de récréation. La maison qui se détache du bâtiment principal sur la droite de cette cour, et que l'on retrouve sur la gauche de la façade d'entrée est le logement du directeur général, M. U.-E. Archambault, qui dirige les écoles soumises au contrôle des commissaires catholiques de Montréal. M. Leblond de Brumath est le principal de l'académie ; l'enseignement y est donné par des professeurs laïques.
Photo du jour : Le cinéma Loew’s
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
L'ancien cinéma Loew's situé à l'intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine et Mansfield est utilisé en tant que salle de gym depuis 2005.
December 20th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke depuis la rue McGill college
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1910-2008
Source Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.872.10§ion=196
MP-0000.872.10
Photo du Jour – Tunnel Melrose
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Ce tunnel piétonnier relie le quartier de Saint-Raymond avec la rue de Maisonneuve et la reste de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, passant en dessous de la voie ferrée.
Photo prise le 13 décembre 2008.
The inevitable failure of the 515
By Chris Erb // 13 Comments
Last summer, the STM introduced the 515 bus route to little fanfare. The route, which is supposed to be a precursor to a promised tramway, makes a loop through downtown to Old Montreal then returns to Downtown from the Cité Multimédia and Griffintown. According to a recent story in the Journal de Montréal, the line hasn't been particularly popular, carrying only 1200 passengers a day, about five times less than the STM's projected 6000 passengers forcing the STM to lower the number of departures for the winter.
The STM shouldn't be at all surprised with ...
EventSpace / Espace Évenements : 21 décembre
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
21/12 - Lancée de la publication Dis/Location 1: projet d'articulation urbaine
Dare-Dare, centre de diffusion d'art multidisciplinaire de Montréal, lance ce livre avec une conversation publique dans la librairie du Centre Canadienne d'architecture. Cet ouvrage poursuit la réflexion amorcée par les membres et collaborateurs de DARE-DARE avec le premier volet de Dis/location: projet d’articulation urbaine, qui a amené le centre à déménager ses bureaux en 2004 dans un abri installé provisoirement au square Viger jusqu’en 2006. Le square Viger, lieu névralgique dans la géographie urbaine de Montréal, représente pour les auteurs de la publication – ...
December 21st, 2008
Montage du jour : Le Ouimetoscope
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1974-2008
Source : Lieux et monuments historiques de l'île de Montréal (livre)
If you think the Metro is crowded…
By Chris Erb // 11 Comments
...be glad you don't live here!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKOEQVgONh0[/youtube]
The comments section on the YouTube page say this is in Japan. If the Metro today feels packed to the rims with Christmas shoppers carrying oversized bags, now you know how much worse it could be.
A walk in the snow
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
The snow was strong and heavy, but did nothing to stop Christmas shoppers from getting their gifts (we bet that the economic crisis did a far better job a that). I took a walk with my camera and brought back a couple of shots....
December 22nd, 2008
Montage du jour : Le salon funéraire de Joseph C. Wray & bro
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1932-2008
Cet édifice situé au 1234 rue de la montagne fut construit en 1859 pour David R. Wood. D'abord utilisé comme résidence unifamiliale, il fut par la suite acheté en 1902 par la compagnie Joseph C. Wray & bro qui transforma alors l'immeuble en salon funéraire.
Depuis 1978, ce même endroit est utilisé comme boîte de nuit et selon les dires de certains, l'endroit serait reconnu comme ayant été le théâtre de plusieurs manifestations surnaturelles...
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-25235§ion=196
VIEW-25235
Photo du Jour : Square Phillips sous la neige
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Photo prise le 18 décembre 2008
December 23rd, 2008
Montage du jour : Immeuble au coin des rues Sherbrooke et Aylmer
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1938-2008
Cette ancienne demeure bourgeoise qui fut utilisée par l'association zioniste au cours des années 1930 et 1940 fut démolie vers 1949 afin d'être remplacée par la piscine Garfield-Weston. Un pavillon du collège Royal Victoria Le pavillon de musique de l'université McGill occupe aujourd'hui cet emplacement.
Photo du Jour : Ogilvy’s Window
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
In the crush of holiday shopping, Ogilvy's department store traditionally dedicates a window to spreading a little non-commercial seasonal spirit. It's a pleasure to linger on the corner of Sainte-Catherine street and de la Montagne to watch people of all ages pause, momentarily enraptured by dozens of animated stuffed animals moving in unison.
Since 1947, the window has featured two different Christmassy scenes which alternate from year to year (The "Enchanged Village" is on display this year). Strangely, close scrutiny of this scene reveals ...
Toronto Tuesday: Road trip, the Distellery District and Spacing’s birthday party
By Chloe Ellingson // 1 Comment
Photo by Sean Marshall
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Road Trip: Morgantown, West Virginia
En route to Pittsburgh Sean Marshall decided to visit the world's only operating personal rapid transit system. Here he recounts this and other Morgantown discoveries.
Toronto’s Distillery District — History by the Lake
Shawn Micallef draws light to a review of a new book by Toronto archivist and historian Sally Gibson. In "Toronto Distillery District - History by the Lake," Gibson ...
December 24th, 2008
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke au coin de la rue Peel
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
195?-2008
The ghosts of Steinberg’s
By Christopher DeWolf // 22 Comments
There's something particularly iconic about supermarkets, especially in North America, where they first emerged in the 1940s and have a good half-century of history behind them. While supermarkets today are an entrenched part of the urban landscape, there was something particularly fresh and innovative about them in the 1950s, which you can see in those that have survived from that era without too many alterations.
But even those that have been altered significantly have left a big imprint on the shape of our streets and neighbourhoods. I never realized just how big of an ...
Nice bollards
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
TAIWAN -- Taipei is a surprising city. There's a fine line between ugly haphazardness and charming idiosyncrasy; for the most part, the Taiwanese capital seems to land on the latter side. Its broad boulevards would be bland and overwhelming if it weren't for the arcaded sidewalks filled with parked scooters. The rambling lanes that run between those boulevards are lined for the most part with architecturally uninspiring apartment buildings, but the abundance of potted plants, hidden café terraces and dilapidated wooden bungalows more than make up for that. In theory, Taipei has ...
Photo du jour : Stationnement sous la neige
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
Même les innombrables stationnements du centre-ville deviennent assez jolies sous la neige de décembre, surtout ceux qui se dotent d'un petit chalet cute comme celui de la rue Notre-Dame.
December 25th, 2008
Montage du jour : La résidence de A. F. Gault
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1885-2008
Cette résidence construite dans les années 1870 fut démolie en 1924 et remplacée par les appartements Le Château.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-2463§ion=196
VIEW-2463
Photo du Jour : Panier de Noel
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Photo prise le 24 décembre au métro Peel.
December 26th, 2008
Montage du jour : La résidence de Georges Washington Stephen
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1908-2008
Tout comme la résidence de A. F. Gault, cette demeure fut démoli elle aussi en 1924 pour permettre la construction des appartements Le Château.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-170708§ion=196
II-170708
Photo du Jour : Cathedral Gargoyles
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Gargoyles on the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral (built 1859) looking a little chilly on December 18th. The space under the church's stone arches on Ste-Catherine street is out of the wind, well-light at night, and almost always inhabited by a few homeless people.
Event Space / Espace Événements – 27 décembre
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
27/12 - Village des Tanneries holiday gathering
The Citizens' Committee of the Village des Tanneries is hosting an informal holiday gathering to celebrate the many accomplishments and friendships over the past year. We will be using the cozy exhibit space Les Neuf Soeurs so that anyone who has not yet had a chance to see the Henry Buszard/ARPi exhibit can do so. Feel free to bring friends or family, and any holiday fare leftovers to add to the table.
Le CCVT vous invite à fêter ses multiples réalisations de la dernère année. Apportez ce que vous pouvez (alcool ou ...
December 27th, 2008
Montage du jour : Édifice au coin des rues Maisonneuve et St-André
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1928-2008
Photo du Jour : Boxing Day Madness
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo taken December 26th at the Eaton Centre, facing Ste-Catherine street entrance.
Indoor Places
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
Montreal seems to contract in the wintertime. The snow, we can handle, but when the bitter cold sets in, and every minute outside is feels like a slap in the face, our experience of the city is reduced almost entirely to its indoor spaces.What public spaces exist for a city in hibernation mode?
Many visitors to the city seem to be impressed (or perhaps only expect to be) by the "Underground City". But I've never met a resident who is particularly enamoured with the sprawling malls and dull hallways connecting downtown office towers with transit. Although I suppose it will save ...
December 28th, 2008
Montage du jour : La résidence de George Wait
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1946-2008
Photo du Jour : Sherbrooke Street Sunset
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo taken December 22nd, Corner Sherbrooke and Marcil, looking West.
December 29th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le presbytère St-Patrick
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1896-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-2965§ion=196
VIEW-2965
Photographies d’époque recherchées
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1964
Spacing Montreal sollicite les lecteurs ayant en leur possession des photographies anciennes prise dans la ville de Montréal. Ceux qui désireraient voir figurer celles-ci dans un montage avant-après peuvent faire parvenir leurs photos à l'adresse suivante :
spacingmontreal@spacing.ca
December 30th, 2008
Montage du jour : Le marché Sainte-Anne
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1870-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.1828.82§ion=196
MP-0000.1828.82
Des télécabines entre le quai Jacques Cartier et le parc Jean Drapeau
By Guillaume St-Jean // 13 Comments
source de la photo : http://www.telecabinemontreal.com
Afin de contrer les pertes de revenus causés par la disparition du grand prix à Montréal, Skylink, une compagnie montréalaise a récemment présenté un projet de télécabines reliant le vieux Montréal au parc Jean Drapeau.
Ce projet d'une valeur de plus de 100 millions de dollars aurait par la suite des retombées économiques qui seraient supérieures à celle du grand prix et du festival de jazz réunis.
Bien que cette installation permettrait de résoudre de nombreux problèmes d'embouteillage et de transport, de ...
Photo du Jour : Metro Memories
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
The Tree of Life by Joseph Rifesser was originally located in front of the UN pavilion during expo '67 before it was moved to Lionel Groulx metro station in 1977. It is made from a walnut tree trunk.
This sculpture is one of my earliest childhood memories of the metro, along with the brightly colored circles at Peel station where my parents and I got off each morning on the way to the McGill daycare. (I also distinctly remember my shock when, a couple ...
Toronto Tuesday: TTC’s year of success and Brampton bike shelters
By Chloe Ellingson // 1 Comment
Photo by Sean Marshall
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
2008 success story: the TTC
In the spirit of New Year's reflections, Sean Marshall gives evidence for the unexpected fact that TTC improvements have been one of Toronto's greatest success stories of 2008.
GO Transit’s new bike shelters
GO Transit's highly trafficked Brampton station is undergoing substantial remodeling. Sean Marshall looks at one example of this change: glass-enclosed bike shelters for commuters who need ...
December 31st, 2008
Photo du jour : Radio-Canada depuis l’église St-Pierre apôtre
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Montage du jour : Maisons au coin des rues Sherbrooke et St-André
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1943-2008
A Montreal Milestone
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
Montreal's oldest milestone, erected in 1684, now nearly blends in with a rock wall that was built centuries later. It would be easy to miss but for the dirty sheet of Plexiglas that protects it from the elements.
The stone marks 1 mile from the gates of Fort de la Montagne along Cote-Saint-Antoine road, and once signaled to farmers that they were approaching the market place. Cote-Saint-Antoine follows a trail originally used by Native Americans and was one of the first streets to be developed outside ...
January 1st, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Notre-Dame près de l’hôtel de ville
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1870-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-1980.47.34§ion=196
MP-1980.47.34
Photo du jour : Le cinéma Papineau
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Cette salle de cinéma qui ouvrit ses portes en 1921 sur l'avenue Papineau est aujourd'hui transformé en salle de bingo.
January 2nd, 2009
Photo du jour : Maisons victoriennes sur l’avenue du Parc
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Montage du jour : L’institut familial Sainte-Marie Euphrasie.
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
195?-2008
Le terrain situé au # 333 de la rue Sherbrooke est, aujourd'hui occupé par des immeubles à condos, appartenait autrefois aux soeurs du Bon Pasteur. L'édifice qui s'y trouvait fut d'abord connu au début du 20e siècle sous le nom de l'académie St-Louis de Gonsague. Quelques décennies plus tard, l'immeuble devint alors l'institut familial Sainte-Marie Euphrasie, une école formant les jeunes filles à devenir des ménagères modèles.
Les religieuses vendirent le vieil édifice à des investisseurs inconnus vers les années 1960 tandis que M. Charles Dowlansky versa un dépôt ...
Getting Over the Snow
By Alanah Heffez // 29 Comments
The Montreal Gazette's number 1 news story of 2008: It snowed. The city was treated to 3.7 meters of the stuff between November 2007 and April '08 and, according to journalist Anne Sutherland, Montrealers spent the winter "hip deep in misery."
I suppose I should be used to this by now, but it still surprises me every time snow makes the front page. In a city that is blanketed with the stuff for nearly half of the year, every year, why do snow storms - and the subsequent snow-plowing debacle - consistently generate a flurry of media attention?
It wouldn't be so bad if we just wanted to talk about the weather - after all, for many city-dwellers the weather is our only daily reminder that we belong to a wider natural environment that is beyond our immediate control. The intense climatic ups and down that all Montrealers live with are one of the few experiences that we share with our neighbours, our co-workers, and even strangers on the bus. But the media has an unhelpful habit of seeking out and broadcasting the most unpleasant snow-related experiences (usually extra hours tacked onto already lengthy car commutes) and then eagerly blaming the city for botching the snow-clearing before the last flakes have even had a chance to settle.
After receiving 20 cm of snow earlier this month, Marcel Tremblay, the city's committee member responsible for public services, pointed out that the free parking lots which are designed to get cars off the street and facilitate snow clearing remained underused, towing illegally parked cars was slowing down the clearing operations, and despite tough driving conditions, there hadn't been any increase in public transit usage.
It seems many of us assume that City workers should make winter conditions effectively disappear while we go on behaving exactly as we do the rest of the year. And this expectation is more than unrealistic, it's a symptom that Montrealers have become disconnected from their sense of physical place.
January 3rd, 2009
Montage du jour : L’avenue Lorne
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
Vers 1870-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.1828.61§ion=196
MP-0000.1828.61
Photo du Jour : La vraie vie…
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
"Les hivers de mon enfance étaient des saisons longues, longues. Nous vivions en trois lieux: l'école, l'église et la patinoire; mais la vraie vie était sur la patinoire." - Roch Carrier, Le Chandail de hockey
Photo prise le 2 janvier au parc Girouard, quartier Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
January 4th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Peel près du boulevard Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Photo du Jour : Westmount Row
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Photo taken Dec 31st at the corner of Lansdowne Avenue and Côte St-Antoine.
January 5th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le terrain de la Place-des-arts
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1948-2009
De gauche à droite :
L'institut ophthalmique, l'institut Nazareth et l'édifice Kellert.
Photo du Jour : Park Ex Athena
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Statue in Parc Athena, at Jean-Talon and Avenue de l'Épée, Jan 3rd.
Fun outdoor activities prohibited
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
A sign bans tobogganing and skiing at Murry Hill (formally known as King George park). Westmount City Public Works clarifies that tobogganing is still allowed on the "bunny hill" pictured above, a gentle incline on the eastern side of the park, where the city has set up mattresses to keep people from sliding into the street below. The steeper western slope is criss-crossed with wooden barriers as a precaution against tobogganing accidents.
Tobogganing and skiing have their risks and that's why precautions like warning signs and bales of ...
January 6th, 2009
Montage du jour : Les 3 résidences démolies illégalement sur la rue Drummond
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1970-2009
De gauche à droite : La maison George Smithers, la maison A. A. Wilson et la maison Hope.
Ces 3 résidences tombèrent sous le pic des démolisseurs en 1974 bien que la demande de permis de démolition à cet effet avait été refusé par la ville. Les promoteurs démolirent d'abord les façades des 2 maisons de droite le 21 décembre et celle de la maison de gauche le 8 janvier 1974. Bien que les travaux de démolition furent maîtrisés, les dégâts étaient alors considérable. L'affaire fut donc ...
Photo du Jour : Waiting for the 105
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Lineup for the 105 bus on Dec 10th, the first snowy day of the season. As of this month, these riders will receive a 26% service increase during rush hour.
Waiting for the 105 is also the theme a tune by local bluegrass collective, Lake of Stew.
Montage du jour : …
By Guillaume St-Jean // 36 Comments
Pour diverses raisons légales, cette chronique fera relâche pour une durée indéterminée.
Heritage gas station needs a new vocation
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
Photo by Kate McDonnell
Yesterday the ever-vigilant Montreal City Weblog noted that a unique gas station on Nun's Island, designed by Mies van der Rohe, is now boarded up. Mies van der Rohe is the architect behind the Seagram Building in NYC, among other monuments of modernist architecture. He was also a design consultant on Toronto's TD Centre.
Built in 1968, the gas station in question was operated by Esso until last December. Today's edition of Le Devoir reports that the Conseil du Patrimoine is beginning an official process to recognize the building, ...
Toronto Tuesday: 2008′s transportation articles, 1940s travelogue, losing a sense of place
By Chloe Ellingson // 1 Comment
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Top transportation articles
Dylan Reid has posted links to some of the most relevant public space articles of 2008, ranging from Japanese demotorization to pedlock.
Ontario Travelogue from 1942
Shawn Micallef provides a link to a video clip from days past, which presents a view of Toronto before highrise offices and the CN Tower came to define it.
Losing a sense of place
Dylan Reid questions the sense ...
CCA’s call for Actions – le CCA appelle à l’Action
By KC Bolton // 1 Comment
Photo courtesy of www.cca-actions.org
The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) is seeking online submissions that complement its current exhibition, Actions: What you can do with the city. The exhibition features 99 actions by individuals and collectives that have positively impacted urban spaces around the world.
The CCA is encouraging a participatory approach in which ideas of small-scale urban change can be shared by anyone on its website. Submitted actions can be documented in photo or video format, and while all entries will be displayed on the website, a few that stand out in originality will ...
Montage du jour : Explication
By Guillaume St-Jean // 18 Comments
1964-2007
La rue City Councillors depuis Sherbrooke
Ayant créé plus de 500 montages photographiques avant-après sur une période de plus de 2 ans, j'essai tant bien que mal depuis plusieurs mois de faire connaître mon projet à plus grande échelle.
Après avoir présenté mon projet à la BANQ, dont proviennent plusieurs centaines de photographies, on m'a fait savoir que je n'avais pas l'autorisation d'utiliser ces photographies sans ...
January 8th, 2009
Montage du jour : Maison jumelée sur la rue de Bullion
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1985-2007
Source de la photo : John Allison
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photocat62/86467313/
Photo du jour : Montréal psychédélique
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
This is a map of dissemination areas of the Greater Montreal, randomly coloured in Google Earth.
Source: Census of Canada
Des légumes chinois comme au marché public
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
Comptoir des légumes verts, Marché Hawaï, arrondissement Saint-Laurent
Comme j'avais du temps libre samedi dernier, je suis allé faire les courses de la semaine et faire le touriste au Marché Hawaï.
Situé dans l'arrondissement Saint-Laurent, le Hawaï a ouvert ses portes en 2001 et est peut-être le premier grand supermarché asiatique du Grand Montréal (précédant le grand Kim Phat sur Jarry).
Depuis que je connais ce supermarché, c'est-à-dire depuis au moins 2006, une pratique que je trouvais alors plutôt exotique au Canada a ...
January 9th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de F.L. Wanklyn, rue Drummond
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
Vers 1900-2009
Bonne nouvelle : La reproduction de photographies du musée McCord est autorisée.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.27.37§ion=196
MP-0000.27.37
Photo du Jour : Pique-nique trottoir
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Photo prise le 27 septembre, rue Ontario E. près de De Lormier.
Le mardi des arbres: L’arborvitae, l’arbre de la vie
By Bronwyn Chester // No Comments
En lisant Spacing Montreal pendant les vacances j'ai été fort inspiré par le mot d'Alanah Heffez par rapport à la sculpture L'arbre de vie de Joseph Rifesser qui se trouve au métro Lionel-Groulx. La sculpture consiste en cinq têtes humaines représentant les cinq continents et elle était un symbole de la paix au pavillon de l'Italie pendant l'Expo '67. Son nom est le même nom donné a notre cèdre commun, le cèdre que nous connaissons surtout parce qu'il est utilisé pour créer les haies. Arborvitae, c'est ainsi que les premiers Européens ont appelé Thuja occidentalis qui se ...
Photo du jour : A familiar sign
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo prise lors de l'autre grosse tempête de la saison, le 21 décembre 2008.
January 11th, 2009
Montage du jour : une vue du vieux port depuis la chapelle Bonsecours
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
2002-2008
Source de la photo : Rich McGervay
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgervey/241753596/
Photo du Jour : Old Port Skating Rink
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Skating near Quai Jacques Cartier, January 10th, 2009.
Shed 16 (in the background) has housed a Labyrinth obstacle course for the past 10 years or so and before that was a flea market.
January 12th, 2009
Montage du jour : Maisons sur la rue Drummond
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2009
De gauche à droite : La maison de F. L. Wanklyn, la maison de H. Wallis et la maison de Sheldon Stephens
Source : McCord Museum
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.27.35§ion=196
MP-0000.27.35
GeoMontreal Wants Destination Ideas for Ethical Tourism Map.
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Got a Montreal secret that you're bursting to let out? Now is your chance to get it onto an international tourism map. GeoMontréal is soliciting destinations and experiences that represent authentic Montreal culture and environment to be included in the city's upcoming Geotourism MapGuide.
Geotourism, an idea developped by the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations, aims to promote "tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents."
The Geotourism Charter (PDF) charter outlines 13 principles to promote tourism that is ethical, ecologically sustainable, culturally sensitive, and ...
Et le trou est devenu… un stationnement
By Joel Thibert // 2 Comments
En passant devant ce terrain "vague" à quelques pas de l'Hôtel de ville ce matin, ce "trou" blotti aux abords de la rue de la Gauchetière que j'avais décrit sur ce blog le 28 novembre dernier alors qu'il était encore plein de débris de toutes sortes et qu'il semblait exister hors de la trame urbaine et hors du temps, il m'est venu un refrain: "Nous n'irons plus au bois... les débris sont enlevés... le p'tit trou que voilà ... a été tranformé... entrez avec votre char, voyez c'que ça donne, sautez, dansez, stationnez où vous voulez".
Et oui, le petit ...
January 13th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Crescent au Sud de Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1973-2007
Source de la photo : Coolopolis
http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2006/12/crescent-street-1972.html
Photo du jour – Frozen mobile
By KC Bolton // 3 Comments
One of many winter-mobiles found at Casgrain and Maguire. Photo taken January 11th 2009.
Entrevue avec Spacing Montréal sur Radio CIBL
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Jeudi dernier, j'ai passé à l'émission Midi-Libre sur CIBL Radio-Montréal, un poste de radio communautaire en place depuis 1978. Le programme portait sur l'urbanisme sur le web, et j'ai partagé l'heure avec Max Stein, un des créateurs de la Carte sonore de Montréal, et les gens de chez Kollectif.net, un site qui recueille tous les activités publiques et professionnelles se déroulant dans la communauté architecturale du Québec. Vous êtes bienvenues à m'écouter décrire un peu la communauté de collaborateurs et lecteurs qui s'est rassemblé autour de Spacing Montréal dans la dernière année ...
Event Space / Espace événements 12 – 25 jan.
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
"Habiter les squelettes" un projet de la collective francaise Coloco, sera présenté au CCA le 22 janvier. Il y aura aussi des conférences offertes à UdeM et à UQAM dans les semaines à venir.
Things are getting rolling at the Universities once again. In the next two weeks, check out conferences at UQAM and UdeM, as well as a presentation about 'living in urban skeletons' at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.
“Mile End en chantier”: cafés rencontres sur la revitalisation du secteur Saint-Viateur Est
By Mathieu Payette-Hamelin // 2 Comments
Avis à tous les intéressés, le Comité des citoyens du Mile End, en collaboration avec plusieurs autres partenaires dont Mémoire du Mile End et Les Amis du boulevard Saint-Laurent lancent une série de cafés rencontres intitulés "Mile End en chantier" où les citoyens sont invités à venir proposer leur vision du développement du secteur Saint-Viateur Est.
Ce secteur, bordée de la voie du CP au nord, du boulevard Saint-Laurent à l'ouest, de l'avenue Laurier au sud, et de la rue Saint-Denis à l'est, fait actuellement l'objet d'un projet de revitalisation initié par l'administration municipale.
Les Cafés ...
Psychogeography Society to explore Ahuntsic this Saturday
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
This Saturday, the Montreal Psychogeography Society (Facebook group) will come out of hibernation to host its first walk of the year. This walk will take place in the northern neighbourhood of Ahuntsic, meeting at the Sauvé Metro station at 13:00.
For those not familiar with the Psychogeography Society, it's basically just a fancy way of describing a group of people going for a walk together. Psychogographers get together at a set place and time and try to take the road less travelled to destinations unknown. There is no route and nobody leads, the group simply ...
Tree Tuesday: Sumac, the flamboyant lifesaver
By Bronwyn Chester // 4 Comments
Colour, in winter, is precious. Wandering in the woods on a sun-hidden day, it's easy to see the world the way the old black and white television sets presented it: black, white and numerous shades of grey. It's an experience I rather love for it makes all the subtle nuances of winter colour and texture that much more noticeable. And when the rare reds, oranges or yellows burst on the scene, they seem positively exotic.
I had that experience last Saturday while cross-country skiing on Mount Royal. Alerted by the excited chirping of a chickadee, I paused to have ...
Toronto Tuesday: Toronto’s sewers, Public Realm Office, and ThinkTORONTO
By Chloe Ellingson // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Toronto's sewers: love them or... ignore them
According to Shawn Micallef, our extensive and mysterious sewer system just doesn't get enough credit. Admittedly, we only seem to pay attention to them when something down there goes wrong. Read his case for taking a closer look at what lies below.
New Toronto Public Realm Office
Toronto's new Public Realm Office is up and running. Part of the Transportation Services Division, ...
January 14th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Antoine près de la rue Bonsecours
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1983-2008
Source de la photo : John Allison
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photocat62/2212874475/
Photo du jour – the Vandura
By KC Bolton // No Comments
Hibernating summer traveler. Photo taken January 11th 2009.
Spacing Montreal and the Psychogeography Society invite you to visit the Sauvé area on Saturday
By Jacob Larsen // 8 Comments
Photo from the Chabanel district taken by ACRiley on Flickr.
If you're looking to stretch your legs a bit this Saturday and expand your knowledge of one of Montreal's lesser known quarters, why not join us for a stroll around the Sauvé/Chabanel area. I know relatively little about this area: its bordered by the massive, modernist hulks of the failed 'Cité de la Mode' fashion district and the northern limit of Montreal's plex-scape, and dotted with other anomalies and curios typical of pretty much anywhere in Montreal.
In typical psychogeography style, no one will be guiding this ...
January 15th, 2009
Montage du jour : L’église St-James
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2009
L'édifice située dans le coin inférieur gauche était la First Baptist church.
Voyez ce montage avec FLASH : http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/clefs/jeux/36&duoid=296
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.27.60§ion=196
MP-0000.27.60
Photo du Jour : City Hall under cover
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
The facade of city hall is getting touched up and, in order to hide the scaffolding, the 1878 building is draped in canvas bearing a life-size image of... city hall.
...Could be worse.
Photo taken January 10th, 2009
Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
More profoundly than municipal policy and to a greater degree than million-dollar developments, a city's identity is forged in its fictions.
Authors like Mordecai Richler and Michel Tremblay have defined entire neighbourhoods within our collective imaginations. Songwriters, from Leonard Cohen to Les colocs can conjure with a few words the kind of placemaking power that planners are lucky to see in a decade.
So I was excited when Mes Aieux released a city-themed album, La Ligne Orange, at the end of 2008. In an interview in le Journal de Montreal, band member Éric Desranleau described how, unlike their previous repertoire ...
January 16th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Horace Joseph, rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1911-2009
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-184480§ion=196
II-184480
MTQ Plans to Cover one Trench Highway while Digging Another
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
According to an article in today's La Presse, the Société Radio-Canada is pressuring the province to patch up the ugly gash created by the Ville Marie trench highway alongside its upcoming development. The Palais de Congrès, which straddles the highway just west of Saint-Urbain, is also itching to expand. The ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ) has agreed to put out a call for quotes on the feasibility of such a massive cover-up job.
Previous studies have found that the cost of covering the highway are in the range of $100 million for ...
January 17th, 2009
Montage du jour : Terrain sur la rue St-Dominique
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2007-2007
Cette minuscule maison qui était située sur la rue St-Dominique près de l'avenue des Pins est aujourd'hui remplacée par un terrain de stationnement.
A New Opportunity
By Michael Dunkelman // 23 Comments
After decades of operation, the Hippodrome, once known as Blue Bonnets, has closed its doors for good. Although this will have negative ramifications for Quebec's horse-breeding industry, it presents a great opportunity for urban development. The site is centrally located, just off the Décarie expressway and within walking distance of the Namur metro station. If developed properly, the site could be home to thousands of families who would likely use public transportation. The site as it stands now, is relatively isolated from neighboring residential areas. This isolation could be resolved by connecting the ...
The renter’s city mapped
By KC Bolton // 3 Comments
Note Feb 27th, 2009: In the course of creating a similar map for Toronto for comparison purposes, I found that there may be a problem in the way I formulated this analysis. It appears that the following map shows correct proportional rent increases, however the overall magnitude of rent increases is higher. Basically, there should not be as much blue as I originally thought. So when I finally have enough time to correct this, I'll put up a new, and accurate, version alongside Toronto and Vancouver maps. I apologize for the mistake and hope that nobody ...
January 18th, 2009
Montage du jour : Les condos du marché
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
2007-2007-2008
Voici donc le résultat final en complément de l'article Encore des condos, publié en octobre 2007.
Photo du Jour : Sunrise on de la Commune
By Spacing // 3 Comments
This photo was sent in by a Spacing Montreal reader, Tracey Smith, who snapped it January 15th on Rue de la Commune, looking out across the port.
January 19th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke vers l’ouest depuis l’avenue Union
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1870-2009
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.1452.8§ion=196
MP-0000.1452.8
Photo du Jour : Le fleuve l’hiver
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
La Biosphère et "L'Homme", vus du Quai Jacques Cartier, le 10 janvier 2008.
Upcoming Consultation for Place L’Acadie Redevelopment
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
The Office de Consultation Publique de Montréal (OPCM) is holding sessions starting on January 28th for a residential development in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, which would replace some of the city's worst slums with 7 affoardable apartment and condo blocks, and a neighourhood park.
The proposed development is a LeCorbusier-inspired towers-in-the-park ideal, a model which has been criticized for creating impersonal housing blocks, isolated within an unpopulated or even dangerous greenspace, which ultimately fail to integrate into the wider neighbourhood. However, in this case the site is already isolated by a highway, two major traffic trough-fares and a parkinglot, so perhaps creating a dynamic internal space is the best case scenario.
And, for the tenants of Place l'Acadie and Place Henri-Bourassa, anything will be a better than the decrepit, unsanitary buildings currently located on the site.
January 20th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison Hodgeson
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Cette maison située à l'intersection des rues Docteur Penfield et Drummond fut utilisée par le musée McCord de 1955 à 1971. Le musée déménagea par la suite sur la rue Sherbrooke et la vieille demeure fut alors démolie.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.1594§ion=196
MP-0000.1594
Toronto Tuesday: Storm drains and sewers, subway trash and supermarkets
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
This week features three snapshots into civic history and urban preservation:
A buried neighbourhood
Mathew Borrett digs into the City of Toronto Archives and discusses a buried neighbourhood from the late 1800s. Ravines and creek beds were filled, and houses were removed to allow for development; partially-filled waterways are now storm drains and sewers, part of the city's subterranean infrastructure.
Trash bins on subway platforms
Matthew Blackett looks into ...
January 21st, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke près de Décarie
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1920-2009
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.587.142§ion=196
MP-0000.587.142
Photo du Jour : Site Tri-Postal
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Photo taken from the Concordia Engineering building, corner Guy & Ste-Catherine, Dec 8 2008.
The sprawling, blue-sided Canada Post sorting building will soon be dismantled to make way for the Bassins du Nouveau Havre residential development alongside the Lachine Canal.
Public Consultation for CN yards in Pointe St Charles
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
The Office de Consultation Publique de Montréal is opening a second round of consultations about the redevelopment of old CN yards in Pointe St. Charles this weekend. Pointe St. Charles residents are gaining a reputation as one of the most active and organized communities in the city, ensuring that accessible housing, local jobs, public transit, environmental considerations, and waterfront access remain on the radar.
Two years ago, Groupe Mach, had plans to develop a big-box retail centre similar to Marché Central but the necessary zoning changes were not approved. In September 2008, they came back ...
Le mardi des arbres: Des tilleuils pour le président
By Bronwyn Chester // 3 Comments
Cher M. le président,
Permettez-moi de vous offrir deux tilleuls d'Amérique en tant que cadeaux d'inauguration. Je suggère que vous les plantiez aux deux côtés de l'entrée principale de votre nouvelle maison. Pourquoi? Parce que, selon la tradition allemande du 16ième siècle qui était adoptée par les colons en Amérique du nord, ces deux arbres vont vous apporter de la bonne chance.
Mais, à vrai dire, ce n'est pas seulement pour cette raison.
Regardez le nombre de troncs qu'a ce tilleul (linden/basswood, Tilia americana). C'en est un que j'ai photographié au Parc La Fontaine, un parc majeur de ma ville, Montréal, qui est riche en arbres -- au moins 50 espèces! Il est vieux ce tilleul. Tous ces 14 troncs ont poussé à partir de la vieille souche, celle-ci ayant été coupée je dirais à l'époque où ce terrain était la ferme Logan, de 1794 - 1845. William Logan, boulanger prospère de l'époque, l'a peut-être abattu pour sculpter un autel pour son église où peut-être des bols pour sa femme.
Le bois du tilleul, comme vous voyez, dans cette photo ci-dessous, est blanc, mou et le grain et très égal. Alors, c'est le bois par excellence pour la sculpture, mais pauvre pour la construction et la combustion. D'ailleurs, si jamais vous visitez le Canada et que vous avez le temps, je vous amènerai au Musée de Zénon Alary, un monsieur d'un village laurentien, Mont Rolland (maintenant un arrondissement de Ste-Adèle). C'est plein de sculptures sur bois de tilleul de gens et d'animaux faites par le défunt M. Alary.
January 22nd, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison de Sir Mortimer B. Davis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
19??-2003
Cette demeure située sur l'avenue des Pins est aujourd'hui utilisé par l'université McGill sous le nom de Purvis Hall.
Source : http://cac.mcgill.ca/campus/Buildings/Purvis_Hall.html
Public transit up in 2008: STM
By Jacob Larsen // 10 Comments
Photo courtesy of Jery 'Riverman' on flickr
According to recent figures released by the STM, transit ridership in Montreal was up in 2008. And not insignificantly, either.
In Montreal, there were 4% more passengers; in Laval, the number was even higher at 6.4%; and in Longueuil it was 4.35% higher. The two most obvious factors for this increase are the Laval metro stops and the quickly rising cost of gasoline, but increasing environmental concern has been cited as a factor as well.
With another 2% projected increase in 2009, the STM is going to have an additional $10 million at its ...
Devimco to scale back Griffintown Project
By Chris Erb // 23 Comments
An older mockup of the Projet-Griffintown plan proposed by Devimco last year.
Yesterday, The Gazette reported that Devimco, the company that gained approval from city hall last summer to build a massive mixed-use development near the Peel Basin, may have to downsize the first phase of their plan. Citing concerns over the state of the economy, Devimco is drafting a "plan-B"which would bring the cost of phase 1 down to about $200 million from the originally planned $400 million.
The alternative plan, to be presented to the city sometime in the next couple weeks, will also give ...
January 23rd, 2009
Montage du jour : L’avenue du Parc près de Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
2007-2009
*** Mise à jour : Cette maison construite en 1875 ainsi que l'annexe qui abritait autrefois un restaurant seront remplacés par un nouveau projet à vocation commerciale et résidentielle dont la densité et la hauteur excédentaire firent l'objet d'une dérogation auprès de l'arrondissement du Plateau Mont-Royal.
Consultez le document d'information, et choisissez au bas de la page le titre : 3456 avenue du Parc
Photo du jour: Skiers on Rivières des Prairies
By Jacob Larsen // No Comments
Photo taken along the Rivières des Prairies last weekend.
January 24th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Union près de Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Around 1900-2007
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-3169.1§ion=196
VIEW-3169.1
Photo du Jour: The Big ‘O’ and its little cousin
By Jacob Larsen // 5 Comments
Were the architects of this modern house of worship at Hochelaga and Pie-IX giving a nod to the looming temple behind it?
Vieux Québec’s Ice-Cross Comp
By Alanah Heffez // 21 Comments
2007 Crushed Ice Crashed Ice course in Quebec City, image from the event's website.
Over the past three weeks, half a kilometer of Old Québec's steep and winding roads have been transformed into a smooth - if perilous - ice skating slope in preparation for tonight's Crushed Crashed Ice competition.
The press release (English pdf) reads like a cross between a guidebook to Québec's historical charms and a testosterone-pumped announcer at an an extreme fighting match. The gist of it is that 80 participants will race down the 550-meter long course, which covers a ...
January 25th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le couvent Sainte-Marie
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1899-2008
Ce couvent construit en 1851 sur la rue de Bleury fut démoli en 1976.
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal en 1900
Bird’s Eye view captures graffiti for the Internet age
By Chris Erb // 9 Comments
To my delight, I have recently discovered that Live Search Maps, while being less user-friendly, and lacking many of the features of Google Maps, has expanded their "Bird's Eye" view across many cities, including Montreal (the feature has been available here for quite awhile but only for a small section of Downtown). The Bird's Eye feature is more or less just an improvement on the conventional satellite aerial view we all know in Google Maps (Live Search also has aerial views which are actually much sharper than the views currently offered by Google). With this ...
Photo du Jour: A busy rue St. Paul
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
Taken Thanksgiving weekend on rue St. Paul.
St. Paul is one of several streets that the city is considering for pedestrianization. St. Catherine was the focus of a study in pedestrianization this summer, but St. Paul has been considered for some time. From what this picture suggests, maybe St. Paul should be on top of city planners' lists.
“La Guerre des Tuques” on Mount Royal
By Olivier Plessis // 3 Comments
When I saw "La Guerre des Tuques" ("The Dog Who Stopped the War") as a kid, I always dreamt of building a huge snow fort and engaging in a massive snowball battle. In classic Montreal fashion, someone had the brilliant idea this weekend of recreating such a battle on Mount Royal, a kind of winter version of Tam Tam's medieval-fighting. This two day event consisted of building two separate forts facing each other, on Saturday, and wave after wave of battles, on Sunday. The turn-out was great, and, happily, was dominated by ...
January 26th, 2009
Montage du jour : Ravenscrag
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1902-2008
Cette demeure construite en 1861 pour Hugh Montagu Allan fut transformée en hôpital psychiatrique en 1943.
Source : McCord Museum
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-143395§ion=196
II-143395
Photos du Jour : La rue St-Alexandre
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Une petite espace intime sur la rue Saint-Alexandre, coin Dowd. La Basilique Saint-Patrick est juste à l'ouest, hors de vue.
Photos prises le 25 janvier 2009
January 27th, 2009
Montage du jour : Ravenscrag en hiver
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1901-2009
Voici le même montage avec FLASH : http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/clefs/jeux/36&duoid=295
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-4867§ion=196
VIEW-4867
Photo du Jour : L Berson Monuments
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
L Berson & Sons has held this prominent spot on the Main since 1922. The monument manufacturer is located just around the corner from the Bagg street Synagogue and the two actually share a founding father.
The business has been passed down for 4 generations, although these days a more accurate sign could read L Berson & fille.
A tombstone shop nestled between a bar and an ice cream parlour is the kind commercial diversity you just won't find in a ...
Toronto Tuesday: Twitter, transit shelters and a tip to the Board of Health
By Matt Lee // 4 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Twitter, Toronto, the TTC & Me (and you)
Shawn Micallef reviews the marriage of transit and technology in looking at how Twitter is used track the TTC. Not only does Twitter allow the public to directly communicate with (and more often than not, complain to) transit officials, a special program combines official data with Twitter passenger updates to show the state of the TTC at any given ...
January 28th, 2009
Montage du jour : Les écuries de Ravenscrag
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1903-2009
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-144764.1§ion=196
II-144764.1
Executive Committee Shuffle is good for Transit
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Environmental organizations are happy to see Michel Labrecque take the reins as the president of the STM, and André Lavallée promoted to Vice-President of the Executive Committee.
Labrecque, was once president of the Comité régional de l'environnement de Montréal, helped found cycling advocacy group Vélo-Québec, and contributed to the city's sustainability plan. Currently a Plateau borough councillor, he does not have a driver's licence. An STM president that relies on transit to get around is great news, at least until you consider the ...
Tree Tuesday: A Pine for Robbie
By Bronwyn Chester // 3 Comments
This lithe dancer on the snowswept stage of Parc Angrignon is none other than the Scots pine. Aptly enough, given the recent celebration of 250 years since the birth of fellow Scot, poet Robbie Burns, this tree, bright orange and green on a faded winter pallet, leapt to my attention.
I don’t usually pay much attention to Scots pines. Perhaps because their identity on this continent has been monopolized by their role as most popular Christmas tree and the pine to be planted where none other will take hold, this once proud and tall tree of the European boreal forest doesn’t usually get beyond my peripheral vision. The lofty white pine, Pinus strobus, of Group of Seven fame, aristocrat of the rocky hill, North American native, already occupies the seat of the pine in my heart.
Now however, having met this dancer, having observed her as much as the frigid temperatures and the deep snow would allow, I’ll make more room for this pine, Pinus sylvestrus, in Latin, pin sylvestre, in French, both meaning pine of the forest. Never having seen a Scots pine forest, I was surprised to learn of this meaning. Aside from those in the Christmas tree farms, Scots pines struck me as loners; living in small clusters at best. But, as I’ve learned in my Internet travels, this tree once dominated the forests of Scotland. Its decimation for firewood, then for the English navy, then to clear the way for sheep, prompted the English to look eastward in the European boreal forest, for new supplies. Riga, for instance, was a major port of trade in Scots pine lumber and pitch, or resin, for the English although the people who would become Latvians called it Riga pin.
January 29th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison Workman
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1912-2008
Cette maison construite sur la rue Sherbrooke en 1870 fut démoli en 1952.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-12850§ion=196
VIEW-12850
Photo du Jour: Corner Stone
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
It looks like these corner stones in Old Montreal have been painted with ads for a few different companies over the ages. Can anybody recognize any of them? (I can't decipher any of the text myself).
January 30th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le théâtre Corona
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1915-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.2327.9§ion=196
MP-0000.2327.9
Photo du Jour : St-Henri Hearse
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Photographer-about-town, Tristan Brand sent in this photo of a hearse he's often crossed parked on rue Notre-Dame near Rose-de-Lima.
January 31st, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Mme Hope, rue Drummond
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1900-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-134622§ion=196
II-134622
Photo du jour – Biosphere Burning
By KC Bolton // 18 Comments
The biosphere's outer covering burned on May 20th, 1976, during structural repairs. Today's photo du jour is courtesy of an Archives Canada online homage to Expo 67. Thanks for the link Lee.
Sneak peek at a Bixi bike
By Chris Erb // 13 Comments
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend some of the Micro/Macro conference hosted by CAPS (Canadian Association of Planning Students) which took place between the four universities. A representative from Bixi, the public bike-sharing program set to be launched this spring gave a presentation (which I unfortunately missed) on the project. As everyone lined up for lunch, one of the bikes were rolled out for everyone to have a look at. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take any close-up shots of the different parts of the bike but was glad to be able to take a ...
February 1st, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Mme Hope
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1900-2009
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-133312§ion=196
II-133312
February 2nd, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Frederick Redpath, avenue du Musée
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2009
La maison Redpath, aujourd'hui en ruine, était autrefois mitoyenne à une maison identique du côté sud.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.27.68§ion=196
MP-0000.27.68
Photo du Jour – Time for Articulated Buses?
By Alanah Heffez // 17 Comments
The 105 bus route, which runs from Vendome metro to the western extremity of Sherbrooke, got a major service boost this January. It already passed at 5-minute intervalls during rush hour, and these days it's not unusual to see two buses loading up with passengers simultaneously at rush hour (the lineup is at least twice as long as seen in this photo and on very busy days I've seen it curl about like a human Sprial Jetty).
Perhaps it's time for articulated buses? The ...
Event Space / Espace événements 01-20 Feb
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Upcoming discussions about the future of Griffintown at Concordia, the future of the Turcot at UQÀM, and the future of active transportation at U de M, plus winter camping the old port this weekend!
Des discussions sur le futur de Griffintown, de l'échangeur Turcot, et du transport actif, plus camping d'hiver au vieux port samedi prochain!
Cost of Spacing on newsstand to rise in 2009
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing is gonna cost you a little more in 2009.
The Toronto-based magazine announced today that the price of a single copy will rise to $8 -- up from $7 -- starting with the Spring issue (due out in mid-April). Spacing publisher Matthew Blackett said, "The magazine is run on a very tight budget with little wiggle room for fluctuations in advertising and newsstand sales. We compared our pricing to other magazines of similar size, frequency and editorial content, and decided in order to make sure Spacing continues to succeed as a business we have to ...
Montreal Psychogeography Society in the news
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
A veritable flurry of media interest has surrounded the Psychogeography Society in recent weeks, which might interest our readers.
A journalist from Radio-Canada joined us on our recent walk through the Chabanel fashion district and put together this short documentary which was broadcast on the program, Macadam, last Friday evening on 95.1 FM. If this wasn't enough, a journalist from the Gazette contacted me to do a story about The Psychogeography Society that appeared in last Saturday's paper.
Our turn-out for the Chabanel walk was typical - 12 or so - but the media interest in ...
February 3rd, 2009
Montage du jour : Le blvd. René-Lévesque depuis la rue Stanley
By Guillaume St-Jean // 12 Comments
1946-2008
À remarquer : L'architects building, un gratte-ciel de 17 étages, construit de 1930 à 1932 et démoli en 1955 lorsque le blvd. René-Lévesque fut élargi. Celui-ci était situé au coin de la côte du Beaver Hall.
Source : http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2007/08/dorchester-1946-war-is-over-winter-isnt.html
Toronto Tuesday: Downtown relief, designing streets and drop-in centre woes
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
City council boards the DRL bandwagon
Sean Marshall discusses the Downtown Relief Line, an unglamourous name for an otherwise exciting possibility for the transit system's future. The line would alleviate pressure from existing subway lines, and address gaps in Transit City, the city's transit growth plan.
Street signs of the times
Matthew Blackett reviews Toronto's new street signs, as the City unveils them at intersections across the city. ...
“The Garden” screening at Cinema Politica
By Chris Erb // 1 Comment
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yhhfr_hIL7A[/youtube]
Next Monday, February 9 at 7:30 PM, Cinema Politica in collaboration with Concordia's Planners Network will be showing the film The Garden. From the event listing:
"A Monumental Battle for the Right to Grow Food
THE GARDEN (Scott Hamilton Kennedy / USA / 2008 / 80 min) is co-sponsored by Concordia's Planners Network (for info. on planners network, visit: www.plannersnetwork.org) and director Scott Hamilton
Kennedy will give a virtual speaker's introduction to the evening.
FAMILIA 068 (Toni Edo & Rubén Margallo / Spain-Nicaragua / 2007 /
27min) will precede THE GARDEN.
The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the ...
More deaths by snow plow: a sad day in Montreal
By Jacob Larsen // 15 Comments
At first I didn't believe it. Three pedestrians were killed in two separate accidents involving snow plowing equipment in Montreal today. Including the young woman killed in Côte-des-neiges killed earlier this winter, the total number of deaths is now up to four.
The first accident occured as an elderly couple were crossing on a green light at Sherbrooke and Champlain and a snow plow driver, not seeing them, turned right. Six hours later, an 76 year-old woman was hit and killed as well. For the full story, see CTV News' coverage.
While I don't want to contribute ...
February 4th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le blvd. René-Lévesque depuis la rue Drummond
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2008
Source : http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2007/08/dorchester-1946-war-is-over-winter-isnt.html
Justice may be blind but this is going too far!
By Jacob Larsen // 36 Comments
Palais de Justice on rue St. Antoine
Leaving City Hall one blisteringly cold day in January, I realized the entire east wall of the Quebec Superior Court building is windowless. I'm no architectural snob, but brutalism of this magnitude needs to be pointed out and scorned with all our collective energy.
Le mardi des arbres: La pruche se patiente dans l’ombre de l’autre
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
Si le pin sylvestre de la semaine dernière est un individualiste, un dur, un prêt-à-tout, la pruche est son opposé parfait. Regardez-la: délicate, pudique -- ses feuilles cachent bien ses troncs -- et souple, les bouts de ses branches détendus, courbants vers le sol.
Mais, ce n'est pas seulement son physique qui est souple. La pruche (hemlock, Tsuga canadensis) est souple dans sa manière de pousser. Elle est la plus tolérante aux espaces ombragés de tous les conifères de l'Amérique du Nord. La pruche se tient bien soit sous les érables à sucre, dans le sud-ouest du Québec, ...
February 5th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison de George Winks, blvd. René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1866-2007
Cette résidence construite en 1853 fut passablement transformé vers la fin du 19e siècle lorsqu'elle fut rénovée suite à un incendie.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-1980.47.3§ion=196
MP-1980.47.3
1ière avenue, part 2: LaSalle
By Chris Erb // 10 Comments
I've been putting it off for too long, but here finally is part two of my journey through Montreal's various 1ière avenues. As I said in the last post, the purpose of this series is to visit the first street of every series of numbered streets in the city and take photos. In doing so, I hope to be able to show some of the city's lesser-known neighbourhoods while looking for interesting things along the way. More explanation of this project can be found in the first post, linked above.
Now, on to 1re Avenue in the borough of Lasalle. I visited this street on the same rainy day as I did nearby Verdun but found a very different street. Much like Verdun, Lasalle is a former independent municipality that was merged with Montreal in 2002 and failed to de-merge afterward. This tends to be the case for many of the places where I've visited numbered streets which accounts for the reason why Montreal has so many. One thing I noticed in particular is the street signs in Lasalle. The borough has retained its municipal street sign design of white writing on a green background with a picture of the Moulin Fleming. I find it to be a very attractive street sign and it is nice to see local street signs that give a sense of place, rather than a generic sign for the entire city.
The street is only three blocks long on a typical Montreal grid. The series of numbered streets go west until 90e Avenue near Lachine but is only a regular series of numbered streets until 16e Avenue where the grid stops, and the streets become more suburban. After that, numbered streets only show up periodically with the streets in between having proper names.
The street begins at the Lachine Rapids at boul Lasalle. A beautiful park runs along the waterfront from Verdun all the way to Lachine.
When thinking of Lasalle, the image of those white brick duplexes with the garages in the basement so typical of inner-ring Montreal suburbs usually first come to mind. This generalisation is indeed more-or-less true, however, Lasalle has a sizable old section, mostly centred in the area with streets on a grid from the Douglas Hospital to about 9e Avenue. 1re Avenue is typical of this old section of Lasalle, mostly populated by two story, brick duplexes with exterior staircases to the second floor apartment.
Rue Centrale is a commercial artery that intersects with the numbered streets running through the old section of Lasalle and acts as a kind of main street. It's a pleasant little street with a nice neighbourly feel and is more or less intact with few empty lots or parking where buildings should be.
Some more photos of the street after the jump.
February 6th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de William Notman, rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 12 Comments
1893-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-102142§ion=196
II-102142
February 7th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le boulevard St-Laurent depuis la rue St-Antoine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Vers 1895-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-2698§ion=196
VIEW-2698
Photo du jour: Banque Nationale complexe Maisonneuve from Square Victoria
By Chris Erb // 3 Comments
Photo taken June, 28, 2008
February 8th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue McGill depuis la rue St-Paul
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1869-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.1828.20§ion=196
MP-0000.1828.20
February 9th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la providence
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Construit de 1841 à 1843 pour les soeurs de la Providence, cet édifice situé au coin des rues Sainte-Catherine et St-Hubert a abrité des vieillards et ses œuvres ont permis de servir des bols de soupes aux sans-abri pendant plus de 120 ans.
L'édifice fut démoli au cours des années 1960 lors de la construction du métro.
Au cours des 7 prochain jours, vous pourrez voir différents angles de vues des travaux effectués sur ce quadrilatère.
Source : Archives, ville ...
DIY Opus Design
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
This blog has questioned the decision to name Montreal's transit card after a cartoon penguin, but so far nobody's come right out and said that the Opus card is plain old ugly.
That is, until OpusLift.
"Personnellement, je la trouvais tellement laide (vous excuserez ma franchise), si peu représentative de Montréal et des montréalais que je n'ai pas résisté à l'envie d'infliger quelques modifications à la mienne," writes Melissa Nougier, a graphic designer who launched the website in January.
After the branding of Greater Montreal raised so much criticism in October, Nougier says, it seemed ...
Photo du jour: Snowy Plaza
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Plaza St-Hubert after Christmas.
Photo taken January 8, 2009
February 10th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la providence durant sa démolition
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Plus d'infos sur l'historique de l'immeuble ici.
Source : Archives ville de Montréal
Toronto Tuesday: Psychological boundaries, pedestrian mapping and public hydro art
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
This week's posts relate to the experience of space:
(Psycho)geographic boundaries and cozy urbanism
Shawn Micallef talks about the psychological boundaries that exist around the places we inhabit. Our "city blinders" are loaded with prescriptions of our city, our neighbourhoods and the spaces we don't interact with. How well do you have to know a city's geography before it becomes "your city"?
Experiments with creating walking maps
Dylan Reid ...
Tree Tuesday: Pining for more white pine
By Bronwyn Chester // 7 Comments
The question comes up frequently: Where are the pines that are the namesake of Pine Avenue? I'm afraid there may never have been many, at least not when Pine Avenue was created in 1875 during the creation of Mount Royal Park. At that time, three streets were created, Elm, Cedar and Pine, and it's quite possible that the names had little to do with the predominant trees. Given the apple orchards grown on the south and west flanks of the mountain, any of the new streets in the northwestern expansion of the city might have been named Apple.
Well, perhaps the humble apple wasn't dignified enough to warrant lending its name to the prestigious streets of the nascent Square Mile that Canada's business elite would soon inhabit. Elm, cedar and pine, on the other hand, were well-respected trees. Elm, for its ornamental value; cedar, unrottable as it is, for its value in fence posts, boats and shingles for the exterior of houses; and, finally, pine.
What kind of pine? I'm guessing white pine (Pinus strobus, pin blanc) because it is the most common pine in the maple-hickory forest domain that covers southwestern Quebec and there would have been plenty on Mount Royal and in the surrounding forest. This is the pine you most likely know, the lone pine in the paintings of the Group of Seven (although Tom Thompson also painted the more northerly Jack Pine), the iconic, swirling pine, forever windswept, the pines that stand out on Laurentian Hills, the tallest evergreen in Quebec, and once the most common conifer south of the eastern Boreal forest.
Once, because this tree was decimated in the 19th century, firstly by the British for the masts and spares of the Royal Navy (they'd lost access to the Riga pine, aka Scots pine, once Napolean gained control of the Baltic ports in 1806); secondly, by settlers as they cleared the land for farming; thirdly, by the lumber industry that sawed the great diametres into boards for flooring, siding, barns and furniture. A major source of early wealth in the Ottawa area, and the raison d'être of many an Ottawa River village, the white pine's great attributes were its abundance, its size, the low shrinkage of the wood, and, perhaps most importantly, the fact that it floated (unlike the lucky hardwoods -- lucky, until the advent of rail).
February 11th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la providence durant sa démolition
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1960-2008
Source : Archives ville de Montréal
Bassins du Nouveau Havre goes to Consultation
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
There was some lively debate on this blog back in November when the plans for the old Canada Post site in Pointe-St-Charles (site tri-postal) were released. Now its time to make those comments heard by decision makers. The OPCM is holding a public information and question session next Tuesday, February 17th.
In my previous post, I was optimistic about the project after speaking with an architect from L'OEUF, who enthusiastically described the family-oriented housing plans and measures that are being taken to obtain a LEED Neighbourhood Development certification. The last couple pages of the ...
Montreal Bixi beware: Paris bike share is burning
By Matthew Blackett // 14 Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afE44cHNkEg[/youtube]
This is a lesson Montreal needs to pay close attention to: The BBC reports that half of the original 15,000 Velib bikes available for rent across the city of Paris have disappeared. JCDecaux has been running the program for the past 18 months, but says it can no longer keep up with costs on its own:
Hung from lamp posts, dumped in the River Seine, torched and broken into pieces, maintaining the network is proving expensive. Some have turned up in eastern Europe and Africa, according to press reports.
Since the scheme's launch, nearly all the original bicycles have ...
February 12th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la providence durant sa démolition
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Plus d'infos sur l'historique de l'immeuble ici.
Source : Archives ville de Montréal
Photo du Jour – Pluie d’hiver
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Photo prise aujourd'hui, le 12 février, au coin de Peel et Ste-Catherine.
February 13th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Hubert depuis la rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal
Photo du Jour : Atelier d’horlogerie
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Squished into the crack between St-Jean United Church and a pizzeria, this watchmaker's workshop fits into a space no wider than a bicycle. According to the sign, it is the oldest watchmaker in Montreal, founded in 1906.
Photo taken Feb 12th on Ste-Catherine East, between rue de Bullion and rue Berger.
Crow uses a pedestrian crossing
By Dylan Reid // 6 Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPHxA8-aaE[/youtube]
I found this delightful video about crows adapting to an urban environment and even learning to use pedestrian crossings -- for their own purposes.
I remember recently telling a friend about how crows are actually very intelligent, and here's an excellent example.
February 14th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Hubert depuis la rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Source : Archives, ville de Montréal
Photo du Jour : Bar
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Photo prise le 12 fév sur la rue St-Dominique, en bas de Ste-Catherine.
Darling Foundry graffiti
By Chris Erb // 11 Comments
Awhile ago, I wrote about some of the odd things surrounding the Darling Foundry on Ottawa Street in Griffintown. Along with being an excellent space for emerging artists, the area around the foundry has been dubbed the "Quartier éphémère" where various events and interventions have been happening. Last summer, the block of Ottawa Street in front of the Foundry was shut down to traffic and a garden of sorts was planted on top of the pavement. My favourite part of the Foundry, however, is the graffiti on the walls of the old industrial buildings ...
February 15th, 2009
Montage du jour : L’école Montcalm
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Source : Archives, ville de Montréal
Photo du jour : Mont-Royal record shop
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Bungalow-style record shop on Mount-Royal avenue: zero points for dense urban development; ten points for being so darn cute.
February 16th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la providence durant sa démolition
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Plus d'infos sur l'historique de l'immeuble ici.
Source : Archives ville de Montréal
February 17th, 2009
Montage du jour : La chapelle du collège Loyola
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1933-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.2137.386§ion=196
MP-0000.2137.386
Toronto Tuesday: Stories of storeys, shady signage and substitutive Squares
By Matt Lee // 2 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Building Storeys: Long Live the Guild
Gary Miedema details the history of The Guild Inn, a landmark in the suburban Scarborough landscape. From its origins as an artisinal skillshare and local farm, to a training centre for women in the navy, to a playground for paranormal enthusiasts, fascinating uses have come out of this space -- including current debates over the fate of the estate.
Illegal billboards ...
Do Montrealers behave badly on transit?
By Christopher DeWolf // 20 Comments
Today's transit-complaints column in the Gazette investigates whether or not Montrealers are exceptionally rude when they use public transit. Two transit users write in to moan about how people on commuter trains, metros and buses never give up their seats to pregnant women and how many of them insist on wearing their backpacks (rather than taking them off and setting them on the floor) even when it's crowded. In response, the Gazette turns to two sociologists who say that yes, Montrealers lack transit etiquette and that they ought to be a lot more considerate than ...
Note from Saigon: Coffee on demand
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM -- Coffee is a big part of the social life of Saigon, a city that somehow manages to be both languid and relentlessly energetic in nearly equal measure. Hundreds of cafés and coffee stands dot the city: relaxed neighbourhood hangouts with a few plastic seats out front to watch the city go by; leafy park cafés where middle-aged women chat and men bring birdcages; multistoried cafés with elaborate fountains and gardens, oases hidden in unremarkable lanes. But even when there isn't a café, ...
Art vandalism — or conversation?
By Christopher DeWolf // 19 Comments
Photo by Jean-Pierre Caissie
"Phénomène propre à l’art public: la possibilité de réponse," wrote Jean-Pierre Caissie, the artistic director of Dare-Dare, on his blog last month. "L’expression artistique est habituellement à sens unique. L'artiste s’exprime et le musée présente le travail. Quelques tentatives de réponses ont trouvé place devant la cour de justice. Cependant, le street art ou l’art public non-permanent offre la possibilité de réponse au passant."
Roaming from site to site around Montreal---first Viger Square, then the Park With No Name, and now Cabot Square---Dare-Dare specializes in ephemeral public art. I've been lucky ...
February 18th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison de Robert Gillespie Reid
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2009
Cette demeure construite en 1892 sur la rue Drummond fut démolie en 1956.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.27.22§ion=196
MP-0000.27.22
Event Space / Espace Événements 20 fév – 1 mars
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
This week: Surveillance in the Underground City, the city's heritage as DNA, and of course, Nuit Blanche!
Cette Semaine: La surveillance dans la ville souterraine, l'héritage comme ADN de la ville, et l'incontournable Nuit Blanche! (image: rue de la Commune durant la nuit blanche 2008).
February 19th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison de James Perrigo, rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1897-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-119008§ion=196
II-119008
Bring your own bike lane
By Christopher DeWolf // 5 Comments
I've never had much use for bike lanes. While I appreciate them in certain situations --- like when they let you ride legally against the flow of traffic --- they generally strike me as a half-measure that lull both drivers and cyclists into complacency. They give the illusion of safety when they are in some ways more dangerous than ordinary street riding. Bike lanes have their place in the city, but they're less important than developing a universal cycling culture and a street environment that is safe for cyclists in any situation.
But what if ...
“Neighbourhood” consultations
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Eagle-eyed Fagstein makes an interesting point about community consultations in Montreal: in some cases they aren't held anywhere near the community in question. Case in point is the consultation about some changes being made by Concordia to its Loyola Campus sports complex in western NDG. In order to make their views heard, people who live near Loyola will have to schlep all the way to Côte Ste. Catherine Road in Côte des Neiges, a good 25 minutes by bus. Steve Faguy drew a map to illustrate (see above).
Photo du jour: Think before you tag
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
In a laneway near Groll and St-Urbain, Mile End. June 9, 2008
Street Interrupted
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
Saint-Raymond is the little slice of NDG on the other side of the tracks, or as I described when I lived in the neighbourhood, the wrong side of the tracks.
Don't get me wrong - it's not a terrible place. The residential streets are lined with post-war, Italian-style duplexes and could be called quaint, while the back alleyways, criss-crossed with laundry lines and smelling of ripe tomatoes in the summer are downright charming.
What makes this neighbourhood so hard to love is ...
Le mardi des arbres: Pins perdus, pins trouvés II
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
Promenade dans la forêt en hiver, samedi prochain, détails à la fin de l'article.
La semaine dernière, j'ai soulevé le mystère des pins de l'avenue des Pins. La-voici la réponse. En fait, il y a deux réponses: une du 19iéme siècle, l'autre du 21ième. Commençons avec la première, illustrée ci-haut:
Voici une gravure (vers 1884) de la Maison Smith du point de vue, à peu près de l'actuel arrêt de l'autobus 11. En ce moment là, la maison est occupée par M. McGibbon, premier surintendant du parc, la famille Hosea Bonen Smith ayant quitté leur maison en 1872 au moment de la création du Parc du Mont-Royal, 1874 - 1876.
Le chemin que nous voyons montait du chemin de Côte des neiges. La structure qui monte dans les airs a fait partie du Toboggan Club, disparu en 1925, qui servait à la glissade à quatre voies vers la clairière humide où se trouve depuis 1938 le Lac aux castors.
Mais, pour notre sujet, le pin blanc (Pinus strobus, white pine) ce qui compte dans cette photo, ce sont les silhouettes du pin blanc situées sur la côte derrière la maison. Pas surprenant que cette côte se nommait The Pines. C'est d'après le nom de la côte que Pine Avenue a été nommé lors sa création autour de 1874.
Aujourd'hui, c'est la côte où se trouve un genre d'abri à pique-nique qui est, en fait, une structure liée au réservoir d'eau qui se trouve en dessous. On le nomme, La colline de l'Abri. D'ailleurs, c'est probablement avec la construction de ce réservoir en 1958, un des quatre sur le mont Royal, qu'une bonne partie des pins était abattue. Ça expliquerait également l'âge relativement jeune des érables argentés qui s'y trouvent.
CCA hosts a guided tour of urban surveillance in Montreal
By KC Bolton // 1 Comment
This weekend Bill Brown of the Surveillance Camera Players will give a tour of surveillance cameras in downtown Montreal entitled Discovering the Unmonitored Underground City. The tour is part of the Canadian Centre for Architecture's Actions: what you can do with the city workshop series. The Surveillance Camera Players group is based in New York City, and actively challenges the legality of urban camera surveillance.
The two-hour tour will begin at 2pm on Saturday (Feb 21st), leaving from the fountain at Complexe Desjardins. There are only 20 spots available at $10 each, ...
February 20th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Richard Bladworth Angus
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2009 Cette résidence construite en 1883 sur la rue Drummond pour Richard Bladworth Angus, sa femme et ses 9 enfants fut démoli en 1957.Source : Musée McCordhttp://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.27.29§ion=196 MP-0000.27.29
An apostrophe catastrophe
By Matthew Blackett // 6 Comments
A few weeks ago I posted on the Spacing Toronto blog about the new Toronto street signs my city is installing (I'll happily admit I prefer what Montreal has done to update its street signs). Much like Montreal, each of the inner and outer suburbs of Toronto have their own distinctive signs, so Toronto has moved to consolidate the look in a consistent design. The post prompted a good debate amongst our readers about the pros-and-cons of the new design. I'm sure Montrealers have a lot of opinions on whether to take similar ...
February 21st, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Laurent depuis Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1910-2007
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.816.1§ion=196
MP-0000.816.1
February 22nd, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison Trafalgar
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1872-2007
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-1984.107.60§ion=196
MP-1984.107.60
City set to abandon anti-mask law project
By Christopher DeWolf // 6 Comments
In a wise move, the city seems as though it is about to give up its push to ban face masks at demonstrations. La Presse reports:
L'amendement du règlement avait suscité de vives protestations de la part de groupes de défense des droits de la personne qui craignent que la réglementation mène à des dérapages de la part des autorités policières.«Depuis quelques semaines, beaucoup d'individus et de groupes nous ont fait connaître leurs appréhensions sur certains volets de l'amendement proposé», a déclaré Claude Dauphin par voie de communiqué, hier après-midi.
«L'ensemble de nos échanges nous a permis ...
Photo du Jour : Ste-Catherine Street Pals
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Apologies for the inconsistent photos du jour in the past while - I have been sans caméra for the past week or so, but I am now snap-happy on the streets again with a new point-and-shoot in hand. I've also been writing an article about Berri Square for the upcoming issue of Spacing Magazine, inspired by Guillaume's excellent photo montage series on the site's history.
Here's one of the photos I snapped yesterday as I spent the afternoon hanging around and soaking up the feel of the place.
February 23rd, 2009
Montage du jour : L’église St-Augustine de Canterbury
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1950-2009
Cette église construite en 1919 et agrandie en 1929 fut totalement rénovée en 1967. L'édifice qui fut sauvé de la démolition en 2001, et qui est désormais dépourvu de ses vitraux et de ses cloches, est aujourd'hui utilisé par l'église River's Edge.
Photo ancienne : Gracieuseté de l'église River's Edge.
Photo du Jour – Station de Pompage Craig
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
In april 1886, the water level of the Saint-Lawrence river rose so high that the city was flooded all the way up to Square Victoria.
The next year, the city built two pumping stations: The station de Pompage Craig (originally on rue Craig now located on Notre Dame Est, and the corner of De Lorimier) and the Riverside station, just east of the Boneventure.
According to a 2002 report (pdf) by an industrial heritage group, this structure still contains the 4 centrifugal pumps and ...
February 24th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de M. Elmenhorst, rue Peel
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1893-2008
Cette résidence ne subsistait déjà plus en 1912.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-100203§ion=196
II-100203
Photo du Jour : Dog and Dollar Bin
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
A dog patiently awaits his human companion outside the Librairie du Québec, a shop specializing in used books and records (as well as teddy bears and VHS) on Ste-Catherine street near St-André.
Tree Tuesday: White spruce, right spruce, light spruce
By Bronwyn Chester // 6 Comments
Saturday walk: The Trees of Mount Royal in Winter (details at end)
The light was gorgeous this past Saturday when I was up skiing with friends on the mountain where I took this pic. We're on the ski trail that leads to the cross, on the summit of Mount Royal. My first intention in taking this pic was to show you how roughly one of four of these white spruce trees has an orange circle around it meaning that it is slated to be cut down. These spruce were planted in the thousands in 1961 after mont Chauve, or Bald Mountain, as poor Mount Royal had been dubbed, was suffering serious erosion caused by wind and water. Why Bald Mountain?
In 1954, following complaints from citizens about the behaviour, "pas catholiques," of fellow citizens under the cover of the Mount Royal forest, Mayor Jean Drapeau opted for the radical solution -- literally -- to remove the understory species and leave only the oldest trees. Result: no roots left to hold the earth that holds the water: Result: great loss of biomass that both contributed organic matter to the earth and acted as a windbreak preventing the wind from whisking away the soil. (This photo below is from 1964.)
Seven years later, the city had to replace the radicals, radix being the Latin word for root, and more than 30,000 white spruce were planted. Today, less than a third of those trees remain but anywhere you find them, on the summit, in the swampy area just to the north of the McGill University residences, on the steep cliffs of the escarpment, you can imagine what went on 50 years ago, and you can also see that most of them aren't thriving.
February 25th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison de Narcisse Picotte
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
1971-2009
Cette résidence construite vers 1906 fut démoli au cours des années 1970 pour faire place à une voie d'accès de l'autoroute Ville-Marie.
Source : © Brian Merrett 1971 www.merrettimages.ca ref 71.005
Photo du Jour – AIDS memorial park
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
It began as an abandoned city lot on Ste-Catherine and Panet, in the Gay Village. On World AIDS Day 1991, members of the AIDS activist group Act Up Montreal tied 1,200 black ribbons in the trees as a memorial to the people who had died of of the disease in Quebec. The next year, the group put up a sign, which imitated an official park sign, dedicating the city-owned lot as an AIDS memorial.
Over the following years, ...
February 26th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le collège André-Grasset
By Guillaume St-Jean // 13 Comments
1939-2008
Sources :
Le collège André Grasset, Jacques Bannon, Fides 2003
www.maps.live.com
Engaging surveillance with Bill Brown
By KC Bolton // 8 Comments
Bill Brown warned us that the Complexe Desjardins security staff may disband his Discovering the Unmonitored Underground City workshop. Unauthorized groups larger than 20 people can be subject to removal from the semi-public space. Sure enough, a few minutes into our tour of surveillance cameras, security guards descended from their posts and loomed nearby our exceedingly benign group of CCA patrons. The cameras, no longer ignored eyes-in-the-sky, had become the focus of 25 or so individuals concerned with their right to privacy in public areas.
Bill mapped 90 of the ...
Photo du Jour – Maison Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Once the residence of Prime Minister Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, this house was declared a historical monument in 1987 which effectively saved it from being demolished along with the rest of the overdale neighbourhood.
Heritage Montreal wants to see it made into some kind of museum commemorating the rocky beginnings of the Canadian Parliament. (After Lafontaine passed a bill granting amnesty to the leaders of the 1837 rebellion against British authorities, Loyalists burnt down the National Parliament - then located in Montreal - and attacked his home in 1849.)
But ...
Quiz : Name this job
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
What does the city of Montreal pay this guy to do?
Update: Thanks for these insightful / hilarious comments. Ignacio Campillo nailed it right off the bat: the guy pictured above is an operator at Montreal’s waste water treatment facility in Pointe-aux-Trembles (the poster above his head is a map of the facility.)
I visited the plant yesterday - read about it here.
February 27th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Hugh Paton
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1889-2009
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-89271§ion=196
II-89271
Our sewage plant is (unfortunately) bigger than yours
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
Living in a city, I find it disturbingly easy to remain blissfully unaware of the resources we use and the wastes we produce. So I jumped at the opportunity to take a free tour of the facility yesterday, tagging along with a friend researching her thesis.
My first surprise was that Montreal's waste water treatment facility is the third largest in the world. Why such a massive poop-processing plant for a rather small city like ours?
Map of sewer collectors and territory served by combined sewers (beige) and separated sewers (green) from the document Réseau D'Interception ...
Photo du Jour : Busted Sewer
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
After my visit to the waste water treatment plant, the state of our fresh water distribution and waste water collection infrastructure is weighing on my mind. Our water system is quite literally out of sight and easy to put out of mind, while repairing the system means digging up roads and creating all kinds of public nuisance. Its hardly surprising that the whole system has decayed to its pitiful present day state.
This busted sewer on rue Dorion below Ste-Catherine had the block closed to traffic, yet it didn't ...
February 28th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Hugh Paton, rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1899-2009
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-89274§ion=196
II-89274
Nuit blanche ce samedi : passez la nuit avec la STM!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Cette année marque le 10e anniversaire du Festival Montréal en lumière, et la 6e année que sera présentée la fameuse Nuit blanche. L'année dernière, j'ai eu la chance de prendre des photos durant la nuit pour ensuite les publier dans le cadre de la chronique « Photo du jour » sur Spacing Montréal. (Voyez le site officiel de la Nuit blanche)
Du nouveau cette année : le Métro fonctionnera toute la nuit (mais attention, ce n'est ...
Photo du Jour : Superhero
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Graffiti seen in the Turcot Yards, Feb 27th 2009.
Le gros mur noir
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 4 Comments
Le gros mur noir (circa 11-2007) reçoit aussi le "Publi-Sac"...
On marche souvent sans porter une attention particulière aux détails des rues. Et malgré que le gros mur noir ne soit pas un détail bien subtil, ça m'a prit quand même quelque temps avant de réaliser sa présence. Comme ça faisait déjà presque 2 mois que j'habitais cette rue strictement résidentielle (dont je ne dévoile pas le nom pour faire plaisir aux explorateurs amateurs) et que je passais tous les jours, matin et soir, devant cette adresse, j'ai tout de suite imaginé son apparition comme étant immédiate ...
Montage du jour : La maison Hutchin
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1926-2007
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-23652§ion=196
VIEW-23652
Phoenix’s new LRT; Where have Toronto’s streetcars gone?
By Sean Marshall // 3 Comments
Over on the Spacing Toronto blog, I have discussed where some of Toronto's old PCC streetcars have gone after serving duty. Five ex-TTC streetcars are in active service in Kenosha, Wisconsin, one being reused as a seating area for a rural burger joint, and one sits rusting in a field between Hamilton and Guelph.
I got to visit another member of the Toronto PCC dispora, in Phoenix, Arizona. PCC 4607, rebuilt in the 1980s and retired in 1995, was one of two streetcars shipped down to the Grand Canyon State. One is in active storage in Tucson as part of that city's heritage streetcar route (more on that in a later post), and one sits along side two old Phoenix city buses in front of the downtown bus terminal, protected from vandals by a metal fence.
Metro Light Rail
Phoenix is also the latest US city to build a new light rail system. There is a single, 32-kilometre long route that connects most of the region's main trip generators - Uptown Phoenix, a secondary office cluster and the cultural district; Downtown Phoenix, Sky Harbor Airport (via a shuttle bus), Downtown Tempe and Arizona State University. It also barely enters Mesa, North America's second largest suburban municipality (after first-place Mississauga, Ontario and just larger than third-place Brampton, Ontario). Further extensions may take the LRT to the large Metrocenter Mall to the northwest and Downtown Mesa to the east.
March 2nd, 2009
Montage du jour : L’Hôpital Sainte-Justine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1908-2008
L'hôpital Sainte-Justine ouvrit ses portes en 1907 dans une maison située au coin des rues St-Denis et Roy.
Source : http://histoireplateau.canalblog.com/archives/2007/07/04/5515524.html
Spacing Radio is now on the air
By Spacing // No Comments
Put on your headphones, Spacing Radio is on the air!
The editors of Spacing are excited to announce the launch of our bi-weekly podcast focused on the joys, obstacles, and politics of the urban landscape. We sit down with compelling and provocative civic leaders from Toronto, Montreal and cities around the world to discuss the plethora of issues affecting our daily lives in city environments: public transit, sustainability, architecture, and urban design.
Some of you might be familiar with our host David Michael Lamb. He was the Toronto city hall ...
UK Dispatch : The Lesson of Brighton?
By Thomas-Bernard Kenniff // 3 Comments
I had just come back to London from a day trip to Brighton when I read Chris DeWolf's post on the controversy surrounding Montreal's proposed anti-mask bylaw. It seemed appropriate to respond with a first (and hopefully regular) UK Dispatch from the English city whose name is synonymous with pleasure, party and carnivalesque behaviour. To stretch analogies across the big pond, you could probably think of this place as a sort of Niagara Falls. The photos are all taken from the Palace Pier, which is a 524m long "jetée" cluttered with blinking lights, ...
March 3rd, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Alfred Savage et celle de la famille Lyman
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1875-2008
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.351§ion=196
MP-0000.351
Le mardi des arbres: le pin gris, le pin phénix
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
VISITE GUIDÉE DES ARBRES DU MONT ROYAL EN HIVER:
le dimanche 15 mars, détails à la fin de l'article
Pardonnez-moi ma préoccupation des pins -- et des conifères -- de ce temps-ci. C'est peut-être parce que leur moment au soleil -- c'est à dire, sans la competition des feuillus en feuille -- s'achève et il faut que je profite des ces dernières semaines où le vert foncé et solide des manteaux des conifères s'articulent si bien parmi les feuillus encore nus. Le ciel, soit bleu, soit blanc, n'est qu'aux conifères à peindre.
Mais, à part cette échéance dictée par la ...
One great city, one great river trail
By Misha Warbanski // 7 Comments
(A dispatch from Winnipeg)
The Winnipeg River Trail winds its way down the frozen Assiniboine
(photo: misha warbanski)
One of my favourite things about Montreal winters was skating at Parc Lafontaine. There are outdoor rinks all over the city, but the Parc Lafontaine rink had enormous charm (maybe it was just the classical music piped out over the speakers).
Well, a few years ago Winnipeg started getting in on the action. They flooded trails around the Forks National Historic Site ...
Toronto Tuesday: Construction woes, coyote conservation and a contemporary Fort York
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
The sorry state of Wilson Station
Sean Marshall talks about the inaccessibility caused by subway station construction. Four sets of escalators are under construction at Wilson station, meaning commuters must take stairs to get to one of the bus terminals. (Though are these operation stoppages are any worse than the ones at Beaudry or Lionel-Groulx?)
In defense of the urban coyote
The existence of the "urban coyote" became ...
March 4th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de lady galt, rue de la montagne
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
1889-2009
Cette résidence construite en 1859, fut transformé en salon funéraire en 1902 et est actuellement connu sous le nom de club 1234.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/II-128067§ion=196
II-128067
*** Ma collection photographique touchant à sa fin et mes temps libre étant actuellement plutôt limités, je suspendrai donc cette chronique pour une durée indéterminée d'ici les prochains jours.
Watch NFB: Orange, an animated short by Sylvie Trouvé
By Matthew Forsythe // 4 Comments
Editor: Spacing is pleased to announce we've partnered with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films from their new online screening room. Matt Forsythe of the NFB will be occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore our public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada's greatest resources; check out what else they're offering online.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Hey, so let's kick this series off with the premiere of this awesome new animation by ...
March 5th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le collège presbytérien
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1887-2009
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/VIEW-1597§ion=196
VIEW-1597
McTavish Revisited…after $9M in security measures.
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
This blog is generally in favour of accessibility and a flexible attitude to public space, but perhaps there are some corners of the city that should remain firmly closed. One of those is the McTavish Reservoir, one of the largest reservoirs of potable water in the city. In 2007, the city invested about $9 million in renovating and upping the security on the McTavish reservoir in order to prevent contamination and possible terrorism.
But the folks who engineered the security measures clearly didn't have much experience navigating Montreal's ancient sewer system underground. Their security ...
March 6th, 2009
Montage du jour : La chapelle du couvent de la congrégation Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1976-2009
Ce couvent construit de 1905 à 1908 est désormais utilisé par le collège Dawson et sa chapelle est aujourd'hui transformée en bibliothèque.
Source : Les couvents, Répertoire d'architecture traditionnelle.
Avant dernier montage...
Montreal’s new hypothetical airport train station
By Christopher DeWolf // 16 Comments
The shell of a train station is finally taking shape underneath Trudeau Airport --- but, unless the federal and provincial governments cough up a hefty chunk of cash, there won't be any trains to serve it. La Presse reports today that Aéroports de Montréal, the private, non-profit corporation that manages the airports in Dorval and Mirabel, has spent $25 million to build a new airport train station without any guarantee of an airport rail link. It's basically a massive bargaining chip, one that ADM hopes will persuade Ottawa and Quebec City to finally implement the high-speed ...
Photo du Jour : World Trade Centre
By Spacing // 7 Comments
Photo by Taylor Noakes, a local picture-snapper and aficionado of Montreal's history and design. We look forward to publishing more of his contributions in the coming weeks.
This photo gives us a glimpse inside Montreal's Centre de Commerce Mondiale, looking West. The colourful block in the centre of the building is a piece of the Berlin Wall. This building was conceived as a horizontal skyscraper extending over an existing alley (Ruelle des Fortifications). Completed in 1991, the CCM integrates several existing heritage buildings with new construction. It connects the Underground City between Place d'Armes and ...
Cité Jardin : A Suburb Done Differently
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
There was a time, I can imagine, when suburbs were not such a terrible idea.
Ignore for a moment the gluttonous land consumption and slothful car-dependency that suburban development has brought about, and push aside the isolation, segregation and placelessness that come with single-use zoning, dead-end streets and bland look-alike homes. Perhaps you can see the shining attraction that suburbs once represented: a family-friendly community on the frontier between the bright lights of the big city and the pristine wilderness.
Rosemont's Cité Jardin was an early experiment in suburban development and perhaps a better model than that which has sprawled over the extremities of our island and splashed onto the north and south shores. The Cité Jardin began in 1941 as a co-op that would allow middle-class families, with their numerous children, to own a small property. At the time the average buyer earned around $2,000 per year, the equivalent of $29,000 in today's dollars. However, construction was slow and costly during the war years. In the end only 165 homes were built instead of a projected 600, and the co-op went bankrupt in 1947.
The planners adopted a model that has since come to epitomize suburban sprawl: detached, single-family dwellings clustered around dead end streets. However, unlike most suburbs, the Cité-Jardin was designed with an internal network of public spaces. Each cul-de-sac opened into a pedestrian alleyway which led to a central park (see image below).
March 7th, 2009
Montage du jour : L’hospice Auclair
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1910-2009
Cet édifice situé sur la rue Rachel est aujourd'hui transformé en condominiums.
Source : Musée McCord
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.875.3§ion=196
MP-0000.875.3
Ceci était le dernier montage de la série. Il est toutefois possible que je publie d'autres photos dans le futur, dans un intervalle temps qui n'est par contre pas encore défini.
Photo du Jour – “Downtown”
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Sainte-Catherine street lights aglow on a rainy evening, March 6th 2009.
March 8th, 2009
Photo du Jour : The Last Days of the Seville
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
It was an ugly day, but I has a sudden urgent need to snap a picture of the abandoned Seville Theatre on Ste-Catherine and Chomedy.
Despite attempts to preserve the facade of the 1928 theatre, the Gazette reported that 3 separate studies have found it too decrepit to be incoprorated into a new student housing project that is slotted for this block.
The more time I spend in this neigbhourhood, the more I realize how much of it is abandoned, including entire apartment blocks above Ste-Catherine, ...
Exploring Under Montreal
By Andrew Emond // 9 Comments
Hello Spacing Readers, I'm Andrew, an underground explorer/photographer here in Montreal. I recently launched a site called (what else?) Under Montreal, essentially to try and better document the types of places that I've been visiting over the past few years. After Alanah came across a few of my posts, she invited me to post the odd thing here.
Just a bit about myself: I'm originally from Toronto and first moved to Montreal about two and a half years ago. Since then I've been trying to get a better understanding of the entire ...
How Other Folks See the City
By Alanah Heffez // 30 Comments
Last fall, I had a friend visit from Rimouski. I knew he wasn't a city boy, and yet I was convinced that when he saw my spacious old NDG flat, when he discovered the joys of biking across town for live music in the Mile End, once he'd tasted midnight bagels and greasy breakfast at Cosmos, he couldn't help but be seduced by urban living.
While we were out walking one day, we passed along the stretch of road pictured above. I ...
Brooks in the City
By Andrew Emond // 11 Comments
Preparing the foundation for the Meilleur-Atlantique tributary sewer on north shore of Montreal. (Photo source: City of Montreal Archives)
How else dispose of an immortal force
No longer needed? Staunch it at its source
With cinder loads dumped down? The brook was thrown
Deep in a sewer dungeon under stone
In fetid darkness still to live and run --
And all for nothing it had ever done
Except forget to go in fear perhaps.
No one would know except for ancient maps
That such a brook ran water. But I wonder
If from its being kept forever under,
The thoughts may not have risen that so keep
This new-built city from both work and sleep.
- excerpt from A Brook in the City by Robert Frost, 1923
While we tend to hear a fair amount about the Lachine canal or the water surrounding Montreal, the creeks of the island never really seem to get much attention. It's not surprising given just how few are actually left. Some readers might know of Riviere St. Pierre and how it's been lost, but it's definitely not the only river or creek to have suffered this fate. Perhaps "lost" isn't the best word to use. While the majority have been removed from both the visible landscape and our collective memory, their waters can still be found beneath us, flowing through the island's sewer system.
March 9th, 2009
Devimco scrapping project unless city pitches in, expropriation orders lifted
By Chris Erb // 15 Comments
The bad news for Devimco's proposed 1.3 billion dollar redevelopment keeps piling up with last week possibly being the tipping point. After being forced to scale back phase 1 of the plan due to an ailing economy, La Presse reported last week that unless the city pitches in with money to add green space to the Lachine Canal and go ahead with the tramway along Peel, they'll pack up and head back to Brossard to do more work on their Dix30 "lifestyle centre". "J'ai multiplié par cinq la valeur de tous leurs terrains à ...
Photo du jour: Westmount newspaper Man
By Chris Erb // 12 Comments
Newspaper boxes may be illegal in Montreal but, being a separate municipality, Westmount has them all over the place. Good luck finding any newspaper that isn't The Gazette on the corner though.
Photo taken October 1, 2007
Petit à petit, le Swatow Nouveau fait son nid
By Cédric Sam // 29 Comments
La Plaza Swatow sur St-Laurent
La Plaza Swatow sur Clark
La Plaza Swatow （長盛廣場）, un ambitieux projet de 20 millions de dollars, prend forme lentement au coeur du Quartier Chinois de Montréal.
Donnant à la fois sur Clark et St-Laurent, l'immeuble s'élévera sur six étages et comprendra de l'espace commercial pour de petites boutiques ...
March 10th, 2009
Following Riviere St-Pierre Underground
By Andrew Emond // 16 Comments
So one of the things I've been doing lately has been examining the now-covered sections of Riviere St-Pierre in Montreal Ouest and Cote St. Luc. If one wanted to, they could walk underground from this area all the way over to Place D'Youville in Old Montreal. While I'm not quite up to that task, I am going to try to document as much of it as I can over the course of several trips. Parts one, two and three of this series can be found on Under Montreal. Here's part four:
We eventually managed to find a safer way past the big slide where Controleman ended up taking a bit of a spill. Another entrance point in a relatively discreet area nearby allowed us to climb back down back into the sewer and continue further upstream.
Standing below a bit of natural light coming in through the manhole shaft.
Judging by the pre-cast sections of reinforced concrete pipe (RCP), it looks as though this portion was constructed over the past thirty or so years. Sometime around the 1970s, perfectly round RCP seemed to have become the standard material for sewers and storm drains in Montreal. It can make for somewhat dull underground experiences, especially when long stretches of the stuff are involved. Fortunately, this particular stretch of the sewer ended up having a nice combination of other features to help break the monotony.
Toronto Tuesday: Landscapes of the supernatural, lost streetscapes and Leslieville’s win
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
The life of death in great Canadian cities
Shawn Micallef takes a look at landscapes marked by death, and the emotions we connect to them. Maps by the Toronto Police and the Toronto Fire Services create geographies that belie the standard psychogeography of the city.
Amalgamated Heritage: The Lost Streetscapes of Bronte
A lesson learned about preservation: Lauren Archer writes about the fate of Bronte's historic streetscape, and how ...
Legend of the Lost Engine
By Andrew Emond // 2 Comments
There's a bit of a legend in Montreal involving a locomotive sitting somewhere underneath the former Turcot Yards. While I've always liked the idea of an old train sitting around somewhere underground, I had my doubts that it could still be there. This snippet from a 1937 copy of the Montreal Star helps clear things up, claiming that it was eventually recovered. No word as to whether or not the body of the boy who "suffocated in soft, slimy mud" was ever recovered, though so maybe that's still buried under there. Who knows? (Article source: City of Montreal ...
March 11th, 2009
Tree tuesday: And the first flower of spring is …..
By Bronwyn Chester // 5 Comments
Upcoming tree walk: The Trees of Mount Royal on the Cusp of Spring, this Sunday, details at end of article
I've been told that the silver maple is the first to flower in spring. Already, you can see their red buds all over the place just waiting for enough light to open. But seeing these willow buds last weekend in Ottawa made me wonder. As it turns out, the pussy willow, Salix discolore and saule discolore or saule à chatons, in French, is even more of an early bird, often bursting out from under its bud scale around the ...
March 13th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Bend in the Bridge
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
The Jacques Cartier is a rather winding bridge. First of all, it was necessary to for it to curve over Ile Ste-Hélène, in order to avoid placing the stone piers in parts of the river with particularly strong current. A second bend was built just as the bridge crossed onto Montreal island, in order to align the traffic with Montreal's North-South streets.
The bridge was initially designed to merge onto rue de Bordeaux, one block west of De Lorimier. But the owner of a soap factory on De ...
March 15th, 2009
Photo du jour : Alleyway between Jeanne-Mance and Ste-Famille near Sherbrooke
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Photo taken on February 9th, 2009.
March 16th, 2009
Photo du jour : 129 Côte-Ste-Catherine
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 9 février 2009 sur l'Avenue du Président-Kennedy.
Is this what we wanted?
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
Mixed-use development. Small-scale, street-level commerce. Walkable.
Comfortable building height to street width ratio.
Architecturally coherent, while retaining some detail. Eyes on the street.
Sidewalk terraces, public squares, meaningful destinations.
Welcome to Mont Tremblant Village, by Intrawest.
...Just got to work on the colour scheme...
Montage du jour : Les habitations Jeanne-Mance
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Vers 1955-2009
Les habitations Jeanne-Mance qui furent érigées à la fin des années 1950 devraient faire l'objet d'un projet de requalification au cours des prochaines années. En effet, bien que le bail d'une durée de 50 ans touche à sa fin, il est peut probable que l'ensemble tant détesté soit entièrement rasé. Le quadrilatère sera fort probablement réaménagé afin de favoriser la mixité sociale et des usages ainsi que l'intégration du site à son environnement immédiat.
Enfin, comme le démontre cette photographie ainsi qu'une deuxième ...
March 17th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Ontario depuis Sanguinet
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1955-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal
VM94S40D3-124
Toronto Tuesday: Policy talk, public libraries and passionate Torontonians
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Big Box and Leslieville
A new column on Spacing Toronto that looks deeper at planning and policy. Read this article for a city planner's take on the Ontario Municipal Board's rejection of a big-box complex in Toronto's east end.
Fans of Toronto Public Library unite!
Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler profiles a new blog celebrating Toronto's public library system. What are the lessons to be learned from, and things ...
Everything You Probably Never Cared to Know About Manhole Covers
By Andrew Emond // 11 Comments
Final sewer inspection, North Collector, Montreal, 1955. (Photo source: City of Montreal Archives)
I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that manhole covers aren’t things that most people pay much attention to. I can't blame them. I probably wouldn't give them much thought either, but because they often play an essential role in allowing me to get inside the places I go, I find them a bit difficult to ignore. Even when visiting other cities and have no intention of going underground, I’m still looking at the covers, hoping to catch a glimpse of something unique to the area or to get an idea of where things lead. I can’t help it. It's a curse.
So on the off-chance that anyone else is interested in these sorts of things, I decided to put together a bit of a guide for the most common ones here in Montreal. And please, no "man hole" jokes. I've heard them all before and only eight of them are actually funny.
Opening up the Oratory’s view
By Christopher DeWolf // 11 Comments
It's the thrill of discovering a new perspective on what you see everyday: that's why I have such a thirst for finding new vantage points from which to overlook the city. If you ask me, a great night out usually involves some beer and a spot on some apartment building's rooftop. So you can pretty much guess what I think of the new plan to create a public observatory inside the dome of St. Joseph's Oratory, then.
The Oratory, a Catholic basilica, is one of Montreal's most distinctive landmarks. You ...
The annual march against police brutality
By KC Bolton // 15 Comments
Police making their way up de Pins. This photo courtesy of Benoit Falardeau
By now anyone paying attention to the news knows that there was a demonstration against police brutality Sunday in Montreal. 221 people arrested, $200,000 in damages, and plenty of media hype.
Sunday marked the 13th International Day against Police Brutality. Le Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policiere (COBP) has organised the annual protest in Montreal since 1997. This year’s edition carried a particular significance: it was the first to follow the incendiary killing of unarmed Fredy Villanueva by Montreal police.
I made my way down to Mont Royal metro yesterday, not knowing exactly why. I’d heard various accounts of previous demonstrations against police brutality, but never one that started with “and then I saw…”
A moment of confrontation between protesters and police at St. Denis and Mont Royal. Sorry for the shaky camerawork.
Photo du Jour : Restaurant Greene / Kamwing
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
St-Henri Diner-come-Chinese restaurant on Notre-Dame West. Midnight Poutine covers the sushi-poutine dining experience.
March 18th, 2009
Up to BAPE: Turcot’s environmental day in court begins
By Jacob Larsen // 4 Comments
Today, Radio-Canada report that the Bureau des audiences publiques sur l'environnement would make public the information it had on the Turcot project on Tuesday, March 24, beginning the tribunal's several month process of consultation.
While it might seen preemptive to publish a blog post about news in the future, this initial disclosure will establish the terms upon which the hearings will proceed. In that sense, I think it's well worth a look at what's to come:
end of March: a 30 day period for the public to consult the BAPE's file on the project.
early April: part 1) ...
Photo du Jour : Panhandler and Palm
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
A pandhandler brings a bit of welcome greenery to Ste-Catherine street near Berri.
Photo taken March 17th 2009.
Independent Experts Question Turcot Plans
By Alanah Heffez // 21 Comments
Turcot Think Tank: independent experts held a press conference March 17th.
A team of independent experts calling themselves the Turcot Think Tank (TTT) have put their heads together to come up with a coherent critique of the Quebec Transportation Minister's (MTQ) plans to redesign the Turcot interchange. St-Henri and NDG residents are worried about the impacts, and even the City has asked Quebec to re-think their plans, which do not so much as mention the municipal transportation plan. The project is going to BAPE environmental consultation later this month.
The expert panel includes an architect specializing in transportation infrastructure, an urban planner, a founding member of Quebec's Green Party, a Concordia University professor, and two community organizers.
At a press conference yesterday, Mobilisation Turcot member Gaetan Legault said that that the BAPE must expand its scope: the environmental consultation process does not necessarily take into account the far-reaching impacts of highway development on the urban fabric.
March 19th, 2009
Louise Harel for mayor?
By Christopher DeWolf // 17 Comments
For the past year or so, it has been taken for granted that this year's race for mayor will pit Gérald Tremblay against Benoît Labonté, with Richard Bergeron nipping at their heels. Increasingly, though, it's looking as if that won't be the case after all, as some are now suggesting that Louise Harel is gearing up to run for mayor. According to the political analysis blog L'Élection libre, Harel's aim is to push both Bergeron and Labonté out of their leadership positions in order to run for a united Vision Montréal-Projet Montréal ticket.
Quand Louise Harel ...
Photos du Jour : “Negro Community Centre”
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
The NCC/Charles H. Este Cultural Centre (formerly Negro Community Centre) was founded in 1928 and housed on the corner of Coursol Street and Canning between 1955 and 1989. The centre was abandoned after a wall collapsed in 1987 and the cost of restoring the building outpaced the community's fundraising capacity. In 2007, they received a municipal grant to renovate and re-open the centre in this location, but no clear signs of renewed life yet.
West side of the ...
The STM Needs New Ways to Make Ends Meet
By Alanah Heffez // 32 Comments
Last week the mayor announced $40-million cut in spending on transit, about 4% of the STM's annual budget. And this, he assured us, was supposed to go down with no fare hike nor service reduction. "If $40 million in cuts will really be painless, why weren't they made long ago?" asked an editorial in The Gazette.
Now Mayor Tremblay, André Lavallée (the city councillor in charge of transportation), and Michel Labrecque the new president of the STM, are off to see the wonderful wizard of Provincial Transportation. The mayor reckons that the STM can squeeze more out of Quebec's ...
Le mardi des arbres: Le hêtre qui persiste et signe
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
Sans doute vous reconnaissez ces arbres à l'écorce lisse et pâle, souvent autographiés. En fait, l'écorce de l'hêtre à grande feuilles (Fagus grandifolia, American beech) offre l'écorce à signer par excellence. Depuis au moins l'époque des Celtes, l'écorce du hêtre a servi à graver des lettres. On dit que les runes, anciennes lettres des Anglo-Saxons et Norses, étaient souvent gravées dans les tablettes en écorce du hêtre. Alors, c'est logique que le mot boc, hêtre en Anglo-Saxon, est à la racine du mot, book, en anglais.
En français, hêtre est dérivé de aistre or âtre, le foyer, peut-être parce que le bois était coupé en taillis pour créer une source de longue durée de bois de chauffage sans devoir couper l'arbre entier. En plus, le bois du hêtre, comme le bois des chênes, qui est également de la famille Fagacée, brule à des hautes températures. Il était utilisé et Europe pour faire du charbon.
Aujourd'hui, le hêtre au Québec est peu exploité pour son bois, malgré ses qualités de force, beauté et de bonne résonance (dans les instruments de musique). En partie, c'est parce que le bois du hêtre n'est pas stable alors n'est pas à recommander pour les planchers.
Mais, peut-être encore plus important, c’est qu’il n’y a plus de grandes quantités de cet arbre de forêt. C’est-à-dire que le hêtre ne se prête pas à des plantations. Il est à l’aise dans la forêt de feuillus du bassin des grands lacs et du fleuve St-Laurent parmi les érables à sucre, bouleaux jaunes et prûche. Comme explique Pierre-Émile Rocray, ingénieur forestier de la Ville de Montréal: “On ne peut pas planter des hêtres dans les parcs parce que c’est une espèce de la forêt qui aime pousser dans l’ombre des érables et qui ne tolère pas les sols compactés de la ville — un peu comme l’érable à sucre.”
En plus, continue Rocray, le hêtre n’aime pas être transplanté alors il lui faut des conditions propices aux jeunes hêtres: un sol pas trop sec, pas trop humide et bien protégé des pieds humains. Dans la photo du haut, vous voyez la pépinière avec des jeunes hêtres au pied des grands. Pour se protéger des animaux qui ont faim, le hêtre a évolué jusqu'à obtenir des bourgeons extrêmement pointu — au point que ça fait mal lorsqu'on marche dessus en forêt et qu'une jeune branche rebondit sur soi.
En hiver, dans la forêt de la Montérégie, des Cantons de l'est ou des Laurentides, les jeunes hêtres, qui ont l'habitude de garder leurs feuilles pendant l'hiver, illuminent la forêt comme une série de lanternes comme vous voyez dans cette photo-ci prise l'hiver dernier dans la Vallée Ruiter, près de Mansonville (grace à Wolfgang Schneider):
Was the Metro a Mistake?
By Michael Dunkelman // 37 Comments
Since the recent announcement that Laval is considering establishing a network of Trolley Buses throughout its territory, a lively debate has ensued throughout the region of the merits of such a system versus that of Trams. Many commentators have stressed that the slight advantages of Trams do not make up for the fact that their costs are much higher. The choice between the two systems could have huge ramifications for the future of the city of Montreal. Once a network is in place, future generations are stuck with that choice. This would limit ...
March 20th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Hardcore Recycling
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
I love this personalized "green box" which has been spray-painted black and decorated with Tattoo parlour stickers.
March 21st, 2009
Photo du Jour : Chinatown Rendez-Vous
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Photo prise le 17 mars 20090
St Patrick’s Day Parade Tomorrow at noon!
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Here are a few images that capture the spirit of mêlé and madness from past St-Patty's day parades in Montreal. The parade is this Sunday at 12 noon, starting from Ste-Catherine and du Fort. All photos by Tristan Brand, used with permission.
I'm the one dancing on the sidelines in red mittens.
If you're going to make us chuck out our beer, can we at least have a nice pose? Thanks guys!
March 22nd, 2009
Photo du jour – Ste. Cécile Church
By KC Bolton // 1 Comment
Contruction on Villeray's Ste. Cécile Church was completed in 1924.
New City Gas Co. building threatened by bus corridor proposal/Bonaventure redevelopment
By Chris Erb // 17 Comments
The plan to tear down the Bonaventure Expressway in favour of an "urban boulevard" (with four lanes going both ways), complete with new office buildings and hotels with street-level storefronts has been on the table for few years and now looks as if it will be a reality sooner than later. However, recently added to the plan is the idea of a bus corridor to be used by the 1 400 public transit buses that cross the Champlain Bridge every day travelling between Montreal and the South Shore. The new bus corridor, which will shave only ...
March 23rd, 2009
Photo du jour: Temporaiement défecteux
By Chris Erb // 12 Comments
Dirt, grime, leaking water, silverfish, and stalactites are just a few of the wonderful things that can be found in the Guy-Concordia Metro station, the 4th busiest in the system.
Plateau-Mont-Royal borough releases traffic-calming plan
By Chris Erb // 14 Comments
As part of the city's Plan de transport, an ambitious set of guidelines designed to decrease the number of cars on city streets and better facilitate traffic and public transport released last year, all 19 boroughs are required to submit a plan de déplacement, also known as a PDU. The PDU released by the Plateau is proving to be very ambitious, containing 49 different actions designed to cut down traffic in and through the borough and to create a better environment for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit. Some highlights from the plan include:
-Lowering the speed ...
Following Riviere St. Pierre Under Lachine
By Andrew Emond // 12 Comments
Inside the Rockfield combined sewer overflow conduit
Picking up from where we last left off, this stretch takes us through the inside of the Cote-St-Luc collector sewer at the northern edge of Lachine. From here it snakes its way southwards towards the Lachine canal, never straying too far from the original course of Riviere St. Pierre. Approximate round-travel distance: 4 kilometers.
I never look forward to having to cover larger distances inside sewers here in Montreal. The depth will vary, but 2-3 feet tends to be the norm. That might not seem like a lot, but when you factor in the speed at which it’s flowing and the amount of gear these types of trips can entail, it doesn’t take long before it starts to feel like a solid cardiovascular workout. This is especially true when you’re walking against the flow.
Montreal’s shoebox/hobbit houses
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
I've always been curious about the flat-roofed one-storey houses that are sprinkled throughout many of Montreal's neighbourhoods. Rather than traditional bungalows, they look more like growth-stunted plexes that are missing their upper floors. Last Friday's Gazette featured a nice feature by Susan Semenak on the houses, looking both at their history and their current popularity with home buyers looking for an in-town single-family house. I never realized they had a name: shoebox houses. (It's cute, but I prefer "hobbit houses," which is what one Urbanphoto commenter called them.)
Most shoebox houses ...
March 24th, 2009
Photo du Jour – Food not Bombs
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
Fruit and sandwiches at Berri Square, courtesy of the Montreal chapter of Food not Bombs. The volunteers told me they collect food that would have otherwise been thrown out at the end of the day by local groceries and bakeries. The organization aims to hand out vegan meals about once a week.
Photo taken Jan 11th 2009.
Toronto Tuesday: Multicultural monuments, railway routes and civic complexes
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Monument to Multiculturalism
Read Shaun Merritt's profile of the "Monument to Multiculturalism. Considering how public art reflects dominant ideologies and discourses, how important are spaces in the city outside the "main", in the small spaces of the city, in suburbs?
Toronto's Grand Trunk Railway - our 1856 link to Pearson airport
Take a look at how the past plays (spatially) in the present: Shawn Micallef talks about lessons learned ...
March 25th, 2009
Photo du jour: Montreal’s best parking garage
By Jacob Larsen // 19 Comments
Maybe I'm just exposing myself to a barrage of angry comments by stating that I actually like this parking garage. You might not expect a garage on such prime real estate, located across from Dominion Square, right next to the historic Sun Life building. And while it may not have the impressive columns of its neighbour, I think it's got some pretty snazzy architecture nonetheless.
Compared to surface parking, stacked parking garages like this one minimize the surface area devoted to cars and can reduce their visual presence. If well-designed they can even have animated facades. (Granted, ...
March 26th, 2009
Le métro en Lego
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
Bit late to the game with this one (Fagstein wrote about it a month ago) but it's still cool: Préfontaine metro station made from Lego. The video's creator, a guy named Alex Tipaldos, has a Flickr album dedicated to STM trains, buses and metro stations, all of them made with the same building blocks my dad used to make me giant cities on the living room floor (I was never much of a ...
Uncovering Turcot’s future (under a mountain of paper): BAPE documents reviewed
By Jacob Larsen // 12 Comments
Source: MTQ
On March 24, the Bureau des Audiences Publiques sur l'environnement revealed the documents which it will be considering its legally-binding process of environmental assessment. While these sorts of hearings are generally a token example of public consultation leading to an inevitable rubber stamp of approval, there is information presented that would be of interest to Montreal's concerned residents. Unfortunately, as with many public processes, the overwhelming quantity and dizzying legal-ease of its presentation discourages many from delving deeping. To that end, I will take on the unenviable task of sifting through this glut of 800 pages or so to highlight some of the more interesting issues and studies presented. To consult the documents yourself, the BAPE posted all documents here.
Scope of the documents
Considering the immense human resources involved in the preparation of these documents, the MTQ's report devotes a meager two paragraphs to the possibility of repairing the existing infratructure. Nor do they consider a reduction of volume and transfer of mode share to other forms of transport. In fact, all figures used in the study assume the continuation of the increasing trend in automobile usage, despite (albeit) weak attempt by the City of Montreal to the contrary. As many have already commented, this project remains a major intervention in urban space and quality of life that was conceived and designed by traffic engineers.
March 27th, 2009
What is a Neighbourhood? – Le Coeur du Quartier
By Alanah Heffez // 28 Comments
Elliot the the dog out for a romp in the alleyways of a not-yet-definitively-named neighbourhood.
Every once in a while I overhear a heated debate about where exactly the boundary between Mile End and the Plateau is to be drawn. More than once, I have shocked Mile Enders by suggesting that there is no absolute answer to this question because, geopolitically, Mile End is of course part of the Plateau borough. Except for the bits that are in Outremont.
Because Montreal's boroughs are relatively small, (by comparison, New York's 5 boroughs are each home to between 1 and 2.5 million ...
Photo du Jour – Parade Day Party
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Photo by Tristan Brand
St-Patrick's day is kinda like Montreal's Carnival. At this point it has very little to do with celebrating Irish-ness (I mean, there's a Ukranian float) and everything to do with having a big, outdoor, all-ages, inhibition-lacking, block-the-streets spring party. Post parade last Sunday, hundreds of people stayed outdoors to soak of the sunshine along with their drinks.
This parking lot between Crescent street and Bishop, below Ste-Catherine, acted as a spontaneous public square for the afternoon, cathing the overflow from all the packed bars.
I've often wondered how such a great, tourist-friendly location has ...
Montage du jour : L’église Erskine and American
By Guillaume St-Jean // 10 Comments
Vers 1900-2009
Cette église construite de 1893 à 1894 deviendra bientôt un nouveau pavillon du musée des beaux-arts.
Voici quelques photographies prises lors de la démolition de la partie arrière:
Source : Musée McCord
MP-1980.92
March 28th, 2009
Photo du jour: Magic grape vines?
By Jacob Larsen // 2 Comments
While the leafy vines that carpet so many Montreal buildings in summer may still seem a lifetime away, mature stalks like these can be admired all year round. After climbing all over the building, this grapevine went horizontal and is now more than halfway to the other side.
March 29th, 2009
Photo du jour : La Maison de Radio-Canada
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
CBC/Radio-Canada a été frappé de 800 mises à pied annoncées ce mercredi. Ce chiffre pourrait être revu à la hausse si la vente d'actifs de la Société ne rapporte pas autant que prévu.
Photo prise le 10 octobre 2007.
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine près de St-Mathieu
By Guillaume St-Jean // 10 Comments
2007-2009
Un nouvel immeuble de 3 étages, très peu attrayant selon moi, remplace désormais une ancienne maison de pierre grise qui fut ravagée par un incendie en février 2007.
March 30th, 2009
Montage du jour : Les condos Montmartre, rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 11 Comments
2007-2009
Photo du Jour : Little Busker
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Photo taken Saturday March 28th on Saint-Viateur.
Events / Évenements : 31 mars – 12 avril
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
This week: Consultation on the Mies van der Rohe Gas Station, urbanism talks at McGill and UQAM, Scouting Skateboard Sites and Learning from Mumbai at the CCA, and World Pillow Fight Day!
Cette semaine: Consultation publique sur la station d'essence Mies van der Rohe, lectures sur l'urbanisme à McGill et UQAM, la Planche à roulette et L'enseignement de Mumbai au CCA, et la Journée Mondialde de la Bataille d'Oreiller!
Image: Learning from Mumbai at the CCA / L'enseignement de Mumbai au CCA
March 31st, 2009
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque près de St-Mathieu
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
2007-2009
Dare-Dare Interview
By Nithya Vijayakumar // 2 Comments
Interview with Julie Châteauvert from Dare-Dare here.
Toronto Tuesday: Waterfront boulevards, walking maps and Toronto transit updates
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
Waterfront Toronto announces Queens Quay plan
Finally: a fully functional waterfront? Sean Marshall details the highlights from Waterfront Toronto's recommendations for waterfront development. The plans for revitalization include a grand lakefront boulevard with streetcar lanes in the centre, traffic only on the north side and a pedestrian focused space on the south side.
Walking maps for Toronto
Dylan Reid covers a whole range of pedestrian-centred maps (just ...
April 1st, 2009
Montage du jour : Une maison située sur l’avenue des Pins.
By Guillaume St-Jean // 11 Comments
2007-2009
En 2007, nous aurions encore pu se croire au début du 20e siècle en s'arrêtant devant cette maison. En 2009, l'impression de retour dans le temps est désormais révolue...
Photo du Jour : The Last House on Ste-Marguerite
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
This house was built in 1890 and sits on its own tiny block, south of Notre-Dame. On a recent visit, I found it looking a little pitiful with those beautiful old trees chopped up.
History feels pretty palpable in this neighbourhood, in spite of - or perhaps in contrast to - a cluster of condos along the canal-side. Many of the duplexes along this street have entrances for horse-drawn carriages and there are a few old wood-sided homes on the corner of St-Ambroise. I ...
Montreal’s Underground Underdogs
By Andrew Emond // 4 Comments
Inside the Molson Collector, somewhere beneath Rue Dickson in 2007.
When it comes to Montreal's underground achievements, the Metro system tends to get a lot of the attention. Its sewer system, on the other hand— not so much. This isn't really all that suprising. The subway system is something people both use and see all the time, and it's also a fair bit more complicated than a network of tunnels designed to carry fluids. Still, in terms of tunneling achievements, the sewers built during the 1950s are worth taking a closer look at if only because they're so often ignored.
Decarie Raimbault Collector during construction in 1958.
By the time ground was broken for the first metro line in 1962, close to a decade had already passed since tunnels just as large and as long had been dug out below the surface of the island. As the populations of communities like Ville St. Laurent and Ahuntsic exploded during the post-war boom, problems began to surface beneath the ground. The existing sewer system, with pipes no larger than seven feet in diameter, could no longer handle the demands being put on it. Floods were increasing as were the number of complaints from people getting fed up with sewage spilling out into the streets and basements.
April 2nd, 2009
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues de Maisonneuve et Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1965-2009
Voici donc ce à quoi ressemblait cette intersection lors des travaux de constructions du métro. Nous pouvons apercevoir sur la photo ancienne :
1) L'édifice du ministère de la santé qui fut détruit par un incendie en 1966
2) Le magasin Dupuis et frères
3) L'école Montcalm
Un gros merci à M. Denis Desjardins, un lecteur du blog, pour m'avoir fait parvenir cette photographie prise par son père feu M. Omer Desjardins.
Tree tuesday: Nuts, smoke, bats ‘n syrup: the shagbark hickory
By Bronwyn Chester // 6 Comments
The shagbark hickory is to shagginess what the beech is to smoothness. No other tree on the island of Montreal could be mistaken for the shagbark. So, when you see a tall, thin tree with medium gray bark that seems to be exfoliating in strips that measure roughly 4 cm by 40 cm, you will know what your are looking at.
That said, there aren't many shagbark hickories on the island or, for that matter, anywhere in North America. We are fortunate that on Mount Royal on that path in the woods that starts at the northwest corner of the "T" in Olmstead Road (where one branch leads to the chalet, while the other leads to the cross), to have a fine collection of this rare tree. This is a very old trail believed to have been made by the Iroquois or earlier First Nations peoples in their passage to the highest point of the cliff edge (now overlooking Camillien Houde Road) from where they would have been able to see the comings and goings of people, weather and wildlife.
There is also a cluster of shagbark hickories in the wood directly behind the chalet just off the cross-country ski trail that leads to the cross. Not far from them is an old trio of white pine, the largest group of mature white pine left on the mountain.
The word, hickory, is derived from the Algonquin word pocohiquara, meaning a milky drink prepared from crushed hickory nuts. The Europeans colonists first called this tree pohickery and one still finds the word as a place name. In French, I have also seen a version of the word, something like pohicoré. The common name in French is caryer ovale because of the oval shape of the four chambers of the nut casing (see below). Notice too how the compound leaf resembles the leaf of the ash but that it has only five leaflets, as compare to the seven of the ash, and the leaves grow alternately on the branch, while the ash leaves grow directly opposite each other in perfect symmetry.
1ière avenue, part 3: Lachine
By Chris Erb // 5 Comments
Continuing our tour of Montreal's 1ière avenues, we find ourselves on Lachine's tiny "1 Avenue" (as the street sign indicates) at the eastern-most end of the old city of Lachine (Ville St-Pierre now makes up the most eastern portion of the new borough of Lachine). This is the last set of photos from my daytrip around the south-west when I also visited Verdun and Lasalle.
Numbered streets are very important in Lachine as the entire borough (with the exception of Ville St-Pierre and the industrial portions) have numbered streets running vertically through it with every east-west street passing through one. The western border of Lachine is at 56e Avenue, the last numbered street before Dorval switches to named streets.
Lachine's 1e ave is a tiny street at only 3 blocks in length and, quite frankly, doesn't have much going for it. The residential portions have a mix of housing types typical to Lachine with small plexes, post-war apartment buildings, and a new condo building, all in various states of repair. Mixed with the residential buildings are empty lots, a gas station and a a couple light industrial properties. As can be said for a great deal of borough, it's not the prettiest street in the Montreal but it's filled with Lachine's unique charm noted by Christopher DeWolf on his visit a year and a half ago.
The street begins at Victoria terminating at a chain link fence of what looks like a junkyard. The bike path is part of a route that takes you into Ville St-Pierre and eventually connects to the path along the Lachine Canal.
Looking north from Victoria:
More photos after the jump.
April 3rd, 2009
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la Providence
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1962-2009
Voyez l'historique du site ici.
Un gros merci à M. Denis Desjardins, un lecteur du blog, pour m'avoir fait parvenir cette photographie prise par son père feu M. Omer Desjardins.
Photo du Jour : Berri Square
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
Un autre appercu du parc Émilie-Gamelin en 2009.
Photo prise le 2 avril
April 4th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le couvent des soeurs de la Providence
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1962-2009
Voyez l'historique du site ici.
Un gros merci à M. Denis Desjardins, un lecteur du blog, pour m'avoir fait parvenir cette photographie prise par son père feu M. Omer Desjardins.
Photos du Jour : Place au débat
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Came upon this sign on St-Denis last Thursday and naturally it piqued my interest. Across the street, a bunch of on-strike profs and students had gotten together for an open-air discussion about public space.
The group had begun their debate on public space by taking their chairs out onto the street. Ironically, cops quickly pushed them back onto university property, citing that the way had to be kept free for emergency ...
April 5th, 2009
Montage du jour : Une maison située sur l’avenue des Pins
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
2007-2009
Photo du Jour : East Side Waterfront
By Alanah Heffez // 25 Comments
This is as close as it gets to waterfront access along Notre Dame Est, around rue Fullum. I don't mean this as a critique - Condos and boardwalks alone do not make a viable city and Montreal was built on its port, industry and railways.
Meanwhile, Kate M at the Montreal city weblog gives readers an overview of the mounting criticism surrounding the Notre Dame and Turcot developments and points out that the issue is not limited to transit and urban boulevards vs highways and suburbs:
"Notre-Dame East functions to a large ...
What Montreal can learn from Cleveland
By Jacob Larsen // 18 Comments
Source: MTQ
I was reading recently about Cleveland's efforts in the 1970s to stop a county-planned highway from tearing a giant swath through one of that city's poorer residential neighborhoods. This struck me as somewhat serendipitous, especially given the growing interest on the future of urban freeways in Montreal, which prompted a conference on the subject last Friday.
In his book Making Equity Planning Work, Norman Krumholz, Cleveland's Director of Planning under Mayor Carl Stokes, describes how he engaged an engineering firm to produce an alternate route for the I-290. The result was politically decisive:
The alternative route proposal also served strong public notice that there was a serious disagreement among technicians, the kind of substantive disagreement that encourages politicians to negotiate policy. Up to this time, the highway engineers had utterly dominated the controversy. They believed and wanted others to believe that their traffic trip and cost data were authoritative and impartial; that their route selection was unbiased and optimal; that any change would add confusion, delay, and cost.
For those familiar with the MTQ's dossiers on the Turcot and Nôtre-Dame East, the rationales provided by Cuyahoga county traffic engineers forty years ago will sound eerily familiar.
April 6th, 2009
Montage du jour : La chapelle du couvent des soeurs grises.
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1890-2009
La chapelle de ce couvent qui est maintenant la propriété de l'université Concordia sera possiblement utilisée dans un futur proche par la faculté des Beaux-Arts de cette même université.
Source : Musée McCord
VIEW-2488
Photo du Jour : Twisted Staircases
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Spacing Montreal reader Kyle MacDonald sent in this photo of some inconic Plateau staircases. Merci!
April 7th, 2009
Photo du jour : Les condos Côté ouest
By Guillaume St-Jean // 12 Comments
Plutôt intéressant comme nom pour un projet de condominiums. Est-ce une coïncidence ou une façon de tenter d'oublier le fait que le côté est se situe face à un cimetière ?
Toronto Tuesday: Garbage bins, Gardiner e-consultation and grumbling North York residents
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
How not to place a garbage can
Clear way on the sidewalk! Dylan Reid and the Toronto Pedestrian Committee take issue with the placement of the city's new street furniture, citing concerns over the bins visual and spatial intrusiveness. (Perhaps there may be concerns surrounding unrestricted wheelchair accessibility too.)
eConsultation: another way to inform Waterfront redevelopment
Read about how waterfront redevelopment has gone cyber-tech in Toronto: public consultation ...
April 10th, 2009
Photo du jour : Le quartier des spectacles
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Voilà plus d'un an que cet édifice fut démoli et les seuls travaux effectués jusqu'à présent furent de repeinturer à 2 occasions le mur nord du club soda...
April 11th, 2009
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Louis et Bonsecours
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1925-2009
Source : Musée Mccord
MP-1984.105.10
Labonté Promises Audacity
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
Ville-Marie borough mayor Benoit Labonté has announced his intent to run for mayor next November and promises voters audacity. Perhaps the slogan has a better connotation in French but my dictionary suggests "recklessly bold", "arrogant disregard for normal constraints" and "impudent" among definitions for the term.
Which may be appropriate for a guy who was elected as a member of Tremblay's party in 2005 only to split two years later and start his own to take the reins of the opposition party, Vision Montréal. As leader of the opposition, Labonté has bashed the current administration for ...
Chantier du Boulevard de Maisonneuve entre Guy et Bishop – en photos
By Cédric Sam // 9 Comments
Ces photos montrent le progrès du chantier du Boulevard de Maisonneuve. Depuis l'automne 2008, on s'affaire à des travaux d'aqueduc sur la bordure sud de De Maisonneuve.
[Mise au point 2009-04-12 : Et c'était en fait un chantier aussi ou plutôt pour la construction d'un tunnel entre le métro Guy-Concordia et ...
April 12th, 2009
Photo du jour : Les escaliers de l’université de Montréal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
City chops down 67 crabapple trees
By Christopher DeWolf // 15 Comments
The city has axed 67 crabapple trees in a small square, Place Albert-Duquesne, behind Place des Arts. The trees, which were planted after the construction of de Maisonneuve Blvd. in the mid-1960s, were cut down to make way for a new plaza that will form part of the Quartier des spectacles. La Presse has more detail:
La Ville a du coup lancé la construction de la place de l'Adresse symphonique, un parc qui fera partie du Quartier des spectacles. «On doit entièrement refaire la place, excaver, refaire les égouts, l'aqueduc, le service électrique et les ...
The Architecture of Evocation (or Hipster Architecture?)
By Alanah Heffez // 25 Comments
The Seville theatre in 2009 (above) and the planned Seville Residences (below) from a presentation by Cardinal Hardy and A CD F Architects, April 7th 2009 (PDF).
The developers behind the Seville Residences, which would demolish the historic Seville Theatre block on Ste-Catherine West in order to rebuild 1500 student housing units, retail, commercial and community space, have not underestimated the attachment that Montrealers have to our built heritage.
Although the Seville Theatre, which was built in 1929 and closed in 1985, is designated as a building with exceptional heritage value, all experts agree that the mouldy, crumbling brick facade is unsalvageable after 25 years of abandonment.
Even though preserving the original facade is virtually impossible, the developer commissioned a report by two UdeM architects, Jacques Lachapelle et Mario Brodeur, critiquing Montreal's approach to heritage preservation and facadism in particular.
The report (pdf) is brings up some good points, including that Montreal's 2004 urban plan designates almost the entire borough of Ville Marie as having heritage interest (map of Montreal's built heritage), creating constraints on the space available for innovation and the flexibility to accommodate changing usages, demographics and ideals.
The two architects go say that facadism - the preservation of a historic facade within the context of a new construction with profound stylistic, volumetric and structural differences - as reducing our history to a mere image. When there is a lack of consistency between a building's exterior envelope and its interior function, the authors ask, can facadism really be considered "good architecture"?
The Architecture of Evocation
None-the-less, the architects of the Seville Residences recently updated their original plans to include a "reminiscence on the facade of the old Seville Theatre," an allusion to the theatre's silhouette in yellowish brick.
In another instance, the 16-story hotel that will replace Ben's will incorporate a rounded corner and other architectural details recalling the demolished Deli.
Neither developer has a formal responsibility to acknowledge their site's past, yet both are choosing to evoke the institutions that were beloved by many Montrealers through modern architectural symbols.
Is this an effective compromise between clearing the slate for innovative design and giving shape to our collective memory? Or is it a gimmick meant to provide a little authenticity to an otherwise uncreative design?
Is it, perhaps, the architectural equivalent of a buying a Clash t-shirt at Urban Outfitters?
April 13th, 2009
Photo du jour : Sainte-Catherine et Saint-Marc
By Cédric Sam // 6 Comments
Je me suis promené dans le quartier à l'ouest de Concordia ce vendredi passé. C'est fou combien ce quartier s'est transformé. Pour quelqu'un qui s'intéresse en plus aux choses chinoises, en particulier la bouffe, c'est la multiplication des restaurants chinois ainsi que des styles de cuisine qui me fascine d'autant plus.
Le Soupe et Nouilles, à l'époque de mon adolescence, circa 1994, était de mémoire l'un des premiers restaurants asiatiques du voisinage. Maintenant, c'est un véritable Quartier Chinois Deux ou Chinatown West, version ...
Montage du jour : La maison Thompson
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
2003-2009
Pour faire suite à l'article sur le façadisme écrit par Alanah, voici un exemple de rénovation fort intéressant qui n'est toutefois pas encore terminé. Cette maison construite en 1907 pour James Gardner Thompson sur le chemin de la côte des-neiges, aujourd'hui située entre 2 conciergeries de style château, fut sauvée de la démolition lorsque l’îlot sur lequel elle se situe fut reconnu site historique en octobre 2002. En effet, un promoteur souhaitait démolir cette demeure ainsi que la maison voisine afin de construire une ...
Events / Évenements : 14 – 28 avril
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
The next two weeks are packed with activity: Participate in the march for a better Turcot highway project, and check out Montreal's scientific heritage, archaeological archives, and Sherbrooke-street fossils. Plus Pecha-Kucha night returns and Earth Day is coming up.
Les prochaines deux semaines sont pleins d'activités: Marchez pour un échangeur Turcot à l'échelle humaine; découvrez notre patrimoine scientifique, nos archives achéologues, et les fossils de la rue Sherbrooke. Plus la soirée Pecha-Kucha est de retour et le Jour de la Terre n'est pas loin.
Montreal mashup
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
This short animation, created by Sylvie Trouvé as part of the NFB's Hothouse series, remixes the Montreal landscape according to the city's natural rhythms. Try to spot all of the different bits of the city jumbled together in each scene.
April 14th, 2009
Photo du Jour : West-Side Waterfront
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Last week I posted a photo of an inaccessible stretch of east side waterfront and got all kinds of outraged comments saying that I was not accurately portraying Montreal's riverside.
A tough current meant that few boats could pass beyond de Lorimier (the old prison was named for this current). Consequently, industry and port activity were concentrated in the East End and eventually along the Lachine Canal. The riverside in Verdun and Lasalle remained relatively pristine.
Photo taken April 10th 2009.
April 15th, 2009
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine et Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1962-2009
Un gros merci à M. Denis Desjardins, un lecteur du blog, pour m’avoir fait parvenir cette photographie prise par son père feu M. Omer Desjardins.
Photo du Jour : Académie des Saints-Anges
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
After reading Michel Tremblay's Thérèse et Pierrette à l'école des Saints-Anges, I was happy to find the school building almost exactly as it was described in the novel, which is set in 1942. The book includes a scene where one of the little girls is dressed as an angel and suspended from the lip above the doorway for hours during a religious ceremony.
Photo taken April 9th 2009 on Saint-Joseph between Garnier and Lanaudière.
Commemorative graffiti
By Jacob Larsen // 7 Comments
Location in Montréal-Nord where Freddy Villaneuva was killed in the summer of 2008
An anonymous group has been drawing attention to the conduct of the SPVM, the Montreal police force, by commemorating the places around the city where they alledge police actions have led to deaths of 43 individuals from 1987 to the present. While groups like the Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière (COBP) are a well-known presence, this group is unaffiliated and anonymous, leaving only a provocative message and a website address.
Location in Côte-des-Neiges where Mohammed Anis Bennis was killed in 2005
The message ...
Montage du jour : La rue St-Hubert près de la rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1962-2009
Un gros merci à M. Denis Desjardins, un lecteur du blog, pour m’avoir fait parvenir cette photographie prise par son père feu M. Omer Desjardins.
April 17th, 2009
Montage du jour : Une vue du boulevard René-Lévesque depuis la rue St-André
By Guillaume St-Jean // 10 Comments
1960-2009
Un gros merci à M. Denis Desjardins, un lecteur du blog, pour m’avoir fait parvenir cette photographie prise par son père feu M. Omer Desjardins.
April 18th, 2009
Montage du jour : Un immeuble de la rue Clark qui sera démoli sous peu
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
2009-2009
Photo(s) du jour : Bike lane, retouched
By Cédric Sam // 9 Comments
They repainted the bike lanes on my street (Ste-Famille) and down on St-Urbain. It's really feeling like springtime now!
Sunday – A March for Sustainable Transportation
By Jacob Larsen // 8 Comments
Residents from St. Henri and from all across Montreal are marching tomorrow to demand that the Turcot reconstruction project be reconceived at a human scale. Interest in the issue has been growing, especially following a conference on urban freeways in Montreal and a scathing report by Quebec Auditor General, Renaud Lachance condemning the absence of any big picture thinking.
It appears that the issue is getting some traction in the media and now is the public's chance to weigh in. While there is currently no other official proposal on the table, this event may help ...
April 19th, 2009
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Lajeunesse et Villeray
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
2007-2009
Au cours des 2 dernières années, 3 stations d'essence, dont 2 situées sur la rue St-Denis dans l'arrondissement Villeray ont été remplacées par des condos. Bien que cet immeuble situé sur la rue Lajeunesse semble être une amélioration pour le secteur, son implantation sans marge de recul avant et latérale n'est pas très réussie.
Fait intéressant : le condo au demi sous-sol situé au coin de l'immeuble est d'ailleurs actuellement en vente.
Photo du jour : Une maison sur l’avenue L’Archevêque à Montréal-Nord
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
Bien que cette maison soit désormais transformée en garderie, sa nouvelle fonction justifie-t'elle réellement l'utilisation de couleurs aussi flamboyantes ?
Modern-day Stonemasonry in NYC
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
My post about facadism last week generated a bunch of comments and this one in particular, by AJ Kandy, was echoed by many readers:
"We need beauty. Dare I say it, decoration, a word that is taboo to the Modernist credo. A building that is not art but craft, a high level of craft, which is honourable work..."
For me, it brought to mind an image of the Cathedral of St-John the Divine, one of New York City's great and unique treasures.
Construction of the Cathedral began in 1892, but was suspended during WWII and did not recommence until 1979. In order to preserve the craft of stone-masonry, while helping neighborhood youths gain job skills, the Reverend began a program in which local youngsters were apprenticed as stonemasons. (As AJ put it, "hey! Job creation!")
The dense detail that adorns the front of the church gives it an authentic Gothic feel, yet the designs by master stone-crafters Simon Verity and Jean-Claude Marchionni are startlingly contemporary. Modern visions of the apocalypse, completed in 1997, include a tidal wave crashing down on the New York City skyline, and a bus plummeting from a crumbling bridge.
April 20th, 2009
Montage du jour : Les condos Villeray Lajeunesse
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
2007-2009
Bien que les nouveaux immeubles résidentiels doivent désormais être dotés d'espace de stationnements à l'arrière il est malheureux de constater à quel point ces nouveaux développement détruisent complètement l'image ainsi que l'aspect tranquille des ruelles de la ville.
Photo du jour : La maison Thompson
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Photo prise depuis la terrasse de la maison Sparrow
Far Out in the West Island of Montreal
By Andrew Emond // 4 Comments
Inside the '7-UP' chamber.
The West Island of Montreal offers what are essentially the low-lying fruit for underground exploring. The primarily residential areas of Pointe-Claire, Dorval and Beaconsfield all make use of a separated sewer system with one set of pipes for sewage and another for stormwater. Storm drains discharge directly into the river (or Lac St-Louis) and if one knows where the larger outfalls are, one can simply put on a pair of rubber boots (or even flip-flops) and walk on in.
Most of the time this would be considered a good thing, but it seems as though the majority of storm drains in this part of the island were built during the 1970s or later using fairly simple prefab concrete components. Put another way: if you’ve been in more than a few, they’re kind of boring.
Still, they offer a respite from the stress that comes with exploring the combined sewers found elsewhere on the island. You don’t have to worry about manhole covers, e-coli poisoning, industrial contaminants, hydrogen sulfide, rats (if you’re afraid of them) or things getting swept away through three feet of fast-flowing grey water. Every so often it’s nice to not have deal with such challenges.
La place Albert-Duquesne sans ses pommetiers
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Malgré que je passe aux abords de la place Albert-Duquesne tous les jours, ce n'est qu'aujourd'hui que j'ai remarqué le contraste remarquable de ses 67 arbres en moins. Comme le rapportait le quotidien La Presse la semaine dernière, ceux-ci ont été coupés pour faire place à ce qui deviendra la place de l'Adresse symphonique.
Pour le moment, le paysage est drôlement vide. Ce n'est certainement pas le seul trou physique remarquable laissé dans cette ville par quelque démolition : on ...
Demonstration for an alternate Turcot: a photo essay
By Jacob Larsen // 12 Comments
It was a beautiful day in St. Henri for a long walk and that's exactly what 2000 or so residents and concerned citizens did yesterday, to show their displeasure with the MTQ's proposed highway interchange. The signs they carried were as varied as the people in the crowd; "MTQ = Ministère des Transports" one reminded subtly, while others championed their public transport mode of choice.
The most exciting part was no doubt when marchers headed up the ramp of the Atwater exit of the 720, to stand beside the highway for some chants ...
April 21st, 2009
Montage du jour : Les condos Villeray Lajeunesse ( 3 de 3 )
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
2007-2009
Montreal will have the greenest highway ever
By Jacob Larsen // 22 Comments
rue Cazelais before
rue Cazelais after
The MTQ released its latest renderings on the future Turcot interchange for the first BAPE information session last night, adding what the Gazette called a few "green tweaks" to an increasingly controversial project. However, these "tweaks" may be best described a concerted campaign of green-washing so fanciful and disingenuous it strains credulity.
Take the images above. The renderings reveals that where turn-of-the-century triplexes now stand, the future rue Cazelais will contain a terrassed "park" with a lovely (although useless) footpath running alongside it. While this scene may seem ...
Montage du jour : Une maison du boulevard Gouin à Montréal-Nord
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
2001-2009
Cette maison qui fut abandonnée pendant quelques années suite à un incendie est maintenant totalement rénovée.
Spacing nominated for three National Magazine Awards
By Spacing // 3 Comments
Spacing is pleased to pass some good news onto our readers: we were nominated for three National Magazine Awards today! Our fifth anniversary issue is up for Best Single Issue, and Miles Storey's images from "Faces and Places" in the summer-fall 2008 issue is up for Best Portrait Photography (shown below, click to see it larger). And most excitedly, Spacing is one of three finalists for Magazine of the Year (the other nominees are Canadian Business and Alberta Views).
Congratulations to the other nominees. Winners are announced June 5th....
Exhibition: Montreal’s industrial beauty
By Christopher DeWolf // No Comments
WHAT? "Bellazza Contrari," an exhibition of photographs by Martin Bérubé
WHEN? Vernissage on Friday, April 24th, from 6pm to 10pm. Show runs until April 28th
WHERE? Galerie Ouest, 37 St. Thomas, Ste. Anne de Bellevue (5 minutes from Ste. Anne train station), map
Ghost signs, old neon, peeling paint, all of it photographed in sumptuous black-and-white: Martin Bérubé knows how to make Montreal's rough edges look good. His photos draw life from the lost and forgotten corners of the city. "I like to show people what they see everyday without really looking at the beauty of ...
April 23rd, 2009
Photo du jour : Horse carriage and police van
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
The story doesn't say whether the horse carriage driver got a speeding ticket.
Photo taken on Sherbrooke and University on April 19th, 2009.
Montage du jour : L’église Sainte-Élisabeth
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
2007-2009
Le terrain situé au coin des rues St-Jacques et de Courcelle où se dressait autrefois l'église Sainte-Élisabeth est toujours vacant et ce, près d'un an après sa démolition. Le projet de construction d'immeubles à logements prévu pour ce site serait-il tombé à l'eau ?
“I feel bad for the MTQ”
By Christopher DeWolf // 39 Comments
In the midst of the blogosphere-led fury over the Ministère des transports du Québec's plan to rebuild the Turcot interchange (see Jacob Larsen's lively post excoriating the MTQ's attempt at "greenwashing" the project), Urbanphoto's Sam Imberman calls for a breather:
So, let me get this out of the way first-thing: there is currently an interchange here, and for the time being, there isn’t a way around that fact. And furthermore: if the Turcot were annihilated tomorrow, we would not necessarily be better off.
See, it’s not in question that in some ways, interchanges are Bad Things. They’re noisy, ...
April 24th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Denis depuis la rue Christin
By Guillaume St-Jean // 20 Comments
Vers 1910-2009
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.840.14
Photo du jour : Un immeuble à logements neufs abandonné à St-Henri
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Events / Évenements : 26 avril – 3 mai
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
This week: Mile End's citizen forum, Sud-Ouest sound walk, Clement Demers on architectural heritage, UQAM talk on China's eco-city, and Design Montreal's Open House. Plus twenty "Jane's walks" will explore different Montreal neighbourhoods from Jane Jacob's perspective.
Cette semaine: Forum citoyen Mile End, Promenade sonographique du Sud-Ouest, Clément Demers discute les défis du patrimoine bâti, UQAM invite le concepteur d'une l'éco-cité chinoise, et Design Montréal ouvre ses portes au public. Plus une vingtaine de "Promenades de Jane" explorent les quartiers montréalais dans la perspective de Jane Jacobs.
April 25th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine vers l’est depuis la rue St-Denis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1910-2009
L'édifice situé au coin nord est était l'école St-Jacques. Construite vers 1868 elle fut démolie près de 100 ans plus tard.
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.840.12
April 26th, 2009
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue St-Denis depuis la rue Ste-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1910-2009
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.840.13
April 27th, 2009
Montage du jour : L’avenue du Parc près de Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 14 Comments
Vers 1910-2009
Il fut un temps où l'avenue du Parc était bordée d'arbres...
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.841.4
Photo du Jour : Écurie sur la rue Bassin
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Photo prise le 24 avril, 2009.
More Life – Biodiversity and the Parc des Rapides
By Spacing // 5 Comments
Cecilia Chen is a special contributor to Spacing Montreal. This article is part of a series of three-part series examining biodiversity along an urban shoreline.
Passing through the gate you find yourself on an extended land bridge that is raised between a water reservoir on the right and a wetland ecosystem on the left. As you walk deeper into the park, the noises of traffic are gradually superceded by the sounds of birds, wind, water and the graveled path beneath your feet.
Crossing a small bridge, you begin to hear a watery roar. Then, arriving at the long edge of the park running parallel to the river, the Lachine Rapids – called Tsi Kahnawá:here by the Mohawk who first inhabited these shores – fill your ears as your eyes follow the fast moving waters of the Saint Lawrence River tumbling down thirteen metres to the Port of Montreal. Downstream, you can see the urban skyline of Montreal.
This collaged panorama of the shoreline shows the wetlands of the parc des rapides on the left and the more manicured suburban landscape of Lasalle's residential fabric on the right. Above: The pathway between the still-frozen reservoir on the left and the wetlands on the right, looking back towards Lasalle.
The Parc des Rapides, built upon the eroded bones of a former hydroelectricity generating dam, is a carefully planted ecosystem: a rich and deliberate interplay of native shoreline vegetation selected to attract fish, birds, and other animals - including humans – into its many folds. In a complex knot of negotiated and shared uses, Lasalle and the Ville de Montréal lease the former hydroelectric structure from Hydro Québec for the municipal park.
The Centrale de Lachine became the first hydroelectric facility to serve Montreal in 1897. It was decomissioned about 50 years later. Photo from Archives d'Hydro-Québec, F9/700771
April 28th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine vers l’ouest depuis la rue St-Denis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1910-2009
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.893.3
Place Albert-Duquesne : In Memoriam
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
I actually do not know how to feel about these trees that were chopped down a few weeks ago to make space for a section of the Quartier des spectacles. I am perhaps arguably one of the Spacing Montreal bloggers with the most love for concrete, but this massive tree-cutting really carved out a noticeable chunk of my city - ...
Photo du Jour : Bassin Street Buggies
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo prise le 24 avril, 2009, derrière l'écurie sur la rue Bassin.
To street food or not to street food?
By Cédric Sam // 28 Comments
Street food in Kenting, Taiwan
So, that is the question. Montreal finally got its preview of summer, but street food in the shape of moving carts selling stuff like kebab sandwiches or a 2$ chow mein, is likely not something that we'll see this season. The pictures on this post were taken during my week in Taiwan last year, where I almost exclusively received nourishment through food sold on the side of a street or alley.
In Toronto, street food come in the shape of hot dog stands, but also ...
Mile End Citizens Take Participatory Planning into their Own Hands
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
About 130 residents came together in Mile End last Sunday to pen a collective vision for the future of their neighbourhood during a Forum organized by the Comité des Citoyens du Mile End.
The borough recently announced that it would invest $9 million in the Saint-Viateur Est area - an area currently dominated by abandoned lots and monolithic relics of the textile industry - in order to attract $250 million in private investments.
Although locals are excited about the improvements that such an investment could bring to the neighbourhood, they are a bit concerned about how such a massive influx of new private development will shape the neighbourhood, which has already been gentrifying rapidly for years.
Some participants stressed that, before beginning to improve infrastructure and beautify the neighbourhood, it is essential to protect established residents, for instance through rent control in both residential and commercial spaces, subsidized space for artists, family-oriented housing, etc.
Is more consultation the answer?
Wait, isn't the city responsible for organizing public consultations about this kind of development?
« Les gens n'ont pas juste envie de contester, mais aussi de proposer,» says Richard Ryan, one of the members of the Comité des Citoyens du Mile End who organized the forum
Residents want more than a to critique the city's established plans during a formulaic public consultation process - they want to propose their own ideas. Especially in an area like Mile End where residents are characterized as highly-educated creative types.
April 29th, 2009
Photo du jour : Snake and ladder (staircase)
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
Graffitists with a sense of humour or patronized art? It was seen last Sunday in Montreal Chinatown. I don't think it was there last Fall - which may be confirmed by the signature that reads: "Bonom - 2009".
The Art of Persuasion: Combatting Suburban Flight
By Olivier Plessis // 25 Comments
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Last September on this site, we mentioned the City of Montreal’s advertising efforts to stem the tide of people fleeing the island for the fool’s gold of the suburbs. It’s been eight months since then, and the city’s ads are still found all over Montreal. But have they been effective?
The idea itself if a good one: sell Montrealers on the virtues of living on the island and counter the overwhelming pressure on young people to find cheap property in far-flung places around the metropolis. The City of Montreal’s goals seem to include increasing the density of the downtown core for the benefit of sustainable transport, accommodations, and commerce, as well as, less altruistically, to regain some of its tax revenue lost to the suburbs.
Preview of a few Jane’s Walks in Montreal
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
It would probably be fair to say that most of the Spacing Montreal community is into exploring Montreal's neighbourhoods, picking up stories here and there, sussing out what makes a place great (or not so great), and musing about what could make them even better. A series of walks honouring Jane Jacobs next weekend (May 2nd and 3rd) and aim to bring together the kinds of folks who like to do just that.
Jane's walks are not your typical tour, and participants are expected to do more than hang back while the experts talk. Sure, architecture ...
April 30th, 2009
Montage du jour : Immeuble incendié au coin des rues Sainte-Émilie et Butternut
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
2007-2009
La démolition de ce triplex construit en 1908 à permit de mettre à jour plusieurs couches de papiers peints datant du siècle dernier.
Photo du Jour : Printemps sur la rue Plessis
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Photo prise le 27 avril 2009.
Jane’s Walks Explore ‘Hoods on the Brink of Big Changes
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
As promised, here's a preview of some more Jane's walks set to go this weekend, May 2nd and 3rd. These ones look at neighbourhoods that are on the brink of big changes, many of which have been discussed and debated here on Spacing Montreal.
The walks are inspired by Jane Jacob’s advice: “No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at … suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You’ve got to get out and walk.”
So here's a chance to walk the talk.
All the details about meeting places, meeting times and reservations are ...
May 1st, 2009
Photo du jour : La rue Bourque
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Bien que la rue Bourque n'existe plus depuis un bon moment, une enseigne à son nom ainsi que le site Google map nous permettent encore de la localiser. Suis-je le seul à trouver ceci étrange ?
Patchwork of the Plateau’s Past
By Alanah Heffez // 19 Comments
This post has been slowly coming together since I asked "what is a neighbourhood?" in March. I started to try and define what neighbourhoods make up the Plateau, partially shed some light on the debate about the boundaries of Mile-End.
You don't have to scratch the surface very deep to find out that the Plateau Mont-Royal borough is an amalgamation of 4 historic villages. But, upon further examination, it turns out even that is an over-simplification.
I stitched together the map above as best I could from 9 pages of an atlas published in 1907. Then I coloured in the different villages and wards and added the outline of the current Plateau Mont-Royal limits (Source: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Hopefully they come after me for this!). Another atlas from 1879 was also used to figure out some of place names that had already been annexed to Montreal in 1907.
So here's what I've figured out so far:
In 1792, the City of Montreal limit was expanded to a distance of "100 chains" (about 2km) around the original fortified city. Along Saint-Lawrence Blvd (as it was called back in those days), the limit fell between Napoeon and Duluth. Saint-Lawrence Boulevard was the only North-South axis which reached all the way to Rivière des Prairies.
Watch NFB: Impressions of Expo 67
By Matthew Forsythe // 5 Comments
Editor: Spacing has partnered with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films from their new online screening room. Matt Forsythe of the NFB is occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore our public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban.
Here's a impressionistic and nostalgic short film about Montreal's Expo 67. The wordless film - directed by William Brind - shows the expo as a wonderful exercise in urban naiveté and optimism.
From the film's description:
This film served as an invitation to the World's Fair that was held in ...
Le mardi des arbres: À fleur de peau
By Bronwyn Chester // 4 Comments
D'abord, merci Cédric d'avoir eu le courage de photographier les restes de ces 67 pommetiers qui poussaient pendant quatre décennies au coeur de Montréal. Une des raisons pour laquelle je n'ai pas rédigé cette chronique depuis quelques semaines s'explique par le deuil que je vis par rapport à cette perte.
Perte, non seulement de ces beaux arbres, de ces belles fleurs roses au printemps, de ce parfum, de la bonté du pollen et du nectar offerts aux abeilles et bourdons, et de l'abri fourni aux oiseaux. Mais, aussi la perte de cet espace de terre vivante. C'est à dire, de la vraie terre dans laquelle ces arbres avaient le luxe de pousser. La terre qui respire. La terre non pavée.
C'est la perte aussi pour les citoyens qui se servaient de ce parc et de ceux qui le traversaient. Bien d'entre nous attendaient avec impatience le printemps rose de ce petit square du centre-ville.
C'est également la perte d'une possibilité qu'avait notre gouvernement municipal de dire: Nous aimons nos arbres, nous encourageons la biodiversité, et nous respectons notre propre Politique de l'arbre de Montréal et notre engagement envers la protection de la biodiversité.
"L’arbre montréalais n’est pas une simple pièce de mobilier urbain. Il est un être vivant à respecter et dont il faut prendre soin," s'écrit sur le site web de la Ville."Quand ça nous convient," auraient peut-être dû rajouter les auteurs.
May 2nd, 2009
Montage du jour : L’édifice de la commission des liqueurs du Québec, rue Peel
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1930-2009
Source : Musée McCord
VIEW-24795
Photo du Jour : Twin Chimneys
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
The Des Carrières incinerator was originally built on this site in 1931 because, as population density increased in the area, household burning was becoming suffocating and the stench of the landfill was no better.
In the 1970s, a new building with even taller smokestacks was erected on the same site, apparently with the intention of selling steam to manufacturers. But the city never managed to break even (let alone make it profitable) and, despite the towering smokestacks, the air pollution just would be whisked away from the densely populated neighbourhood. The incinerator was shut down in 1993.
The ...
Connaissez-vous vraiment votre quartier ? Observez-le durant 36 heures.
By Émile Thomas // 7 Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT4Toe2Peyc[/youtube]
Nous sommes arrivés à la fin de session à plusieurs universités montréalaises (sauf à l'UQÀM — bon courage, mes camarades !), et parmi tous les travaux écrits et tous les examens finaux, il existe au moins un professeur qui exigeait un peu de créativité.
À l'Institut d'Urbanisme à l’Université de Montréal, professeur Daniel Gill a proposé à ses étudiants de
choisir un lieu dans la région montréalaise
l'observer, le filmer, et le photographier durant 36 heures (vendredi à 6 h — samedi à 18 h)
produire un montage sommaire de leurs observations d’une longueur de 10 minutes
Les lieux choisis comprenaient le Plateau, Mile-End, Côte-des-Neiges, et le Village entre autres. Malgré que je connaisse bien ces endroits, les observations se présentaient toujours de façon surprenante :
Les dynamiques entre -
les gens qui arrivent et ceux qui partent
les résidents et les « visiteurs »
la bourgeoisie et la classe ouvrière.
Les contrastes entre -
la vitalité des quartiers et les nombreux panneaux : « À louer »
le calme du matin et la foule du soir
les institutions québécoises et la multiethnicité.
Et notamment, l’omniprésence du SPVM à Montréal (quelques zones davantage que d’autres).
May 3rd, 2009
Montage du jour : L’édifice Médical Arts, rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
1923-2009
Quelques pierres des maisons située à l'extrême gauche subsistent encore sur le site.
Source : Musée McCord
VIEW-20815.1
Photo du jour : Sunbathing at McGill
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Photo taken on April 19th, 2009, but it is probably juste an avant-goût of the summer...
[osm_map lat="45.507" long="-73.579" zoom="15" width="240" height="180" marker="45.507,-73.579"]
May 4th, 2009
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues de la Gauchetière et Beaudry
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1960-2009
Ce quartier qui fut entièrement rasé en 1963 afin de permettre la construction de la tour de Radio-Canada a été photographié sous tout ses angles au début des années 1960. Bien que la division des archives ait égaré les notes expliquant le système de classement à numéro que l'on aperçoit sur cette photo, tout chercheur peut facilement redécouvrir ce territoire en passant quelques heures aux archives de la ville de Montréal.
Source : Archives, Ville de Montréal VM94C196-823
Photo du jour : Ominous skies
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
A view of the Old Port of Montréal across from the Pont de la Concorde, taken on April 26th, 2009.
Undercover Sandwich Truck?
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
Around 10am this morning, I happened upon this sandwich stand on de Maisonneuve, just west of Decarie. About three seconds after I took the picture, the gentleman in the white shirt dropped the metal flap and drove off looking just like any other pickup...
They seemed to be selling pre-packaged sandwiches and drinks, which I suppose would allow them to get around the touchy street food questions that Cedric raised last week.
Before I got a chance to learn whether this operation visits regularly or follows ...
Running the Rapids – Waters Wild or Tamed
By Spacing // 3 Comments
Cecilia Chen is a special contributor to Spacing Montreal. This article is the second of a three-part series examining biodiversity along an urban shoreline. Her first article was More Life - Biodiversity and the Parc des Rapides.
This past autumn I ventured into the Lachine Rapids in a sturdy inflatable raft with ten other people. We had a guide and we were all wearing life jackets. We were told when to paddle, when to duck and hold on tight and when we could (optionally) jump into the river. Prior to any of this excitement, we ...
May 5th, 2009
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues de la Gauchetière et Wolfe
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1960-2009
Source : Archives, Ville de Montréal VM94C196-99
Photo du Jour : Winds of Change
By Spacing // 2 Comments
Photo contributed by Stellar.centurion to the SpacingMontreal flickr group. Église Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in the foreground and the Hotel-de-ville behind.
May 6th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke près de la rue de la Montagne
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1915-2009
Source : Musée McCord
VIEW-5532
Photo du jour – CCA turns twenty
By KC Bolton // No Comments
The Canadian Centre for Architecture celebrated its 20th anniversary on Saturday. This floating chair is in the CCA Garden, where Melvin Charney's sculptures have looked out upon the southeast portion of the island since 1986. The rest of the Garden faces the CCA across Boul. René Lévesque West. The on-site orchard is budding green.
May 7th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke depuis Metcalfe
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2009
La maison au premier plan était la résidence de George Drummond.
Source : Musée McCord
VIEW-3260.0
Photo du jour – Ste. Catherine eve
By KC Bolton // No Comments
The moon rising over Ste. Catherine on a May evening.
Lower Main May be Razed…Again
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
The big changes in store for the lower Main that we announced over a year ago are slowly becoming concrete.
In December, the Gazette reported that Angus Development Corp bought six buildings on the West side of Saint-Laurent for $6 million. Later this month, their plan for a 15-storey complex which would combine commercial space and office space, is going to public consultation.
A few independent owners - Café Cléopâtre, Main Importing Grocery Inc. and the Montreal Pool Room - have so far resisted selling their properties to the developer.
None-the-less, the city has drafted a permit which would allow Angus to demolish all the buildings between Ste-Catherine and the Monument National. However, the permit includes the provisions that the facade must be continuous with the Monument Nationale building and any construction over 3 stories must be set back by at least 9.5 meters. Nearly all the Victorian-era facades must be integrated into the new development (specifically street numbers 1186-1212 and 1224-1230).
Ironically, this exact site came under the axe of another major development project about 120 years ago. In the mid-1800ds, The municipal authorities decided to widen and reconstruct the boulevard, which was the main North-South axis in the city. In order to do so, all the buildings on the West side of the Main were demolished from Saint-Antoine all the way up to Roy (the city limit at that time). The buildings that currently occupy the Lower Main were the first wave of reconstruction, part of an ambitious attempt to create a prestigious urban boulevard at the heart of the city.
The following is a quick look at the 7 historic buildings that would be reduced to facades on Angus' new "pôle vert" complex.
May 8th, 2009
Montage du jour : Une vue du square Dorchester
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1890-2009
Source : Musée McCord
VIEW-2549.A
Photo du jour – Pink Blossoms
By KC Bolton // 25 Comments
Every spring these trees show large pink blossoms. This particular one is in front of an auberge across from the Lucien L'Allier metro entrance. Bronwyn, or anyone, can you tell me what they are?
May 9th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke près de la rue Union
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1875-2009
Source : Musée McCord
VIEW-1165.0
Photo du Jour : “Zone d’embellissement populaire (toi aussi)”
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Photo prise le 5 may 2009, coin Ontario et Saint-André.
May 10th, 2009
Montage du jour : Les appartements le Château
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1925-2009
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.2081.31
Photo du Jour : Back-Door Sub-Marine Emporium
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Photo taken May 9th, 2009 on Saint-André, just north of Jean-Talon.
Montreal Waterworks, Part I – The Aqueduct
By Andrew Emond // 4 Comments
Montreal's aqueduct canal at the Crawford Street bridge in Verdun.
So far, most of my entries here on Spacing and Undermontreal have dealt with Montreal's sewers as its the one aspect of the underground that I've spent the most time exploring. During my time looking into that particular system it's been hard to avoid the city's waterworks, both during my time traveling around (and under) and at the City Archives. While the two systems serve entirely different purposes, they still share a few thincgs in common and often intersect in a number of different ways.
While one can’t exactly travel through the waterworks system to the same extent that you can the sewers, there are still a number of different components that can be peered into and occasionally entered.
But before we do that, a little bit of history.
May 11th, 2009
Montage du jour : Une vue de l’avenue du Docteur Penfield
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1900-2009
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.27.75
Photo du Jour : Corner of McGill and Wellington
By Spacing // 8 Comments
Photo by pasdecouleur, shared in the Spacing Montreal flickr pool.
Google Street View is in Town
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
Reader Kyle MacDonald wrote in to say he's spotted the Google Street View car slumbering on Hotel de Ville between Rachel and Duluth last night.
"If one wanted to tail the car to put themselves in pictures etc, I'd say this would be a great place to start your day," he wrote.
But those who do end up in front of the camera will, by Google's account, be unidentifiable by the time the images are uploaded to the net. Google assuaged fears about privacy violation by agreeing to blur all faces and licence plates ...
May 12th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine depuis la rue St-Dominique
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2009
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.893.6
Photo du Jour : Terre et Argent
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Photo prise le 5 mai 2009, coin Berri et Cherrier.
Toronto Tuesday: Waterfront propaganda, protests and Public Works and Infrastructure
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
The don of a new waterfront
Ian Malczewski posts a video that tours the Lower Donlands, presenting artist renderings and plans for the area as hosted by urban designer Ken Greenberg. A dramatic take from Waterfront Toronto on the Lower Donlands' past, present, and potential future.
Tamil protest: the taking of the Gardiner Expressway
Shawn Micallef remarks on literal claims over public space, reviewing the blockage of the ...
May 13th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke depuis Victoria
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1930-2009
Comme le démontre cette photo, les façades des maisons intégrées à la place Mercantile furent reconstruite plus base et plus éloignées de la rue qu'elles ne l'étaient précédemment.
Source : Musée McCord
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Photo du jour : Enseigne murale
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Cette ancienne enseigne murale que l'on aperçoit de la rue Sherbrooke à NDG fut redécouverte il y a de cela quelques mois suite à la démolition d'un immeuble incendié.
Turcot, Glen Yards and the St-Jacques Escarpment Through the Ages
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
The NDG Jane's walk earlier this month ventured "below the tracks" to an area that is as fascinating as it is has been isolated over the ages, initially by a natural escarpment, and then by rail and highway development. After talking about the experience with local architect Gavin Affleck, he sent these two aerial photos of the Turcot and Glen yards.
The photo above which dates from around 1930 is centred on the Glen yards which were run by CP. ...
May 14th, 2009
Montage du jour : Une vue vers l’ouest depuis la rue Berger
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1985-2009
Source : Leanne Staples
Photo du Jour : In an alley
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing Montreal flickr pooler pasdecouleur took this photo in an alley above de Maisonneuve, between Chomedey and du Fort.
Tree Tuesday: Forest flowers of Mount Royal
By Bronwyn Chester // 3 Comments
NOTICE: SPRING FLOWER WALK ON MOUNT ROYAL THIS SATURDAY. See below for details.
I was delighted to see KC Bolton's beautiful photo of the magnolia blossoms against red bricks. Clearly, I wasn't the only one. Twenty-four commenters voiced their opinion on the identity of the flowering tree. It's hard to be indifferent to flowers at this time of year. Even those who don't look down into gardens and sidewalk cracks can't escape the seduction of the apple, cherry, plum, pear and serviceberry blossoms that are now in ...
May 15th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de F. Orr Lewis
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2009
Cette résidence située au coin des rues Sherbrooke et Drummond fut remplacée en 1924 par les appartements Acadia.
Source : Musée McCord
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Photo du jour : Abribus campagnard
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Photo prise à l'intersection des rues Sherbrooke et University.
BIXI contre le monde
By Émile Thomas // 22 Comments
Enfin. Il est arrivé. L'assurance des besoins de mobilité de la population. La solution à tous nos problèmes en matière de la circulation en ville. La manière dont nous réduirons la dépendance à l'automobile. L'agent de redynamisme du tourisme à Montréal. L’instrument de la création d'une ville plus écologique, vivable, et durable.
Après tous les prix, les médailles, les trophées et les distinctions, un système de vélo en libre-service s'est lancé cette semaine : BIXI.
Je ne vais pas bloguer sur l'avantage de ce système, ni discuter le sex appeal qu'il apporte aux transports en commun, ni le critiquer en tant qu'outil de la gauche caviar, ni vous présenter d'autres moyens plus efficaces et moins dispendieux afin de promouvoir le vélo à Montréal, ni me plaindre que nous favorisons davantage la mise en oeuvre des idées européennes pour nos enjeux ici au lieu de trouver des solutions « faites à Montréal ». Non. Aujourd'hui, nous célébrerons notre réalisation par la seule façon dont on connaît : une comparaison avec d'autres services semblables.
May 16th, 2009
Montage du jour : Un immeuble de la rue St-Urbain
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2007-2009
Photo du jour : Amour
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Photo prise à l'intersection des rues Villeneuve et St-Urbain
May 17th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Denis depuis la rue St-Antoine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Vers 1910-2009
Source : Musée McCord
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Photo du Jour : Passé le point de non-retour
By Alanah Heffez // 24 Comments
Le pont de l'autoroute 25 entre Montréal et la partie est de Laval est en construction.
Photo prise le 22 avril 2009
May 18th, 2009
Montage du jour : La cathédrale Marie-reine-du-monde
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2009
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.871.3
How I finally figured out what the “journée des Patriotes” is about
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
Le 18 mai, c'est la journée des Patriotes. I'm sure that I must have learned about these "Patriotes" back in Sec IV History, except that the only thing I remember of that class is a dog-eared sheet of dates we were told to memorize.
Then, last February, I happened upon this curious segment of stone wall in front of the SAQ building on the corner of de Lorimier and Notre Dame. When I took this picture 3 months ago, I honestly had ...
May 19th, 2009
Montage du jour : L’édifice de la «Art association»
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1890-2009
Cet immeuble situé sur la rue Sainte-Catherine en face du square Phillips fut le premier local du musée des beaux-arts.
Source : Musée McCord
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Il est interdit d’interdire
By Émile Thomas // 9 Comments
« La loi nous oblige à faire ce qui est dit et non ce qui est juste. »
- Hugo Grotius
What's going on with our police forces in Canada? From Vancouver, to Ottawa; from the underprivileged to the affluent; from our city parks to our city squares, it seems that some of our men and women in blue (or, up until recently, pyjamas and camo pants) are taking an austere interpretation of the expression « the strong arm of the law ».
At first, one may say : « Are these not just examples of a few rotten apples spoiling the pie? »
But this holiday weekend, another instance of officious policing was exposed, this time in Laval, Québec. The sleepy suburb to our north is no stranger to controversy involving their agents of the law, although now, it has been taken from the streets to the métro. I do not believe the STM had this in mind when they extended the orange line to Montmorency, for even they admit that they have never heard of someone being arrested for not holding the handrail on the escalator.
Yes, my compatriotes.
You read correctly.
If you have not already heard and expressed your outrage or support, Laval police handcuffed and fined Bela Kosoian, a 38-year-old law student and mother of two, $420 for not gripping the disease-factory also known as the handrail whilst riding the escalator. This being in the province where pedestrians take traffic signals as mere suggestions and gangs on certain two-wheeled vehicles hold turf wars in our streets.
Let us first deal with the legal aspects of this case. According to Règlement R-036 de la Société de Transport de Montréal, Section III, sous-section I, paragraphe 4e :
Dans ou sur un immeuble ou du matériel roulant, il est interdit à toute personne de désobéir à une directive ou un pictogramme, affiché par la Société.
In a building or moving vehicle, it is forbidden for all persons to disobey a directive or a pictogram posted by the Société.
Technically, it IS illegal not to hold the handrail. Those drawings of the father and son gleefully riding the escalator are not there just to look pretty.
Nonetheless, the fact that someone has ended up in handcuffs for non-compliance, raises a bigger question: How should police interact with the community they are mandated to both serve and protect? Clearly, these recent examples do not provide the answer.
May 20th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine près de la rue de Bullion
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Vers 1910-2009
Source : Musée McCord
MP-0000.893.8
Toronto Tuesday: Street food vendors, Sheppard LRT and cycling wonders from around the world
By Matt Lee // No Comments
Toronto a la cart Hits the Streets
Toronto's long-standing trouble over street food that reflects its cultural diversity is being addressed by new food carts across the city. Check out Jake Schabas' take on the new project, Toronto A La Cart.
Breaking News: Sheppard LRT receives provincial, federal funding
Another funding announcement for public transit: Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler takes us through political grandstanding to talk about the funding of the Sheppard Light Rail Transit extension.
A city of two wheels (and sometimes three)
Take a look at one of Matthew Blackett's photo-essays detailing infrastructure, planning and urban design ...
Montreal Waterworks, Part II – Inside the Conduit
By Andrew Emond // 6 Comments
Inside the Montreal's former water intake conduit
In my last entry I talked about Montreal’s Aqueduct canal and its role in bringing water to the city of Montreal. In this entry, we'll begin to go underground, but first, a bit more history...
I mentioned the use of hydraulic machinery and how it was powered by water by the aqueduct. Only a small portion of that water (less than 5%) was actually sent through the pipes and into homes and businesses. By the late 1800s, several problems with this system started to make it less than ideal. The first issue was that demand for water was increasing and more horsepower was required to distribute it. The aqueduct at the turn of the century, roughly a quarter the width it is today, was incapable of providing the hydraulic horsepower necessary to power the pumps.
On top of this, the success of system was often at the whims of mother nature. Low water levels in the summer and ice blockages in the winter frequently reduced pumping capacity. As a result, steam power, which was both cost and labour intensive, would then have to be used as a back-up.
Maguire Meadow Garden Deemed Illegal
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
I hate to put up a second post about bizarre law-enforcing activities over the weekend, but it has to be said: last Sunday, the Montreal Police broke up a rogue gardening session in Mile End.
For the past two years, artist Emily Rose Michaud and a collective of gardeners called Sprout Out Loud! have tended the soil and planted seeds in an abandoned CP lot in Maguire meadow, located in the North-East corner of Mile End. As I wrote last fall, the objective of the garden was to draw attention to a neglected ...
May 21st, 2009
Photo du Jour : Make Money
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Photo taken on the Corner of Wellington and Soeurs Grises, by Spacing Montreal flickr pooler, pasdecouleur.
Makeover proposed for the Palais de Justice
By Jacob Larsen // 8 Comments
Back in the dead of winter, I did a short post that included a photo of the austere, East-facing wall of the Palais de Justice. My immediate reaction was one of disgust, but I quickly learned that this distinct architectural has both critics and fans and a story worth telling. The debate sparked by this post revealed to me the passion and knowledge that many Montrealers have for architectural issues; to date, there are 35 comments on that post. As someone who approaches architecture from a fairly pedestrian point of ...
Tree tuesday: Lilacs in the air
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
This week's tree walk: Natives and Outcasts: The Trees on the Fringes of the McGill Campus
(see below for details)
Lilacs aren't native but, in a strange way, they have become outcasts. Most of the lilac bushes we find in the city are reminders of an earlier aesthetic in landscaping. On the walk I'm giving his Sunday, for instance, we'll look at an old white lilac, one that was part of the landscaping behind the 19th century greystones on University Avenue that are now part of McGill University. The lilac ...
May 25th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Sidewalk Performance
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
The sidewalk became a stage this weekend during the Off-Bienniale hosted by Dare-Dare. Events are on-going until May 31st, mostly in and around Cabot Square (Atwater metro).
"The 19 projects in the event will question, in humoristic, political or poetic ways, ideas surrounding work in the urban environment."
De quoi avez-vous rêvé hier soir pour Montréal ?
By Émile Thomas // 21 Comments
Au sujet de son arrivée au Canada, il y a presque 40 ans, mon père prétend que : « Malheureusement, je suis arrivé à Toronto ; heureusement, je suis resté à Toronto. »
Qu’est-il advenu de Montréal ? Ville internationale et cosmopolite, vraie capitale canadienne, et centre important du monde, Montréal n’est actuellement devenu qu’une agglomération régionale. Comment peut-on relancer la ville ? Cela demeure une question qui est posée non seulement par les urbanistes, ...
Montreal’s 5th Citizen Summit
By Spacing // No Comments
Owen Rose, the president of the Urban Ecology Centre, sent us this about the upcoming Citizen Summit and an environment-themed film festival.
THE VERY 1st FILM FESTIVAL - ENVIRONMENT AND THE CITY
MAY 29, 30 and 31
Cinéma du Parc and the 5th Citizen Summit have collaborated together to present the First Montreal Film Festival dealing with the 'Environment and the City' (May 29-31). This unique film festival will feature as a pre-summit activity a number of exceptional films which present urban life and how we humans do not have a balanced relationship ...
Montage du jour : La maison de John Auld
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2003-2009
Cette demeure fut construite sur l'avenue du Docteur Penfield en 1897 par John Auld fils, sur le terrain où se trouvait autrefois la maison de ferme familiale qui fut détruite par un incendie au cours de la même année.
Agrandie en 1921, elle fut par la suite occupé par le consulat des États-Unis entre 1954 et 1977.
Malheureusement, l'immeuble fut lourdement endommagée par un incendie le 21 mai 2009.
2006...
May 26th, 2009
The parades of Clark & Mont-Royal
By Chris Erb // 2 Comments
My new Job, which just ended about half an hour ago, has kept me cooped up in an office on the corner of Mont-Royal and Clark for the last two weeks. While working shifts that sometimes take me from the late morning of one day to the early morning of the next, a myriad of sounds drift into my window from the street. From the voices of partying college students on weekend nights, to car alarms, to loud sound systems, to drummers on Mont-Royal on Sunday afternoons, there is rarely a totally quiet moment. ...
Photo du Jour : Optical illusion balconies
By Chris Erb // 4 Comments
The detailing on these balconies of a row of houses in Rosemont immediately caught my attention as I biked by. They're so simple yet so creative. I have yet to see more of them anywhere else in the city.
Have you tried the Bixi yet?
By Cédric Sam // 43 Comments
The Bixi, Montreal's new public bike system, was officially launched exactly two weeks ago. Have you tried it yet?
Being a daily user of the bicycle, I didn't yet have to rely on the Bixi, but have seen countless numbers of them pass me by on the cycling lane. They are most noticeable by their strong aluminium body and a flashing front LED light (powered by a dynamo). Stations are scattered from Rosemont to the area ...
May 27th, 2009
DARE-DARE: Urban art in the making
By Cédric Sam // 1 Comment
Seen on the corner of Ste-Catherine and Lambert-Closse, just one block east of the Pepsi Forum / AMC building. It's still one of the remarkably depressing stretches of Ste-Catherine West, between Westmount and the new vibrant Concordiatown.
It was only after a bit of research and connecting the dots between DARE-DARE posters I saw during my walk and the Photo du jour post that my Spacing colleague Alanah wrote the day after that I realized that this was part of the said Dare-Dare Off-Biennale.
I presume that on the previous picture, it was Emily Lewis working on her Urban Growths.
Just a few steps towards rue Chomedy, there was more art by Pascaline Knight:
(More pictures under the cut)
2-22 Ste-Catherine – A whole new street
By Alanah Heffez // 30 Comments
2-22 Ste-Catherine by night. Image by Société de Redéveloppement Angus, Paul Andreu, Aedifica & Gilles Huot, May 21 (PDF).
It may be ugly, it may be unpopular, but it's not a monster.
Although the proposal for 2-22 Ste-Catherine creeps above building height regulations, at 8 stories it is no King Kong tower. And more importantly, it is to be LEED certified, built with local materials, and provide space for local arts and cultural organizations. A café, bookstore, bar, green roof with terrace and a "vitrine culturelle" with info about events around town promise to keep it bustling with activity. So far, so good.
But it is in the actual design that things get prickly.The developer, Société de Développement Angus (SDA), hand-picked a big-name French architect, Paul Andreu, who sketched up a 40 x 33m glass facade which has not impressed anybody.
Inside the building, a wide indoor passage animated with cultural and commercial activities would run all along Ste-Catherine street, creating a parallel "street life" behind glass.
Image of 2-22 Ste-Catherine's inner atium, by Société de Redéveloppement Angus, Paul Andreu, Aedifica & Gilles Huot from a May 21st presentation (PDF)
I'll leave the aesthetic critique to those of you more knowlegeable about architecture than I. All I can say is that the design may unpopular, but it dosen't hide the building's raison d'être.
May 28th, 2009
Guest Photo du Jour : 80 bus
By Chris Erb // 8 Comments
For the next seven days, the Photo du jour will feature photos of Montreal from my brother Mike Erb, a student of photography at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. You can visit his photoblog at www.erbanphoto.com.
May 29th, 2009
Guest photo du jour : La Cité balconies
By Chris Erb // 5 Comments
Photo by Mike Erb, a photography student at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. You can visit his photoblog at www.erbanphoto.com.
The latest on the Lower Main
By Alanah Heffez // 24 Comments
Spacing commentor Louis Rastelli called me out on this one: it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to critique the plans for 2-22 Ste-Catherine East without taking the Sociétéde Développement Angus ' plans for the lower Main into account.
Last month I wrote about the historic buildings that would be threatened by the development, but I have been hesitant to delve into the SDA's Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent because it seemed to me that they were far from set in stone. After all, the developer still doesn't own four of the properties that they plan to integrate into their 12-story retail and office complex: the buildings that house the Main Grocery, Montreal Pool Room, Café Cleopatra and the building that faces Ste-Catherine.
These businesses have clearly weathered the decades on the Main because they dish up what locals (and visitors) crave, be it affordable groceries, hot dogs or scintillating strip shows.
But my good faith was woefully misplaced. According to an article in La Presse the city has no qualms about expropriating the holdout occupants.
"Le 28 avril dernier, le conseil municipal a autorisé la démolition de tous les bâtiments du boulevard Saint-Laurent situés du côté ouest entre la rue Sainte-Catherine et le Monument-National, incluant ceux qui ne sont toujours pas vendus. À moins d'une recommandation contraire de l'Office de consultation publique, et en admettant que celle-ci soit acceptée par les élus, cela signifie que les [propriétaires] seront expropriés avant longtemps pour permettre la mise en chantier du Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent."
May 30th, 2009
Guest Photo du jour : Red lights
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Photo by Mike Erb, a photography student at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. You can visit his photoblog at www.erbanphoto.com.
What happened to rue St-Norbert?
By Chris Erb // 17 Comments
My friend recently picked up a copy of the book "Picture this! Posters of Social Movements in Québec (1966-2007)". While leafing through the pages of posters from various social causes and movements from over the last few decades, the above image caught my attention. The hand-drawn poster, with what are presumably St-Norbert residents at one side of the block of typical downtown row of houses with it's massive human fist punching a back-hoe, a cop, and what appears to be perhaps politicians, lawyers, developers, landlords, or any combination of greedy, powerful people ...
May 31st, 2009
Guest photo du jour : downtown skyscrapers
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Photo by Mike Erb, a photography student at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. You can visit his photoblog at www.erbanphoto.com.
Montage du jour : Le terrain de la place de la justice depuis la rue St-Antoine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1960-2009
Un gros merci à M. Denis Desjardins, un lecteur du blog, pour m’avoir fait parvenir cette photographie prise par son père feu M. Omer Desjardins.
Rally for community centre squat ends in eviction
By Alanah Heffez // 25 Comments
Last Friday, a group called the "Centre Social Autogéré" stated their intent to occupy an abandoned building and appropriate it as an grassroots community centre. The CSA describes itself as opposed to capitalism, hierarchies and imperialism and autonomous from political, religious or economic authorities.
Photographer Tristan Brand and I attended the event where about 500 people gathered in park St-Gabriel to support the groups' appropriation of the space. At the assembly, CSA organizers spoke about resisting gentrification, reclaiming spaces from "privatized hyper-capitalist development" and creating grassroots projects to meet local needs. Both spokespeople ...
June 1st, 2009
Guest photo du jour : Skull and chainsaw
By Chris Erb // 2 Comments
Photo by Mike Erb, a photography student at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. You can visit his photoblog at www.erbanphoto.com. Today is also his birthday.
Cyclists and their routes: McGill researchers undertake Montreal’s largest cycling study
By Jacob Larsen // 19 Comments
How well does de Maisonneuve work for you?
If you ride a bicycle in Montreal, you are confronted with many styles of roads and bike lanes to ride on. Some people may choose to take bicycle paths; others avoid them altogether. Is this simply due to different types of cyclists, or are some paths objectively better than others? These are just a few of the issues underlying a new study of Montreal cyclists by transportation researchers at McGill. With the Ville de Montréal set to nearly double the existing network ...
June 2nd, 2009
Guest photo du jour : Discarded mattress
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Photo by Mike Erb, a photography student at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. You can visit his photoblog at www.erbanphoto.com.
June 3rd, 2009
Guest photo du jour : Rosemont métro
By Chris Erb // 7 Comments
This is the last of the series of photos by Mike Erb, a photography student at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. You can visit his photoblog at www.erbanphoto.com.
The World Wide Web of the Turcot Interchange
By Jacob Larsen // 4 Comments
Courtesey of Signé Turcot
While many Montrealers wait with baited breath as the hearings of the Bureau des Audiences Publiques sur l'Environnement (BAPE) are set to begin deciding the fate of the Turcot Interchange (and some would argue the future of regional transportation), the online presence of this interchange grows larger each month. The purveyors of this information deal in various media - text, video, photos and graphic art - however all share the same 'blogosphere', each with their own unique niche. I suspect that not only the transportation fetishists who would ...
June 4th, 2009
Tree Tuesday: Hawthorns and other cemetery favourites
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_2883" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="'Paul's Scarlet' English hawthorn in front of 3438 McTavish Street, McGill University"][/caption]
Sunday tree walk: Trees of Mount Royal Cemetery, no charge, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m., to reserve: 514-279-7358 or aws@mountroyalcem.com
The Mount Royal Cemetery is a treasure trove of trees. From its beginnings in 1852 as Canada’s first ‘rural’ cemetery – along the lines of Europe’s first ‘rural’ cemetery, Père Lachaise (1804) and Mount Auburn Cemetery (1831) in Cambridge, Mass.) -- the trees have been integrated into the burial areas. This is what gives the cemetery the feeling of being a park, and, in many parts, are fairly natural one, at that.
Most cemeteries opt to keep trees away from tombstones for the simple reason that the long-rooted ones complicate the task of digging. But, as Myriam Cloutier told me this week: “That’s the price we are willing to pay to have this magnificent setting.”
Cloutier is communications coordinator for the cemetery and one of the people who organizes public programming. She leads a historical walk every year. This year, the theme is catastrophic events. Having worked at the Mount Royal Cemetery since 1995, Cloutier knows the locations of many of the prominent, both the buried dead and the living trees. She steered me to the areas with the greatest concentration of interesting trees as I was plotted my course for the two tree walks I am giving (this Sunday, in English, next Sunday, in French).
Entrance from Chemin de la forêt, the continuation of Mount Royal Blvd.
Remembering 6/4, the Tiananmen events, in Montreal’s most Chinese public space
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Almost naturally, Parc Sun-Yat-Sen, also called Zhongshan Park by some, was the location of Montreal's presumably only public commemoration of 6/4, known as the Tiananmen Square events in the West. The park is in fact more of a square in the middle of Chinatown and is often partly occupied by Falun Gong practitionners, alongside tourists and senior citizens living in the area.
Today was a special anniversary of 6/4, as it marked the 20th year after the sad events. When I visited Parc ...
June 5th, 2009
Le Bixi sous un angle innovateur
By Émile Thomas // 5 Comments
Le petit bonhomme prend à tâche d'utiliser le nouvel appareil qui se trouvait dans sa rue.
« Qu'est-ce que c'est ? » demande-t-il. . .
June 6th, 2009
Photo du Jour – Water tower
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
A couple years back I noticed that Brooklyn had adopted the water tower as a mascot of sorts. Relics of a time when things were big and ugly and functional, I think the water tower has come to symbolize a common nostalgia for the grimy ol' days.
Halfway between eyesore and iconic, they're hard to come by in Montreal. This one is on Rue Moreau and Ontario, in Hochelaga.
Street festivals everywhere, all the time
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
For the second year, Ste-Catherine street is pedestrianized between Berri and Papineau. As if the village weren't colourful enough, these yellow banners are aflap at every street corner. Terraces abound, and since they are in place for the entire summer they are all kinds of creative semi-permanent installations.
The "Village Ontario" west of Pie-IX is also having a sidewalk sale and kids activities this weekend (until Sunday June 7th). One of the best ...
June 7th, 2009
Photo du jour : Au Boeuf Bourguignon
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Boulevard Cartier Ouest, Laval.
Interactive Series: Montreal’s Worst Intersections
By Jacob Larsen // 13 Comments
We do a lot of celebrating our city here at Spacing Montreal, but we do our fair share of criticising, too. As you might gather, this falls under the later.
What I'm proposing is that Spacing Montreal readers they take photos of your least favourite intersection in town, write a few words describing why you feel this intersection deserves our collective disdain (and, perhaps eventually, some municipal attention) and send us your mini-report to spacingmontreal@spacing.ca to be posted on the blog. Feel free to write from whatever point-of-view you most often experience ...
June 8th, 2009
What’s in a name, ou Pourquoi pas Lionel-Avalanche-Oscar-Peterson-Université-de-Sherbrooke-Groulx ?
By Émile Thomas // 24 Comments
« That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet. »
- William Shakespeare
Qu’est-ce qu’un nom ? C’est une histoire, c’est une marque, c’est une idée. C’est une explication, c’est une étiquette, c’est un préjugé. C’est un handicap et c’est un avantage. Que ce soit un bébé ou la toponymie, le choix d’un nom est très important.
La révolution toponymique
Les Vietnamiens l’ont fait
Les Turques l’ont fait
Les Indiens l’ont fait
Les Russes : 2 fois
Est-ce que nous le ferons ici ?
June 9th, 2009
Bixi on iPhone now (officially) available
By Spacing // 16 Comments
There has been an interesting controversy brewing about the use of a user-created application for iPhones and Blackberries to track Bixi availability. Spacing Montreal reader, Colin Guillas, sent us this article.
First, Bixi flexed their legal muscle and shut down a free iPhone app designed to actually make the system usable, since there weren't even static maps at the stations. Next, they told us that there would not be a public API made available for others to make the system available for use. An enterprising ...
Toronto Tuesday: Bike “blockades”, Brampton bulldozers and content Torontonians
By Matt Lee // 2 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
World Wide Wednesday: NYC for bikes and pedestrians
Take a look at sustainable development in New York City: even Times Square has been caught by street and sidewalk improvements, thanks to policies set out in the Department of Transportation's new Street Design Manual.
Brampton’s Urban Frontier: Countryside Drive
Jump into the (always growing) suburbs with a reflection on Sean Marshall's ...
June 10th, 2009
Le mardi des arbres: Chêne rouge, sentinelle de l’île
By Bronwyn Chester // No Comments
Promenade guidée ce dimanche: Cimetière du mont Royal, 10h à 13h, gratuit, entrée: chemin de la forêt, inscription: 514-279-7358
Une des grandes plaisirs de marcher au Cimetière de mont Royal, c'est de voir les arbres avec toute l'espace dont ils ont besoin pour s'étendrent au max. Les arbres, autant que les pierres tombales, sont les rois du cimetière, lequel, avec sa création en 1852, est devenu le premier parc aménagé sur le mont Royal.
Les titans de cette famille royale comprennent du chêne rouge, de l'érable à sucre, quelques micocouliers ...
June 11th, 2009
Le parc sans nom toujours abandonné
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
Un an après le centre d'artistes Dare-Dare a quitté le Mile-End pour s'établir au square Cabot, le fameux parc sans nom reste toujours abandonné. Jean-Pierre Caissie, ancien directeur artistique de Dare-Dare, y réfléchit :
un parc sans nom existe toujours dans l’arrondissement Plateau-Mont-Royal. au coin du boulevard Saint-Laurent et de la rue Van Horne, se trouve un espace public clôturé et qui semble servir de dépôt(-oire) pour l’arrondissement montréalais.
pourtant, le centre d’artistes autogéré DARE-DARE y a passé deux ans à organiser des expositions, à y faire rayonner des projets d’art public. après deux ...
June 13th, 2009
Montréalhenge
By Émile Thomas // 2 Comments
« And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. »
- L'évangile selon Marc [13,26]
Le samedi 30 mai, Dieu a béni les citoyens de New York avec un évènement céleste spectaculaire. Baptisé Manhattanhenge, à l'honneur du lieu sanctifié de Stonehenge en Angleterre, il s'agit d'un alignement total du soleil et le quadrillage de la voirie à Manhattan.
Ce jour-là, Kate McDonnell du Montreal City Weblog ...
Recipe for a Block Party
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
My block is having a party! Right here, right now. Outside my front door children are super-soaking each other, running through sprinklers, and selling lemonade. The traffic calming infrastructure is doubling as a volley-ball net and lawn chairs are filling the street as people crowd around to hear a choir of little girls with flowers in their hair.
Grown ups are garage-sale-ing and swapping bevvies, and a massive BBQ mounted on a bike has appeared a little way down the block....
June 16th, 2009
Marché Adonis, boulevard Des Sources
By Cédric Sam // 8 Comments
Si vous aviez à aller en randonnée dans le West Island, le Supermarché Adonis sur le boulevard Des Sources (Google Maps) est une destination architecturale à ne pas manquer.
L'organisme Créativité Montréal a d'ailleurs un article sur le Supermarché Adonis (avec de superbes photos):
L'architecte Raouf Boutros a voulu recréer ici l'ambiance d'un marché traditionnel en plein air, d'où l'idée de ce toit incliné flottant au-dessus d'une généreuse fenestration qui fait directement face au boulevard des Sources et donne vue sur un jardin potager ...
Memories of Angels DVD Giveaway
By Matthew Forsythe // 16 Comments
Last year, this blog hosted a vibrant conversation about Memories of Angels - Luc Bourdon's impressionistic black and white film-portrait of Montreal
Now, the film is out on DVD. The first 3 commenters on this post will receive a free DVD. Just make sure you leave your email address and we'll be in touch.
Here's the film description:
Documentary, poetry and essay, Luc Bourdon's The Memories of Angels is an assembly of clips from 120 NFB films. The director revisits the Montreal of the '50s and '60s with its famous figures, symbolic places and residents.
Watch the trailer: ...
June 17th, 2009
Teens in public space: when the world is your junglegym
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
The thing to do on prom night 1998 was to take the rented limo up to the lookout on Mount-Royal after a soirée of underage bar-hopping to see the sun rise. We didn’t make it. Dizzy on newly-discovered drinks, my date and I watched the sun come up from the rooftop of a grocery store around the corner from home.
And we spent a lot of time atop that grocery throughout our highschool years. It was great vantage point and a hideaway too: nobody ...
June 18th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Bordeaux
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
The prison located in the northern part of the island was built in 1912 and houses about 1200 male inmates serving sentences of under 2 years.
Tree Tuesday:Black locusts announce the summer solstice
By Bronwyn Chester // 4 Comments
SOLSTICE TREE WALK: MONDAY, JUNE 22, 5:30 to 7:30 pm, RARE, SACRED AND MYTHOLOGICAL TREES OF McGILL's UPPER CAMPUS. Meet on steps of Redpath Museum. $12/$10.
The date of the summer solstice is determined by the angle of Earth when it is closest to the sun. This year, it falls on June 21, at 9 p.m., a date and time determined by physics, not by weather, unlike the blooming times of trees. You see, I associate the blossom time of the black locust, the tree pictured above on the right, with the solstice. For the past three years, I have give an annual summer solstice tree walk and the black locust has been in bloom.
If you look carefully at the centre point of the photo above you will see a pannicle of white flowers. This, below, is what they look like up close. Gorgeous. You can see that each flower has the typical formation of a flower in the pea family which makes sense as the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia, Robinier faux-acacia) is part of the pea family, Fabaceae, as in the French for beans, les fêvres.
When I went out hunting for a photo of the tree in flower, I thought I'd have no trouble finding one. Only last Sunday, there were fresh blooms on the black locusts that grow high on the southeast ridge of the Mount Royal Cemetery, near the Molson mausolea and not far from Camilien Houde road.
But the situation downtown was different. The colony of black locusts most familiar to me runs along Prince Arthur Street on the north side, between Clark and Ste-Famille streets. A little north of the intersection on Sr-Urbain, you'll see the likely grandmother-grandfather (the sexes co-exist on one tree) on St-Urbain, a little north of Pr. Arthur. Its late afternoon silhouette always reminds me of the African acacia trees, St-Urbain being a bit of a savannah on this stretch.
When I arrived this morning to photograph the black locusts, there was little left of fresh blossoms; most of the blooms were dried out, either on the branch or on the sidewalk. Only this young one, an offshoot from the
roots of the elder to its right, still had fresh blooms. It also had thorns, which it typical of young black locust trees. If you're familiar with that steep area on in the Piedmont section of Mount Royal, directly below the lookout/parking lot on Camillien Houde, you may have seen the thorns on the young colony of black locusts that thrives in this area that's largely used for dumping snow and other urban debris. As the tree ages
it loses the thorns, presumably because it is well enough established to withstand browsing by deer, cows and sheep.
In the photo below, you can also see the delicate, leaflets that form the tree's compound leaf. It's a leaf that's easy to distinguish from other trees with compound leaves, due to the elliptical shape of the leaflets and to the blue-green colour. The silhouette shows the black locust leaf in contrast to that of a Norway maple.
June 19th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Viger square fashion shoot
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo taken June 18th 2009 in Viger Square.
The diciest part of my commute
By KC Bolton // 10 Comments
Over the past few months I've come to know the Boul. St. Laurent underpass between the Mile End and Little Italy quite well, adjacent to the parc sans nom. Jacob recently asked readers for their dangerous intersection beefs, and here's my own contribution.
Today I spent 15 minutes watching numerous cyclists, pedestrians, and cars navigate the dangerous corner on the northern side. The lack of an efficient bicycle route across this divide (see map below) causes cyclists to take to the sidewalk when headed south (against car traffic). Pedestrians around the corner cannot ...
June 20th, 2009
Photo du jour : Teddy bear recyclin’
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
Photo prise le 16 juin 2009.
June 22nd, 2009
Parking Lot Turned Garden on Duluth
By Timea Jakab // 5 Comments
If you’ve walked on Duluth near rue Coloniale recently, you’ve probably noticed a charming change in the neighbourhood. A local community centre, House of Friendship has transformed its paved parking lot into a fresh-faced community garden. The Duluth Avenue Community Greening Initiative, a project of the House of Friendship, has teamed up with Soverdi (La Société de Verdissement) in an effort to green Duluth and create a vibrant and interactive community space. The overall aim of the initiative is to nourish ...
June 23rd, 2009
Photo du jour : Montréalhenge!
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Inspired by last week's Spacing Montreal post Montréalhenge, I set off to have my own sight at the sun setting on the north-south axis of Montreal's "grid". Did you notice the pedestrian?
Photo taken on June 22nd, 2009 at the corner of St-Laurent and Fairmount.
Fluffy? It’s summer snow!
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
In some areas of Montreal, you might have noticed this "fluff" that has been falling up and down for at least the past three weeks. On my street, Ste-Famille, in the far McGill ghetto, these flying cotton balls have taken epic proportions, accumulating as snow would in late Fall. The only difference is that it's 27℃ and it won't "melt" ...
June 24th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Buldozed Slum
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
I rarely venture into the northern part of the island, and on a trip along Boul Henri Bourassa last week I was surprised to find an entire city block reduced to rubble. It took a few minutes to put two and two together and recognize the site of the Place L'Acadie redevelopment that I wrote about back in January. (I apologize for the lousy photo quality - I was snapping from a bus window.)
It looks like the project to replace some of the city's worst slums ...
June 25th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Landmarks
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Wow, I think I managed to capture most of the city's major landmarks in a single shot: Jacques Cartier bridge, downtown skyscrapers, a grain silo, Mount Royal, the port and, of course, the big O.
Island hopping Montreal-styles
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
A ferry whisks 12 bicycles and their riders across the St-Lawrence river to the Boucherville Islands provincial park.
On your typical STM map of Montreal, the Boucherville Islands are just peeking out from under the legend, and so for many years they remained under my radar. Turns out the are actually the site of a provincial park, just minutes away from Montreal. Here's one sweet way to escape the city that doesn't involve getting stuck in bridge traffic...
The best part about a trip to the Boucherville Islands is how bike-friendly it is. Its beyond bike-friendly, the park is designed for cyclists. For $7 you and your bicycle can get a round-trip ferry to the Ile Ste-Marguerite, from which you can access the rest of the archipelago. This overhead includes the entrance fee to the provincial park and was the only cash I dished out all day.
June 26th, 2009
An Open Letter to my Bike Thief
By Émile Thomas // 19 Comments
To my dear friend Thief:
You know who you are; you stole the rear tire off my bicycle.
I don’t hate you,
I fear for your welfare.
You obviously have been hanging around the wrong crowd. What would possess you to steal from your fellow man? Daddy didn’t give attention? Mommy didn’t care? Deviancy is a learned attribute; I suppose that unlike you, I am blessed to have been raised surrounded by honourable individuals who love me.
I don’t hate you,
I pity you.
You feel you can ...
June 28th, 2009
Photo du jour : Immeuble incendié, intersection des rues St-Denis et Cherrier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Photo prise le lendemain de l'incendie, soit le 28 juin 2009
Discontent over the Turcot grows stronger (and more political)
By Jacob Larsen // 3 Comments
Source: MTQ
Sitting in the over-heated community centre in St. Henri, hearing one presenter after another condemn the Turcot project, it became clear that the opposition to the Turcot is growing stronger, and gaining new allies. Indeed, with all candidates in the upcoming municipal election as well as the Parti Québecois coming out against the project as proposed, it appears that the hard work of groups like Mobilization Turcot and other feisty community voices has not fallen on deaf ears.
Since many are predicting that this issue will remain on the municipal agenda leading up to the election this fall, I thought a review of the memoirs presented by the major parties might be in order. This is not to overlook the presentations by community groups, academics, governmental agencies and concerned individuals, many of which were better researched (and more interesting) than the politicians.
The view from City Hall: Mayor Tremblay, M. Lavallé and the Union Montréal
By far the most detailed plan of the candidates, the City used the muscle of its planning staff to lay out its issues with the project in a methodical, quantitative language (in other words, they used the dollar sign). After devoting half of their memoir to identifying the lofty goals espoused in its Transportation Plan, the city cited a few of their major issues with the project.
June 29th, 2009
Photo du jour : Some things change, some don’t
By Cédric Sam // 7 Comments
I was walking along Sherbrooke Street on this Sunday afternoon, in the Westmount section and saw these signs at the corner with Victoria.
A quick search indicates that the Banque Laurentienne was formerly known as La Banque d'Épargne de la Cité et du District de Montréal. In fact, the change only came about in 1987, which is somewhat beyond my ...
June 30th, 2009
Toronto Tuesday : Bike Month continues, Garbage Strikes, and People Dance
By Timea Jakab // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
- Bike Month continues in Toronto with talks of government involvement, bike lane design, and Bike Blitzes.
- Something tells me Toronto will be running out of hand sanitizer and nose plugs very soon.
- Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner and photographer Lisa Rastl show that people really can turn into pretzels, if conditions are right.
- And finally, (Yes, ...
July 1st, 2009
Photo du jour : Goodnight Stevie!
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
They celebrated the Place des festivals' inauguration with a great Stevie Wonder outdoor performance and some downtown fireworks... In fact, I thought it was a little unusual to launch fireworks in the city, especially with a few somewhat tall buildings in the surroundings (which reminded me of what happened in Beijing last Chinese New Year around).
In any case, it was well-controlled, and quite a sight from where I was located. Smoke then quickly seeped through the ...
Who’s NOT going to Stevie Wonder?
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
"Who's going to Stevie Wonder tonight?" I asked my Facebook-universe yesterday. And I got only one reply: "Who's not going to Stevie Wonder?"
Arriving for the concert 2.5 hours early, I was able to snag a spot on the virgin paving stones of the Quartier des Spectacles plaza, within a tip-toe view of the stage.
Pas Grave. Not being much of a pop-culture afficionado, I went more to be immersed in a sea of Montrealers than for a glimpse of Stevie Wonder.
Packing our public spaces with crowds ...
Les punaises de lit
By Émile Thomas // 5 Comments
« Je m’appelle Corinne D.
J’ai 28 ans et je vis à Montréal.
J’ai eu des punaises de lit chez moi.
Deux fois. »
- Corinne D. du blog « La Cibole de Cimex »
July 2nd, 2009
Photo du Jour : Biosphere Paint Job
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Photo taken June 20th, 2009. The biosphere on Ile Ste-Hélène has been just a skeleton since the covering burnt in 1976. It's currently getting a fresh coat of paint - sweet gig if you're not afraid of heights!
July 3rd, 2009
Müvers & Lobsters
By Timea Jakab // 9 Comments
Photo by FAMAS.
Ever wondered what world-famous designer Sid Lee, shipping containers and lobster have in common? No, neither have I. Strangely enough though, they come together to form the Old Port’s newest restaurant du jour. Cleverly titled The Müvbox, this disguised shipping container uses solar power to transform itself in under two minutes into an instant pop-up diner, complete with open-air seating and fully functioning kitchen. (Check out the website for a neat video documenting the unfolding process.) Founder and owner Daniel Noiseux, who bestowed the first wood ...
July 6th, 2009
Robert Polidori @ MACM
By Timea Jakab // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3226" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="There is no fiction stranger than reality."][/caption]
Montreal-born photographer Robert Polidori's new exhibition at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal is one certainly not to be missed. The thoughtfully curated exhibit graciously leads patrons through such places as Chernobyl, Beirut, Havana, and a post-Katrina New Orleans. Having gained notoriety in recent years for his highly controversial Hurricane Katrina photos, Polidori's list of honours and awards includes receiving the Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography twice.
The 59-piece exhibit showcases select works from the last three decades. Each large-scale photograph begins ...
July 7th, 2009
Toronto Tuesday : Pocket Plants, Creative Class & The Strike Persists
By Timea Jakab // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
• How delightful! Creative new ways of using already-pasted posters are making appearances around Toronto. A mysterious artiste is carefully ripping, wrapping, and re-pasting these posters into cones, filling them with dirt and planting the pockets with flowers.
• An introduction to the breakout work of Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class which reduces urban demographics to monetary values. ...
Le mardi des arbres: Trois blancs de mémoire
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
Je suis à l'âge d'avoir des blancs de mémoire et d'avoir des mémoires des blancs. Des fois, ces derniers m'aident à retrouver les premiers. Prenons par exemple le blanc de la neige des peupliers deltoïdes (Populus deltoïde, Eastern cottonwood poplar) que Cedric Sam a décrit il y a un couple de semaines. À chaque fois que je vois ces petits bouts de coton qui flottent autour de mon coin près des rues St-Denis et Roy, je suis transportée à un parc de mon enfance et de mes ...
July 8th, 2009
Montage du jour : Rues Pierce et Ste-Catherine
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
2007-2009
Un peu pour rendre hommage à la série de mon collègue de Spacing Montréal, Guillaume St-Jean, voici un petit montage de deux photos prises à à peu près deux ans d'intervalle. Ce coin de rue se situe en plein nouveau Quartier Chinois de Montréal, juste à l'ouest de l'Université Concordia, dans ce qu'on appelle aussi le Village Shaughnessy.
Dans ce ...
Photo du Jour – Jazz fest crowd
By Spacing // 2 Comments
Jazz festival crowd on the steps of Place des Arts. Photo taken July 4th, 2009 by Spacing Montreal flickr pooler, pasdecouleur.
July 9th, 2009
Photo du Jour : A place to get cut on rusty metal
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
"This park is a place for kids to get cut on rusty metal"
The words are scratched into one of the metal sculptures erected by artist Glenn Lemesurier in the abandoned lot on Van Horne and St-Urbain. It seems to be a new addition since Christopher Dewolf snapped this image one year ago.
I wonder whether it is intended as an accusation or a celebration of the rusty metal edges?
Photo taken June 24th 2009.
Can-It-Yourself in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
By Spacing // 13 Comments
This post is a special contribution by Bethany Or.
I have a little dream of someday owning a plot of land and growing at least part of my own food. And who doesn’t dream of someday hightailing it out of the city? Country life just seems better sometimes. So when I passed by Home Canning Enr. the other day, it’s imposing green doors, out of place on a typical Hochelaga-Maisonneuve street, drew my curiosity. Not to mention an English company name in a decidedly francophone neighbourhood.
Peeking in, I was delighted to ...
July 10th, 2009
Rents, Recycling Buildings and Retailing Books
By Spacing // 12 Comments
This article and photos are a special guest contribution by local author, Mary Soderstrom. Mary Soderstrom is a Montreal writer who’s spent years strolling around Mile End. Her most recent book is The Walkable City: From Haussmann’s Boulevards to Jane Jacobs Streets and Beyond (Véhicule Press).
Try to find a small, independent bookstore in a high rent neighborhood, and you’ll likely be disappointed even if the folks who live nearby are great readers. That’s because bookstores have very small—sometime non-existent—profit margins. The trick for the dreamers who love books so ...
Recipe for Dorchester Square Renovation
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Lots in the news lately about renovations to Dorchester Square, and the archaeological dig that will open up graves that date between 1799-1855, when the site was a cemetery. (Is it just me, or does unearthing bodies after a mere 155 years seem more like grave-robbing than archeology? After being examined by the archaeologists, the bones will be reburied in Notre Dame des Neiges cemetery.)
Although Dorchester Square is completely fenced was off for renovations, I was pleased to see that the ...
Habitat 67 Hangs 10 : Surfing In Montreal
By Timea Jakab // 5 Comments
Featured in an interesting article in the New York Times today, Habitat 67's surfing culture is finally exposed! The article pleasantly describes writer Jesse Huffman’s two-day lesson at river-surfing school Imagine Surfboards. His instructor, Corran Addison, an Olympic kayaker and three-time world freestyle kayak champion, pioneered surfing the Habitat wave with a surfboard in 2002.
If you’ve never been down to Habitat to see the surfers first-hand, I would highly recommend it. Even as a spectator, the level of skill and patience required to achieve the such serenity is commendable. ...
July 12th, 2009
Patronage, Corruption, Underworld: the movie
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
Well, it can't be ignored.
Montreal City Hall sketchiness has reached such astronomical proportions that The Economist ran a piece about it on June 25th, under the headline "Municipal corruption in Canada."
For any readers who have manged keep their heads buried in the sand during the recent cries of scandale! in the local press, the Economist report candidly sums up the most blatant instances of favouritism (the SHDM and Water Meter deal). I don't doubt that for each "tip of the iceberg" that made the international press, there are more cases and more implications of this kind of abuse at home.
If this is all starting to sound like the plot of a weird mafio-political drama, well, it is. Quebec's favourite movie director, Denys Arcand, made that film way back in 1973:
"Patronage = Corruption = Pègre" ("Patronage = Corruption = Underworld"): the tag line for Arcand's 1973 film about Montreal Mafiosos, unscrupulous politicians, and expropriating home-owners to build a highway.
Here's an extract from the description of Denys Arcand's film Réjeanne Padovani, found on the Films Quebec blog:
Histoire :
En l'honneur de l'inauguration d'une autoroute, une réception fastueuse a lieu chez un gros entrepreneur montréalais. Durant la soirée, son épouse le fait chanter.
Résumé :
À la veille de l'inauguration d'une autoroute dont ils ont orchestré la construction, quelques politiciens sans scrupule se réunissent dans la demeure d'un parrain de la mafia, Vincent Padovani, pour célébrer l'événement. ... Ailleurs dans la ville, de jeunes militants préparent une manifestation pour protester contre les expropriations massives ayant découlé de la construction de l'autoroute.
Sound familiar?
Photo du Jour: Railway Horizon
By Spacing // No Comments
View from the Ste-Catherine Street bridge between Frontenac and Préfontaine. On the other side of the bridge is the amusement park La Ronde. Photo taken on June 26, 2009 by Bethany Or
July 13th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Chinatown Candyman
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Photo taken on July 11th, 2009, rue de la Gauchetière.
Tree Tuesday: Stalking the Walnut: 3 Sites
By Bronwyn Chester // 6 Comments
Walnuts are trees of the Gods. It's right there in the name: Juglans means the nut, or acorn (as in the French, gland), of Jupiter, top God of the Romans. And the tree carries itself like royalty, spreading its long, strong branches almost as wide as high. Think of the tallest tree in the Redpath Dell, the hollow immediately to the east of the Redpath Museum on the McGill University campus. What you see here in this photo are the fruit of the black walnut (Juglans nigra, Noyer noir). The edible nut is within the shell encased in this lime green husk.
But this is not the fruit of the great walnut of the McGill campus, circa 1882, nor of any other establishment of 19th century, institutional Montreal. I took this photo yesterday in a post-industrial vacant lot. Not the sort of place you expect to find the regal Juglans, a tree that in this part of the world generally needs good soil and a certain amount of pampering, being a little north of its usual territory in Canada, which is the Carolinian zone of southwestern Ontario. So, what was Jupiter doing in the Mile End Meadow (my name for the old Canadian Pacific railyard where Henri-Julien street meets the tracks, across the street from the Carmelite Monastery), growing amongst such hobos as the cottonwood poplar, sumac and Manitoba maple?
It's easy to identify the source of the original nut planted, from which this walnut -- and its numerous sibling trees in the vicinity -- sprang. When I first began frequenting this meadow, in preparation for a guided tree walk, I could see that many of the tree species originated in the Carmelite garden where there is an orchard of fruit trees and numerous century old broadleaf trees, including silver maples, honey locusts and ... an enormous black walnut.
Clearly, squirrels had crossed the Great Wall and planted the fruit. Still, I was mystified by the location of the five or six young trees I had spotted, all growing on the periphery of the field, along one wire fence or another. One morning last fall, waiting for my group to arrive, I sat quietly and observed a squirrel with an enormous -- at least relative to the size of the squirrel -- walnut in its mouth. After crossing Henri-Julien street, it dashed to the nearest bit of metal, mesh fencing. Squirrels don't like to travel on the ground; there are too many potential predators, such as dogs, and their short legs aren't meant for tall grasses. Fencetops, therefore, comprise an important element in their channels of transportation.
The Mile End Meadow (MEM) is fenced, in intervals, by several long stretches of Frosst fence, and I watched as the squirrel traveled adeptly along the fencetops with the large load in her mouth. Finally, I lost sight of her at the end of western stretch of fencing, a point where there just happens to be a trio of young walnuts. So, I surmised, the squirrel either drops the fruit at the end of the fence or buries it there. And, given that the lawnmowers, which periodically trim all that grows in the field, including young trees, can't get too close to the fence, the walnuts -- and numerous other plants -- thrive within the grace of the margins.
Of course, it's not only the mowers that can't get too close to the fence, it's the walkers and cyclists too. So, all the vegetation that grows close to fences, and buildings too, have a greater chance of survival than those in open. What's good for the squirrel is good for the walnut.
I am fascinated by the self-seeding trees, those that "escape from gardens," as we say. None, of course, escape on their own except those whose roots pass under fences and walls and send up new shoots, such as sumacs and black locusts. The self-seeders, are, in fact, seeded either by wind, water, birds or mammals. They depend on disturbed, open soil in which their seeds may fall or --in the case of the animal-seeded -- be buried. At this time of year, for instance, in my alley near des Pins and St-Denis streets, there are always a few cottonwood seedlings, sent by the wind from the next alley over where a Titanesque lady cottonwood literally casts her fate to the wind in the form of millions of tiny seeds attached to threads of cotton-like fibre. So far, none have survived more than the summer. There is likely too much competition in the narrow line of opportunity where the curb meets the asphalt.
July 14th, 2009
Toronto Tuesday : Sketches of a Striking City
By Timea Jakab // 2 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
• The city strike continues into week four as mayor David Miller pushes forward a new offer, still refusing to request an arbitrator. As the provincial Liberals remain unwilling to legislate back municipal employees, it seems as if this strike has no end in sight.
• Local artist, Jerry Waese has been decorating the blog recently with his 'Street Scenes', capturing ...
July 17th, 2009
Bruce McCulloch’s Open Letter to his Bike Thief and the people who watched his Bike Thief thief his bike
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
« First they came for the Bixis, and I said nothing. »
- Pastor Martin Niemöller
La station Bixi devant chez moi a été complètement massacrée. Sa dépouille mortelle — les plantes des pédales, la chair des coussins de selle, les dents des points d'ancrage, et les membres mutilés des paniers — est jonchée parmi le plexiglas qui auparavant couvrait la publicité d'un homme en caleçon. Je ne peux emprunter un vélo de cette station, ni y ...
July 18th, 2009
Sorry for the technical difficulties
By Spacing // 2 Comments
The editors of Spacing Montreal wish to apologize for the technical difficulties the blog has been experiencing over the last few days. We're working on fixing the meltdown and hope to have everything worksing as smoothly as quickly possible.
Big Bang Planning vs Emergent Urbanism
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
Architect and urban planner William Galloway recently wrote an op-ed piece at Archinet entitled "Big Bangs, Slums, and Suburbia" (via Planitizen) which sums up some of my discomfort with developments like the Griffintown project and the Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent.
Galloway criticizes architects and planners, a group in which he includes himself, as being:
"entranced with the possibility of using our arts to magically sweep aside - all at once - every wrong that we see before us; replacing entire cities and neighborhoods with little mini-novas of creative destruction. The Big Bang ...
L’Adresse Symphonique First Public-Private Partnership in Quebec
By Timea Jakab // 17 Comments
Unveiled last May, the new home of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal initially appears to be quite promising. Despite the uninspired “shoebox” design and disregard of its immediate urban condition, the lit glass box showcasing a Quebec beech wood interior will imaginably be a positive addition to the disparate Place des Arts. The hall, named L’Adresse Symphonique, will be a joint-venture project from the powerhouse Toronto firm Diamond+Schmitt Architects with Montreal-based architecture firms Aedifica. The 2,100 seat concert hall will boast room for 120 musicians and 200 singers, ...
Cycling in Copenhagen in the 1970s
By Jacob Larsen // 3 Comments
We only occasionally feature articles about other cities here at Spacing Montreal, so I thought readers might enjoy a few of these classic photos of cyclists in Copenhagen. They are taken by a family member while visiting back in the 1970s. Above is Norreport station, which even before Copenhagen began creating its impressive bike infrastructure, was busy with bicycles. Today, there are thousands more parked there. For those interested in what the Danish capital has done recently for cycling, Spacing publisher's Matt Blackett recently posted an article on their bike ...
July 20th, 2009
Request for Submissions : Public art for l’Adresse symphonique
By Timea Jakab // 1 Comment
In conjunction with my earlier post about l'Adresse symphonique, an RFP has been publicized for a new work of public art to accompany the future Adresse symphonique building, helping to define the character of the Quartier des spectacle.
Appel de candidatures - 23 juin 09: L’objectif principal de la Ville de Montréal est de doter la place de l’Adresse symphonique d’une œuvre d’art public permanente. Par sa localisation judicieuse et son échelle appropriée, l’œuvre d’art complète et dialogue avec le futur édifice de l’Adresse symphonique, tout en qualifiant l’ensemble du Quartier ...
July 21st, 2009
Le mardi des arbres: Le noisettier du Parc La Fontaine
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
Promenade guidée cette semaine: Parc La Fontaine, le mercredi 29 juillet, 17h30 - 19h30, au coin nord-ouest du parc, inscription: 514-284-7384 ou bronwynchester@gmail.com
Pour moi, la noisette était longtemps une noix exotique qui vient peut-être de l'Europe ou de l'Asie. Ce sont des avelines moulues que nous mettons dans les gateaux sans farines, les tortes allemands et hongrois, souvent avec du chocolat car le marriage entre le cacao et la noisette était concu en paradis -- comme ont très bien compris ceux qui ...
Montreal’s Wastewater Treatment, Part I – A History of Problems
By Andrew Emond // 12 Comments
The grit removal tanks of Montreal's wastewater treatment plant.
Montreal’s wastewater treatment plant can be found at the far east end of the island in Pointe Aux Trembles. It's the largest in North America and ranks the third largest in the world- capable of handling 32 square metres of water a second. Raw sewage (usually) ends up here via a network of deep-level tunnels referred to as interceptors. These interceptors form a ring around the island, collecting and distributing wastewater to the plant before it has a chance to enter the surrounding rivers. To get a better sense of how the interceptors work, you can have a look at the entry I posted earlier on Undermontreal.
Montreal's wastewater treatment plant as seen from Microsoft Live Maps.
While it’s an impressive system in terms of its scope and capacity, the treatment process itself leaves much to be desired. In fact, it’s actually one of the worst in Canada. A national "report card" issued by the Sierra Club in 2004 gave the city's treatment process a grade of F-. The only other city to receive a grade worse than Montreal was Victoria, a place which doesn't even have a treatment process in place yet.
July 26th, 2009
Le Faubourg à m’lasse: les origines d’une légende urbaine
By Spacing // 24 Comments
Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal
By guest contributor, Claude Brochu
---
Les limites géographiques de ce quartier sont mal définies. Mais en gros, on peut dire qu’il était bordé, à l’ouest, par la rue Amherst, à l’est, par la rue Frontenac, au nord par la rue Sherbrooke et, au sud, par le port de Montréal. Pour faire plus simple, disons que l’actuelle tour de Radio-Canada est plantée au cœur de cet ancien quartier qui, avant de s’appeler le Faubourg à m’lasse, portait le nom de faubourg Québec.
Les origines du nom de Faubourg ...
July 28th, 2009
Toronto Tuesday: Strikes, Trees and More Trees
By Timea Jakab // 2 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
• The strike is finally over! Toronto Mayor tweets about the good news! Toronto begins scent detox!
• Jake Schabas writes a nice article about a secret garden he found while biking through the Eglinton Flats one day. Anyone know of any of these in Montreal? Are the Mile End Alleys the closest thing we have?
• Tree Planting is not ...
The Bixi reaches Ottawa-Gatineau
By Cédric Sam // 12 Comments
Did you know that the Bixi, Montreal's public bike system, now has stations in the Nation's Capital? But this isn't news at all because the pilot study in Ottawa-Gatineau was launched over a month ago, some time in early June.
I was in Gatineau last weekend and took the opportunity to do a run across town documenting each of the four bixi locations. 50 bikes are deployed in downtown Gatineau (Vieux-Hull and Civilizations Museum) and Ottawa (National War Memorial and ByWard Market at York & Dalhousie). ...
July 29th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le théâtre de Quat’sous
By Guillaume St-Jean // 19 Comments
2007-2008-2009
Montage du jour : Stationnement intérieur, intersection des rues Notre-Dame et Saint-Jean
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1988-2009
Source : Luc Noppen, Institut du patrimoine
July 30th, 2009
Montage du jour : La poste de police du Havre de Montréal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
1988-2009
Construit en 1923, cet édifice fut démoli en 2002.
Source : Luc Noppen, Institut du patrimoine
July 31st, 2009
Quand Ste-Catherine devient St-Laurent, et qu’elle prend un coup de vieux de 30 ans
By Cédric Sam // 7 Comments
La transformation d'une rue de Montréal en décor de cinéma est peut-être anecdotique, mais toujours un peu impressionante. L'année dernière, une équipe de tournage avait transformé le Quartier Chinois de Montréal en celui de New York pour un film d'action de série B.
Cette fois-ci, je suis tombé par hasard sur le plateau temporaire du film Funkytown, un film ...
Montage du jour : La Place Bonaventure près de la rue «de l’inspecteur»
By Guillaume St-Jean // 11 Comments
Vers 1966-2009
Source : Institut du patrimoine
August 1st, 2009
Architects’ Journal on Comic Book Cities
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Architects' Journal has cooked up a list of the greatest illustrated urban spaces. More than a backdrop for the action, comic book cities like Gotham City and Urbicand (pictured above) are integral characters within their stories. Some illustrators also use the built form to creatively communicate the action within space (via Book Oven).
Image: Chris Ware's Chicago from Architects' Journal.
August 2nd, 2009
Photo du jour : Le grenier du couvent des Soeurs Grises
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
August 5th, 2009
Villeray’s piéton vert
By KC Bolton // 5 Comments
A few days ago spray-painted footsteps appeared at intersections in the south-west part of Villeray, with the stencil "Réclamez un passage." I'm happy to see them. From my home nearby I frequently hear tires screeching as cars stop abruptly for pedestrians and other cars, and at the end of the workday north-bound traffic races from stop sign to stop sign on the side streets. I've seen two accidents since moving to the area in May, and a recent car-pedestrian accident inspired workers at a neighbourhood restaurant to petition for all-direction stop signs at ave. Henri-Julien and ...
Le mardi des arbres: Arbres de l’éternité
By Bronwyn Chester // No Comments
Un esprit persistant
Ce dimanche 27 septembre, visite guidée des arbres du Cimetière Mont-Royal, gratuit, 10h à 13h, inscription: (514) 279-7358. Même visite, dimanche prochain en anglais, 13h à 16h.
Cet été, j'ai eu le plaisir de me promener au village de Bic dans le bas du fleuve. Au bout d'une des rues principales se trouve le cimetière du village. À ma grande surprise, il y avait cet énorme arbre au milieu. Il faut bien comprendre que, normalement, dans les cimetières catholiques, on ne met pas d'arbres entre les pierres tombales mais plutôt sur les marges. Fallait que je m'approche pour mieux enquêter.
En fait, comme vous voyez ci bas, il s'agit de deux grands tilleuls à petites feuilles. Ce fait m'a aussi intrigué: À mes connaissances, les tilleuls à petites feuilles - la même espèce qui se trouve sur bien des rues de Montréal - n'arrive au Québec que vers la fin du 20ième, comme le plus grand que je connais au coin nord-est du Parc La Fontaine. Pourtant, ce cimetière semble être établi vers 1850 quand le Village du Bic est établi.
[caption id="attachment_4197" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Un mémoire bien protégé"][/caption]
Je dois vous avouer que j'oublie le nom de la personne-ci enterrée mais je me souviens que son nom était français. Mais, je soupçonne une sensibilité écossaise quelque part dans son identité. Pourquoi? Parce que les Protestants plantent souvent des arbres en association avec leurs morts. C'est par croyance que le renouvellement constant de l'arbre gardera vivante en perpétuité l'esprit de la personne partie.
August 6th, 2009
Tree Tuesday: The tree that named an island
By Bronwyn Chester // 9 Comments
Forgive me for this run on nut trees. Walnut, butternut, Turkish hazlenut and now a beaked hazelnut. From the past three Tree Tuesdays /Le mardi des arbres, you've now seen them all, each more impressive than the next in its oddly shaped, bright green husk.
What you see here is our very own, native, hazelnut (Noisettier à long bec, Corylus cornuta). A bush no more than three metres tall, the beaked hazelnut, named for obvious reasons, is a member of our local sugar maple forest ...
August 7th, 2009
Montage du jour : La chapelle du Sacré-Coeur de la basilique Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1892-2009
Cette chapelle construite en 1888 et détruite en 1978 lors d'un incendie criminel fut restaurée par la suite par la firme d'architectes Jodoin, Lamarre, Pratte.
Source : Musée McCord
Montage du jour : La chapelle du Sacré-Coeur de la basilique Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1978-2009
Détruite lors d'un incendie criminel en 1978, cette chapelle fut par la suite restaurée par la firme d'architectes Jodoin, Lamarre, Pratte.
Source : La chapelle du Sacré-Coeur. Jodoin, Lamarre, Pratte et associés architectes
Architectours 2009 : being a tourist in your own home
By Émile Thomas // 3 Comments
« Un petit chez soi vaut mieux qu'un grand chez les autres. »
- Proverbe français
Let’s face it. This summer was garbage. It rained; then there was Jazz Fest. It rained again; then there was Just for Laughs. Il pleuvait; then there was Francofolies. It rained some more.
Even the tourists kept away.
Maybe I’m just a pessimist.
Perhaps I just need a boost of Vitamin D.
Accordingly, I’m going to go escape to the south of France for a month and become reacquainted with my friend ...
August 8th, 2009
Montage du jour : La chapelle du Sacré-Coeur de la basilique Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1978-2009
Détruite lors d'un incendie criminel en 1978, cette chapelle fut par la suite restaurée par la firme d'architectes Jodoin, Lamarre, Pratte.
Source : La chapelle du Sacré-Coeur. Jodoin, Lamarre, Pratte et associés architectes
August 9th, 2009
Slow Down, Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent
By Alanah Heffez // 17 Comments
The Public Consultation Bureau of Montreal has finally released their report and recommendations following the deposition of over 30 memoirs and a petition about the Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent project.
The commission had the tricky task of weighing a $167-million dollar, 12-storey real-estate development against a wealth of history, stories and spirit that define Montreal's historic Main.
Their conclusion: slow down. Give the architectural concept time to ripen. Rethink the way the new building would integrate into the the historic neighbourhood ...
Montage du jour : La maison Hubert Lacroix
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
1963-2009
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal VM94-U90-2
***Version originale d'un texte publié dans le journal Le Devoir le 10 août 2009.***
Usée par le temps, la maison Hubert Lacroix, construite à l’époque de la nouvelle France est aujourd’hui disparue du paysage montréalais. Reconstruite à une vingtaine de kilomètres de son lieu d’origine, l’édifice dont la pérennité devait être assuré suite à son implantation dans un village historique à toutefois connu un tout autre destin.
Sur une terre concédée par le sieur de Maisonneuve en 1655, Hubert Lacroix, ...
August 11th, 2009
Montage du jour : La chapelle du Sacré-Coeur de la basilique Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1978-2009
Détruite lors d'un incendie criminel en 1978, cette chapelle fut par la suite restaurée par la firme d'architectes Jodoin, Lamarre, Pratte.
Source : La chapelle du Sacré-Coeur. Jodoin, Lamarre, Pratte et associés architectes
Toronto Tuesday : The Future! The STRiDA! The Danish!
By Timea Jakab // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
• Toronto City Council approved the revitilization of Union Station. Somewhere, Fritz Lang is nodding.
• Savedbybikes.com, a 200-square-foot retail bike store, opens in First Canadian Place - Canada’s tallest skyscraper. The shop is the exclusive Canadian distributor of the foldable STRiDA bikes.
• Dylan Reid has a few articles about his recent trip to Copenhagen, highlighting ...
Love + Bixi
By Émile Thomas // 17 Comments
« L'amour n'a point d'âge : il est toujours naissant »
- Blaise Pascal
Bixi has become the new church hall, the new town square, the new water cooler, the new Facebook.
Bixi has become the new social networking tool.
Each time I take a Bixi, ride a Bixi, return a Bixi, talk about Bixi, or even look at a Bixi, I find myself deep in conversation with strangers.
It always begins with the same question :
So how does this Bixi thing work?
Ou, en ...
August 13th, 2009
Photo du jour : La future sortie de la station Berri-UQAM ?
By Émile Thomas // 6 Comments
Photo prise le 8 août, 2009 à l'intersection de la rue Ontario et de l'avenue Savoie
Le mardi des arbres: Bleu, blanc, jaune
By Bronwyn Chester // 5 Comments
[caption id="attachment_3708" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Bouleau jaune/merisier (Yellow birch)"][/caption]
Visite guidée mardi prochain (18 août):
Les arbres du 19 ième et les récents arrivés, campus McGill,
détails à la fin de l'article.
Parmi les noms communs des arbres, le bleu, le blanc et le rouge reviennent souvent. L'épinette bleue, le frêne blanc, le chêne rouge, par exemple. Noir aussi, comme l'érable noir, le pin noir d'Autriche et l’épinette noire de la forêt boréale. Mais, le jaune me semble moins commun. Sauf - évidemment - dans le cas du bouleau jaune (Betula allegheniensis, Yellow birch) que vous voyez ici.
Ma photo, prise cette semaine au pied est du mont Royal, près du sentier qui longe les résidences de l'université McGill, est floue mais elle montre bien l'origine du jaune de ce bouleau. L'écorce du boulot jaune a l'air métallique -- parfois doré, parfois argenté. En fait, c'est peut-être le platine, le métal qui ressemble le plus à la couleur de ce bouleau à bois dur. Un vrai blond platine quoi?!
Avant d'approfondir mes connaissances des arbres, j'étais confuse par rapport à ce bouleau. Mes amis francophones l'appelaient merisier, c’est-à-dire une espèce de cerisier français. Pourtant, l'écorce ressemblait à un genre de bouleau. Finalement, j'ai appris que c'était les deux mais pas en même temps. Les premiers colons français l'appelaient merisier car ils ont trouvé que les feuilles de ce bouleau ressemblaient aux feuilles du merisier de France (Prunus avium, Sweet-cherry) que vous voyez ci-bas.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Merisier des oiseaux avec fruit"][/caption]
Comme nous faisons tous, les premiers Européens catégorisaient la botanique selon leurs connaissances -- qui étaient, évidemment, européennes. C'est vrai qu'il y'a une certaine ressemblance entre la feuille de cerisier et de bouleaux. L'écorce de jeunes bouleaux et de jeunes cerisiers peuvent également se ressembler; ils ont tous les deux des lenticelles (lignes horizontales) marquantes.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="Feuilles du bouleau jaune"][/caption]
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="113" caption="Lenticelles d'un cerisier "]
[/caption]
Mais, la vérité est dans la fleur et le fruit et c'est là que notre merisier devient un bouleau. (D’ailleurs, les Français devaient être déçus du merisier de l’Amérique quand il n’a pas produit de cerises.) Les merisiers - et tout cerisier - sont de la famille des rosiers, alors ils ont des fleurs à cinq pétales et cinq sépales (la structure sous la fleur qui le soutient). Les bouleaux, par contre, ont des chatons, mâles et femelles qui sont, chez la plupart des bouleaux, sur le même arbre. Le fruit, qui à maturité consiste en de petites graines ailées, enveloppées par une écaille, est caché dans le chaton femelle. À l’automne et en hiver, le chaton entier se défait et les graines sont dispersées par le vent, parfois sur la neige glacée.
[caption id="attachment_3750" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="chaton mâle du bouleau jaune (groupé en trois)"][/caption]
August 14th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison Thompson
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2003-2009
Laissée à l'abandon pendant près de 17 ans, la maison Thompson située sur le chemin de la Côte-des-neiges connait maintenant une nouvelle vie grâce au développeur : Vision en vert.
August 15th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison Sparrow
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2003-2009
Tout comme sa voisine, la maison Sparrow qui fut laissée à l’abandon pendant près de 17 ans sur le chemin de la Côte-des-neiges, connait maintenant une nouvelle vie grâce au développeur : Vision en vert.
August 20th, 2009
Ville Mont-Royal : elle a de beaux restes
By Émile Thomas // 11 Comments
Tirée à quatre épingles et bourrée de fric, Ville Mont-Royal (VMR à ses amies) incarne l’archétype de la beauté urbaine. Un véritable village verdoyant au milieu de l'atmosphère grisâtre montréalaise, la municipalité re-émancipée s’est acquis une réputation en tant que douairière blanche, protestante, et anglo-saxonne qui haït les enfants, les pauvres, et la communauté des immigrants qui l'enclosent.
Mais, ostie qu’elle est belle.
Née en 1912, elle se posait comme la ville exemplaire du mouvement « cité-jardin ». Elle ne se trouvait pas seule à cet effet ; le faubourg de Maisonneuve empruntait de la doctrine urbanistique City Beautiful et il figurait dans la liste des banlieues nanties de cette époque. Hélas, ce dernier a témoigné un renversement de sa valeur pécuniaire. Ville Mont-Royal, comment avez-vous pu narguer un destin semblable et, à la fois, garder votre charme ? L’argent, cela aide, oui. Mais, la réponse réside surtout dans un des meilleurs outils juridiques d’urbanisme disponible au Québec : le PIIA
Le PIIA, qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Le Règlement sur les plans d’implantation et d’intégration architecturale (PIIA) fait partie de la Loi sur l’aménagement et l’urbanisme. Citons « La prise de décision en urbanisme » :
[le PIIA] convient bien aux projets d'une certaine envergure pour lesquels on souhaite s'assurer d'une certaine unité et harmonie (p. ex., développement d'un nouveau quartier, insertion d'un projet particulier de construction, de modification ou d'occupation) ou à ceux qui se trouvent dans des zones d'intérêt particulier (p. ex., un quartier ancien, un secteur boisé).
Dans la plupart des cas, l'enjeu réglementaire sous-jacent à l'approbation d'un PIIA sera d'assurer la bonne insertion de nouvelles constructions ou d'aménagements de manière à ne pas altérer le caractère ou à rompre l'équilibre des lieux.
La plupart d’arrondissements et villes de la région montréalaise emploient un PIIA : Verdun et Outremont servent d’exemples. Pourtant, la façon considérable dont cet outil est utilisé à VMR est intéressante.
Les particularités du PIIA mont-royalais
Le PIIA constitue la bible urbanistique de VMR. Codifiée dans sa forme actuelle à dater des années 2000, l’harmonisation des caractéristiques architecturales existait en pratique depuis la fondation de la ville. Ce règlement s’est basé sur huit styles de maison, répartis selon les trois grandes phases du développement urbain, pour orienter les propriétaires dans la bonne direction avec leurs projets.
La première phase s’étend de 1915 à 1935 et regroupe toutes les maisons de style faubourien et cité-jardin.
La deuxième s’étale sur la période 1935-1955 et comprend les maisons de type Nouvelle-Angleterre, les maisons canadiennes et les manoirs anglais.
La troisième regroupe les maisons de cottage, les bungalows et les maisons à demi-niveaux et s’étend sur la période 1955-1975.
En outre, le PIIA de VMR comprend non seulement les zones résidentielles, mais aussi les zones commerciales, industrielles, et le secteur du centre-ville.
Photo du jour : L’ancien externat Sophie-Barat
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Étant à l'étude depuis près de 10 ans, le projet de restauration de l'ancien externat Sophie-Barat semble progressé puisqu'une enseigne démontrant le résultat final peut désormais être observée sur le site.
August 22nd, 2009
Photo du jour : Cabine téléphonique à Ville Mont-Royal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
August 23rd, 2009
Tree Tuesday: Be as audacious as the walnut, celebrate the Mile End Meadow
By Bronwyn Chester // 17 Comments
[caption id="attachment_3792" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Muscling its way in: a walnut finds room between two planted oaks"][/caption]
Many Spacing readers are probably aware that the Mile End Meadow was decimated one week ago, when two mowing machines from the Arrondissement Mile End – Plateau Mont-Royal chopped down all the flowering plants. To see the field the next day was like looking at the person about to be incarcerated, her lustrous hair shaved, her perfumed robes replaced by drab pyjamas. Just as we dehumanize in order to control people; so we denature in order to control nature.
It was hot the Saturday I passed and for a moment I thought I was in the country, the haying having just been done. But there were no bales to show for it, no animals nearby to benefit from the feed, aside from the masses of wasps flitting over the sweetness of the cut flowers and hundreds of giddy starlings, flying back and forth between Nicolas, the great cottonwood in the centre of the meadow, and a grove of chokecherry trees, growing against one of the lines of Frosst fence. Gone were the gold finches, the monarch butterflies, the bees, the dragonflies.
The only reason the trees have escaped the insistent mowing of the owners of the field - Canadian Pacific Railways, until recently, and now la Ville de Montréal - is because they grow too close to a fence, some stone or metal barricade, or the old raised platform left over from 20 years ago when the train cars would pick up their loads of coal or potash, before heading out west or up north. In other words, the mowers can't get to them.
[caption id="attachment_3808" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The new division between private and public: Tansy (tanaisie), Golden rod (verge d'or), chicory (chicorée) in foreground, brown stubble on city land"][/caption]
Ironically, the areas of meadow flowers now safe from the blade are those that are privately owned, down the strip between one of the enormous textile buildings and the meat distribution place, and the area opening onto rue de Gaspé, between that curved building and that same megastructure.
Montage du jour : La tour de Trafalgar
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1926-2009
*** Version originale d'un article publié dans le journal Le Devoir le lundi 24 août 2009 ***
Alors que certains lieux de mémoire perdurent, d’autres sombrent rapidement dans l’oubli si bien que quelques années après leur disparition, plus personne n’en a le moindre souvenir. Occupant depuis plus de trois décennies une maison construite sur un terrain riche en histoire, le propriétaire lui-même ignorait, jusqu’à ma visite, que s’y dressait autrefois une construction qui aura fortement influencé la toponymie des environs.
John Ogilvy, propriétaire d’une maison de ferme située à l’ouest du ...
Dead Ends and Signs of Life Inside the Point St. Charles Collector
By Andrew Emond // 7 Comments
A view through the original Point St. Charles collector sewer, constructed in 1862.
Perhaps the most interesting underground features in the Montreal area are found within the old sewers during the mid to late 1800s. Usually constructed entirely of brick and of sizes up to 9’ in diameter, they often appear to be steeped in history in a way that newer concrete sewers just can’t compare to. They have a warmer and organic quality to them as well that I tend to appreciate. Where concrete sewer systems can feel like cold modernist pieces of architecture, the brick ones seem more like inviting Victorian homes.
A good example of these characteristics can be found within the Point St. Charles Collector. As its name implies, this sewer was responsible for the drainage of the eastern half of Point St. Charles. (The western half was serviced by another sewer that I first started to explore in this entry on Under Montreal). The sewer was also responsible for a portion of the neighbourhood once known as Victoriatown. Given that so little from this area can still be found at street level, it’s of some comfort that at least its sewer system can still be found and explored today.
August 24th, 2009
Photo du jour : Le sous-sol de l’archidiocèse de Montréal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Montage du jour : L’orphelinat Notre-Dame-de-Liesse et la crèche d’Youville
By Guillaume St-Jean // 18 Comments
Vers 1980-2008
*** Version originale d'un texte publié dans le journal Le Devoir le 17 août 2009 ***
Érigé à une époque où le chemin de la Côte-de-Liesse n’était qu’un chemin de campagne et non l’autoroute que nous connaissons désormais, l’immeuble situé au 5935 de cette voie rapide n’est reconnu aujourd’hui que par une infime partie des montréalais. Évoquant de mauvais souvenirs pour certains, il est toutefois pour la majorité d’entre nous, un simple édifice en stucco se dressant au fond d’un vaste terrain de stationnement inutilisé.
À la suite de la découverte ...
August 25th, 2009
Montage du jour : Braerob farm
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
2006-2009
Laissée à l'abandon depuis environ 4 ans, cette maison de ferme construite dans les années 1940 à Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue sera possiblement remplacée dans un futur proche par un immeuble industriel.
Pour plus d'informations sur l'endroit, vous pouvez consulter l'article écrit précédemment à son sujet : Patrimoine menacé.
August 26th, 2009
Tree Tuesday Red maple of Côte St-Luc
By Bronwyn Chester // 1 Comment
Tree tour today in Côte St-Luc, 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Meet at Eleanor London Library. Free.
It's one of the curiosities of life in Montreal that Quebec's most common trees are not easily found in the city. Mostly, it's because they favour more northern bioclimatic domains and far more space than the city can offer. I'm thinking of the trembling aspen, paper birch, white spruce and jack pine.
But there's one tree that fits into this category that is, in fact, relatively easy to find, if you know the leaf you're looking for. I'm ...
Bikes and buses in traffic: What can Montreal learn from other cities?
By Jacob Larsen // 16 Comments
Bicycles and buses in Montreal have a fairly intimate, and almost always antagonistic, relationship. This is not news to those who've used either a these types of transportation at least a few times in their lives (eg. almost everyone). But now the union representing STM bus drivers says the St. Urbain bike path is unsafe, as drivers must constantly cross the path of large numbers of cyclists. The union petitioned the CSST - the province's health and safety board - to intervene, which refused. (Their mandate is to protect the drivers while ...
August 27th, 2009
Photo du jour : Tam-tamming on a carless street
By Émile Thomas // 8 Comments
Les piétons règnent sur la rue Ste-Catherine jusqu'au 8 septembre.
Que vous en profitiez ces derniers jours.
Photo prise le 8 août, 2009 à l'intersection des rues Ste-Catherine et Berri
August 29th, 2009
Photo du jour : Grues de construction
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Grues de construction surplombant le Quartier des spectacles.
Photo prise le 29 août 2009.
August 30th, 2009
Photo du jour : Snake and ladder (bis)
By Cédric Sam // 3 Comments
This picture is a follow-up to this previous Photo du jour.
Photo taken on August 29th, 2009.
August 31st, 2009
Montage du jour : D’une oeuvre de charité à une place publique
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1962-2009
***Version originale d'un article publié dans le journal Le Devoir le 31 août 2009***
Désormais occupé par la place Émilie-Gamelin, le terrain situé à l'intersection des rues Berri et Sainte-Catherine Est aura changé de fonction à trois reprises au cours des cinquante dernières années. En effet, l'endroit aura d'abord abrité un édifice conventuel, puis un terrain de stationnement municipal avant de devenir l'aire de détente que nous connaissons aujourd'hui.
C’est sur un terrain de 56 000 pieds carré acquis le 6 novembre 1841 pour la somme ...
September 2nd, 2009
La démocratie et la planification
By Émile Thomas // 2 Comments
« La démocratie est le pire des régimes, à l'exception de tous les autres. »
- Sir Winston Churchill
Qu’est-ce que la démocratie ? Conçue en Grèce antique, ce terme, qui signifie « peuple-pouvoir » est devenu une doctrine puissante. Elle est répandue à travers la gouvernance occidentale et elle se manifeste en plusieurs façons. La démocratie française n’a rien à voir avec celle du Royaume-Uni ou même celle de l’ancienne Allemagne de l’Est. Pourtant, chacun se définit en tant que démocratie. Ici au Canada et au Québec, nous profitons de vivre dans une société démocratique, sans avoir sérieusement expérimenté une approche différente. Nous obligeons d’autres pays à l’adopter, en utilisant des méthodes qui la contredisent. Nous soutenons qu’il s’agit du meilleur système de gouvernance, et nous restons aveugles à ses exigences et à ses dangers potentiels.
La démocratie permet à un peuple de diriger son destin. Avec le gouvernement responsable, cette occasion est accordée au citoyen ; il n'est plus assujetti au roi, à l’évêque, et au maître. L'homme ne doit répondre qu’à lui-même. Ses intérêts décident des politiques ; il élit ses représentants et, au moment qu’ils ne lui conviennent plus, il en trouve d’autres. Ce système semble efficace, néanmoins, qu’advient-il lorsqu’une société doit toujours satisfaire les vœux des individus ? D'ailleurs, l'on peut remplacer le mot « individu » par « groupes » ou bien « collectivités », mais qu’englobent-ils ? Comment peut-on les définir ? Et qui entre eux doit prendre la décision sans appel ?
Ces questions, entre autres sur la démocratie, posent des problèmes majeurs pour la planification sociale et urbaine de sorte qu’il faut se demander si les deux souhaitent collaborer. Étant donné le scrutin municipal en novembre, nous sommes tenus de réexaminer les grands enjeux que la démocratie apporte à l'urbanisme.
September 6th, 2009
Recipe for a Parade
By Émile Thomas // 6 Comments
Mayoralty candidates take note:
« Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it. »
- John Naisbitt
My street is having a parade! Right here, right now. Outside my front door, bands are marching, flags are flying, and crucifixes are hanging high.
The only spectators are the residents of the street; most of whom had no idea that at 5 o'clock on this Sunday afternoon, about 200 people would be walking by their door.
It began ominously. The familiar drone ...
September 7th, 2009
Photo du jour : L’été trépasse
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
« Une vie sans amour est comme une année sans été. »
- Proverbe suédois
Que le peuple se repaisse des derniers jours estivaux, avant la longue période d’hibernation !
Montage du jour : La rue de la Commune près de Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1930-2009
Source : Musée McCord
September 8th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le square Victoria lors d’une inondation
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1886-2009
Source : Musée McCord
Tree Tuesday: Where Trees Take You
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_3976" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Hawthorn and fruit. Photo by Tammy Halpern"][/caption]
Last of series of three tours of Côte-St-Luc trees. Tomorrow, Wed. Sept. 9, 5:30 - 7:00 pm. Free. Meet at Beth Zion Synagogue, 5740 Hudson, north of Guelph St.
Trees have taken me places I might never have known were it not for a request to create a tree walk. Tomorrow is my last in a series of three guided tree tours in Côte St-Luc, a city I have never ...
September 9th, 2009
Montage du jour : La résidence de Thomas Albert Starkey, intersection des rues University et Prince arthur
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1925-2009
Source : Musée McCord
I want what you’re selling : Les vides-greniers du Mile-End
By Émile Thomas // 2 Comments
« So, let me get right to the point, I don't pop my cork for every guy I see. Hey, big spender! Spend...a little time with...me! »
- Shirley Bassey
N’avez-vous plus besoin de 5 canapés propres et bed bug-free ?
N’avez-vous plus besoin de vos vêtements 80s parce que
les 80s are so 2008 ?
N’avez-vous plus besoin du lit dans lequel votre ex vous a cocufié une dizaine de fois avec la pétasse qui travaille au bar situé à 1855, rue Dézéry / coin Ontario ?
Ne voulez-vous qu'une vie simplifiée ?
Optez pour un vide-grenier !
Avec un esprit communautaire impressionnant, les habitants du Mile-End, en profitant du soleil estival, ont mis leurs demeures sur l’envers. Leurs salons, leurs chambres et leurs cuisines ont été étalés sous les yeux des vieilles dames et des artistes hipster sous forme d’un good old-fashioned yard sale.
Semblable à la nouvelle tendance de transformer les cuisines urbaines en conserverie, les vide-greniers étaient presque omniprésents cet été aux rues de l'Esplanade, Clark et Jeanne-Mance.
Tout le monde y participe : les vieillards se rassemblent autour de ceux au coin de Waverly et Bernard ; les bobos too-cool-for-school exposent leurs vies et leurs effets personnels aux environs de St-Viateur ; les ventes-débarras ne sont plus reléguées aux banlieusards.
Pourquoi vendent-ils leurs affaires ?
Théa et Isabelle ont créé leur propre centre commercial dans la cour devant leur foyer Mile-Endois :
« Nous venons d’emménager dans cette résidence. Mon cousin [l’ancien locataire] a laissé plein de trucs ; nous avions donc beaucoup de choses supplémentaires, comme deux fers à repasser », dit Théa. Elle ajoute aussi que la préparation du vide-grenier n'a pas pris beaucoup de temps et, étant donné la tradition locale des brocantes, il n’y avait aucun besoin de prévenir les voisins (en revanche, le fait qu’elles habitent au rez-de-chaussée a dû simplifier l’organisation). Elles n'ont pas forcément visé à gagner d’argent ; il s’agissait davantage de créer plus d’espace dans leur maison ainsi que rencontrer leurs concitoyens.
« Ce quartier est rempli d’artistes, de musiciens, et de personnes d'âge d'or qui n’ont pas peur des biens d’occasion.
En plus, ça aide l’environnement. »
Réduire, réutiliser, recycler.
September 10th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le collège presbytérien et le musée Redpath
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1882-2009
Construite en 1871, l'aile sud du collège presbytérien que l'on aperçoit au loin entre les 2 immeubles nommés ci-haut fut démolie en 1963 afin d'être remplacé par le Leacock building.
Source : Musée McCord
September 11th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le portail de l’université McGill
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
1869-2009
Source : Musée McCord
September 12th, 2009
Montage du jour : La maison de M. Cramp, rue McTavish
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1898-2009
Source : Musée McCord
September 13th, 2009
Montage du jour : Une maison du Westisland
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
2006-2009
Une autre maison du Westisland qui cèdera bientôt sa place à un immeuble industriel...
September 15th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le centre universitaire des étudiants, rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1910-2009
Tree Tuesday: Remarkable trees, remarkable people
By Bronwyn Chester // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_3991" align="aligncenter" width="249" caption="Truly remarkable: bur oak (Quercus marcrocarpa, Chêne à gros fruits), (photo: Roger Latour)"]
[/caption]
Next tree tour: Remarkable trees of a Plateau neighbourhood, this Sunday, 10:30 - 1 pm, meet Parc Jean-Jacques Olier, Drolet, south of Duluth, Metro Sherbrooke, $12. 514-284-7384 or bronwynchester@gmail.com
Every since Thomas Pakenham begin writing his books on remarkable trees, there's been a fashion to write on such trees, deemed remarkable usually by their size and/or age. I've never much liked the term, remarkable, mostly because I find all trees remarkable, from the Siberian elm that forces its way up through a crack in a sidewalk to those crazy self-seeded giant cottonwoods that dominate every second Montreal alley. I guess I've been bothered by the elitism in the term.
I have to admit, however, that I'm reconsidering this position. After meeting a couple of truly remarkable trees in Côte St-Luc last week, namely the titanesque oak above, and this bitternut hickory below, I'm beginning to think there is a value in noting, prominently, those trees that stand out. In other words, remarking on their exceptional qualities.
[caption id="attachment_4011" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis, Caryer cordiforme), 200+ years. Bark of mature tree is grey and looks and feels like stone. (photo:Charles L'Heureux)"][/caption]
Of course, exceptional is a relative term. In the case of this oak and hickory, status is a function of their size, age and rareness. At more than 200 years of age, both trees are at least remnants of the agricultural era of Côte St-Luc,which lasted from late 18th century until 1950.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="92" caption="Bur oak leaf and fruit (acorn)."][/caption]
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="124" caption="Detail of bitternut hickory leaf, nut and twig"][/caption]
From what I can make out, Côteau St-Luc, as the land was known before 1903, was a mixture of wetland forest and savannah. White oaks, the rounded lobed oaks which include the bur, white and swamp white species, are savannah trees; they like to grow in open, sunny fields. In fact, they're now cultivated in the old tobacco fields of Ontario, to provide wood for the wine casks needed for another crop that replaced tobacco: grapes. In Côte St-Luc, I found two younger bur oaks, mere 60-year-olds, but an acquaintance who grew up in the area tells me there's another ancient one on the Meadowbrook golfcourse, found at the tail end of Côte St-Luc Road. (Try as I might, I didn't get permission to explore that privately owned land.)
September 16th, 2009
The Turcot is going to heat up
By Jacob Larsen // 5 Comments
A dull roar of opposition to the MTQ's Turcot plan has been rumbling through urban planning circles and neighbourhood groups since the Ministère de Transport announced its controversial plan to demolish a few hundred homes to rebuild the Turcot Interchange, a structure that always seems to elicit feelings of awe, disdain and often both. Opposition to the project is likely to grow louder, as the Minister of the Environment decides on the outcome of the province's environmental assessment hearings and likely on the project's ultimate fate.
The project has what seems ...
Thinking beyond the Shuko
By Émile Thomas // 12 Comments
« I like the way you comb your hair
I like the stylish clothes you wear
It’s just the little things you do
That makes me want to sleep with you. »
- Wreckx-N-Effect
Remember les 5 shuko de Montréal?
Whatever happened to that initiative?
A Google search reveals an offline website, all-talk-but-no-action, and unremitting mantra stating: « Montréal is a UNESCO design city along with Buenos Aires and Berlin. »
I’m sorry, but Montréal is no Buenos Aires or Berlin.
However, it once was and can be again.
The idea of the 5 shuko was extremely well intended; I must give credit where credit is due and Mayor Tremblay deserves praise for this undertaking. Yet, where he failed is the reason why I and most of my fellow citizens have a strong dislike for their politicians: He talked, talked, talked but did not deliver the goods.
Or, that he talked, talked, talked and did not exploit the shuko opportunity as a springboard to go beyond the 5 challenges to beautify the urban milieu; to make design an integral part of municipal policy and not just a jingle.
And the goods, had they been delivered, would have been delicious:
1. créer un aménagement qui met en valeur les verrières de l'artiste Marcelle Ferron aux abords de la station de métro Champ-de-Mars
2. requalifier le mur est du Palais de justice
3. concevoir un nouvel abribus
4. développer une marque distinctive et une identité propre aux taxis montréalais
5. concevoir le mobilier festivalier temporaire du Quartier des spectacles (according to Tourisme Montréal, this has already been accomplished)
Hopefully, la Mairie is continuing to work on these projects and either
a) They are keeping it top-secret, or
b) I am just inept at researching for Spacing articles.
(UPDATE : it seems the answer is c) none of the above. Although the shuko seemed to have been all but forgotten over the summer when this article was written, they have recently [as in the past few hours] popped up all over the radar - I guess everyone involved in the shuko was on vacation during the summer or my e-mails to their office were marked as spam. In any case, good job Design Montréal for keeping hope alive. Faith, 1 - Skepticism, 0)
While alluding to this notion of urban design, we must recognise its civic importance. Not only does it enfranchise citizens, making them feel part of a unique community that is their own, but also, it trademarks Montréal – something that every urban centre around the world is trying to accomplish as they endeavour to secure the lucrative tourist market and workers for the crescive, knowledge-based employment sector.
New park to be built on third summit of Mont-Royal
By Chris Erb // 11 Comments
La Presse and The Gazette each reported this week that the city plans to begin the creation of a new park on the northern summit of the mountain in the borough of Outremont. The third, and smallest summit is currently owned by the Université de Montréal and the Notre Dame des Neiges cemetery who have agreed to give the 23 hectares to the city on a fifty year lease.
The 2009 budget had already allocated money for the construction of the new park which has been in discussion for over 20 years. Construction ...
September 17th, 2009
Metro to be expanded on three lines, eleven new stations to be built
By Chris Erb // 22 Comments
The news broke yesterday before any announcement was made: the Metro will be expanding. The news was later confirmed at a joint news conference with Premier Jean Charest as well as the mayors of Montreal, Longueuil, and Laval.
The proposed expansion will extend the Metro by 11 stations over 20 kilometres costing about $3 billion, or $150 million per km. The MTQ will work with the AMT to create a bureaucracy to study the plan at the cost of $3 million. Three of the four lines will be expanded, with construction on the ...
September 18th, 2009
Photo du jour : Let the games begin
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
« La vraie réussite d'un leader se trouve dans le fait qu'il laisse, au peuple, la soif et le dessein de continuer son rêve. »
Louise Harel - Vision Montréal
Richard Bergeron - Projet Montréal
Gérald Tremblay - Union Montréal
September 19th, 2009
Executive Committee OKs Main Makeover Despite OCPM Recommendation
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
St Lawrence and Ste Catherine street, 1905. Source: Mccord Museum.
"We have to move forward," said Catherine Sévigny, the executive committee member responsible for culture, about the committee's decision to give the Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent the green light last Thursday (La Presse). "This is the end of what some call 'immobility' on these projects."
Yet it was only last month that the Office de consultation publique de Montréal called for this developper to "slow down"on this project. The OCPM report ...
September 20th, 2009
Dimanche démocratique : If you vote, they will come
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
« Dans la réalisation du réseau du métro, priorité sera accordée aux besoins les plus urgents des usagers du transport en commun. »
- Commission de transport de la communauté urbaine de Montréal
Récemment, les maires de Montréal, Laval et Longueuil se sont réunis afin de promouvoir leurs visions du métro à Montréal de la région montréalaise ; Le gouvernement québécois les a acceptées.
J'adore ...
Surreal Sights Inside the Sewers of Côte St. Paul
By Andrew Emond // 6 Comments
I have a feeling we're not in Montreal anymore.
I’ve been asked a number of times if I’ve ever come across anything underground in Montreal that’s surprised me. I never really quite know what to say since most of what I see is fairly predictable. It’s mostly pipes and chambers of varying sizes, constructed out of either concrete, brick or occasionally metal. I haven't (yet) come across any dead bodies, pirate ships or gold coins — although I did find an old wallet once. What surprises do exist usually aren’t worth mentioning; a section that abruptly ends or a stretch that gets larger in diameter when you were expecting it to get smaller. Not exactly the sort of stuff that inspires answers people are hoping to hear. Occasionally, though, I do come across things that I’d consider to be quite out of the ordinary and this entry involves one such example.
Enter the Cote St Paul Collector Sewer
The Côte St. Paul collector (CSPC) delivers wastewater from the southern half of Côte St. Paul towards the eastern edge of Point St Charles where it falls into a far larger sewer, the Saint Pierre Collector.
View Cote Str Paul Collector Sewer in a larger map
The main arm of the CSPC begins as a 6’ brick pipe built during the late 1800s and finishes with 12’ prefabricated concrete pipe that was set during the 1990s. Running parallel for much of its length is the former water conduit turned sewer that I covered in this entry. A short connection exits between the two via a 5’ pipe, thus allowing any excess flow to be conveyed from one sewer to the other. I’m assuming the CSPC was added (or more likely reconstructed) to accommodate the burgeoning neighbourhoods that came after the second world war.
Turcot, the United Nations and Climate Change
By Jacob Larsen // 3 Comments
Looking forward to winter smog? (courtesy of the Meteorological Service of Canada)
This week at the UN headquarters in New York, the highest level climate change negotiations are under way, but are in risk of being stalled, according to the NY Times. I mention this because 1. it's big news for every city around the world; and 2. there are events planned in Montreal to encourage Canadian negotiators to conclude a binding agreement. In fact, the Global Climate Wake-Up planned by avaaz.org is 2300 events in 130 countries.
One event that ...
September 21st, 2009
Photo du Jour – Graffiti Wall Evolution
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
These twenty pictures were taken between May 26th and July 12th on De Maisonneuve and Marcel in NDG, a spot I bike by almost every day. The lower part of the wall had at least one major makeover per week and was also practice zone for a bunch of pre-teenaged taggers (I captured a few of the culprits/artists in the photos).
I've been out of town since July 12th, but I can't wait to see what this wall looks like when I get home ...
Montage du jour : L’église Notre-Dâme-de-Grâce
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1953-2009
Construite de 1851 à 1853, cette église du quartier Notre-Dame-de-Grâce fut totalement modernisée au cours des années 1960.
Source : Archives de la paroisse Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
September 22nd, 2009
Toronto Tuesday : Helmets, Pages & Bylaws
By Timea Jakab // 2 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities. Ed. Note: Sorry for the absence, folks. Should be back regularly now!
• John Lorinc muses over the necessity of the bicycle helmet. The Toronto Cyclists Union just rejected a motion to mandate them. Lorinc proposes a pretty interesting alternative solution involving a 3-year phase-in period.
• RIP Pages Books & Magazines. Toronto loses yet another specialty bookstore. Artists and ...
September 23rd, 2009
Learning the tricks of the trade from the real Sin City
By Émile Thomas // 8 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="© Scottie Digital"][/caption]
« Si tu ne sais pas porter ton péché, il faut mieux le laisser aux experts. »
- Marcel Jouhandeau, sort of.
Montréal is Sin City.
At least, that is what we are told. This catch phrase has become so familiar, it is now an integral part of our local identity; our patrimoine. From booze smuggling to gang warfare to city hall corruption to the sex, Sex, SEX, Montréal swaggers as salaciously as Sodom and Gomorrah once did, back in the day (without all that messy fire and brimstone stuff).
This must be the grit to which many are referring; this must be the grit whose loss will be lamented due to the Quartier des Spectacles project.
This must be the grit that has led Montréal to be known as one of the premier destinations for vice; for all things smut.
So let’s turn this redevelopment scheme on its head. What if, instead of sanitizing another corner of Montréal with a palette of grey and glass, we accentuated its scandalous side and created a veritable Sin City? Spice things up: In the stew that is the Main, the current plans are salt. What Montréal needs is some chilli.
How can this be done? As we have learnt from the BIXI experiment, Montréal may fare well borrowing ideas from others.
But from whom?
Forget the other Canadian cities; they have no idea how to party.
The normally prudish U.S. has Las Vegas to offer. Yet, despite the girls, gin, and gambling this desert oasis promises, it still manages to come across as juvenile, immature and false; a rather lewd Disney World. And let’s not get started with its ecologically unsustainable urban footprint: I’ve never been at ease with the fact that one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas of the United States is located in the middle of scorching desert. Makes me sick.
No, we will have to once again look toward Europe: the so-called «civilised continent». There, one can find plenty of examples of how sin bleeds into the mediaeval backdrop; the most obvious being Amsterdam.
Just the mere mention of Amsterdam makes one high; it has been a bad little city and is well known for its wicked behaviour. However, what makes the Dutch capital a perfect template for Montréal is its duality. For, every person who knows about its marijuana, knows about its tulips. For, every person who knows about its booze-soaked streets, knows about its charming canals. For, every person who knows about its prostitutes and contemporary good times, knows about Anne Frank and past hardship. Amsterdam balances sex and high culture beautifully; or so it seems.
Does this mean that Montréal should capitalize on its inner freak?
Mary to Descend from Dawson Tomorrow
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
If you're passing by Sherbrooke West tomorrow morning (Thursday Sept 24th), keep en eye out for the descent of Mary and Jesus.
Dawson College announcedthat they will assemble two cranes in front of the CEGEP in order to remove the 17-foot statue and send it in for repairs and cleaning. That statue of the Mary and Jesus is over a century old, originally erected to watch over the Mother House of the Congrégation de NotreDame. It was rebuilt in 1946 after its head was knocked off by lightning. Dawson college inherited the statue when ...
September 24th, 2009
Are Taxis Public Space?
By Alanah Heffez // 19 Comments
A Montreal Taxi driver is contesting a $1400 fine for decorating his dashboard with flags, family photos, and mezuzas (Hebrew scrolls). The Taxi Bureau issued the ticket to Mr. Perecowicz in accordance with a municipal bylaw which limits the decor within a taxi to items "required for the taxi to be in service."
The story has Radio Canada contemplating whether taxis constitute a public space.
This debate brings to mind all the unique, sometimes garish buses that I rode in Central America, where "public transit" is almost always privately owned. Bus drivers own and carefully maintain their vehicles, which often proudly sport paintings of Jesus, Bruce Willis, ...
September 26th, 2009
Colloque international : Des couvents en héritage
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Ancien couvent des soeurs des Saints-Noms-de-Jésus-et-de-Marie à St-Roch de l'Achigan
Désormais délaissés de plus en plus par les communautés religieuses qui les occupaient autrefois, les édifices conventuels, situés de par le monde, connaissent aujourd'hui de nouvelles vie, que ce soit par leur conversion en immeuble d'habitation, en édifice municipaux ou encore en espace communautaire.
Afin de réfléchir sur le sort présent et futur de ces immeubles, un colloque international traitant sur les couvents se tiendra donc à Montréal du 7 au 9 octobre 2009 et à Québec du 10 au 11 octobre 2009....
Photo du jour : La crypte du monastère du Bon Pasteur
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Converti en espace à bureaux et en logements en 1987, le monastère du Bon pasteur construit sur la rue Sherbrooke en 1847 possède toujours une crypte en sous-sol qui contiendrait encore, selon les dires des employés de l'immeuble, pas moins de 88 corps.
September 27th, 2009
Dimanche démocratique : Montréal est en action
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
« Au lieu de donner à un politicien les clefs de la ville, on ferait mieux de changer les serrures. »
- Doug Larson
I smell an election coming on.
Juste avant la saison des frimas, Montréal est en action : Travaux de réfection des trottoirs et de la chaussée.
Il serait enfin temps que ces travaux soient réalisés ; il s'avère difficile de distinguer les routes montréalaises et celles de Sarajevo, c. 1993.
Bien documenté, le sujet des nids-de-poule émerge de la ...
Beyond the Highway’s End
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
While I've been nearly absent from Spacing Montreal in the past 2-3 months, I've been working in two Cree communities in Northern Quebec. One of the towns I got to know was Great Whale, also called Kuujjuarapik among the Inuit residents and Whapmagoostui by the Cree. The community of about 1500 is tucked between the Hudson Bay and the Great Whale river and, like much of Northern Quebec and Canada, it is only accessible by plane.
Although I've been hearing echoes about the Turcot controversy, future metro extensions, and incoherent highway planning, I've been experiencing first hand what life it like for those with no roads at all. So, with the intent of reflecting a little on how our lives are shaped by transportation infrastructure, here are a few notes on the ups and and downs of living beyond the highway's end:
- Everything in Great Whale - including vehicles and construction materials - arrives either once a year by barge or by plane. The biggest impact is felt at the grocery store. Everything, especially the heavy stuff, is more pricey: a 2-litre bottle of pop costs $6 and a bag of potatoes is easily $10.
- Mail and travel are weather dependant. In low visibility, the plane just can't land.
- The ambulance is a pickup-truck and serious medical attention like x-rays, surgery or obstetrics is a plane-ride away. (Best not to get injured on a foggy day.)
October 1st, 2009
A theatrical take on Quebec’s highway infrastructure
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
Cleaning up the mess: the de la Concorde overpass (Courtesy of the Daily Commercial News)
It is now three years after the collapse of the de la Concorde overpass in Laval and Porte Parole, Montreal theatre company, is taking a closer look at the events that led to this tragedy. In what must be the first infrastructural whodunit ever staged, Sexy Béton tries to identify those responsible after the official inquiry found no one ultimately to blame. (According to the Pierre Marc Johnson report, no single party was more responsible than the other, ...
Le mardi des arbres: Le cerisier tardif
By Bronwyn Chester // 4 Comments
[caption id="attachment_4238" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="La cerise tardive et rarement vu!"][/caption]
Avec ma sensibilité d'anglophone, j'ai toujours trouvé comique le nom du plus grand cerisier de notre forêt, le cerisier tardif (black cherry, Prunus serotina). Tardif, c'est relatif. À propos du cerisier à grappes (choke cherry, Prunus virginiana), plus commun et plus visible en ville que son très grand cousin, on ne dit pas le cerisier hâtif quand ses grappes de fruits rouges vif émergent à la fin du mois d'août. Pourtant, ...
October 3rd, 2009
Bread, Circuses and Public Spaces
By Émile Thomas // 9 Comments
[caption id="attachment_9006" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="© Camille McOuat"][/caption]
The winter gloves came out in full force the first night of October; any trace of a possible Indian summer has coldly been erased from our minds. Some are already looking towards the next time the Sun’s heat will grace us with its heavenly presence; a time Montrealers know well as la saison festivale.
But a storm may be brewing between the various players involved in making Montréal the foremost destination to experience ...
October 4th, 2009
Dimanche démocratique : Tribal warfare
By Émile Thomas // 20 Comments
Recent analysis of the municipal elections (November 1st; and don’t you forget it) has made allusion to a possible division between voters; a division the city of Montréal knows all too well. Such a scenario would place current mayor Tremblay as the « anglophone » candidate and perceived challenger, Harel, as the « francophone » candidate.
(As expected, this scheme leaves out all mention of the third and fourth candidates, Bergeron and O’Suillivan, whom many ...
Photo du jour : Un ange déchu de l’église St-Enfant-Jésus-du-Mile-End
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Retirés en 1978, dû à leur état de détérioration avancé, les 2 groupes de statues qui ornaient depuis 1910 la façade de l'église St-Enfant-Jésus-du-Mile-End sont désormais entreposés depuis plus de 3 décennies dans le sous-sol de l'archidiocèse de Montréal.
October 6th, 2009
Who are those cyclists, anyways?
By KC Bolton // 14 Comments
In a response to Saturday’s Gazette article on the city’s car-bike-pedestrian power struggle, a reader asked: “Enough of this story. When was the last time you saw anybody who rides a bicycle to work who actually owns that business and employs people?”
This picture was resurrected from Jacob Larsen's summer post on dangerous intersections.
Although I don’t share the sentiment, my curiosity was piqued. It seems that I share the bike paths with people of all types (perhaps even business owners), and it's easy to see that more people are cycling regularly every ...
October 7th, 2009
Google Street View launches across Canada today
By Chris Erb // 11 Comments
To the detriment of a great deal of work that needed to be done today, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Google Street View had finally been added to many cities across Canada today, Montreal included. For anyone unfamiliar with Google Street View, it is a function of Google Maps and Google Earth that allows you to see 360 degree photos at street level of any place where the Google car has gone. Once you've found a place you want to see, you can look in any direction as well as zoom ...
October 8th, 2009
Waxing poetic about trash
By Misha Warbanski // 1 Comment
This is cross-posted from Misha's blog.
Can anyone remember back in 2007 when the City of Montreal handed out 100,000 pocket ashtrays? Yeah... didn't think so. The goal was to help solve the litter problem. But after the press conference, I never saw another pocket ashtray until... I moved to Japan.
People here actually use them sometimes. The little ashtrays are also at the heart of an anti-littering campaign lead by Japan Tobacco, with ads appearing on public transit and ashtrays all over the country. Complete with hilarious English translations, I just had to share a few of my favourites.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="333" caption="Inhaled. Burned. Thrown away. If it were anything but a cigarette it would surely be crying (photo snapped at Mount Fuji)."][/caption]
Read on for more litter haiku.
October 9th, 2009
The Milk Bottle Mystique
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Oh boy! Oh yay! The Guaranteed Milk Bottle will be saved!
Our infrastructure may be crumbling, our highways a-tangle, our government corrupt, but a fresh coat of paint on this silly old water tower so warms my heart.
Why does it matter? Why do I care?
In the 1980s my dad lived on Quesnel street, just down the hill from the Guaranteed Pure Milk dairy plant on Lucien l'Allier. To a kid raised on the likes of Maurice Sendak, a 10-meter-tall milk bottle ...
October 10th, 2009
Metro melody dou-dou-dou doomed
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
What are your favourite sounds of Montreal? Mine is the lovely chord that the metro trains make when they start up – you know, the one featured in the campy 70’s metro ad “Il fait beau dans le metro.”
According to a friend with perfect-pitch, the notes are F-Bflat-F, a Bb5 chord. He suggests Beethoven’s 4th or Elton John’s Can you Feel the Love Tonight as musical matches for your metro-riding enjoyment.
The STM explains in more technical detail than I ...
October 11th, 2009
Dimanche démocratique : Piller les autres villes pour mieux gérer la nôtre
By Émile Thomas // 6 Comments
« Un vrai leader n'a pas besoin de conduire.
Il suffit qu'il montre le chemin. »
- Henry Miller
Il faut le dire : une sécheresse de direction tarit le dominion canadien. Nos villes ne se sentent plus capables de porter les fruits de grandeur urbaine dans ce désert de vision municipale.
Et si nous volions le bagage intellectuel trouvé hors de l'île de Montréal pour concrétiser nos rêves de Montréalais, qui se déclarait candidat dans cette élection ?
Au lieu de lister les hautes personnalités qui sont tellement liées à leurs districts que, comme Madonna, ils sont connus uniquement par un nom (Delanoë, Bloomberg, Daley), je vous propose trois candidats qui abonniraient la campagne électorale montréalaise.
Helen Zille, Régis Labeaume et Hazel McCallion
October 13th, 2009
Toronto Tuesday : Nuit Blanche & Heritage Awards
By Timea Jakab // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
• Toronto celebrated its annual Nuit Blanche on October 3rd. Over 1 million people participated, more than doubling the turn out from 2 years ago. Read about it here, here, and here.
• The TTC increases its fares and amends the Bylaw stating offenses. In addition to the usual wrongdoings, the TTC will now have the authority to ...
October 14th, 2009
St-Laurent et Mont-Royal : Le centre-ville d’un quartier
By Émile Thomas // 9 Comments
« It's really kind of hard to be a suburb of nothing. If you don't have a downtown, you really don't have anything. It's hard to build a community around parking lots and subdivisions. »
- Ed McMahon
Toutes les heures, nuit et jour, le peuple envahit le coin du boulevard St-Laurent (long couloir d'immigration) et de l'avenue Mont-Royal (grand portail de la verdure). De la tranquillité matinale à la trépidation vespérale, ce secteur de l'arrondissement Plateau Mont-Royal, son véritable centre-ville, reçoit une richesse de la diversité civique.
Ce pôle d’activité mixte, comprenant des usages commerciaux, résidentiels, et quasi industriels, ainsi que des services sociaux, sanitaires, et de divertissement, semble toujours animé. À l'aide de ce caractère hétéroclite, une variété de citoyens peuple le quartier : les jeunes, les aînés, les familles, les célibataires, les bourgeois, les bohémiens, et les Canadiens nés ici et ailleurs. En plus, on constate le regroupement de différentes catégories de la population dans les environs de certaines installations. Par exemple, rassemblé autour du Pharmaprix au coin nord-est, on rencontre des femmes et des vieux. Peut-être s'agit-il soit des personnes qui prennent leurs ordonnances à la pharmacie, soit celles qui rendent visite à leur médecin à la clinique lusophone située au 2e étage du même bâtiment. On continue effectivement à trouver un contingent âgé à l’autre côté du boulevard, devant l’agence du CLSC. Au coin sud-ouest, une foule plus jeune règne. C’est également ici où le trottoir s’élargit et accueillit le monde en tant que lieu de rencontre. Certes, l’emplacement d’un arrêt d'autobus, amenant les passagers au métro Mont-Royal, attire le public aux environs. Cependant, malgré cette option à la communauté, elle n'en profite guère. L'horaire ne convient-il pas peut-être aux promeneurs ? Quoi qu'il en soit, les gens se contentent des séances de lèche-vitrine ; l'action qui englobe le magasinage, la flânerie, et l'observation des concitoyens.
October 15th, 2009
Photo du jour : L’ancien monastère des Pères de Sainte-Croix
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Cet édifice est aujourd'hui occupé par le collège Gérald-Godin.
Le mardi des arbres: Chêne rouge, chêne montréalais
By Bronwyn Chester // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_4355" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Chêne châtaignier (Chestnut oak, Quercus montana), Chêne rouge (Red oak, Quercus rubra), Chêne des marais (Pin oak, Quercus palustris)"]
[/caption]
Pourquoi appele-t-on rouge le chêne rouge? Au contraire de l'idée populaire que ce n'est que les érables et les vinaigriers qui puissent s'habiller en rouge à l'automne, le chêne rouge ...
St. Henri Art Walk
By Timea Jakab // 1 Comment
Featured in an article in the Gazette, the St. Henri Art Walk begins today. The tour of over 70 artist studios takes you behind the scenes of "this west end neighbourhood an artistic hub." The works of local painters, sculptors, textile artists, and photographers will be on display and open studio visits will be free for the next three days. Works will also be available to purchase.
Opening hours are from Thursday and Friday, 5pm to 9pm and Saturday from noon to 5pm. Maps will be available at each location. ...
October 18th, 2009
La quartier de mon enfance : Lacey Green, Kirkland
By Cédric Sam // 2 Comments
Y'é tombe une bombe su'a rue principale. Depuis qu'y ont construit le centre d'achat.
Les Colocs, 1993
En fait, le quartier de mon enfance de Lacey Green à Kirkland, dans l'Ouest-de-l'Île, correspond peu à la réalité du village de Dédé Fortin des Colocs (j'ai vu à la télé cet été que ledit centre d'achat a d'ailleurs depuis fermé ses portes).
Dans le début des années 80, donc aussi loin que ma mémoire me le permet, il y ...
Dimanche démocratique : Give us a sign
By Émile Thomas // 7 Comments
Democracy is produced "as a matter of enterprise not [vision]...is designed to appeal to everyone" and "doesn't come from any particular place or mark off any particular taste." It is "not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward...and, in [ideaological] terms, it is essentially conservative." It is "provided from on high rather than being made from below...Democracy is not a do-it-yourself political system but is professionally produced and packaged."
- POP Democracy
There is an election happening in Montréal?
Has anyone else heard this question asked of them? At first it angers me; we are currently in the information age and there is no longer any excuse for ignorance. It is unfortunate that, despite the freedom we have over information, our laziness prevent us from informing ourselves. However, I will admit that something seems to be missing from this year’s electoral campaign.
As most of you know, democracy in Canada has become a vast marketing machine. Politicians don’t give speeches, they generate sound bites. They don’t foster visions, they fabricate photo-ops.
Democracy can now even be boiled down to colour associations:
RED = Liberal
BLUE = PQ and Conservative (strange bedfellows)
ORANGE = NDP
GREEN = Green
Democracy has come to mimic the Wikipedia definition of advertising:
The most important element is not information but suggestion.
« It makes use of associations, emotions and drives dormant in the sub-conscience of people (such as sex drive, herd instinct), of desires (happiness, health, fitness, appearance, self-esteem, reputation, belonging, social status, identity, adventure, distraction, reward), of fears (illness, weaknesses, loneliness, need, uncertainty, security), or of prejudices, learned opinions and comforts. »
In democracy, image is everything. De facto and de jure. Don’t believe me? Ask Robert Stanfield.
Stephen Harper performs at an arts gala in Ottawa, and now everyone thinks he is Ringo, the misunderstood Beatle. The E, F#m, B chord progression has secured the Canadian Prime Minister a future majority government.
Photo du jour : La chapelle du couvent des franciscains, blvd. René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
St-Henri residents take their candidates for a walk
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Have you ever wished that your local politicians could walk a mile in your shoes?
That's what group of St-Henri citizens achieved today when they brought together local candidates from Union, Vision and Projet Montréal, as well as two independents running in their riding, and then took them for a stroll down main street.
Manuel Johnson, one of the event organizers and author of the Saint-Henri Chronicles blog, describes the walk and talk with local candidates:
"We split into three groups, each piloted by a local "guide", and brought the candidates for a walk along rush-hour St-Antoine, so they could experience our ...
October 19th, 2009
Place d’Armes – Just a Pretty Picture?
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Spend a half an hour in the square and you'll watch this scene on repeat: A tour bus wheezes up to the curb and releases a flood of tourists into the square. They squint up at the twin steeples of the Notre Dame Basilica, take a spin around the statue of our founder, Sieur De Maisonneuve, and snap an obligatory photo. Within moments the tide ebbs as the tourists are rushed back into the bus, and whisked away.
Place d'Armes may once have been the heart of Montreal, but these days it's just wham, bam, thank you ma'am.
Place d'Armes is like an island awash in a sea of traffic and tour buses.
Fortunately, the city has concluded that this square needs a little TLC. It is currently under renovation and the new plans treat all the space up to the surrounding buildings and even the adjacent streets as an extension of the square.
But perhaps worse than physical isolation, is that this historical, once the core of the city, site has fallen into disuse. Over the centuries Place d'Armes has been used as a military training ground, a market, a garden, and a tramway terminus. Today its function is pretty much limited to a picturesque backdrop for snap-happy tourists.
It's less clear how the current renovations will add to the "appropriation and livability of the place," one of their stated objectives. The plans do include some elaborate benches but, like the 1960s design, the they treat the square more like an observatory of historic buildings than part of the city (although to be fair, this may be true of most of Old Montreal.)
I think that it could be as simple as having quality sandwiches and coffee on the site to tempt the local office workers to spend lunch-hour in the square (there is a shop on the site although it appears to have been hobbled together out of scaffolding and offers postcards, potted plants, pumpkins and terra-cotta chickens).
Coolopolis suggests closing Notre Dame street altogether in front of the church (although I think it would be a shame to displace the horse carriages). He also mentions a few underground passages in the area - could they be opened up to extend the tourist experience and intrigue locals?
Another option would be requiring tour buses to stop on Rue Saint-Antoine (except in cases of elderly or disabled visitors.) That would unclog the adjacent streets and allow tourists to get better look at the 3 centuries of architecture that cluster around the square.
Approaching Place d'Armes from St-Urbain affords one of my absolute favourite views in the city:
I did have an opportunity to voice these ideas during Design Montreal's "Imaginer place d'Armes" session in 2007. I also suggested putting in some display cases for art or student projects that open up a dialogue about the site's history: something a bit more dynamic than your humdrum monuments and historic information panels. (My suggestions for the square were voted third place, coming in after a spoken word performance and a soundscape, both by UQAM landscape architecture students. So that's what how the kids design public spaces these days?)
Read on for some of the info I picked up about the square and the surrounding buildings...
October 20th, 2009
Spacing Atlantic Blog for the East Coast
By Spacing // 4 Comments
St. John’s, Newfoundland by Hugh Pouliot
Spacing Atlantic will be officially joining the Spacing blog family as of October 28th. Unlike the Toronto and Montreal blogs, Spacing Atlantic focuses on a handful of cities: Halifax, St. John’s, Charlottetown, Miramichi, Fredericton, Sydney, and Saint John.
Please check it out and support the east coast’s newest blog. There are already a few interesting posts up about Charlottetown's newest public art and Halifax's underfoot street signs. Note that the blog is still in beta mode, which means there may be a few glitches until ...
October 21st, 2009
Get to Know Your Jean Drapeau
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
"What would Jean Drapeau Do?" asks Richard Bergeron in an essay published on Projet Montréal's website.
It's an interesting choice of role model for Projet Montréal's mayoral candidate, as most of us have got, at best, mixed feelings for the man who ruled the city for three decades (1954-57 and 1960-86). Drapeau has a legacy of projects that radically transformed and modernized Montreal, only to feel embarrassingly out of touch a generation later.
Much like today, Montreal in the early 1950s was perceived as ...
October 22nd, 2009
Tree Tuesday: The cork tree with the lemon scent
By Bronwyn Chester // 3 Comments
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Amur cork tree/L'arbre liège de Chine"][/caption]
TREE WALK THIS SATURDAY ON MOUNT ROYAL: 1 - 5 PM, meet at Georges-Etienne Cartier statue, $15. See here to register.
The cork used to seal wine bottles comes from the bark of the cork oak (Quercus subur, chêne de liége) that grows principally in Portugal and in six other countries bordering on the Mediterranean. That tree would not survive in our climate. But there is another cork tree, that thrives here. Pictured above is the Amur cork tree (Arbre liège de Chine, Phellodendron amurenses) growing in numerous locations in Parc La Fontaine, as well as on Mount Royal. A native of both China and Russia, the tree grows along the banks of the Amur River, one of the last great rivers yet to be dammed and one which forms the border between the two countries.
Both China and Russia have tried to exploit commercially the corky bark of this tree but without much success. Certainly to the touch, the bark of the Amur cork tree is spongey but whether the spongey layer is deep enough to be harvested without hurting the live layer of bark cells that produce the cork is another question. When you see this tree, by all means sink your thumbnail into the bark to test the sponginess but don't tree to remove any.
Photo du Jour : City Seeks Superhero
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
Photo taken October 21st on Guy, just above de Maisonneuve.
Also, Fagstein launches an adult conversation about municipal corruption and calls for an Everything Inquiry.
October 24th, 2009
Photo du Jour : Like New
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
The Guaranteed Pure Milk bottle is unveiled! New paint job; original text. Yelp of joy as I passed by it on my bike yesterday aftenoon (followed by weird look from girl waiting at bus stop). For those who already miss the weathered look, Guillaume St-Jean captured it beautifully last May at the height of its decrepitude.
http://spacingmontreal.ca/2009/10/09/the-milk-bottle-mystiq
October 25th, 2009
Dimanche démocratique : Il buono, il brutto, il politico
By Émile Thomas // 7 Comments
Il nous reste une semaine avant que nous ne prenions une décision collaborative sur l’avenir de la Métropole. Certains d’entre vous auront exprimé par avance vos voix au vote par anticipation (ce dimanche, midi à 20 h). Ce serait bien l’option pour les militants, et ceux qui savent déjà la réponse à la question : qui est assez capable à éviter la noyade d’île de Montréal ?
Soyons intelligents, mes concitoyens. Informez-vous. Enquérez-vous des engagements. Analysez les programmes.
Or, qui les Montréalais devraient-ils élire ? Révisons les grandes lignes des trois candidats principaux : Richard BERGERON (Projet Montréal), Louise HAREL (Vision Montréal), Gérald TREMBLAY (Union Montréal).
Dimanche démocratique : Louise O.
By Émile Thomas // 24 Comments
« Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. »
- Timothy Leary
One must not discount the candidacy of Louise O’Sullivan. She and her Parti Montréal Ville-Marie do not belong in the same category as the other long shots; O’Suillivan had worked in the current administration under Tremblay as a member of his executive committee. I applaud her actions. Not approving of the direction of City Hall, she decided to set forth and improve the city herself. She could have stayed around and paid lip service to her ...
October 27th, 2009
Toronto Tuesday : Bad Business & Friendly Bikers
By Timea Jakab // No Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
• John Lorinc provides insight into the Canadian Federation of Independent Business rankings of the top entrepreneurial cities. Toronto is dead last in 96th place, but Montreal isn't much better at 88th. Download the report here.
• A new campaign promoting friendly cyclists has hit the city in the form of Appreciation Cards intended to be given to ...
October 28th, 2009
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Denis et Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1963-2009
Source : Archive de la ville de Montréal, VM94, C-143-20
Underground Art in Wellington Tunnel
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Tunnel Art Party - Images by Tristan Brand, used with permission.
Last Friday I huddled under the trees in Ste-Ann's park, Griffintown, along with a dozen artfully-dressed strangers, nipping at my flask in the rain. Photographer Tristan Brand had lured me out into to drizzle promising some kind of Halloween-themed Tunnel Art Party.
After milling around uncertainly for a few minutes we heard a piercing, dramatic howl and a young woman introduced herself as our "wolf-prince guide." She hushed her ...
La Course des Morts this week
By Chris Erb // No Comments
The annual Course des Morts bike race is taking place once again this year on October 31st. As usual, it's open to anyone who wants to race for a small entrance fee (I did it a couple years ago and I think it cost $20 which included a pretty nice t-shirt). It's usually a pretty tough race but it's a lot of fun and a great way to see parts of the city you might not otherwise get to. The race is a mix between a scavenger hunt and a normal working day ...
October 29th, 2009
Photo du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque depuis la rue Guy
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Montage du jour : La rue St-Antoine près de Bonsecours
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1953-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal
VM94, Z-500-37
Montreal’s Lost Rivers – What Maps Can (and Can’t) Tell Us
By Andrew Emond // 1 Comment
A rare view of Rivière St. Pierre, 1956, location unknown.
I recently stumbled across a peculiar old map for the island of Montreal showing a rather fantastic depiction of the island's former creeks and lakes. It's unlike any other map of the island I've ever come across. There's no publication date printed on it, but given its author, Aristide Beaugrand-Champagne, it likely dates from the 1920s.
Beaugrand-Champagne was one of the city's architects and historians. He was also the originator of the idea that Jacques Cartier first arrived in Montreal from the north via Rivière Des Prairies rather than the South. Though it had its share of proponents, it was, and still is a controversial theory. This point of Cartier's landing is highlighted on his map along the north shore, in Sault Au Ricollet.
During his studies, Beaugrand-Champagne paid special attention to the island's former watercourses. In doing so, he came to the conclusion that the Iroquois village of Hochelaga was once situated in Outremont rather than in an area contained somewhere within the McGill University campus— another controversial theory for its time.
Anyway, with that mini-history lesson is out of the way. Here's Monsieur Beaugrand-Champagne's pièce de résistance. Clicking on the map for the larger view is recommended for this one.
Beaugrand-Champagne's map illustrating the island's topography and hydrology between 1542 and 1642.
It's hard to tell how much of this map is based on Beaugrand-Champagne's knowledge of the island's geography and how much of it is based on his imagination or even cultural bias. Any illustration attempting to show what the island looked like more than a couple of centuries ago is bound to have a certain degree of inaccuracy, and this one is no different.
Spacing Montreal is on Twitter
By Spacing // No Comments
In our never-ending effort to stay with or ahead of the times, Spacing Montreal is now tweeting! Follow us @spacingmontreal.
So far, we're tweeting blog updates mostly, but as we become more familiar with this powerful new tool, expect to see some Twitter-exclusive content and links.
You can also follow the magazine [ @spacing ] and Spacing Atlantic [ @spacingatlantic ].
October 30th, 2009
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Antoine et Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1953-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal, VM94, Z-500-25
Voting for Everybody
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
"We need your help," my step-mother said when I stopped by for supper yesterday evening. "You know about this city stuff. You've got to help us figure out who to vote for."
Oh dear. This election has got me turning in circles like a cat that can't quite figure out where to plunk herself down.
"Well, who are the candidates in this riding?" I began tentatively.
"Uh, you know...Tremblay, and that woman, and..."
Sigh. I guess those election posters DO serve a purpose after all.
"Did you get the list of candidates in the mail?"
"No... All we got ...
October 31st, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Bonsecours depuis Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1953-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal VM94, Z-500-48
November 1st, 2009
Dimanche démocratique : Do the right thing
By Émile Thomas // 7 Comments
« L'adulte ne croit pas au père Noël. Il vote. »
- Pierre Desproges
If the mayor's office is supposed to represent the city, and the city is supposed to represent Montrealers, then we are all poor, uneducated, corrupt and scandal-...
November 2nd, 2009
Spacing Montreal invites you to an evening of Turcot talk and other municipal madness: Wednesday November 4
By Spacing // No Comments
If following the growing panic over H1N1 doesn't hold the same appeal for you as Montreal's recent election campaign, there's another major Montreal story that will soon come to a head : the future of the Turcot Interchange. Within the next two weeks, the Ministry of the Environment will release its recommendations to the government on the future of this aging infrastructure. Will it be re-built bigger to accommodate more cars, or will the growing voices of community groups, urban planners and even Mayor Tremblay ...
Montréal is a pathetic
By Émile Thomas // 17 Comments
« Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. »
- A very wise man
Il semble que j’ai oublié un dernier adjectif pour décrire la population montréalaise : paresseuse.
Ou bien négligente, écervelée, lâche.
Avec un taux de participation qui n’atteint même pas 40 %, tu mérites ta pourriture urbaine. Ta lacune d’action me dégoute.
Certains déploreront le manque de publicité. D’autres prétendront qu’il faisait trop beau pour aller voter. La majorité avancera ...
November 3rd, 2009
Transit and the Election: 1 step forward, 2 steps back
By Alanah Heffez // 19 Comments
So Projet Montréal, the party who put transit at the top of the agenda -at least before cries of corruption drowned out any other issue- earned 10 seats on the municipal council. Their support rose from 9% in 2005 to 25% across the island. The fact that sustainable development and alternative transportation preoccupy even a quarter of Montrealers is the sign of a rapidly rising tide of ideas.
There's just one problem: Projet Montréal didn't win the top spot. So who is actually going to be in charge of transportation?
Not André Lavallée, who was behind Montreal's innovative transportation plan and who ...
Montage du jour : L’église Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2009
Cette église construite de 1926 à 1927 à l'intersection du boulevard St-Laurent et de la rue St-Zotique fut convertie en immeuble à condos de luxe en 2002.
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27600
November 4th, 2009
Tonight: Post-election event w/ Turcot movie mashups
By Spacing // No Comments
A reminder for Montreal political buffs and Turcotophiles: the event is tonight!
Join us for snacks and drinks, discussion, Turcot trivia and videos, and a special toast to Sophie Thiebault, a founding member of Mobilization Turcot, who was just elected as a borough councilor in the Southwest.
3255 rue St. Jacques (across from Lionel Groulx metro), 7pm.
World Wide Wednesday: Jaywalking, pedestrian scrambles and the world’s cheapest home
By Matthew Blackett // 2 Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• Londoners got their first "X crossing" this week at Oxford Circle, one of the city's busiest downtown intersections. For Torontonians who want to compare, ...
Montage du jour : L’ancien pensionnat St-Basile
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1979-2009
Cet édifice construit en 1895 fut converti 89 ans plus tard en édifice à loyers modique et abrite également la bibliothèque ainsi que la maison de la culture du Plateau.
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27655
And the winner is: Louise Harel!
By Chris Erb // 10 Comments
If this were 2002 rather than 2009, Louise Harel might be spending this week looking more like the photo above (she'd be smiling). Why? Well, because in 2002, the geography of Montreal was much different than it is now. Before 2002, Montreal was a much smaller city surrounded by a number of independent municipalities on all sides as can be seen on this map:
In 2002, all across Quebec, small municipalities were merged together to create large, centralised cities. In Montreal, this meant merging all the towns on the ...
Turcot activists to Charest: Be coherent!
By Jacob Larsen // 3 Comments
With the sun setting on the hazy evening commute home today, activists from the Conseil Régionale de l'Environnement (CRE) on the St. Jacques overpass of the Decarie highway sent a message to the Premier, and the thousands of cars passing below.
Specifically, they were protesting the Ministry of Transport's plan for the Turcot, which will increase the capacity of the highway complex from 280 000 to 330 000 cars per day, or by about 18%. The CRE comes at this issue with a focus on climate change, highlighting that 49% of ...
November 5th, 2009
Montage du jour : De Mt-Royal Barbecue à la Caisse populaire Desjardins
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1979-2009
Cet édifice situé à l'intersection de l'avenue du Mont-Royal et de la rue Rivard fut construit en 1944.
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal,PB27650
Coups de Coeur – USWM’s ode to spruce beer, hot dogs, and grimy ol’ times along the Lachine Canal
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
Dear Montreal, I still love you.
They may call you corrupt and crumbling, a disaster and a disgrace. But they don't know what it feels like to awake each morning cradled between your rows of triplexes.
They may call us pathetic, brain-dead, lazy, or just plain lâche. But they aren't thinking about the heart-thumping thrill of cycling up the Main on a Friday night.
For so many Montrealers, what matters isn't what goes on in city hall, its what goes on in the parks and the alleyways and the bars. ...
November 6th, 2009
Montage du jour : Le terrain du metro Mont-Royal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2009
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27651
Campus Martius – Champ de Mars
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
« I love building spaces: architecture, furniture, all of it, probably more than fashion. The development procedure is more tactile. It's about space and form and it's something you can share with other people. »
- Donna Karan
Mars le brave, dieu de la guerre, fils de Junon et Jupiter, conjoint de Bellone, amant de Vénus — nous vous accueillons à Montréal.
Votre Excellence,
Dans votre champ nous assistâmes aux parades et aux manœuvres militaires.
Dans votre champ nous ceignîmes de remparts la vieille ville.
Dans votre champ nous ternîmes notre réputation par ...
November 7th, 2009
Montage du jour : L’ancien pensionnat St-Basile, avenue du Mont-Royal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1979-2009
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27655
Highways, health and the economy: Political winds on the Turcot may be changing
By Jacob Larsen // 5 Comments
Opposition to the Turcot reconstruction project has climbed even farther up the ladder.
La Presse reported that in a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, the Minister of Health, Yves Bolduc, recommended that the government adopt a moratorium on all highway projects that will increase the amount of traffic in the Greater Montreal region. In addition to the Turcot, this recommendation includes the highway 25 extension, as well as the 'Modernization of Notre Dame' in the east end.
The Direction de Santé Publique de Montréal (DSP) - a lower level health ...
November 8th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Rachel près de St-Denis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
1979-2009
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27661
November 9th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Denis près de Mont-Royal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1986-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal, VMS,S0,D10,4485
Montreal underground on Spacing Radio this week
By Spacing // No Comments
EDITOR'S NOTE: Some Spacing Montreal readers may not be aware of this, but Spacing hosts a bi-weekly podcast called Spacing Radio (you can subscribe to the show via iTunes as well). It has primarily been focused on Toronto, but the last few episodes have seen us cover other cities, which we will continue to do. This episode has a 10-minute feature on Montreal's sewer system.
This episode of Spacing Radio challenges listeners to think about public spaces in a different light. The ...
November 10th, 2009
Montage du jour : Immeubles résidentiels et commerciaux, avenue du Mont-Royal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1979-2009
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27652
Photo du jour: Ghost sign revealed at Rosemont/St. Michel
By Jacob Larsen // 14 Comments
I don't know what building was located here, but it burnt down this summer, revealing a beautiful blue "ghost sign".
Does anyone know of or remember Old Chum Tobacco? Any guesses on the date of this mural? (I have no answer.)
November 11th, 2009
Montage du jour : Immeuble commercial à l’intersection des rues Mont-Royal et Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1961-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal, VM105, 5Y, 552, D340
Someone’s got some ‘xplaining to do: More transit cost overruns
By Jacob Larsen // 5 Comments
Image from kevincrumbs on Flickr Creative Commons
Only one day after the STM announced that the projected cost of replacing its ageing fleet of Metro cars will likely double, the AMT today made a similar confession.
The best case scenario for the AMT - for day-to-day maintenance and new investments - is that costs will be 30% higher than originally predicted. In the case of the Lucien L'Allier renovation, the real cost will likely be 400% higher than expected.
Of course, this situation is not new. The metro extension to Laval cost ...
The BAPE Speaks: Turcot report released (and analyzed)
By Jacob Larsen // No Comments
On Tuesday, November 10, a half day after being leaked in La Pre...
World Wide Wednesday: Berlin Wall tribute
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This past Monday marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall--one of the defining moments of the 20th century, reunifying Berlin and symbolizing for many the collapse ...
November 12th, 2009
Montage du jour : L’ancien hospice Auclair, rue Rachel
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1979-2009
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27689
Les seringues usagées, les humains jetés
By Émile Thomas // 2 Comments
« Oh mama, I didn’t know life was this hard
Oh mama, my innocence has been tarred »
- Paula Cole
L’utilisation de drogues injectables : je connaissais la théorie, mais je ne connaissais pas la pratique. Jusqu’à ce que j’habite à Vancouver. Je travaillais à deux pas du coin Hastings et Main ; un cocktail d’habitat tiers-monde et insalubre. Je croisais des récupérateurs de seringues usagées fixés sur les murs, dans les parcs, partout. C’était logique : le secteur puait ...
Coups de Coeur: Rock ‘n Turcot
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
It's funny, I always found the concrete-spaghetti of the Turcot interchange absurd, even hideous. But now that it's on the cover of all the newspapers, I have to admit that the structure is weirdly photogenic...
Seems like a timely moment for this video, in which local independent band, Nightwood, perform "plugged" beneath the tangle of overpasses.
Be warned, the band describes their song The Bikeriders as: "Sexy girls drink + smoke + get up to no good!"
Via: Walking Turcot Yards, the ...
November 13th, 2009
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue de la Commune
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1953-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal, VM94, Z-500-39
Le mardi des arbres/Tree Tuesday: Last post
By Bronwyn Chester // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_4691" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Apple leaves, November"][/caption]
It's with a tinge of sadness that I write this last Tree Tuesday/Le mardi des arbres. Sad, because I've enjoyed this past year of observing trees through a camera lens, of figuring out my tree language in French, and of having a lively exchange with many Spacing Montreal readers. I've also learned so much about our city by reading fellow SM writers.
As some of you may know, I am now writing a weekly column in the Sunday Gazette. The ...
Cyclist evades death after being struck by delivery truck on St. Laurent
By Jacob Larsen // 25 Comments
Photo: Patrick Sanfaçon, La Presse
This morning, around 9am, a 22-year old woman was pulled under a delivery truck and tangled up in the twisted metal of her bike, reports La Presse.
She was taken to hospital, conscious, with several broken bones and is in critical condition.
Riding home up the Main every day, I am often stressed by the traffic gunning to get past, yet hesitant to ride too close to the fast turnover parking on the right. And there are swarms of cyclists in the same position. Will this city ...
IPAM sets the stage for more inclusive long-term planning
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Just when Montreal was in need of a superhero, the Institut de Politiques Alternatives de Montreal enters the scene with an all-star team to tackle urban issues.
At the helm are three well-known names: Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Dinu Bumbaru, Policy Director of Héritage Montréal, and Dimitri Roussopoulos, founder of the Montréal Urban Ecology Centre.
“Our assumption is that there’s a lot of value in Montrealness” said Dinu Bumbaru in a conversation earlier this week. “Montreal is a city which has an urban space ...
November 14th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue de la Commune près de la Place Jacques-Cartier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1953-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal, VM94, z-500-74
Spacing Montreal at Expozine Today
By Spacing // No Comments
Come see us at Expozine today, Saturday, November 14 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. We'll be at 5035 St-Dominique (Église Saint-Enfant Jésus, between St-Joseph and Laurier, near Laurier Métro).
Browse the latest issues of Spacing Magazine, pick up some of our unique postcards, and participate in a postcard exchange. Free Spacing pins for our readers!
Plus it's a great chance to pick up someindependant art and literature and support local artists. If you're there, please come and say hi.
November 15th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Paul près de Bonsecours
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1953-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal, VM94, Z-500-67
New AMT Windsor station hub examined
By Jacob Larsen // 25 Comments
Image from The Gazette
This week the AMT released a plan to build a new transit hub directly south of Windsor Station, whichwould permit the historic train station to serve its original function. A passageway (pictured above) would connect the old train station to the new one.
This $520 million plan would be realized in partnership with the commercial real estate developer, Cadillac-Fairview, which currently owns Windsor Station and the vacant lot directly to the south. The plan is to move the terminus of the AMT's Dorion-Rigaud line to this new ...
November 16th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue de la Commune près de McGill
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1993-2009
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, AMEN121472
Windsor Station : A brief history of development
By Émile Thomas // 8 Comments
The Berlin Wall fell when East German authorities announced the opening of its borders to everyone, November 9, 1989. Many historical scholars, however, would point out the inherent oversimplification that such a statement presents. While the citizens of the former DDR were finally liberated from the concrete cage that defined the communist regime, it was but a consequence of political changes already occurring in Hungary and Czechoslovakia; political changes due to a wane in the Cold War; a conflict brought to surface in the ashes of the Old World Order as a result of the Second World War; a military aggression finding its origins in the end of imperialism, the rise of nationalism and the propagation of the nation-state.
200 years of human history abridged into one sentence.
If only it were so simple; understanding our past is not only an interesting and complex art, but also a powerful tool in preventing the repetition of the mistakes brought upon our society.
For example, Windsor Station: With all the recent talk about its re-integration into the regional transit network, I, along with many others, have been asking, “What allowed for its detachment in the first place? Of all the locations in Montréal, why was the Bell Centre thrown together at this location? ”
Perhaps planners would counter, “Who knew in the early 90s that Windsor Station would play an integral role in the development of transit in the Montréal region?”
Perhaps city leaders would protest, “Who knew that Windsor Station would come to be owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan?”
Could this all have been predicted?
Let's retrace our steps in an attempt to discover where the city went wrong.
November 17th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue Sainte-Catherine près du square Cabot
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2009
Source : McCord Museum, MP-0000.587.35
Toronto Tuesday: Cycle Blogs and City Strikes
By Timea Jakab // 10 Comments
Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will fuel constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities.
• A new city blog, 416cyclestyle showcases images by "velotographers" Xander N’ Dante of trendy hipsters as they pedal around the city. Montreal cyclists are far sexier than Toronto ones. We need our own CycleChic blog. Whose up for it?
• John Lorinc comments on the proposed allocation of $11 million of the new Billboard tax going to fund ...
Norman Bethune Square
By Adam Bemma // 10 Comments
Walking through the completed portion of Quartier Concordia this afternoon (northeast corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve), I snapped these photos of a wreath lying in front of the Norman Bethune statue. This reminded me of last week, when I saw a group of Chinese gathered in the square. Naturally, I continued on my way not thinking much at the time, but then I realized that they must have been paying hommage to the ...
The Canadian Recession: The NFB launches the first fully online documentary at RIDM
By Jacob Larsen // No Comments
The fine folks at the NFB have got a new, interactive web documentary that may be of interest to Spacing readers. The project is called 'GDP: Measuring the Human Side of the Canadian Economic Crisis', which is being launched this week in conjunction with an event at the Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montreal on Nov. 18th. GDP is online at http://gdp.nfb.ca.
The organizers describe the project as follows:
Over the next year, eight filmmakers and ...
November 18th, 2009
The Turcot Challenge Overview
By Timea Jakab // 6 Comments
A link to a small video clip of the Turcot Exchange situation as it stands today. Though most definitely a biased view, it presents a pretty good overview for those who haven't been following these major changes in the city. The film summarizes the current problem with the Turcot Exchange, then showcases the city's solution and a few other proposed (better?) ones. An interesting 10 minutes.
Photo by Designwallah.
Spacing to launch Ottawa blog Tonight
By Timea Jakab // 1 Comment
WHAT: Spacing Ottawa launch
WHERE: Cube Gallery, 7 Hamilton Avenue North (Map)
HOW MUCH: Free
FOR: The folks who love Ottawa
Fresh after launching Spacing Atlantic in Halifax last month, Spacing is heading to another fine Canadian city, this time to the nation’s capital. Should you be Ottawa this evening, head over to Cube Gallery in the Hintonburg neighbourhood. Some fun games, some great visuals and nice sounds are planned. If you’re not in Ottawa we hope you’ll share this invite with your capital folks (check out the Facebook ...
November 19th, 2009
Spacing Montréal cherche des collaborateurs
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Spacing Montréal est dédié à couvrir tous les aspects de l’espace public et de la vie publique de Montréal. Ceci inclut des sujets touchant l’architecture, l’urbanisme, le design, l’art, l’histoire, le transport, la politique et la société. Nous cherchons des collaborateurs curieux et passionnés de leur ville.
Spacing Montréal souhaite renforcer son mandat comme publication bilingue et élargir sa base de lecteurs francophones à Montréal. Nous sommes donc très intéressé à accueillir des collaborateurs et collaboratrices francophones, qui écriraient en français.
Étant donné que Spacing Montréal ne ...
Québec’s Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
The facade of Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul seduced me during a recent visit to Quebec city. It floats disembodied on the edge of a precipice, in the elbow of a highway, like a gateway into a foreign land.
Trying to track down the name of the church, I stumbled upon a news story which hit the press just yesterday. The property is currently owned by a hotelier who, last summer, was ...
November 20th, 2009
Old cigarette ad
By Adam Bemma // 8 Comments
A Turret cigarette advertisement on the side of the Deli Pat Depanneur in NDG. (Circa 1950?)
A Montreal whodunnit: How to make sense of all these firebombings
By Jacob Larsen // 12 Comments
Photo from mtlp's photostream on Flickr
While a whodunnit may sound fun, it's disquieting and mysterious to think who's throwing all these Molotov cocktails at cafes and bars.
CBC has reported that there have been at least 5 fire bombings in the past month. The incidents have been scattered around the city: a couple in the Mile-End, one in St. Michel, one in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and one in Little Italy.
The report also notes that no witnesses are stepping forward, raising suspicious that the victims of the attacks are implicated in some ...
November 21st, 2009
Photo du Jour – Bernard Sidewalk life
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
A flower shop spills onto the sidewalk brightening up Bernard street on a rainy November day. They've even got plants on top of the van!
November 22nd, 2009
MAP- Make Art Public
By Adam Bemma // 3 Comments
'La vie est un sport extrême/ Let's Play' is an exhibit by Mouvement Art Public located on Rue Ste-Catherine between Berri and Saint-Hubert.
November 23rd, 2009
Le Turcot : Projet autoroutier esseulé au Nouveau Monde écolo ?
By Émile Thomas // 2 Comments
« Nous leur demandons seulement d'aimer leur prochain autant que leur voiture. »
- Gilbert Cesbron
Durant une visite, il y a quelques semaines, à nos bons amis situés en amont, j’ai décidé d’emmener une copine en randonnée sur l’escarpement du Niagara à Hamilton. Cette réserve de biosphère UNESCO évoque mes souvenirs du temps passé quand j’ai grimpé aux arbres, ai pêché dans des ruisseaux, et ai regardé, avec élégance, des chutes tombantes des falaises. Imaginer l’étonnement total, bouche bée, lorsque nous sommes arrivés : la dernière trame verte située en ville a été transformée en autoroute. Le béton a été coulé dans les poumons urbains. Depuis, je suis dégouté, voire furieux.
À l’époque où tout le monde se veut « vert », pour quelques leaders, la poursuite du rêve Futurama perdure. Des petites villes aux grandes métropoles, Montréal n’est pas le seul qui confronte une vision de mobilité paralysée à 1939.
November 24th, 2009
1ière avenue, part 4: Rosemont/St-Michel
By Chris Erb // 8 Comments
Perhaps the recent launch of Google Street View for Canadian cities has made my trips to the many 1ière avenues of Montreal somewhat unnecessary. A visit to any of these streets is now as simple as pulling up a map of Montreal and dragging the little yellow person onto whatever street you want to wish to see. However, I am undeterred. Despite my tendency to lapse on visiting and posting these 1ière avenues, my trips will continue. Despite the 360° views every few metres and the ability to toggle between street View, aerial view, and map view, the street view photos are somewhat disconnected, having been taken automatically from the roof of a car without discretion from a photographer (as amateur as I may be, in the case of these photos). Street View takes the photo from the centre of the street, moves on and takes the next photo and so on in perpetuity. I (and other humans), however, can stop and inspect something that catches my attention more closely while ignoring what I deem to be more uninteresting and banal. Street View does not possess this luxury. If anything, at least I take my photos when the city is looking good rather than the right-before and right-after winter photos taken by Google, a time of year that most people can agree is when the city looks its worst.
No matter, my journeys continue. This time through the central neighbourhoods of Rosemont and St-Michel. This 1ière avenue is the only one that existed within the pre-merger borders of Montreal so when someone spoke of (or wrote on an envelope) "1ière avenue, Montreal", this is the street they meant. Although not the longest numbered street in the city, it is the longest 1ière avenue with a length of 14 blocks. It also starts off one of the longer continuous (more-or-less) series of numbered streets in the city which ends 44e avenue, right before boul de l'Assomption.
November 25th, 2009
Montage du jour : Immeuble à vocation mixte de l’avenue du Mont-Royal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1979-2009
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27649
État d’urgence
By Adam Bemma // 1 Comment
Arguably the biggest public space event of the year. Montreal-based arts collective ATSA (Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable) is hosting État d'urgence from Nov.25-29 at Place Emilie-Gamelin (metro Berri-UQAM). According to ATSA co-founder Annie Roy, the event is a mani-festival used to bring together the public, artists and homeless in a downtown urban refugee camp setting.
Here's an audio interview with event organizer Annie Roy on-site
Audio interview with Annie Roy.
World Wide Wednesday: Transit fares, bridges and Dallas’ newest park
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• Dallas, Texas, long-known for a lack of green space and an overabundance of parking lots, is taking bold action to change its reputation and transform its ...
November 26th, 2009
The État d’Urgence Experience
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
The free food, clothing and entertainment are certainly highlights of État d'Urgence for many people in need but, for those who sleep on the streets, the greatest gift may be the right to stay the night in Berri Square. The site has long been an assembly place for marginalized people but, after being given park status in 1993, a curfew was imposed between midnight and 6am. A further bylaw in ...
How would a National Housing Strategy impact our cities?
By Spacing // 2 Comments
by Emma Feltes, cross-posted from Spacing Atlantic
HALIFAX — National Housing Day was first marked on the calendar by a team of Toronto housing advocates on Nov 22, 1998. But this year, more than a decade later, it was infused with new meaning.
Housing is back on the national agenda, with proposed Bill C-304 calling for the development of a national housing strategy designed to ensure safe, adequate, accessible, affordable housing to all Canadians. The Bill, seconded by Halifax MP Megan Leslie, has deep implications for Canadian cities, and the diversity of housing challenges they face. “Housing impacts the health of communities," says Leslie, who is the NDP critic for housing and homelessness. "It’s not just about putting a roof over someone’s head, it is about the health of a community general — the physical health, the mental health, the economic health of a community.”
The need for a national strategy was made amply clear at yesterday's National Housing Day events in Halifax. Gathered at St. Matthew's United Church, a crowd of over 100 marked the opening of the Out of the Cold emergency shelter for a second winter. A collaborative community initiative by the Metro Non-Profit Housing Association, Community Action on Homelessness (CAH), St. Matthew's, and a dedicated team of volunteers, the shelter provides 15 beds for men and women.
A panel consisting of members of the organizing committee, housing advocates, and community members shared stories on why initiatives such as this one are so important in a city like Halifax, wrought with its own unique set of housing challenges. However, the grassroots, community-based strategy provokes conflicted feelings for many of those involved.
Quartier Bonaventure public consultations
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
The OPCM has already begun public consultations for the Quartier Bonaventure which will drastically overhaul the no-man's land between Griffintown and the Quartier des Recollets (just west of Old Montreal). What I originally thought of away as a simple remake of the highway actually turns out to be an entire neighbourhood with residential and commercial towers, a public square, and new green spaces near the canal. At first glance I'd say it's a better spot than most for those ubiquitous high rises.
Being a fan of re-inhabiting unused nooks ...
November 27th, 2009
SPACING: come to our Toronto release party
By Matthew Blackett // 2 Comments
WHAT: release party for winter 2009-2010 issue of Spacing
WHEN: Wednesday, December 9, 2009
WHERE: Toronto Reference Library, The Appel Salon, 789 Yonge Street
HOW MUCH: $10 (includes copy of mag), $5 for subscribers
ATTENDING?: RSVP to our Facebook event
If you're in Toronto, make your way to the Toronto Reference Library (7pm-midnight) on Wed. Dec. 9th, to take part in Spacing's 16th issue release party and holiday party. We'll have some games and activities, plus the music to dance to thanks to our resident DJs Track Meet.
Come check out the Reference Library's new ...
November 28th, 2009
Photo du Jour – Stairway to Heaven
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
St-Joseph's Oratory obscured by clouds on a rainy Sunday (Nov 15th)
November 30th, 2009
Bye Bye Bixi
By Émile Thomas // 7 Comments
« I wept and on my knees I prayed that there be truth and there be light [and there be Bixi]. »
- Joel Gibb
The leaves fall,
the air crisps,
and the sun struggles desperately to keep us warm.
As the city prepares for its annual period of hibernation, so disappears the last remaining Bixis from our streets.
How will you and I survive without the one we’ve come to love?
To my father: Thank you for teaching me how to ride a bicycle.
To the ...
Photo du jour : Winter has begun!
By Chris Erb // 5 Comments
Obligatory photo of the first snow of the winter.
Ave de Chateaubriand at Rosemont.
December 1st, 2009
The Montreal Logo
By Devin Alfaro // 8 Comments
It's a symbol that's familiar to all Montrealers. It appears on street signs, official correspondence, libraries, city vehicles, and city councillors' lapels, to name just a few. But where did it come from and what is its history?
Like many iconic symbols of modern Montreal, the city owes the famous rosette to Jean Drapeau. It was adopted by Montreal City Council in 1981, and like many of Drapeau's projects it was surrounded by controversy.
The Montreal coat of arms.
Previously the city's coat of arms, adopted in 1833, had been the main symbol of the municipality. Starting in the mid 1970s many cities accross Quebec began to replace their old coats of arms with stylized logos as their main visual indentification symbols. This was pushed by a number of practical concerns such as ease of reproduction and versatility. The trend was also influenced by modern communication strategies that called for easily recognizable, eye-catching images.
By the early 1980s Montreal's coat of arms was starting to look decidedly old-fashioned, and Jean Drapeau decided it was time to modernize. He enlisted the help of Georges Huel, designer of the 1976 Olympics logo, to create a new visual identity for the city. This decision, and Drapeau's handling of the dossier, proved to be highly controversial.
December 2nd, 2009
La ville est un cinéma pornographique
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
« L'amour est à réinventer. »
- Arthur Rimbaud
Le Cinéma L’Amour fête ses 40 ans aujourd’hui avec un concert de The Hellbound Hepcats et la diffusion du film « Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill ! » Il n’est toutefois ni la première ni la dernière fois que l’art pénètre dans cette demeure sacrée du porno. En fait, l’institution rose, située au coin St-Laurent et Duluth – le dernier cinéma montréalais qui présente des films pornographiques à grand écran – a baptisé les premiers mercredis du mois « Grindhouse Wednesdays » : un jumelage des films atypiques avec une performance musicale.
Beaucoup ont changé depuis 1969, l’année inaugurale de la transformation pornographique de ce cinéma. John Lennon apporta son bed-in au Reine Élizabeth, les Expos commencèrent leur première saison au parc Jarry, les Roughriders perdirent une autre Coup Grey à l’Autostade, et Jean Drapeau édifiait son empire sur l’Île. Montréal, toujours paré de pierreries après son bal des débutantes, devint le centre de l’univers connu.
En effet, le Cinéma L’Amour constitue un microcosme de la ville de Montréal. À l'époque où le cinéma a assumé sa vocation de salle hardcore, il s’affairait d’enthousiastes ; il n’existait nul autre moyen de jouir de ce genre de divertissement. L’apparition des innovations technologiques – le magnétoscope, Internet – a proposé aux clients une méthode plus commode à s’amuser. Au lieu de permettre la mort d’un monument célèbre, il semble qu’elle se mue en lieu de culture alternative.
World Wide Wednesday: Las Vegas, Dubai, and Mecca
By Matthew Blackett // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• CityCenter, Las Vegas' newest mega-project, debuts to the public next week. Designed by 8 notable architects to function as a city in-itself, the $8.5 billion, 67-acre, glass-and-steel structure is ...
December 3rd, 2009
Photo du Jour: Parade day police
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
A group of mounted police wait at the top of Crescent street for the Alouette's Grey Cup victory parade to take off around noon on December 2nd 2009.
Public access to waterfront in Port of Spain, Trinidad
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Cross-posted from Spacing Ottawa, by Michael Frojmovic
For those not familiar with local fare in Trinidad & Tobago, a mix of dried channa (chickpea), roasted peanuts and splitpeas is certainly one of the world’s great beer snacks. Accompanied by a cold Carib beer and a demi-caraffe of water served up in the air-conditioned lounge of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, they help nurse a tired pedestrian through the 15 minutes it takes to recover from an 30-minute evening walk through Port of Spain. Walking in Trinidad after sunset is not a common practice. If you travel ...
Montreal’s Main is one great street
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Saint-Laurent boulevard tops a recent list of 9 great streets around the world created by NYC-based Project for Public Spaces.
The Main is described as a cool combo of trendy, eclectic and nostalgic, and recognized for its cultural diversity. Apparently 14 different ethnicitys have claimed sections of the Main. (Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Portugal, the traditionally Jewish area, plus surely a good dose of French and English...what else?).
The main was also awarded for its round-the-clock animation. I snapped this photo around 5am one night/morning last June....
Michel Labrecque reste à la STM
By Devin Alfaro // 5 Comments
Malgré sa récente défaite électorale, Michel Labrecque conservera la présidence de la Société de transport de Montréal, poste qu'il détient depuis janvier de cette année. Anciennement conseiller de ville du Mile-End, il est arrivé troisième dans la course à la mairie du Plateau-Mont-Royal aux dernières élections.
Dorénavant, il siégera en tant que "représentant des usagers" sur le conseil d'administration de la STM, ce qui lui permettra d'accéder à la présidence. Le CA est composé principalement de conseillers municipaux, et ce sera la première fois dans l'histoire de la STM que le poste de président ...
December 4th, 2009
Pigeon Toes + Wet Cement
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
"City pigeons are the product of domestication – but exist somewhere between tame and wild. Their traces in wet cement remind us that human and non-human animals share the city together. The sidewalk was once a meeting place – not just a passageway. Pigeons still use it that way." - Pigeon Tracks blog
Jennifer Roberts is an Art History grad student who studies the timeless interaction between pigeons and wet cement. She tracks pigeon tracks - and dog and cat and squirrel tracks too - all as part of an ...
December 5th, 2009
Car sharing in the city
By Adam Bemma // 23 Comments
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Montreal-based car share service Communauto. Being the oldest network of its kind in North America, Communauto has been able to establish itself as a realistic alternative to car ownership in Montreal. Boasting a membership of over 20,000 users with a fleet of 830 vehicles, Communauto Public Relations Director Marco Viviani says their mandate is to make car sharing a viable option for all.
Car sharing report
December 6th, 2009
Greenwashing for the masses: The Premier’s message on the eve of Copenhagen
By Jacob Larsen // 11 Comments
A screenshot from the Government's website on Quebec's position at the Copenhagen climate talks
Premier Jean Charest is spreading the gospel about Quebec's 'avant garde' approach to reducing climate change-causing emissions.
The Premier's message on 'Quebec vers Copenhague' speaks of Quebec's achievements in developing a 'modern economy' that will allow for Quebec to become a 'world power' in the domain of 'green energy'.
Notably, the Premier has announced that emissions will be reduced 20% as of 1990 levels, which is the most ...
And they’re off!
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
Earlier this week Montreal City Council met for the first time since the November 1st election. Notable decisions made include:
- unanimous motion asking for a provincial public enquiry on allegations of corruption in municipal government and the construction industry
- unanimous opposition to federal private member's bill C-391, which would repeal the requirement to register non-restricted firearms
- unanimous support for the cancellation of the water meter contract with Génieau
- approval of the nomination of Louis Roquet as new general manager of the city
- renaming of De La Gauchetière between Peel and de la Montagne "avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal"
During question period both Vision Montréal and Projet Montréal councillors harshly criticised the new borough council structure of Ville-Marie, where the mayor of Montreal is ex-officio the borough mayor and also has the right to name two extra councillors. As a result, Ville-Marie will be controlled by Union Montréal despite having voted overwhelmingly for the opposition.
New dynamic
More interesting than any particular topic on the agenda of the meeting is the new dynamic that is developing on City Council. Before the elections mayor Tremblay controlled the overwhelming majority of seats with Vision Montréal headless and moribund for much of the session, and Projet Montréal with only a single seat. Now Tremblay returns with his credibility and Council majority severely weakened and up against two strong opposition parties.
December 7th, 2009
Just a Beautiful Place?
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
Urban economics guru Richard Florida recently set out to discover just how important physical aesthetics are when people choose a place to live (study PDF)
Sure money-making opportunities factor in, Florida insists, as well as social networking and services. But how much of our satisfaction with our neighbourhood can simply be attributed to living in a place we consider beautiful?
Apparently a lot. Florida's team concluded that a beautiful setting is one of the most important predictors of people's satisfaction with their community. The only stronger link identified in the study was current economic conditions. Good schools and the ability to meet people and make friends were also important indicators of community satisfaction, but not as positively correlated as residents' perception that they lived in a beautiful place.
But isn't beauty fleeting, changeable, and above all in the eye of the beholder?
December 8th, 2009
Photo du jour : Les jardins du centre canadien d’architecture
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
December 11th, 2009
Photo du jour : L’ancien hôpital général de Montréal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Coups de Coeur: Michel Tremblay’s Grosse femme d’à coté
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Image: Rue Fabre près de Laurier cc François Hogue
In the early nineties, my dad lived on Rue Fabre, just above Avenue Mont Royal. He was working a day job and composing a novel; his roommate was an actor who hung his bicycle from hooks in the stairwell.
The rent was affordable (the cupboards bred roaches) but from my earliest memories, the Plateau was synonymous with gentrification and I suppose we were among its pioneers. The underlying implication was that we were dwelling in place to which we were not quite entitled, our presence ...
December 12th, 2009
The right scale?
By Christopher DeWolf // 17 Comments
Earlier this week, Montreal’s city council approved the development of two 32-storey Waldorf-Astoria hotel and condominium towers near the corner of Guy and Sherbrooke streets. The Gazette accompanied this announcement with a rendering of two massive, gaudy, post-modern towers; if they are vaguely reminiscent of the famous Waldorf-Astoria in New York, it’s only a coincidence, since the rendering has been recycled since at least the early 2000s, when the tower was first proposed but before the luxury hotel chain got involved.
Though the new development was approved by the council without debate, I’m sure its mass will elicit ...
Save the Main
By Adam Bemma // 9 Comments
A feature interview with Eric Paradis, organizer of Save the Main, about the city of Montreal's plan for Boulevard Saint-Laurent.
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // 2 Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• The historic York Street Railway Station, a Fredericton landmark whose future has been in question for years, is finally getting restored. But the proposal to turn the "beloved" (but dilapidated) station into the central flagship location for New Brunswick Liquor has been met with mixed reaction.
• ...
December 14th, 2009
A Hasidic exodus from Outremont and Mile End?
By Christopher DeWolf // 37 Comments
The Gazette reported this weekend that the Hasidic community in Outremont and Mile End is suffering from a housing shortage. In 2002, there were about 4,200 Hasidim in the neighbourhood; today there are more than 6,000. Rising property values mean that many new Hasidic families are finding themselves priced out of their own Montreal heartland. Apparently, the hunt is on to find a new neighbourhood with suitable and affordable housing.
If the Hasidic community does move on, it certainly wouldn't be the first time a Jewish community has come and gone. The entire swath ...
Spacing Radio 013: Albino Squrriels, Paul Goldberger, and Transit Investment
By Matthew Blackett // 1 Comment
CHECK OUT THIS WEEK'S SPACING RADIO PODCAST: To coincide with the release of Spacing magazine’s new issue on urban animals, Spacing Radio sent our producer Mieke Anderson on a quest to find Toronto’s elusive albino squirrel (who is also the star of the magazine’s cover) with Jane Farrow (an albino squirrel know-it-all). Spacing’s contributing editor John Lorinc sat down with noted architecture critic Paul Goldberger to discuss the outlook on building cities in a difficult economic climate. We also sent our new contributor Sarah Bridge to an international transit conference to find ...
December 15th, 2009
Photo du jour : Immeuble incendié, 3414 rue Stanley
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Montage du jour : La basilique St-Patrick
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1896-2009
Source : Musée McCord, VIEW-2963
December 16th, 2009
Photo du jour : Le centre-ville depuis la rue Guy
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Privatize the Lafontaine pavilion and fence off the lookout?
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
I like that the Plateau's new Borough Mayor, Luc Ferrandez, has kept his blog. I love that he recaps his various mayoral duties and meetings in candid, anglicisme-ridden Plateau vernacular.
But I'm less impressed with some of the news he reports with regards to limiting access to parks.
On December 9th, Ferrandez was incensed to learn that the City is considering selling the pavilion Lafontaine to a private owner (this is not the chalet, but the building on Cherrier that was originally a school and currently houses the Direction de Santé Publique de Montréal (map)).
"Au détour d’une rencontre avec le services des grands parcs, j’apprends que la ville centre a comme projet de vendre le pavillon Lafontaine pour engranger un peu de fric. Donc non seulement on nous étouffe en coupant les budget au minimum mais en plus on veut vendre nos actifs. Mon sang ne fait qu’un tour. Voir si c’est sous notre administration qu’une partie du parc va être privatisé."
The health board offices aren't exactly a functional public space, but it would make sense that, if the offices are no longer required, the locale could gain a more community-oriented, park-friendly vocation like a community centre (great spot for a summer camp), art space or market. Ferrandez seems particularly concerned that the parking lot - not prime use of park space - would become a permanent fixture.
While we're on the topic, what about plans for the chalet? Back in December 2007, we reported that local residents and Plateau councillors were hoping to open a café, either managed by either a private or non-profit organization. It turns out that plan is a no-go because, once upon a time, the building contained a restaurant run by blue-collar workers and it is illegal to transfer an activity done by (unionized) blue-collar workers to the private or non-profit sectors. To make matters worse, renovations to the structure are estimated at a couple million, which will no doubt have multiplied by the time they've untangled all that red tape.
World Wide Wednesday: Streetcars, Subways and Bikes
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• An ongoing bike-lane-battle in Brooklyn New York just got more heated as two "vigilante" cyclists were arrested for repainting lane lines that had only days before been sandblasted away ...
Bring your own chair
By Christopher DeWolf // 3 Comments
HONG KONG --- Good street furniture is not one of Hong Kong's strengths, so when people here can't find a place to sit outdoors, they do the most logical thing: they bring their own chair.
In natural gathering spots around the city you'll come across a motley array of household chairs that have been placed outdoors and tied to a post or railing. You can see them at bench-less bus stops, or on steep stairways, sometimes with one leg trimmed so the chair can sit evenly on the steps. ...
December 17th, 2009
Photo du jour : Intersection de l’avenue du parc et des pins
By Guillaume St-Jean // 21 Comments
December 18th, 2009
Photo du jour : Les tours de la basilique Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Construite entre 1824 et 1829 selon les plans de l'architecte James O'Donnell, la basilique Notre-Dame sera toutefois dotée de ses clochers plus d'une décennie plus tard.
En effet, suite à la mort de M. O'Donnell en 1830, l'architecte John Ostell qui reprit les travaux termina la tour ouest en 1841 et la tour est en 1843.
December 19th, 2009
Art de poteau
By Christopher DeWolf // 7 Comments
J'ai trouvé ces plaques montées sur trois poteaux d'électricité sur l'avenue de l'Esplanade entre les rues Bernard et Saint-Viateur. J'aime comment les gravures en cuivre ironisent sur les plaques officielles d'Hydro-Québec. La plaque en bois, par contre, imite la texture naturelle d'un poteau: le grain du bois et même les agrafes omniprésents. (Nous sommes après tout dans le Mile-End, la capitale montréalaise de l'affichage sauvage.)...
December 23rd, 2009
World Wide Wednesday: Buffalo, Los Angeles and Palma
By Kat Snukal // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• Construction of a major Canal side redevelopment plan in Buffalo could begin by June of next year according to Buffalo's Business First Magazine. The $300 ...
December 25th, 2009
Photo du Jour – Reindeer?
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Just a quick note to say thanks to all our readers, especially those who take the time to share your thoughts, memories, critiques and inspirations on the blog. Your comments are what make Spacing Montreal worth writing and reading.
Happy holidays!
December 26th, 2009
Montage du jour : La rue St-Paul près de Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1953-2009
Source : Archives ville de Montréal, VM94-Z-500-44
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• As of last week, Halifax's Metro Transit has an online schedule providing departure times for its 2200+ bus stops, bus and ferry terminals. Spacing Atlantic's Jake Schabas argues that, though useful this initiative falls short, and that of a truly transformative ...
December 27th, 2009
Mile End in 1840
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
Montreal seen from Mile End, 1840
Browsing through the Gazette's archives, which have been digitized and made accessible by Google News (at least until 1989), I came across a nice description of Mile End in 1840, when it was sparsely-populated farmland a good 20-minute carriage ride from the edge of Montreal. It comes from Joseph Charles, who lived in the area as a boy.
"We moved out to the Mile End and lived for a time in a great big old stone house on Mr. Jacob Wurtele's farm. It ...
December 29th, 2009
Mont Royal Ave’s first flirtation with pedestrianization
By Alanah Heffez // 17 Comments
Summer 1970: Montreal's first mall. Not the suburban kind of mall we've grown to dread, but a pedestrian shopping area in the heart of the city, on Mount Royal avenue between Chambord and Marquette.
"A substantial body of public opinion in this city firmly believes that it is urgent to relieve downtown areas of the congestion and confusion of excessively heavy motor traffic...Only radical measures can head off a paralyzing stagnation of city life brought on by an uncontrolled proliferation of cars and trucks," the Gazette editorialized in July 1970.
But no sooner had the pedestrian mall opened in October 1970, the Gazette declared it to be flawed. They criticized that buses running along Mount Royal and traffic on the cross-streets compromised the ideal of the all-pedestrian shopping experience (although the plan included public transit from the start).
The sidewalks had been widened to 25 feet on either side of the street and a single lane remained open for buses. However, cars were always trying to sneak down the bus lane and when police cracked down by handing out hundreds of tickets, it only added to the public frustration that was beginning to surround the mall.
Montage du jour : L’école Montcalm
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1899-2009
Cette école construite vers la fin du 19e siècle fut démolie dans les années 1960 afin de permettre la construction de la Place Dupuis.
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal en 1900
December 30th, 2009
Montage du jour : L’école de réforme du Mont-St-Antoine, rue Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1895-2009
Source : BANQ, Album Massicotte, 2-17-a
Photo du Jour – Métro Saint-Henri
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Maintenant que la neige et le froid m'empêchent de me promener au vélo, je redécouvre toutes les stations de métro. Mais mes sincères félicitations aux courageux et aux courageuses qui pédalent encore...
December 31st, 2009
Montage du jour : Immeuble commercial, intersection des rues Gosford et Champs-de-mars
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2009
Source : BANQ, Album Massicotte, 2-149-a
January 1st, 2010
Montage du jour : La British and Canadian school
By Guillaume St-Jean // 10 Comments
1894-2009
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 1-171a-b
January 2nd, 2010
Montage du jour : L’école pour garçons St-Patrick
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
Vers 1896-2009
Source : Musée McCord, VIEW-2967
Photo du Jour – Pic et Pelle
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Germain Bergeron's sculpture at Monk metro station, entitled Pic et Pelle, pays homage to all the construction workers who contributed to building the metro system.
The artist had originally been comissioned to creacte a piece that would commemorate those who lost their lives during the construction of the metro system. 14 workers were killed on the job between 1962 and 1967, during the construction of the original 26 stations (source: stm)
Rizzuto funeral
By Adam Bemma // No Comments
The funeral service for Nick Rizzuto Jr., son of mob boss Vito Rizzuto, at Madonna Della Difesa Church in Montreal's Little Italy this afternoon. The 42-year-old Rizzuto was shot and killed last Monday in NDG.
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• The decision by Empire Movies to close Ottawa's Orleans town centre movie theatre, an Ottawa mainstay for nearly 20 years, leaves the future of the 6-screen building in doubt. Dwight Williams examines the possibility of transforming the now defunct theatre into a ...
January 3rd, 2010
Montage du jour : L’école pour filles St-Patrick, rue St-Alexandre
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1896-2009
Fait à noter : les fenêtres sur le mur sud ont encore leur forme d'origine.
Emplacement via Google streetview
Source : Musée McCord, VIEW-2968
Bakery revival or when Chinatown’s renewal goes through the stomach
By Cédric Sam // 4 Comments
Pâtisserie La Légende 麗晶餅屋 undergoing renovations
Pâtisserie-restaurant Callia (嘉莉／麵包茶餐聽)
Side of Pâtisserie Harmonie 麵包蜜語
Whereas the Chinese "food scene" (you can hardly call it a food scene ...
January 4th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’académie du Sacré-Coeur
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2009
Cet édifice construit en 1860 se dressait autrefois sur la rue St-Alexandre entre Sainte-Catherine et René-Lévesque.
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal en 1900.
Photo du jour : bagel shop
By Cédric Sam // 9 Comments
Fairmount Bagel, sur l'Avenue Fairmount Ouest, entre Clark et St-Urbain. Alors, c'est Fairmount ou St-Viateur pour vous les bagels? Cette fois, ça aura été Fairmount pour moi. Photo prise le 28 décembre 2009.
New Year’s Resolutions
By Émile Thomas // 6 Comments
Image credits ― Filofax; CityGirlBites.com
« Les résolutions prises lors des campagnes électorales ne sont rien d'autre que l'agrandissement de celles que l'on prend au Nouvel An. »
- W.C. Fields
2009 – Was it as good for you as it was for me? Now begins the first work week of the New Year and many of you will be revisiting the tradition of making resolutions. But this year, instead of playing the same tired game of promise-making/breaking, allow me to propose 5 resolutions that actually matter ― to all Montrealers. Here’s to a healthy and prosperous new year.
January 5th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’institut ophtalmique
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1899-2009
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal en 1900
January 6th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’orphelinat catholique
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1899-2009
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal en 1900.
World Wide Wednesday: parking garages, private streets and carbon-neutral cities
By Kat Snukal // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• An ambitious plan from landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations aims to connect four distinct quadrants in the heart of downtown Cleavland to create one cohesive park. ...
January 7th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’école vétérinaire de Montréal, avenue Union
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1895-2009
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Musée McCord, VIEW-2796
January 8th, 2010
Montage du jour : La New High school
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1890-2009
Cette école construite en 1877 entre les rues Peel et Metcalfe fut détruite lors d'un incendie le 28 novembre 1890. La nouvelle école qui fut reconstruite sur le site dès l'année suivante fut remplacée en 1922 par l'hôtel Mont-Royal, édifice désormais converti en centre commercial.
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.834.1
Free parking for non-residents to end in Plateau
By Chris Erb // 42 Comments
The newly elected Projet-Montréal borough council in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal have indicated that they plan to phase out free parking spaces in favour of charging non-resident drivers for the privilege. Facing a 4 million dollar deficit with few options to increase revenue, the borough council has been experimenting with new approaches to increase revenue to make up for the budgetary shortfall caused mostly by the current economic slowdown and the near-record snowfalls of last winter. Public consultations will be held before any decisions are made.
It is expected that 3 million dollars ...
January 9th, 2010
Montage du jour : La rue Mackay depuis le boulevard René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1898-2009
Source : Musée McCord, MP-1977.76.59
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• Suffering from ill-repair and chronic under-use, the future of the Quinpool Education Center (formally Halifax's St Patrick's High School) is in doubt. Jake Schabas muses on what could be done to invigorate the building which has been a Halifax landmark since it opened ...
January 10th, 2010
Montage du jour : La maison Shaughnessy
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Vers 1900-2009
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.27.10
Photo du Jour : Buskers Unite
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
A poster seen last Tuesday in Bonaventure metro announces the Annual General Assembly of the "Regroupement des Musiciens du Metro de Montreal." The buskers' group, which has been active since September, will meet today, Jan 1oth, at 11h40 in UQAM's cafeteria.
On the agenda: getting recognition from the STM, a bowling bundraiser, auditions, and more. For more details in English or French see this closeup image of the poster.
A view from Plaza Saint Hubert
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
It maybe a little late, but happy New Year folks.
To me, the new year brings a new job, a new office on St-Hubert up near St-Zotique and, by extension, a whole new neighbourhood to explore. The view from our office window is cleanly cut in half: from the top we can see the bare branches of trees and the mixed use commercial-residential building across the street. The bottom half is metal trellis coated with a thick blur of snow on glass.
Which naturally got me wondering ...
January 11th, 2010
Montage du jour : La résidence de Mme Coate, blvd. René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1895-2009
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Musée McCord, II-110089
L’audace et son prix politique
By Devin Alfaro // 5 Comments
On se plaint souvent qu'au plan politique Montréal est otage d'un certain immobilisme. La ville est confrontée avec une foule de défis auxquels il faut faire face. On se débrouille, mais on ne brille pas. À l'ère des changements climatiques et alors que le pétrole à bon marché sera bientôt chose du passé, on a de la misère à passer à l'action pour adapter nos villes à ces nouvelles réalités. Pour chaque réussite, il y a plusieurs dossiers qui trainent pendant des années.
On reproche nos élus de manquer de vision et d'audace. Bien entendu qu'il y a une responsabilité d'action, mais il reste qu'il y a des problèmes systémiques qui encouragent nos élus à préférer le statu quo. Un example très révélateur est la réponse médiatique à certaines propositions de la nouvelle administration de mon arrondissement, le Plateau Mont-Royal. Tout récemment, des événements sont survenus qui ont fait ressortir les pressions extrêmes contre lesquelles les élus doivent faire face s'ils veulent rompre avec le business as usual.
January 12th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’hôpital Western, blvd. René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1902-2009
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Musée McCord, VIEW-2983
January 13th, 2010
Le Beautiful People de notre conseil municipal
By Émile Thomas // 3 Comments
Les gagnants du Gala annuel de Mlle Chinoise de
Montréal 2009
« La beauté ne vient pas d'un beau corps, mais de belles actions. »
- Thalès de Milet
Connaissez-vous vos élus qui géreront votre argent et défendront vos causes à la Mairie ? Peut-être faut-il ajouter cette tâche à vos bonnes résolutions.
Pour ceux qui ont toujours besoin de motivation pour se lancer dans les affaires municipales, je vous présente une liste des élus qui sont non seulement les plus intelligents et les plus dynamiques, mais aussi les plus beaux du conseil.
Effectivement, si les plaisirs de la chair ne vous font pas saliver devant la politique municipale, il nous restera peu d’autres moyens à vous faire convaincre de l'importance de la démocratie.
N.B. Il faut certes dire que tous nos élus sont bel et bien formidables, mais la concurrence était féroce et il n’y avait pas assez de médailles à distribuer à chaque personne. Néanmoins, ils sont tous des gagnants et je leur offre, comme prix de consolation, une invitation à passer une nuit chez moi (surtout pour saisir l’occasion de propager mes idées radicales sur l’urbanisme).
Montage du jour : Le Victoria medical building, avenue des Pins
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1887-2009
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Musée McCord, VIEW-1592
World Wide Wednesday: Virtual billboards, sprawling cities and the world’s tallest building
By Kat Snukal // 2 Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• An art project in Columbus, Ohio, asks residents to consider the role of parking lots in the city's development. The piece, called Audio Dwelling, consists of ...
January 14th, 2010
Photo du jour – Copernicus
By Devin Alfaro // 4 Comments
A monument to Nicolaus Copernicus, inaugurated as part of Exo '67 and installed at its present location in Chaboillez Square in 1975.
The plaque reads:
NICOLAS COPERNIC 1473 - 1543
FONDATEUR DE L'ASTRONOMIE MODERNE
* * *
ERIGE PAR LA COMMUNAUTE CANADIENNE-POLONAISE EN HONNEUR DU CENTENAIRE DE LA CONFEDERATION CANADIENNE ET DU MILLENAIRE DE LA POLOGNE CHRETIENNE
City Hall Update: 2010 Budget
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
In a special meeting of City Council today, Mayor Tremblay tabled the 2010 Budget of the City of Montreal, establishing his main priorities for the year.
Some key facts
- $ 4.298 billion in total spending (5.6% increase)
- 5.3% residential property tax increase
- 6% non-residential property tax increase
- new special tax on non-residential parking in the downtown area
- 6.2% decrease in road works spending
- $21.4 million for new bike paths between now and 2012
- $56.7 million increase in funding for the STM (17.3% increase)
- $33.4 million more for the completion of the Quartier ...
January 15th, 2010
Photo du jour – Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal
By Devin Alfaro // 12 Comments
Montreal's newest street : Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal.
January 16th, 2010
Photo du jour – St. George’s Anglican Church
By Devin Alfaro // 2 Comments
St. George's Anglican Church on Peel above de la Gauchetière Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal, in the shadow of downtown office towers.
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• Katie McKay describes the scene on a Halifax intersection as crowds gathered to watch the destruction of a city landmark: the distinctive Victorian Apartments.
• Halifax's aging CBC building may be getting an overhaul as CBC Radio Canada and the YMCA ...
Tannery Village
By Adam Bemma // No Comments
This quiet, little Saint-Henri community is still struggling to survive over 40 years after the construction of the Turcot interchange. Plans to rebuild the elevated highways in Montreal are on hold while the province of Quebec determines whether or not it should proceed with its original proposal. In the meantime, Tannery Village continues to organize and educate people about the environmental and health impact faced by their community.
January 17th, 2010
The Parking Lot Tax
By Devin Alfaro // 20 Comments
Surface parking lots in downtown Montreal.
As I mentioned in my post last week about the 2010 City of Montreal budget, one of the new measures it includes is a special tax on downtown parking spaces. Two zones of taxation are proposed. Parking lots in central neighbourhoods (defined by Atwater on the west, Papineau on the east, and des Pins on the north) will be taxed at a lower rate. Parking lots in the central business district will be taxed at a higher rate. In both cases exterior surface parking will be billed at a higher rate than indoor parking.
The charges will range from $19.80 per square metre for a surface lot in the central business district to $4.95 per square metre for an indoor lot farther out. The revenue generated from this tax will be earmarked for improving public transit, and the city expects it to make around $20 million dollars per year.
This is a measure long overdue. As the above map shows, surface parking lots take up a significant portion of the downtown area. While the situation in Montreal is not nearly as bad as in some of the Canadian Prairies cities or the US Sunbelt cities, surface parking is nevertheless very present.
January 18th, 2010
Photo du jour : Technopôle Angus
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
Édifice écologique LEED :
I suppose the only green building is no building at all.
(rue William-Tremblay coin Molson)
January 19th, 2010
Spacing Radio returns for season three!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Spacing is happy to announce the launch of Season Three of our biweekly podcast Spacing Radio.
You can listen to the episode on the Spacing Radio web site or subscribe to the podcast (free!) through iTunes.
Episode 014 kicks things off with Marc Glassman (the owner of the now-defunct Pages Books) interviewing critically acclaimed filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who discusses his decision to cast the oft-overlooked Toronto as itself in his latest film, Chloe. Will Alsop, the renowned British architect whose work (including the Ontario College of Art ...
January 20th, 2010
Photo du Jour – Guy-Concordia tunnel
By Adam Bemma // 12 Comments
A glimpse of the unfinished tunnel from Guy-Concordia metro to Concordia University's Hall and Library buildings, under Boulevard De Maisonneuve.
World Wide Wednesday: Hong Kong, Moscow and Port-au-Prince
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• Since July of last year Petaluma California has been known as "the city without planners". The decision to dissolve the official planning department in favour ...
January 23rd, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• Sidewalk sandwich boards--a creative tactic for small businesses to attract customers? A way to add vitality to city streets? Or commercial intrusion on public space? These are some of the questions being asked as Halifax's 2006 Temporary Sign By-law--a measure ...
January 25th, 2010
Building a greener city, one block at a time
By Devin Alfaro // 8 Comments
What would a green neighbourhood look like on the ground? For the past two years Éco-quartier Peter-McGill has been hard at work building a showcase project for what sustainable development on a small scale should look like. The idea behind the project, dubbed Quartier 21, is to concentrate as many small scale green projects in one spot to serve as a showcase for how we can make our cities greener.
This initiative has its origins in the Agenda 21, which was adopted at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. This is a global action plan on sustainable development, and one of its key ideas is that environmental change has to come at all levels. It has to come at the international level, with agreements such as the Kyoto Accord; but also at the local level with small-scale, everyday projects. It's in this persective that the concept of a Quartier 21 was born.
Toronto
By Émile Thomas // 34 Comments
Image credits ― Mamonello
« Laissons Toronto devenir Milan, Montréal sera toujours Rome. »
- Jean Drapeau
Tonight, l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, under the direction of Kent Nagano, will be performing at Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall in what is a standard art share between the two cities. However, a recent conversation I had at a vernissage had me exploring the deeper meaning of this cultural exchange. Both a classical arts fanatic and native Montrealer, my interlocutor gushed unapologetically about how cool it would be to play in Toronto ― a ...
January 27th, 2010
City Hall Update: Budget Adopted
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
This Monday the Montreal City Council met for its annual marathon budget meeting. Concillors were convened at 9:30 on Monday morning and it wasn't until midnight that the Budget was finally put to the vote. As predicted, the committee process resulted in no changes to the proposed budget. Throughout the course of the meeting opposition councillors presented various amendments which were all rejected by the majority pro-Tremblay council. In the end, it was approved with 38 votes for and 22 against.
All of this occured more or less as expected. Tremblay ...
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Berger et Charlotte
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
2003-2010
Ces édifices furent ravagés par un incendie le 13 février 2003.
Source : © Denis Chabot, Le monde en images, CCDMD, 26515
World Wide Wednesday: Portland, Detroit and Port-au-Prince
By Kat Snukal // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - ...
January 28th, 2010
Orange Julep an Oldie and a Goodie
By Alanah Heffez // 26 Comments
"I don't know" I said aloud as I perused the fast food menu. "Orange drink is usually gross, and it's kind of expensive too..."
"Oh its worth it," the counter-girl piped up immediately. "Our Julep is made from fresh-squeezed oranges and our secret ingredient. It's a family recipe that goes back to 1932."
As much as "secret ingredient" fails to inspire confidence, the counter girl's enthusiasm was itself refreshing. There was no doubt that she had complete faith in her product, and so I consented to a glass of ...
January 30th, 2010
The Lower Main’s Last Stand
By Alanah Heffez // 17 Comments
This January, the Société de Développement Angus acquired two properties on Saint-Laurent and Ste-Catherine: Main Importing Grocery and building that housed Club Opera. (According to Radio Canada, it was the Montreal Pool Room rather than Club Opera that was sold. However if so it is not yet public and the city told me that this sale is supposed to be finalized in February.)
And so the only lights left on the block are from Café Cleopatra's signs, advertising danseuses, ...
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• As Ottawa gets closer to breaking ground on a subway system, Spacing's Alain Miguelez discovers that plans for underground transit have been on the table, in some form or other, since 1915. Miguelez takes us through over 100 years of ...
February 1st, 2010
Addendum: Café Cleo’s John Zoumboulakis
By Alanah Heffez // 22 Comments
On Saturday I wrote about Café Cleopatra's last stand on the lower Main. After refusing to sell his property to the Société de Développement Angus, the owner, John Zoumboulakis, is being threatened with expropriation to make way for the Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent.
I was finally able to reach the showbusiness-man past midnight on Sunday in order to get his perspective of the story.
For Zoumboulakis, Café Cleopatra is the last vestige of a long tradition of wild nights on the Main. "This is a historic part of our city. ...
February 3rd, 2010
Qu’est-ce qu’un boulevard urbain ?
By Émile Thomas // 12 Comments
Qu’est-ce qu’un boulevard urbain ?
Notre-Dame. Bonaventure. Côte-de-Liesse. Décarie. Du Souvenir.
Tout le monde est fou des boulevards urbains.
Nous rêvons de les inviter au resto.
Nous souhaitons leur offrir un verre
Nous voulons qu’ils nous disent des obscénités pendant l’amour.
Mais est-ce que nous les connaissons vraiment ?
Connaissez-vous leurs histoires ? Leurs comportements ? Leurs relations précédentes ?
Pourriez-vous décrire leurs visages ? Leurs parfums ? Leurs styles de vie ?
Aujourd'hui, il faut poser une simple question :
Qu’est-ce qu’un boulevard urbain ?
Est-il une route verte ...
Montage du jour : La basilique Notre-Dame
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
Vers 1899-2009
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle.
World Wide Wednesday: Moscow, Vancouver and America’s high-speed rail
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• A big transit news week as the Obama administration announced the benefactors of the $8 billion investment in high-speed rail. Time Magazine ran an in-depth piece on ...
February 4th, 2010
Coups de Coeurs: Les hymns Québec Montréal
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Best. Reality TV Show. Ever.
Not that it's a very high bar. But since the masses have proven we're ready to get riled up by any possible televised competition, from dancing to worm-eating, why not inject a little home-town pride into the contest?
La Série Montréal Québec pits Montrealers against our most despised rivals, Quebec city, in our proudest battle-ring: the hockey rink. Guy Carbonneau coaches the Montreal team, which consists ...
February 6th, 2010
L’incendie du couvent des franciscains, blvd. René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
La chapelle le 8 juin 2009
La chapelle le 6 février 2010
Construite entre 1893 et 1901, la chapelle du couvent des franciscains située sur le boulevard René-Lévesque et qui était fermée depuis 1997 fut détruite lors d'un violent incendie s'étant déclaré vers 5 heures du matin en date du samedi 6 février 2010.
Bien que sa perte soit tout de même déplorable, notez que l'intérieur était désormais passablement dégarni et qu'aucun objet ou oeuvre d'art n'a ainsi été réduit en ...
February 7th, 2010
Montage du jour : La chapelle des franciscains
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
2009-2010
February 8th, 2010
Photo du jour : Les ruines du couvent des franciscains
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Montage du jour : La chapelle des franciscains
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
2009-2010
L'endroit tel qu'il apparaît désormais suite à la démolition partielle de l'ensemble conventuel.
February 9th, 2010
Ceci n’est pas un arbre
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
« Le sot ne voit pas le même arbre que le sage. »
- William Blake
Il va sans dire que l’arbre occupe une place importante au Canada. Les forêts boréales qui couvrent 35 % du pays et qui s’étendent de Terre-Neuve jusqu’au Yukon constituent la plus grande forêt contigüe au monde.
Les arbres sont enracinés dans notre culture commune et notre histoire naturelle. À la base, nous ne sommes que des bûcherons, des draveurs, et des coureurs des ...
Photo du jour : Ben’s replacement
By Chris Erb // 35 Comments
Construction is underway on a new hotel and restaurant where Ben's deli once sat.
Photo taken January 27, 2010.
February 10th, 2010
Public art & public space seminar next week
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Click on poster for higher resolution
Next week, the Urban Planning Association at Concordia University will be hosting a seminar focusing on public art and public space with Sara Wookey and Karen Spencer.
Sara Wookey is a performance artist based out of LA. She will be speaking about her performance and media-based project BEING PEDESTRIAN where she created various interventions while walking the city (a pretty unusual act in itself for LA). The second speaker, Karen Spencer is a Montreal-based artist and writer who focuses on the fleeting moments experienced in the city. ...
February 11th, 2010
City Hall Update: Campaign Expenses
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
Yesterday the 2009 municipal campaign expense reports were made public by the DGEQ. Here are the total expenses of the three main Montreal parties:
- Union Montréal: $1.5 million
- Vision Montréal: $1.4 million
- Projet Montréal: $245,000
When one compares with amount of money spent with the amount of votes received for each party's mayoral candidate, here's the dollar per vote breakdown:
- Union Montréal: $9.35 per vote
- Vision Montréal: $10 per vote
- Projet Montréal: $2.30 per vote
What is most noticeable is the huge difference between Projet Montréal and the two larger parties. ...
February 12th, 2010
Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive c. Québec, la STM, et les pneumatiques
By Émile Thomas // 29 Comments
Maybe we could learn a lesson from Sesame Street.
« ZELC ne peut exiger que la STM redéfinisse ses besoins et ceux de ses utilisateurs, change le produit qu’elle exploite avec succès depuis 40 ans (...) et qu’elle modifie radicalement ses spécifications techniques. »
- Guy Du Pont (from Rue Frontenac's Michel Van de Walle)
In the gospel according to Émile, there is a parable about a man from Galilee – ...
February 13th, 2010
Photo du jour – Après le match
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
La plate-forme du métro Lucien l'Allier débordait après un match d'hockey le 11 février. Mais les fans sortant du Centre Bell étaient blasés malgré le fait que les Habs venaient de battre la première équipe dans la ligue, les Washington Capitols. Ce soir, ils rejoueront contre Philadelphia.
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• An iPhone app developed by a Ottawa local Derek Gour, has become “the fastest and most convenient method to check bus schedules in Ottawa”. Spacing Ottawa conducted ...
Mile End Memories
By Adam Bemma // 1 Comment
Mile End Memories is a non-profit organization in Montreal raising awareness about the area's unique cultural heritage and history. Architect Susan Bronson is a long-time resident and founding member of Mile End Memories.
February 14th, 2010
SDA Backpedals on Lower Main Redevelopments
By Alanah Heffez // 25 Comments
Breaking News: The three new buildings proposed by Société Dévelopment Angus on Boulevard Saint-Laurent will be smaller and longer in coming than originally planned, Le Devoir reported yesterday.
2-22 Sainte-Catherine, the anchor building for arts organizations in the Quartier des Spectacles has shrunk from a 12-story flashy glass-fronted design, to a 5-story brick structure which promises to be more in harmony with the local architecture. Unsurprisingly, the artists for whom this project was conceived would not have been able to afford space in the building. Since this redesign actually fits within the area's urban plan, no further public consultations ...
February 16th, 2010
Montage du jour : La chapelle du couvent des franciscains
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1976-2010
Voici 2 vues intérieure de la chapelle des franciscains qui fut détruite par le feu le 6 février 2010. La première représente l'endroit tel qu'il était en 1976 lors de l'inventaire des biens culturels tandis que la seconde fut prise en janvier 2010, soit quelques semaines avant l'incendie.
D'autres montages disponibles ici et ici.
Source : Ministère de la culture
February 17th, 2010
Quelques observations sur le Plateau Mont-Royal
By Joel Thibert // 10 Comments
[caption id="attachment_5920" align="alignnone" width="493" caption="Un exemple de la mixité de la forme urbaine du Plateau Mont-Royal"][/caption]
Il est de bon ton sur les ondes des radios-poubelles (ou "de droite" comme certains préfèrent les appeler) et dans la blogosphère (y compris dans les commentaires de Spacing Montreal) de dépeindre le Plateau Mont-Royal et ceux qui y habitent comme en des termes peu flatteurs. On dira par exemple des résidents du Plateau (qu'on désigne souvent comme "la clique du Plateau") qu'ils sont snobs, chauvins, bobos, gaugauches ou – en bon québécois – « qu'ils pètent plus haut ...
Montage du jour : L’école Sainte-Cunégonde
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2010
Cette école fut construite vers 1887 à l'intersection des rues Vinet et Duvernay.
Emplacement via : Google streeview
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle.
February 18th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’église St-Jacques
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
1975-2009
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM94, Uc-1348-93
Montreal Metropolitan Area: more sprawl, more transit
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
Being a big transportation nerd, I was pretty pumped up to learn that the AMT has finally released the results of the transportation survey they did back in 2008, or at least what they consider the highlights of the results. Here's a few things that caught my eye...
In 2008, the Montreal Metropolitan Area grew. That is, the territory included in the AMT study expanded by a third (about 2700 square kms) to include places like Ste-Adèle and Morin Heights. I believe that, to qualify for AMT scrutiny, a certain proportion of residents must work in Montreal, although the report ...
February 19th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’académie St-Joseph
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2010
L'académie St-Joseph, une institution fondée en 1836 par les sulpiciens, s'installa en 1869 dans cette résidence jumelée de la rue Notre-Dame afin de la transformer en école.
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle.
Longevity in municipal politics
By Devin Alfaro // 11 Comments
Unlike most cities in North America, Montreal's municipal politics are organized around formal political parties. One effect that this has is to greatly increase turnover rates on City Council.
In many cities politics are dominated by the same faces for decades. The more established a councillor, the more likely credible challengers will wait for them to retire before running. They generally face token opposition or are sometimes even acclaimed. As a result, incumbent councillors more or less have their districts as personal fiefdoms.
In Montreal this doesn't happen. The fact that we have parties running full slates means that there are never any acclamations and that sitting councillors are always challenged. Moreover, as the fortunes of their political party rise and fall even well established councillors get knocked down. Every few election cycles a party will win an lopsided victory that more or less wipes the slate clean.
In 1986 the Montreal Citizens Movement won 55 out of 58 council seats. In 1995 Pierre Bourque and Vision Montreal won a landslide victory, as did Tremblay and Union Montreal in 2005. To a lesser extent, the rise of Projet Montreal in the last election also brought about the defeat of many council veterans in the central city neighbourhoods. Few councillors manage to survive these sweeps, but a select handfull have.
So who wins the title of longest serving city councillor? Depending how you look at it, there are two winners.
Lower Main
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing Montreal has been following plans to revitalize Lower Saint-Laurent within the Quartier des Spectacles. Here's an overview of the story's development over the past 2 years:
January 2008 - First stirrings of changes in store for the Lower Main
http://spacingmontreal.ca/2008/01/29/big-changes-in-store-for-the-lower-main/
January 2008 - Cultural space to be built on Saint-Laurent metro
http://spacingmontreal.ca/2008/01/27/cultural-space-to-be-built-on-saint-laurent-metro/
May 2009 - Lower Main may be razed...again (history of the street and buildings facing redevelopment)
http://spacingmontreal.ca/2009/05/07/lower-main-may-be-razedagain/
May 2009 - 2-22 Sainte-Catherine: a look at the plans for the QDS' "vitrine culturelle"
http://spacingmontreal.ca/2009/05/27/2-22-ste-catherine-a-whole-new-street/
May 2009 - SDA's plans for the Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent
http://spacingmontreal.ca/2009/05/29/the-latest-on-the-lower-main/
August 2009 - Public Consultation Office recommends that the Quadrilatère ...
February 20th, 2010
Montage du jour : Le Mont Sainte-Marie
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2010
«Assis sur un plateau entouré de sapins et d'érables qui grandissent chaque année, le Mont Sainte-Marie emprunte à son site comme un air de grandeur. Il voit la ville à ses pieds ; s'il en entend le bruit, il n'est pas troublé. De riches villas l'environnent, mais il reste isolé au milieu du monde. À l'apercevoir de loin, avec sa superbe colonnade, on dirait un temple grec dans un bois sacré.» Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle.
Situé à l'intersection du ...
Spacing Saturday
By Spacing // No Comments
Every Saturday, we highlight recent posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
• Jenn Casey examines the details of the recently approved five-year Metro Transit plan for downtown Halifax, including provisions for increased service to outlying areas, a streamlining of bus coverage in the core, and a year-round downtown shuttle.
• The Shannon Park military barracks in Dartmouth is a dilapidated eyesore with huge potential — as a new-thinking, sustainable neighbourhood, land for the the ...
February 24th, 2010
Le dossier de TGV : la mobilité n’a aucun prix
By Émile Thomas // 18 Comments
« Tout le monde peut innover, si sa vie en dépend. »
- Akio Morita
Récemment, le journal gratuit Métro Montréal 24 Heures a demandé aux citoyens si un train à grande vitesse Montréal-New York serait rentable.
Cher 24 Heures, vous leur avez posé une drôle de question. Vous devez leur demander :
Pourquoi faut-il parler de la rentabilité d’un projet de mobilité ?
La mobilité n’a aucun prix.
Demandons-nous que nos rues soient rentables ?
Demandons-nous que nos hôpitaux ...
World Wide Wednesday: Vancouver, Lisboa, and Shanghai
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games will eventually end. The athletes and spectators will go home but the infrastructure built to accommodate them will remain. Fastcompany looks at the built-form ...
February 25th, 2010
Natural Paths
By Spacing // 21 Comments
This post is a special submission from Daniel Rotsztain, a student of Urban Geography at McGill University.
When walking through Montreal, we cannot deny the usefulness of the shortcut. Shortcuts that are used frequently by many people show us the lovely chaos that ensues when urban design fails to consider our pedestrian needs. Many pedestrians share one goal: to get between two points in the city as fast as possible. Ideally, urban planners would design paths that meet our needs perfectly: major routes that bring the maximum number of people to the places they want to go.
Fortunately, the ideal of perfect planning is rarely a reality. Each of us has a separate orientation toward the city, a separate idea of what routes are important, and a different concept of effective and efficient negotiations of the urban space and, ideally, the urban fabric is fluid enough to accommodate that. A simple example is the natural path that forms at many street corners. Cutting a corner makes your walk only slightly faster yet, inevitably, sidewalks at 90 degree angles are happily traded for a quicker trod through the soil.
Living in a wintery city gives Montrealers a unique perspective on the natural path phenomenon. Once the snow arrives, our mobility through large open spaces is considerably hindered. Every winter in Park Jeanne-Mance, the city ploughs paths that trace the perimeter of the park, the slowest route for someone who wants to walk across. Having to walk through the park daily, I’ve found that shortcuts through the snow appear every winter in the same place. A path that initially manifests as a narrow track of boot prints, meandering past trees and picnic tables, slowly evolves to become wide and navigable.
February 27th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Every Saturday, we highlight recent posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
• [Re]Presenting Halifax, an ongoing series on Spacing Atlantic deconstructs "historical and contemporary maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of the Halifax region" to see what they reveal about the city's past, present and future. This week the Matt Neville takes on a 1957 report entitled A Redevelopment Study of Halifax, that called for sweeping slum clearance in the name of urban renewal and ...
March 1st, 2010
Upcoming event: Greening the Plateau
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
Here is an upcoming event that could be of interest to Spacing readers who are residents of the Plateau Mont-Royal borough.
This Wednesday at 7pm, the local association of Projet Montréal will be hosting a community forum on Greening the Plateau. The event will take place at the House of Friendship, 120 Duluth East, and it is organized in collaboration with the following associations:
Greening Duluth
The Montreal Urban Ecology Centre
The Mile End Citizens Committee
Car Free Mile End
The Eco-Quartier Jeanne-Mance
Santropol Roulant and the Rooftop ...
March 2nd, 2010
Montage du jour : La Catholic High school
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2010
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle
1909-2010
Source : BANQ, albums Massicotte, 2-241-c
Cette école fut construite en 1898 à l'intersection des rues de la Gauchetière et Sainte-Geneviève (aujourd'hui University).
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Bonaventure Project (update)
By Adam Bemma // 4 Comments
At the end of March, the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) plans to release it's report and recommendations from the Quartier Bonaventure consultation meetings in January. During this public consultation process, citizens voiced concern over the proposal to build a bus corridor on Rue Dalhousie in Griffintown.
In this video I speak with Sami Hakim, an engineer and Griffintown property owner, as well as David Hanna, an urban planning professor at UQAM, who has studied this project ...
March 3rd, 2010
World Wide Wedneday: Los Angeles, Denver and Mumbai
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• In 2004, the City if Denver committed $4.7 billion to an ambitious transit project called FasTracks, to be completed by 2017. Supported by thirty-two regional mayors, FasTacks included provisions ...
March 4th, 2010
Montage du jour : Le pensionnat Sainte-Angèle
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2010
Cette école destinée à l'éducation des jeunes filles fut construite en 1888 à l'intersections des rues St-Antoine et Vinet.
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle.
March 5th, 2010
Montage du jour : Intersection de la rue Notre-Dame et du boulevard St-Laurent
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1910-2010
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 3-130-b
Réimaginons la rue St-Viateur, part 1 : Observations
By Émile Thomas // 10 Comments
Le citoyen est le peintre de la vie urbaine et la rue est sa toile. Contrairement à d’autres quartiers de Montréal, le Mile-End ne se dessine pas par touches lourdes d’urbanistes-fonctionnaires. En effet, les aménagements subtils de ce quartier demeurent des exemples d’un bon urbanisme qui permet d’adapter l’habitat urbain aux besoins d’êtres humains.
La rue Bernard a été réaménagée — 2009 a marqué la fin de travaux de plusieurs années, dont l’augmentation de l’espace piétonnier, la plantation d’arbres, et la diminution de la largeur de voie. Bien que ces aménagements soient un succès, ils risquent d’être trop subtils. Peut-être la Ville devrait-elle concevoir un projet qui convient à une métropole. Voir grand, faire grand : si la Ville de New York pouvait transformer un de ses axes principaux à une véritable oasis piétonnière, nous pouvons faire de même à Montréal.
Que faut-il donc faire ?
Questionner, analyser, et comprendre la rue. De quels atouts dispose-t-elle ? De quels problèmes souffre-t-elle ? J’ai décidé, avec mes collègues multinationaux, de poser ces questions pour la rue St-Viateur entre avenue du Parc et boulevard St-Laurent. Ce secteur est considéré comme le cœur du quartier, avec ses cafés sympathiques, ses magasins branchés, et ses accueils artistiques. Les réaménagements de cette rue s’avéraient plus subtils que ceux de la rue Bernard ; les curb extensions ne sont marquées que par quelques lignes de peinture. Le tronçon à l'est du boulevard St-Laurent fait partie d'un projet de requalification. Quelques associations favorisent un Mile-End sans voitures. La Ville, aurait-elle pu en faire davantage ?
Pour cette série de billets, je vous proposerai 3 options pour la rue ; 3 options basées sur nos observations générales et nos interactions sociales avec les citoyens du quartier.
Que pensent-ils, les citoyens, de leur rue ?
La forme d’un être Mile-Endois varie – le résident, le visiteur, le travailleur. Bien qu’ils énoncent des opinions différentes, un certain consensus s’établit : ils aiment la rue St-Viateur. Ils apprécient son ambiance plaisante, ses commerces à proximité, et ses gens sympathiques.
Voici leurs opinions sur leur rue :
March 6th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• Spacing Ottawa’s Evan Thornton recently brought along his omni-directional microphone on a walk through the city’s Byward Market and Rideau Centre. Check out Spacing Ottawa for Thornton’s detailed description of the “audio footprints” he captured and to listen to the city’s soundscape.
• Spacing’s Evan Thoronton ...
March 8th, 2010
Photo du jour : Quel patrimoine ?
By Émile Thomas // 19 Comments
et si l'on remplaçait ce Dairy Queen par des condos et un Starbucks . . . ?
au coin du Parc et Bérubé au Mile-End
March 9th, 2010
Réimaginons la rue St-Viateur, part 2 : Le touch-up
By Émile Thomas // 6 Comments
« Avec une voix forte dans la gorge, on est presque incapable de penser des choses subtiles. »
- Friedrich Nietzsche
La transformation de la rue Bernard constitue une réussite en ce qui concerne les projets de réaménagements réalisés à Montréal. Le quartier est devenu un endroit plus accueillant aux citoyens. Il ne s’agissait pas d’un simple élargissement des trottoirs. Non : la Ville a apprécié les subtilités de cette rue pour encourager son intégration avec le domaine public. Le trottoir qui joue maintenant le rôle de place publique. La chaussée qui s’élève au même niveau des piétons aux carrefours. Les « parcelles de terre » devant les immeubles qui permettent aux commerçants de cultiver leur propre « jardin urbain ». L’éclairage qui est installé à deux échelles — humaine et véhiculaire.
C’est les petites choses qui font une grande ville. Inspiré par cet esprit, je vous propose le premier scénario de réaménagement de la rue St-Viateur : le touch-up.
March 10th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Exit signs, China’s golf obessesion and the decade’s most expensive transit projects
By Kat Snukal // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• Planning a bike trip using Google Maps is about to get much easier as the company is set to launch a new bike trip planner service in 150 US ...
March 11th, 2010
Designing streets as public spaces in Northern climate cities
By Émile Thomas // 6 Comments
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Video provided by the Centre d'écologie urbaine de Montréal - Disponible en traduction simultanée en français.
Is it possible to plan people-centric streets and friendly urban environments in Northern cities that face rough winters?
The answer is a resounding YES ― at least, according to the Danes. Like their ...
March 13th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Every Saturday, we highlight recent posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
• Spacing Ottawa looks at the history and the potential future of the city's Parkdale Avenue:"a fume-filled arterial road functioning as an on-ramp to the busiest stretch of expressway in Eastern Ontario". Recent community consultations have resulted in comprehensive planning recommendations that, if adopted, would significantly alter the Parkdale Avenue of today.
• In the second post in Spacing Ottawa's ongoing "CityVotes2010" ...
STM to finally launch airport bus service
By Chris Erb // 14 Comments
On March 29, the STM will launch the 747 "Express Bus" which will shuttle travellers and airport employees between downtown Montreal and the airport. For anyone who has ever tried to take the bus to the airport, this is more than welcome news. Currently, one must take a ridiculously convoluted route to make the simple and more than common trip from Montreal to Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport in Dorval. It consists of taking the Metro to Lionel-Groulx, catching the almost-always crowded 211 bus to the Dorval train station then transferring to the 204, ...
March 15th, 2010
Urban cottages
By Devin Alfaro // 15 Comments
Country-style house on Berri near Boucher, in the Plateau.
As time passes cities' built environments change with the arrival of new technologies, new uses of space, new means of transportation, and new architectural styles. While the general faces of cities and neighbourhoods evolve, little bits of the past survive and remain as reminders of what things were once like.
Most of central Montreal is densely built, but here and there one can still find hold-outs from a different era in the form of cottages and single family houses smack dab in the middle of highly urban neighbourhoods.
Many of these buildings are remnants of former farming and mining villages that were scattered accross the Island of Montreal back when the the City of Montreal extended just barely past the Old Port. One such village was Coteau-Saint-Louis which was located in the area just north of the modern day Laurier Metro station. The village was founded in the middle of the 1800s and was engulfed by the expanding city around 1900. To this day one can find in this corner of the city little cottages with peaked roofs and porches that would look more at place in a small farming town than in the middle of Montreal.
March 16th, 2010
Photo du jour: Saint-Viateur Est
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
Industrial buildings in Mile End on De Gaspé, seen from Saint-Viateur Est.
Réimaginons la rue St-Viateur, part 3 : Le féru de vélo
By Émile Thomas // 12 Comments
« La vie, c'est comme une bicyclette, il faut avancer pour ne pas perdre l'équilibre. »
- Albert Einstein
London, Paris, New York, Vancouver. Le monde est retombé amoureux de la petite reine. Enfin ! Les humains grossissent, le smog s’épaissit, et la Terre ne peut plus supporter notre coup de cœur pour l’automobile.
Il faut applaudir les tentatives récentes d’augmenter la présence du vélo à Montréal : un réseau croissant de piste cyclable 560 km de pistes cyclables – 800 km envisagés en 2013 ; un système révolutionnaire de vélo-partage. Montréal se veut bike-friendly.
Cette semaine, je reprends tous les éléments du premier scénario pour créer une rue qui met le vélo en premier. Je vous propose : le féru de vélo.
A small victory for the Southwest: Turcot plans modified
By Jacob Larsen // 5 Comments
Modified based on an MTQ image - additions not to scale
This past weekend, the MTQ quietly broke the news to Radio-Canada and CBC News that the plan for the Turcot Interchange would be modified in response to some of the complaints made during the province’s environmental hearings (BAPE) last spring.
The winners of this announcement are the residents of rue Cazelais in the part of St. Henri known as ‘les Tanneries’, where 60 dwellings will be saved from the ...
March 17th, 2010
Photo du jour: Je suis quelqu’un
By Devin Alfaro // 2 Comments
Grafitti seen at the corner of Berri and Lagarde in the Plateau.
Montage du jour : La chapelle de l’ancien couvent des soeurs de la Miséricorde, blvd. René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1910-2010
Étant considéré comme dangereux par la direction du CSSS Jacques-Viger, ce pavillon est désormais vacant et attends une nouvelle vocation.
Voyez plus de photos de la chapelle ici.
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.819.1
March 18th, 2010
Photo du jour: Public housing; public art
By Devin Alfaro // 5 Comments
A mural in Villeray on the side of Les Habitations Saint-Georges, a public housing complex for the elderly. Created by Dominique Desbiens of MU Art in 2008. Entitled : "La 6e sphère de la culture".
Artists in the Canadian urban fabric
By Spacing // 3 Comments
By Marcus Bowman, cross-posted from Spacing Toronto
An unprecedented collaborative report mapping the concentration of artists in Canadian cities was released last month. The study was a result of the collective effort of the cultural departments of the cities of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Published by Hill Strategies, and based on data from the 2006 census, the report paints a fascinating picture into the make-up of Canada's artistic and creative communities.
Each city has its own trends in the way its artistic and creative communities have located. Vancouver had the highest overall percent of artists at 2.3% but has its artistic community spread widely throughout the city. Toronto has by far the largest artistic community; it is home to one in six Canadian artists. Toronto has also seen its artistic neighbourhoods shift slightly since to 2001 to different areas of concentration. Montreal has perhaps the most densely located artistic community and is home to three of the country's top five artistic employment postal codes. The Montreal neighbourhood of the H2T postal code (northward from avenue du Mont-Royal to avenue Van Horne between St-Denis and Jeanne-Mance) is the most artistic in Canada with artists accounting for 7.8% of its workers, ten times the national average. Ottawa and Calgary have artist concentrations closer to the national average, interestingly they also both have the largest income gaps between artists and the rest of the workforce and the largest percent of female artists. Maps of these trends are shown below.
March 19th, 2010
Photo du jour : Time for some spring cleaning
By Émile Thomas // 7 Comments
Un printemps sur le campus de l'Université de Montréal.
Au coin du boulevard Édouard-Montpetit et de l'avenue Louis-Colin
Flexible bike paths: Lessons from a mild winter
By Spacing // 6 Comments
This post is a special submission from Daniel Rotsztain, a student of Urban Geography at McGill University. Also see his previous post on Spacing Montreal entitled Natural Paths.
With just a light dusting of snow this January and February, our ability to rationally negotiate Montreal’s bike paths seems to be completely paralyzed. While I acknowledge that some bike paths become legally void during the winter months, this year an absence of snowbanks that typically deter winter cycling has meant that an onslaught of cyclists have hit the ...
March 20th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Every Saturday, we highlight recent posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
• The opening of the The Halifax Urban Greenway's (HUG), first path has been bittersweet for the city's cyclist community . As Spacing's Mark Lasanowski explains, while cyclists have been campaigning for the new multi-modal path for nearly a decade, the presence of signs stating that “cyclists are required to dismount at all intersections" makes it an impractical options for many riders.
• ...
Photo du jour: Row houses
By Devin Alfaro // 11 Comments
Victorian row houses on Tupper Street, in Shaughnessy Village.
March 22nd, 2010
Réimaginons la rue St-Viateur, part 4 : La mixité
By Émile Thomas // 2 Comments
Promeneur, pédaleur, conducteur, ensemble dans le même espace à Brighton UK. Image credits ― De Facto
« On ne jouit bien que de ce qu'on partage. »
- Madame de Genlis
Plus que deux tiers de notre habitat urbain sont consacrés aux infrastructures routières. En effet, les rues sont les espaces publics les plus nombreux et les plus accessibles d’une ville. C’est dans cet espace où la grande partie des échanges humains se font. Dommage que nous octroyions tout cet espace à l’être motorisé (la voiture) et non à l’être humain.
Le troisième scénario de cette série tire son inspiration du concept de Shared Space, « l’espace partagé », afin de corriger l’injustice de la division inégale de l'usage de l'espace. Dans ce cas, le but est de rendre les rues à ses vrais propriétaires : nous. Cette révolution a d’abord éclaté aux Pays-Bas, en Grande-Bretagne et en Allemagne ; c’est maintenant que Montréal doit y participer.
Webcams for democracy
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
« Le peuple n'a jamais eu autant de pouvoir que sur Internet. »
- Valentin Lacambre
De la Ville de Montréal :
Dans un esprit de plus grande transparence et dans le but de permettre aux citoyennes et citoyens de se rapprocher de leurs institutions démocratiques, l'administration montréalaise est heureuse d'annoncer que le prochain conseil municipal du 22 mars 2010 sera diffusé en direct sur Internet. Ce nouveau mode de diffusion offre l'avantage de rejoindre les personnes qui n'ont pas la possibilité de se déplacer pour assister à la séance à l'hôtel de ville.
« La diffusion ...
March 23rd, 2010
Photo du jour : Please do not feed the animals
By Émile Thomas // 12 Comments
This little bugger tried to steal my lunch at Métro Côte-des-Neiges.
City Hall Update: Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles by-election
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
A by-election has been called for June 6 in order to elect a new borough mayor for Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles following the resignation of Union Montréal's Joe Magri. After serving four years as a Rivière-des-Prairies city councillor, Magri had just been elected borough mayor last November.
He announced early this month that he would be stepping down for health reasons, effective March 12th. It had previously been reported that he had been hospitalised after suffering a partial paralysis. Deputy mayor Suzanne Décarie of Vision ...
March 24th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Paris, Copenhagen and Seattle
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• The recent addition of couches and floor lamps to Metro platforms has made commuting in Paris a lot more comfortable. Part of a Paris-wide IKEA ad campaign, stations around ...
A Bike Path Set in Stone
By Alanah Heffez // 40 Comments
A bike path set in stone in the heart of Montreal is a lovely metaphor, but I just have one question...
Is this for real?
Fortunately, I have a friend who was involved in planning this particular strip of bike path, so I can ask him straight up.
And he says yes, really, From Bleury to Saint-Urbain street, this pretty strip of paving stones is gonna be our bike path.
But it's bumpy to begin with, and I can only imaging it ...
March 25th, 2010
Photo du jour : Rue/Boulevard/Autoroute Notre-Dame
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
Quatre projets depuis 2001 : à quand une ferme décision sur l’avenir de ce corridor controversé ?
La rue Notre-Dame à partir du viaduc de la rue Ste-Catherine à Hochelaga
Montreal Pool Room to Cross the Street
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Despite the recent backpeddling by the Société de Développement Angus, the Montreal Pool Room building was sold March 3rd. One certainly can't blame the owners for accepting a cool million (three times the building's last valuation) and moving shop across the street.
The old Montreal Pool Room building was constructed in 1889, shortly before the Monument National, and was originally used as a hardware store. It has housed the hot dog joint since at last 1924.
sources: Registre ...
March 26th, 2010
Photo du jour : Spring forth to the sugar shack
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
Université de Montréal students can always find time to indulge in a true (and tasty) Québécois tradition.
Sur le campus de l'Université de Montréal, Pavillon de la Faculté d'aménagment, au coin de l'avenue de Darlington et Côte-Ste-Catherine.
Sustainable Development for a Change
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Downtown Montreal looks like so many Tonka trucks in a sandbox at the moment that it's hard to tell who's shoveling which dirt into what sandcastles. But, at least one of those construction crews is building something to cheer about, and that's the Maison du développement durable on the South-West corner of Clark and Sainte-Catherine
The idea of a constructing a "green" office space has been floating around Equiterre's offices at least since I interned with their ecological transportation department in 2006. They ...
March 27th, 2010
Photo du Jour: Darling Decor
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Outside the Darling Foundry on Prince Street.
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• In light of Ottawa's upcoming municipal election, Vicky Smallman looks to other cities for strategies on how to shake Ottawa out of its "electoral complacency". Looking at Borough Councils in Montreal to proportional representation in Cambridge to term limits in Philadelphia Smallman argues ...
Habiter Montréal
By Alanah Heffez // 16 Comments
Mon meilleur ami quitte Montréal.
Je sais qu'il n'est qu'une goute dans le flot de résidents de cette ville qui s’écoulera vers les luxuriants paysages d’ailleurs. L’école, le travail, l’amour : ces raisons sont souvent invoqués pour justifier l’abandon de son chez soi. En effet, qui, en ces jours de déplacements rapides, de communications instantanées, du tout-est-possible, voudrait se contraindre à un simple lieu?
Pourtant, moi j'ai décidé d'habiter Montréal.
C’était inconscient au début, c’était chez moi bien avant que j’aie saisi que le monde s’étend au-delà de cette île.
Puis, comme un ...
March 29th, 2010
Photo du jour: Bay Window
By Devin Alfaro // 2 Comments
Bay Oriel window at the corner of Seymour and Tupper, in Shaughnessy Village.
March 30th, 2010
Spacing Radio 019 is on the air
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
The new episode of Spacing Radio continues with our look at the Rules of the city (to complement the release of our new magazine issue) as producer Mieke Anderson examines the arcane permit process in Toronto. Reporter Sarah Bridge sits down with internationally renown architect Jack Diamond to discuss the success and failures of renovating Toronto's Union Station. And Montreal correspondent Adam Bemma explores the Berri Square (see series of posts on SpacingMontreal.ca), one of the city's most socially ...
March 31st, 2010
Réimaginons la rue St-Viateur, part 5 : Un appel lancé
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
« 6 000 miles of streets which are really the front yards and the front doors where New Yorkers come out to play. »
- Janette Sadik-Khan
And they came from all walks of life, espoused all points of view, yet remained united for one cause.
They had grown tired of watching their street, their home, their front and back yard, be taken over by cars, trucks, noise, and pollution.
They were going to put an end to it, starting today.
This is what brought them together:
A café citoyen, sponsored by Car Free Mile-End and the Comité des citoyens du Mile-End; their thoughts on Saint-Viateur shared in the crowded back room of a local café.
Markets and festivals and woonerf (gesundheit!):
The crowd cast anxious glances amongst themselves, towards the presenters and through the giant panes of glass separating them from the object of their affection.
Anxious, because they know Saint-Viateur’s time is now.
« Why are we having this meeting inside here », someone exclaimed. « We should be having it outside on the street; on OUR street. »
« Amen », said the older gentlemen beside me. Amen indeed.
For the past 4 weeks, I have been reimagining Saint-Viateur and trying to see what can be done to make just one street a little better for its people.
Yes, I know:
There are so many other streets in Montréal that are actually in dire straits. If only they could be more like Saint-Viateur.
So why spend 4 weeks talking about some hipper-than-thou hangout in the Mile-End?
Because Saint-Viateur is lucky.
Lucky because it is small enough that any changes to the streetscape would avoid attracting the concerns of citizens from outside the community itself.
Lucky because it is one of the last in a series of streets in the area due for renovations.
Lucky because it is loved and is considered part of the community’s family; a family that will defend its well-being to the death.
Lucky because it is under the jurisdiction of one of the few Montréal boroughs whose council seems open to rethinking our outdated culture of urban planning.
Lucky because it is a part of my life.
And lucky because all of the above factors make it the perfect prototype for change. If we can rethink Saint-Viateur, then maybe the same will be done for Parc, for Jean-Talon, for Décarie, for Henri-Bourassa, for René-Lévesque ...
The car is our maid and yet we treat it like our king. If you want this to change, make it happen.
Réimaginons Chabanel
Réimaginons Notre-Dame
Réimaginons Saint-Laurent
Coups de Coeur – Dramatik Shines a Light on Montreal North in l’Oubli
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Forgive me for jumping on the bandwagon here, and posting the song L'Oubli by local artist Dramatik.
In the music video, a business man gets a surprise tour of Montreal North when he steps into a taxi with the artist at the wheel, singing "as-tu oublié qu'on vivait ici?" ("did you forget that we lived here?")
In an interview with Stefan Christoff in the Hour, Dramatik descirbes how the video pays homage his neighbourhood:
"L'Oubli shows the ...
Montreal’s disappearing rooming houses
By Devin Alfaro // 4 Comments
Rooming houses on Tupper Street, in Shaughnessy Village
After being viewed for decades as a symptom of urban decay, there is today a movement to recognise rooming houses as an important part of the city's housing stock. For many people in precarious situations rooming houses constitute the last housing option before ending up on the street, or the first step towards more stable housing. Since rooms are often rented on a weekly basis without the need for a lease, references or background checks, they're easier to access than traditional housing. For people without a steady income they are often the only affordable type of housing.
Rooming houses have been a part of the landscape of Montreal since the Industrial Revolution when large numbers of people migrating in from the countryside and abroad needed quick housing when they arrived in the city. In 2007 there were an estimated 180 private houses in Montreal, with around 3,000 rooms available. They are largely located in Ville-Marie and in adjacent central neighbourhoods.
As these parts of the city are redeveloped and gentrified, rooming houses are becoming rarer and rarer. Sometimes the owners sell them or convert them to standard housing units. Others are renovated and turned into up-market bed & breakfast style accommodations. Some have also been shut down as a result of the Quartier des Spectacles project, including the closure of 20 rooms located in two houses that were bought by the Société de développement Angus as part of its Lower Main redevelopment. Slowly but surely the housing stock of rooms is shrinking and those that are remaining are getting more and more expensive.
April 1st, 2010
Photo du jour : L’art public
By Émile Thomas // 5 Comments
Un oeuvre d'art à l'instar de « The Gates » de Christo et Jeanne-Claude à New York.
Réalisé sur commande par le Comité artistique des cols bleus de Montréal
Financé par le gouvernment du Québec ; dirigé par le bon Monsieur Jean Charest, défenseur de notre identité québécoise.
rue St-Denis entre boul Rosemont et rue de Bellechasse
April 2nd, 2010
Photo du jour – Inside the Seville
By Adam Bemma // 4 Comments
Spring cleaning inside the former Seville Theatre on Rue Ste.Catherine.
Copenhagen by Computer an infrastructural tour #1
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
This is the beginning of a short photo series around Copenhagen (aka Hopenhagen) and some of their neat bike/ped/vehicle road design they employ . Since my infrastructure fetish was not satisfied in my summer visit to the Danish capital, I've returned via Google Streetview to take the screenshots I missed on the past visit.
As many know, Copenhagen's got some great bike paths--and an enviable 37% of all trips to work on made by bicycle. Thanks to Google's lovely high-resolution Streetview shots, we can explore some of their tricks to making streets work for all road users.
***...
April 3rd, 2010
Montage du jour : L’ancien externat Sophie-Barat
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1990-2010
Cet immeuble du boulevard Gouin fut construit à partir de 1855, agrandi en 1864 et en 1914 et fut finalement détruit par le feu en 1997.
Source : Pignon sur rues, les quartiers de Montréal
Spacing Saturday
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing's blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• In light of the upcoming municipal election, public space and transit advocate, Dave Meslin writes on two topical Toronto campaigns--Better Ballots and Let's Talk--that will be holding town hall forums in the week to come. Let's Talk, a Toronto Transit Union initiative, ...
April 4th, 2010
Montage du jour : Intersection du boulevard Gouin et de la rue du Pont
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1920-2010
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.587.136
Photo du jour – Ruelle from Hell
By Adam Bemma // 18 Comments
Looking south down an alleyway on Duluth Avenue East between Hotel-de-Ville and Laval Avenues.
April 5th, 2010
Montage du jour : Intersection du boulevard Gouin et de la rue du Pont (2)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1920-2010
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.587.135
Photos du jour : Music Everywhere
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
It's that glorious first burst of summer, heralded by the flash of newly-bared legs. Followed by the great unfurling of favourite places. It's everyone's picnic blanket about two feet apart and come night-time, the exotic invitation of heat in the dark.
It's suddenly music everywhere: garage-band on the sidewalk, washboard in the park, some crazy folk just walk down the street singing at the top of their lungs. How is it possible that I'd forgotten about music in a place ...
April 6th, 2010
Montage du jour : Intersection du boulevard Gouin et de la rue du Pressoir
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1920-2010
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.587.132
Voyez ce même duo en juxtaposition avec FLASH ici.
Photo du jour : Immeuble résidentiel situé à l’intersection de la rue Jean-Rivard et de la 2e avenue
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
April 7th, 2010
Parc Oxygène
By Adam Bemma // 10 Comments
Residents of Montreal's Milton-Parc, known for their opposition to large-scale development, are fighting to save green space in their neighbourhood. A former alleyway turned into an urban oasis, Parc Oxygène, is being threatened by the city after it rezoned and agreed to let the property owner develop a three-story structure on the park. Featured are long-time Milton-Parc residents Norman Nawrocki, Gabrielle Weech and Wayne Wood.
World Wide Wednesday: Is smart growth the future of American cities?
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • According to a CNN report the American urban landscape is undergoing a transformation--sprawling suburbs are on their way out and sustainable, urban-centric development is ...
How My Father Sees the Mile End
By Spacing // 30 Comments
This post is a guest contribution by Daniel Rotsztain, a student in Urban Geography who is originally from Toronto.
My dad was born in the Mile End so I was extremely excited to show him the new life I had forged in the Plateau amongst our family roots shortly after I moved to Montreal. I imagined the joy we would share taking part in one of our favorite pastimes: conquering a city by foot. I was eager to show him the highlights of my beloved adopted neighbourhood, convinced that he’d be thoroughly ...
Blogger Arrested in Toronto Sewer Exploration
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Last weekend, Spacing Montreal contributor Andrew Emond was arrested during a foray into Toronto's sewer system. According to an article in the Toronto Star, Emond and a fellow photographer, Michael Cook, are being charged with "mischief to interfere with property."
According to the Criminal code of Canada 430(1), the mischief charge applies when someone willfully:
"a) destroys or damages property; b) renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective c) obstructs interrups or interferes with the lawful use enjoyment or operation of property or d) obstructs, interrupts, or interferes with any person ...
April 8th, 2010
Photo du jour : Graffiti Clark
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
« L'art de peindre n'est que l'art d'exprimer l'invisible par le visible. »
- Eugène Fromentin
sur la rue Clark entre avenue Duluth et rue Rachel
April 10th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Ottawa is getting a potentially exciting new public space with the ongoing renovations of the popular pedestrian gardens outside the World Exchange Plaza. The plaza redesign and the new amphitheatre it will include are profiled.
Ian Capstick discusses the need to reclaim the term 'common sense' from hits Harris era connotations, for the upcoming municipal election. Talking about a variety of problems plaguing the city, and the mood of the people, common sense and realistic plans will be something the electorate is seeking.
Spacing's Sean Marshall follows up a piece in the latest edition of the magazine, talking about Toronto's ubiquitous "12-8-8" yellow traffic lights and their negative aesthetic affects on the city's urban landscape. Pointing to examples of how lights are designed in other cities and even in some special areas throughout the GTA, Marshall discusses how to improve the aesthetic value of traffic signal while working with safety requirements and the Ontario Traffic Manual.
As part of the ongoing building stories exhibit at the Gladstone Hotel, David Wencer uses the old Canada Linseed Oil Mills building, abandoned since the late sixties, as a window into exploring the industrial history of the area along the CPR lines and into how the area has regenerated. While the site beside the building has been turned into a Park, the building itself remains fenced off, despite having been purchased by the city in 2000. Local residents hope to tap the building's potential to become a dynamic community space.
As part of the ongoing 'Spokes People' series, contributer Steve Bedard discusses the importance of building Halifax's crosstown connector bike lane from the perspective of someone with an education in nursing and has seen many of the increasing health ailments affecting people as a result of inactive transportation.
Inspired by the way many European cities integrate their historic monuments into the modern city to maintain functionality, Jake Schabas takes a look at Halifax's Citadel Hill and the potential to do some modernization on the site to make it less removed from the city.
April 11th, 2010
Photo du jour : L’autobus articulé est arrivé
By Émile Thomas // 6 Comments
Les non-initiés dévisagent l'autobus articulé, fascinés, envoûtés presque, par ces engins automoteurs qui envahiront notre ville dans les mois à suivre.
It's about time !
J'ai hâte de voir les prochaines innovations de la part de la STM.
Sur l'avenue du Parc ...
Repairing the damage of the Ville-Marie Expressway
By Devin Alfaro // 18 Comments
The Ville-Marie Expressway as it appears currently.
Earlier this week the City of Montreal announced the winners of a design competition for the redevelopment of the area around the Champs-de-Mars metro station. The winning proposals as well as the other entries can be found here on the Réalisons Montréal website.
The purpose of this competition was not to solicit a practical plan for implementation, but rather to produce ideas and stimulate discussion. Its general premise was simple: if at future date the city proceeds with covering the Ville-Marie Expressway, what should we put in its place? Submissioners were invited to prospose projects for redeveloping the area around the Champs-de-Mars metro, as well as the new land currently occupied by the expressway's trench.
This area has long been recognised as a scar on the downtown landscape. The Ville-Marie is an ugly mistake of the modernist era and it serves as a barrier between Old Montreal and Downtown. It is also a drag on the surrounding blocks, sucking activity off the streets. The City is to be commendend that it is seriously considering covering it and reintegrating the surrounding area back into the urban fabric.
That said, looking at the proposals and the winners chosen, I was somewhat dissappointed. Of course it is important to remember that practicality was not one of the parameters of the contest. Contestants were encouraged to innovate and let their creativity run wild. Nevertheless I was left feeling that many of the proposals were high on imagination, but low on understanding of how urban environments are used and lived in.
Photo du jour : Vue intérieure du clocher de l’église St-Pierre apôtre
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
April 13th, 2010
Photo du jour : Graffiti Immitates Reality
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Next to Parc des carrières on Christophe-Colomb, just north of the tracks.
Walk Score revisited : votre adresse, est-elle favorable à la marche ?
By Émile Thomas // 8 Comments
Un ami m’a récemment offert de prêter sa voiture pour une semaine. Lors de cette proposition, j’étais ruisselant de joie. Imaginer la liberté : je pourrais faire mes courses et acheter en gros, je pourrais conduire à l’université et éviter la misère qui est le 129 ; ma vie serait géniale.
Hélas, il serait prématuré de trop se réjouir. Où puis-je garer cette voiture ? Comment puis-je payer pour le pétrole ? Peut-être une voiture n’est-elle qu’un cheval de Troie dans lequel se dissimulent des inconvénients.
Ai-je besoin d’un char ? Pour vrai ? Dans mon quartier, tout est accessible à pied, ou au pire, à vélo. Le transport en commun, des épiceries, des magasins, des bars, des restos, des parcs – J’habite dans un véritable paradis piétonnier.
Et ce n’est pas que moi qui pense de même.
Je vous présente (de nouveau) Walk Score, un site web américain qui tente de calculer l'accessibilité piétonnière des lieux aux services et équipements. Spacing a fait référence à ce site web pour la première fois sur notre blogue torontois en 2007 : Nicholas Sarkozy a établi sa résidence à l'Élysée, le dernier tome de la suite « Harry Potter » a été publié, et Feist nous a appris les chiffres 1 à 4.
En 2007, Walk Score venait d’ajouter des villes canadiennes à son système. Cependant, l'information nécessaire pour tirer des conclusions justes sur les déplacements à pied dans nos quartiers n'était pas disponible. Par conséquent, le site fournissait des résultats archifaux.
Maintenant, en 2010, Walk Score s'est amélioré. À l’exception du transport en commun, le système a l'accès à plus d'information afin de mieux tracer un portrait fidèle au vrai caractère des quartiers.
Osé-je utiliser Walk Score en tant qu'outil d’évaluation de la « walkability » d’une adresse ?
OK, moi, je suis fier du score de 91 pour mon petit coin de Montréal. Ma curiosité piquée, j'ai décidé de tester mon pays d’enfance : St. Lawrence dans le Vieux-Toronto. Mes premiers souvenirs de ma vie torontoise peignent un paysage sans voitures. Or, mes parents, ils avaient un véhicule. Je me rappelle des déplacements effectués seulement à pied ou en streetcar.
Une analyse sur Walk Score confirme mes premières impressions enfantines du quartier. Avec une note de 100, il est sûr que St. Lawrence est un éden piétonnier.
Retour sur notre Montréal hétéroclite, la fiche de rendement de différents endroits soulève une gamme d’émotions. La honte : une mauvaise note de 8 attribuée au coin de l’Église et Bord-du-lac à l'Île-Bizard. La fierté : une excellente note de 91 accordée aux abords de la station Beaudry au Village gai.
Voici les résultats généraux de différents secteurs de Montréal.
Montage du jour : Maison située au 5957 rue Notre-Dame est
By Guillaume St-Jean // 7 Comments
Vers 1990-2010
Construite vers 1900 sur la rue Notre-Dame est, cette maison qui fut autrefois représentée dans plusieurs livres comme étant un bijou architectural a aujourd'hui quelque peu perdue ses lettres de noblesses...
Voyez un second montage de cette résidence ici.
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Pignon sur rues, les quartier de Montréal
April 14th, 2010
Montage du jour : Immeuble situé au 201 rue Rachel est
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Vers 1976-2010
Croyez le ou non, l'édifice sur la photo actuelle est bel et bien le même que sur la photo ancienne. Horriblement transformé, il fut construit vers 1885.
Source : A feast of gingerbread from our Victorian past
Spacing Radio 020 is on the air!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
On this episode of Spacing Radio producer Mieke Anderson takes you on a walk with Cindy Rozeboom through the east end of Toronto, along the Danforth, to explore the potential of empty storefronts. In other cities, street food is a major component of public life, but in Toronto food vendors don't seem to get any respect from city hall, BIAs, and urban designers — reporter Pattie Phillips talks to Marianne Moroney of Toronto's Street Food Vendors Association. The release of the new book "Rediscovering the Wealth ...
World Wide Wednesday: Parks, bikes, and cable cars
By Kat Snukal // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• Luud Schimmelpinnink--one of the activists behind the 1965 White Bicycle Plan in Amsterdam--has envisioned the bike ...
April 15th, 2010
Photo du jour : Un petit rappel
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
Hopefully, this little reminder will keep the vandals at bay.
---
A new job, a new commute.
So long Parc bus, so long stroll through the Mile-End.
Hello Plateau Mont-Royal, hello loads and loads of graffiti.
And not the mural kind of stuff.
But the tacky kind of stuff.
Listen birds and cobra cocks and squiggly lines.
Some say graffiti is the result of government oppression towards art. Some are idiots.
This is Québec - the 2006-7 fiscal year had arts ...
Montage du jour : Maison située au 1295 rue Montcalm
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1990-2010
Cette maison fut constuite vers 1870.
Source : Pignon sur rue, les quartiers de Montréal
Isabelle Hudon reacts
By Adam Bemma // 7 Comments
Photo by Marketel
After many weeks of waiting, this afternoon I finally had a chance to speak with Isabelle Hudon, chairperson of the board at the Société du Havre de Montréal (SHM) about her response to the Office de consultation publique (OCPM) report. Hudon spoke candidly in this audio interview and mentioned that the Bonaventure Project will move forward in the near future.
April 16th, 2010
Montage du jour : Immeubles résidentiels et commerciaux, rue Amherst
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1990-2010
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Pignon sur rue, les quartiers de Montréal
April 17th, 2010
Montage du jour : Toit mansard tronqué blvd. de Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1990-2010
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Source : Pignon sur rue, les quartiers de Montréal
April 18th, 2010
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Duluth et Hôtel de ville
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1999-2010
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, AMEN130698
Levallois-Perret et la densité urbaine
By Émile Thomas // 3 Comments
Image credits ― Google Maps
Du Métro Montréal, le vendredi 16 avril :
Le quartier Griffintown sera composé d'imposantes tours d'habitations, dont la hauteur maximale a été fixée à 75 m (20 étages). « Il faudra apprendre à vivre avec les hauteurs, a affirmé Richard Bergeron. Nous visons un quartier urbain et densifé. »
D'après moi, le dimanche 18 avril :
Avec plus de 26 000 habitants/km carré, Levallois-Perret (France), banlieue parisienne, compte parmi les communes les plus densément peuplées d'Europe. Ses « tours ...
Habiter une ville durable: Rêver le possible
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
Voici une exposition organisée par le Centre d'écologie urbaine et l'Écomusée du fier monde qui pourrait intéresser les lecteurs de Spacing Montréal:
L'exposition Habiter une ville durable, qui propose une réflexion sur le développement durable en milieu urbain, entame son troisième et dernier volet: Rêver le Possible. Il s'agit maintenant du volet citoyen et l’occasion d’exposer les idées et les engagements fournis par les visiteurs des deux premiers temps de l’exposition. Rêver le possible met de l'avant les réflexions du public sur un plan d'action locale ...
April 19th, 2010
Photo du jour: Ça arrive
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
Graffiti on Groll, between Waverly and Saint-Urbain.
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Antoine et St-Urbain
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1920-2010
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.587.140
De la mixité à Montréal (1ère partie)
By Joel Thibert // 4 Comments
[caption id="attachment_6778" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="Une scène typique de la rue Ste-Catherine, en face d'un centre d'art contemporain, à deux pas de l'église St-James"][/caption]
D'aucun ne s'étonnerait, qui a vécu à Montréal plusieurs années, de se retrouver face à un club de danse érotique sur une rue commerciale du centre-ville entre une banque et une église, en face d'une garderie ou d'un bureau d'avocat. En fait, une telle scène sur la rue ...
April 20th, 2010
Photo du jour: Les dinosaures
By Devin Alfaro // 4 Comments
Grafitti on Groll, between Saint-Urbain and Waverly.
April 21st, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: New York, Shanghai and Pajarito Mesa
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• Good Magazine has devoted its newest issue entirely to neighbourhoods. Check it out online for tips on starting a community garden and strategies for throwing an amazing block ...
Tremblay and Bergeron unveil alternative Turcot Interchange project
By Devin Alfaro // 22 Comments
An illustration of the City's proposed Turcot Interchange reconstruction.
Today Mayor Tremblay and Richard Bergeron, responsible for urban planning on the Executive Committee, presented the City of Montreal's alternative Turcot interchange projet to the general public during an afternoon presentation and news conference. This counter proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Transport a few weeks back, but has up until this point been confidential. Negotiations with the Ministry are ongoing, and City officials decided to go public with their plan in an attempt to inform the public of their efforts and to rally support behind their position.
The City plan proposes that Turcot be rebuilt as a circular interchange, which would have the benefit of being much more compact than the Ministry of Transport's project. As a result, the design would not require the expropriation and demolition of any existing properties, contrary to the Ministry's proposal which would involve the destruction of housing on Cazelais street in Saint-Henri. A circular Turcot would even free up some land currently occupied by the current interchange, allowing for new construction projects.
The counter proposal would include dedicated lanes for public transit, as well a two lanes for general traffic in each direction. It would maintain the existing capacity on the north-south axis, and reduce it on the east-west axis, unlike the Ministry proposal which proposes increases.
April 22nd, 2010
Photo du jour : Gens du pays
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
Le profil sociodémographique du Plateau Mont-Royal évolue.
Néanmoins, on peut toujours y trouver des gens du pays...
au coin des rues Rachel et Bercy
April 24th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Hoping that someday people will give directions such as “turn left at the tea pot,” Jeremie Deschene discusses the role of public art in downtown Ottawa and elsewhere by taking a look at some of the pieces recently added to the public collection and what they reveal about just how much art enhances the urban environment.
As part of ongoing civic election coverage Nick Farnhall challenges candidates to break from the traditional aversion to election time policy talk. Lamenting the lack of engagement occurring at a prime stage for fermenting ideas, Farnhill discusses how candidates could better engage voters to develop their platforms.
In Halifax, Jake Schabas looks at what a bottlenecked pedestrian/cyclist passage says about the city’s transportation priorities. The bottleneck, which chokes an important passageway between the north and south parts of the city is causes merely by a chain link fence.
While many Atlantic Canadian cities have traditionally lacked the density to spawn infill housing projects, Halifax’s Wright Ave is an example of how effective dense infill housing can be at plugging holes in the urban fabric with attractive and efficient spaces.
Sean Micalleff explored the timely topic of the weather in his psychogeography column this week. Quoting Leanord Cohen’s famous lines about the obscenity of Spring as bare skin is revealed and the collective celebration of our winter survival, Micalleff discusses how attitudes this Spring reflect a maturing awareness about public space in Toronto, as a place where the revival of Spring truly plays out.
The question of how to bring effective public transit to the suburbs is as interesting as it is important. Spacing’s Sean Marshall travelled to his hometown of Brampton this week in a post highlighting some of the public transit changes that are coming to the city. The city’s new Zum high order bus service and the Hurontario/Main St LRT project are profiled and discussed.
The Turcot: Three plans, one future
By Jacob Larsen // 3 Comments
The City of Montreal invokes a more tranquil future next to the Turcot
While summer may be the peak of construction season here in Quebec, it appears that spring is the height of the planning season. This is the inevitable conclusion one reaches after the recent flurry of plans and counter-plans concerning the future of the Turcot Interchange.
In this post, I’ll compare some of the details from these plans and discuss the what all means as we near the end of a process that has pitted dozens of citizens’ groups, regional environmental groups, the Cities of Montreal and Westmount and opposition parties against Charest’s government, at a time when ongoing allegations of corruption have seriously undermined the Ministry of Transport’s legitimacy.
In case you’re already dizzy from the many alternatives flying around, I’ll recap the three that are currently on the table, providing as much detail as is currently available.
A revised plan by your friendly neighbourhood MTQ
Tired of looking like a bully that wants to throw people out of their homes so they could play with their toy cars, the Ministry of Transport revised their plan by reducing the number of expropriations required on rue Cazelais from 160 to only 100. While Minister of Transport, Julie Boulet, warned this would result in higher costs, the MTQ believed this gesture would subdue the most vocal opponents of the project.
Given ongoing critiques that vehicle capacity should be reduced in favour of better public transportation options, and that the whole project be reconceived to reflect its urban context, it is comical to imagine that the MTQ believed that by simply addressing the question of expropriations would win them any public favour.
Nonetheless, this “Turcot-lite” remains the official plan on the table.
April 25th, 2010
Événement: Conférence sur la piétonnisation et l’avenir de l’avenue Mont-Royal
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
l'Association Locale d'Arrondissement de Projet Montréal sur le Plateau Mont-Royal vous invite à une conférence débat sur le thème:
"Piétonnisation avec transport en commun: avantages et inconvénients"
Avec en première partie une présentation d'Owen Rose, de "Mont-Royal Avenue Verte", le comité à l'origine de cette idée pour l'avenue Mont-Royal.
Lundi le 26 avril
19h à 21h
Maison de l'Amitié (120 Duluth, Est)
April 27th, 2010
Montréal-Nord in exile: Public transit and social exclusion
By Émile Thomas // 9 Comments
« Le permis de conduire est devenue le diplôme le plus discriminatoire sur le marché de l'emploi. »
- Éric Le Breton
We citizens of Canada, living in one of the world’s safest countries, and belonging predominately to the ranks of the middle-class, take our mobility for granted.
If I need to go to work, I walk 15 minutes up the relatively pedestrian friendly avenue du Parc. If I were in Mexico City, where the pedestrian death rate is 3 times higher than that of Los Angeles (and L.A. is by no means a walker’s paradise), going to work would be a life or death decision.
If I need to go to school, I climb Mont Royal (which is more a large hill than an actual mountain) by bicycle, reaching my destination in less than 15 minutes. If I were in Gulucan Village in West China, the everyday walk to school would require navigating a narrow and winding path carved into a cliff. On one side, rock; on the other, a 5000-foot sheer drop.
If I need to escape the monotony of the Montreal entertainment scene, I board a bus, rent a car, take a train, or catch a flight to any destination in Québec, Canada, or the world; and do so at a low-cost. If I were in Iqaluit, leaving town would involve embarking on an epic journey. Despite being the capital of Nunavut, it is not connected to any other Canadian city by road. One must rely on boat during the short 2-month period when the waters surrounding the town are ice-free, or depend on a combination of dogsled and snowmobile the rest of the year. And, with flights to other Canadian urban centres at a premium, flying almost becomes a privilege bestowed solely upon the rich.
Clearly, as the previous examples illustrate, we all do not profit from the same degree of accessible mobility. These differences consequently have a tremendous impact on the style and the quality of life one leads. Increased mobility affords greater opportunities for one to become an integrated member of society. This raises the question: What happens when one lacks or is denied the same mobility as their fellow citizens? The answer: Social exclusion. Would this be the case for the residents of Montréal-Nord, one of the most densely populated areas in Montreal not linked to the city-centre by a rapid form of transit, and home to what many consider some of Montreal’s most serious social problems?
Spacing Radio 021 is on the air!
By Spacing // No Comments
We begin this episode of the Spacing Radio podcast in Toronto’s Alexandra Park, where Spacing producer Todd Harrison speaks with Jane’s Walk executive director Jane Farrow about this weekend’s upcoming Jane’s Walks and how the event — and the discussions it inspires — has evolved both at home and abroad.
Up next, Spacing producer Mieke Anderson takes us to Cleveland, Ohio where she meets up with local newspaper critic Steven Litt, to discuss the drawbacks of the city’s Public ...
Montage du jour : La station de métro Mont-Royal
By Guillaume St-Jean // 9 Comments
La vision de 1965 et l'état des lieux en 2008
La caisse populaire, située à l'extrême gauche du terrain, fut démolie en 1999.
Sources :
Photo : Armour Landry, publiée dans le livre KNOTT, L. Léonard, Montréal l'âge d'or = the golden years, Toronto, 1965, 181 p.
www.bing.com
April 28th, 2010
Montage du jour : Immeuble situé au 2232 René-Lévesque ouest
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1976-2010
Source : A feast of gingerbread
April 29th, 2010
Preview: Jane’s walks May 1st & 2nd
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Jane's Walks, which commemorate seminal urban sociologist, Jane Jacobs, invite people to explore and share the places they care about as well as things that may make them uncomfortable, places they feel are unsafe, and places with room for improvement.
Jane’s walks are not your typical tour, and participants are expected to do more than hang back while the experts talk. Led by citizens or community groups, the tours offer a more intimate, sometimes critical perspective of the urban landscape. The goal is to enrich the experience by opening a dialogue among all the ...
May 1st, 2010
Rule Book: A drink in the park
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
A place where millions of people's lives overlap needs to lay down a few ground rules. At the core, I think most of us implicitly understand that we should to behave in a way that is safe, courteous and respectful of others. Given how close others are in the city, we may need to reign in our wildest impulses now and then.
We all know that you have to stop at red lights, put the garbage out on the specified day, and turn the music down after 11 (unless you've struck a deal with the ...
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
This weekend is Jane's Walks time all across Canada, and the world. Ottawa will play host to a number of different walks over the next two days all with great experience to offer. Evan Thornton previews a few of Ottawa's walks that will be likely be of interest to the Spacing minded.
Continuing on the Jacobian theme, David Mcclelland takes a look at downtown Ottawa today and asks: What Would Jane Jacobs Do?. Using a series of principles Jacob's laid out in her classic Life and Death of Great American Cities Mccleslland evaluates how well downtown Ottawa stands up and what various proposals of the 1960's could have done.
Spacing's Jake Schabas takes readers to the campus of Dalhousie University for a tour of the school's relationship with its modernist architectural heritage. Schabas compares the buildings constructed during the boom of the 1960's and those built during the campus's recent boom times today. It is a comparison that finds some favour in the designs of the past, and presents a case for caring these concrete buildings into the future.
As G8 development minister convened on Halifax this past week, protesters took to the streets to shine light on Nova Scotia's problems with affordable housing. Emma Feltes discusses some of the startling comparisons the protesters made between the economic thinking of the G8 and the gentrification of Halifax's North End. As the province turns affordable housing projects over to the private sector questions are raised about who's interests are really being served.
John Lorinc used his column this week to continue the evolving discussion over the future of the Transit City project, thrown into turmoil by the Provincial Government's decision to 'delay' funding. Lorinc explores the reactions of a spectrum of candidates for both the mayoral and Provincial elections, to seek there true intentions and speculate about the future of the project's funding.
The Hot Doc's documentary film festival kicked off this week. With so many films to choose from, Jaqueline Whyte Appleby offers a guide to the urbanist films being screened.
May 3rd, 2010
Photo du jour : Wolfe vs. Montcalm
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
Le Maire ne veut pas que vous quittiez Montréal.
Ainsi, la question se pose:
rue Wolfe à Montréal
rue Montcalm à Rosemère
Laquelle choisiriez-vous ?
City Hall Update: Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles by-election underway
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
This last weekend marked the official beginning of campaigning in the Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles by-election to choose a new borough mayor. The candidate nomination period is open until May 7th, though the three main parties have already chosen their respective candidates. All three candidates are women, virtually ensuring that the next mayor will be a woman. This will be a welcome change given that current only 4 out of Montréal's 19 boroughs are lead by women mayors. The candidates now have little over a month to make their case before the June 6th election.
Here's a quick look at the main ...
St-Viateur : L’histoire continue
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
« Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. »
- Margaret Mead
L'organisme Mile-End Sans Voitures et l'Université McGill sont à la recherche de vos opinions.
Repenser St-Viateur
Une équipe de recherche à McGill mène actuellement une étude sur la rue St-Viateur, misant sur le segment entre l'avenue du Parc et la rue St-Urbain.
Le but ?
Rendre St-Viateur plus conviviale et agréable pour tous et toutes.
Tous + Toutes = Nous + Vous. Dites-leur ce que vous pensez! Cliquez ici ...
Pecha-Kucha special: le Boulevard Saint-Laurent
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Friday May 7th, 8:20pm - FREE at the SAT, 1195 Saint-Laurent
Vendredi le 7 mai, 20h20- GRATUIT à la Société des Arts Technologiques, 1195 Saint-Laurent.
PechaKucha Montréal et l’arrondissement de Ville-Marie organiseront une soirée de présentations autour du passé, du présent et de l’avenir du boulevard Saint-Laurent ” – de la rue Sherbrooke au boulevard René-Levesque
Jadis épicentre de la vie montréalaise, le boulevard Saint-Laurent, ...
May 5th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Greenways, maps, and a railway run by children
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• The National Council of Research in Rome is generating innovative ideas on city building by looking at the urban environment through the eyes of children. As explained on ...
Spacing nominated for Best Single Issue in 2009
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Spacing is happy to announce that the summer-fall 2009 issue of the magazine was nominated for Best Single Issue by the National Magazine Awards. This is the second year in a row that we've been nominated in this category. Many thanks to our cast of contributors who made this one of the 10 best issues in Canadian magazines in 2009. We'll find out June 4th just how good of an issue it was.
Reflections after Tax Time
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
So I did my taxes last month and, seemingly for the first time, I took note of the slip of paper from the landlord indicating how much he paid in municipal taxes on our apartment.
I suppose I have pretty high expectations of my municipal government but, having always been renter, I've rarely thought about the financial support that we city-dwellers provide. Without going into the nitty gritty of my personal finances, here's what it boiled down to:
My share of municipal taxes represented about 1.5 months of my rent.
The amount of federal ...
Saint-Laurendez-vous: “on devrait peut-être l’écouter”
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Éric Paradis, c't'un artiste. Il improvise.
Par chance je me suis trouvée assise à côté de lui durant le Pécha-Kucha de la Main vendredi soir à la SAT. La salle débordait - des gens étaient assis à terre dans les allées, d'autres se tenaient debout derrière les rangées de centaines de chaises, encore d'autres regardaient les présentations sur des écrans dans la salle adjacente.
Souvent l'audience applaudissait une idée particulièrement audacieuse, comme la proposition de Donovon King de placer une statue de Lili St-Cyr sur le coin ...
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
How well a city invests in transit is reflected in the priority it places on public transportation. In Halifax, Dustin Vallen continues the 'City Unbuilt' series to showcase a graduate architecture project for a bold new bus shelter at a prominent corner in the city.
Halifax's Jane's Walk was a great success as a good crowd showed up to tour through some of the areas of downtown that are on the verge of some significant change. Spacing Atlantic this week featured a review of the walk, so that anyone can experience at least a little taste of what they may have missed.
Is Stephen Harper using the G8 summit to punish urban voters in Toronto? After reading Matt Blackett's summary of the Orwellian security measures that will be imposed on the city during and leading up to the summit, you may think so.
Toronto is a city defined by its undefinedness and has long had troubles properly marketing itself to the world. On the eve of a trip to Manchester, Spacing's Shawn Micallef reflects on that city's success at defining its image and compares its marketable attributes to our own, wondering why there has been such a difference, and what causes some city's to a clearer collective image of themselves than others.
Preparing readers for a trip to the exurban community of Carleton Place, just beyond the reaches of greater Ottawa, Spacing profiles a new transit initiative in Lanark County that works to take commuters not just to conventional places and not just at conventional times.
In a bold opinion piece Chris Bradshaw critiquescurrent rapid transit proposals that are designed to move commuters to and from the suburbs but will only support sprawl. Bradshaw instead presents a case for modes such as streetcars that will serve the dense urban communities of the future.
May 11th, 2010
Spacing Radio 022 is on the air!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
In this episode of Spacing Radio — the last of season 3 — our cast of contributors explore the theme of how we get around cities. First up are a handful of clips from Jane's Walk, the yearly festival of walking tours in Toronto and over 60 other cities across North America. Then Spacing magazine's senior editor Shawn Micallef takes listeners to Yorkville to discuss the ethos behind his new book Stroll. Our new reporter Katie Harris examines the impact the ...
May 12th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: “Tesco Towns”, security cameras, and the world’s greenest buildings
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• What would a socially equitable city look like? The Polis Blog sheds some light on this complex question in a fascinating series entitled "The Just Metropolis". ...
May 13th, 2010
Thanks to our readers!
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
A huge thanks to everyone who gave us a shout-out at the Mirror's Best of Montreal - we climbed up to Montreal's 4th best blog in 2010! The BOM is notoriously a popularity contest (I mean, Tim Hortons takes best coffee?), so what this really means is that our readers are among Montreal's best (and I'd say the best, judging on general comment-quality).
While we're on the topic of best blogs, I'll share a couple of my favourite feeds:
Montreal City Weblog (BOM #8) is an essential service for Montrealers: Kate M ...
Photos du Jour : More Hockey Celebrations!
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
2010-05-12 Montreal Canadiens fans celebrate their Game 7 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins - Images by Tristan Brand
The festivities were mostly peaceful. Well, if you consider beating on metal bowls, climbing lamp-posts, setting fires and shooting off fireworks peaceful, which I do. Police were everywhere, from the helicopter hovering above to the cavalry and canine squad. But the riot cops kept their visors up and even high-fived ...
May 14th, 2010
Bus shelters to show off green roof tech
By Alanah Heffez // 12 Comments
At least 6 bus shelters across the city have sprouted green roofs this week as part of a cute STM marketing campaign.
At least the STM has got something in this vein worth promoting: in 2008 the STM installed a 10,000 square foot green roof atop a new garage built in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough.
Green roofs can help insulate a building and provide savings on heating and cooling. Also interesting for a garage, green roofs can help with sound-proofing : ...
May 15th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Community activism is changing in the information age and we are just beginning to see what can be accomplished by the trend of increasingly open access to public data. Emily Richardson profiles a number of initiatives and programs in place both in Atlantic Canada, and throughout North America.
Responding to a column last claiming that new Transit slated for Ottawa would only feed urban sprawl, Alain Miguelez takes up the cause of defending the direction Ottawa is taking explaining it as the natural evolution of a city maturing.
Evan Thornton reports from Carleton Place on the progress of a community transit initiative operating bus service from the exurb into Ottawa. While the service has so far been a success, use of the transitway has been stifled by the NCC.
Shiny new streetcars are coming soon to the streets of Toronto and this week the TTC began preparing for their launch with a campaign to build excitement by eliciting rider input. Spacing Editor and TTC Customer Service Review Panel member, Matt Blackett talks about the initiative and gives some suggestions on how the names of the new cars can be used to sell them to riders.
In a very provocative piece, Nicole McIsaac speculates about a future of open source government and what it could mean for civic engagement. While other Cities are quickly hoping on this bandwagon by releasing their immense date basses to the public where the data can be organized according to need, and widely disseminated.
May 16th, 2010
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Denis et Gounod
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
2008-2010
May 17th, 2010
Montage du jour : La gare du C.P. de l’avenue du Parc
By Guillaume St-Jean // 11 Comments
1931-2010
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.2094.9
Stop à la chasse aux apartements
By Émile Thomas // 15 Comments
I’m looking for a new apartment.
Right in time for the our national holiday – July 1st – Moving Day.
While the rest of the country will be lounging on decks, drinking beer, and cooking meat on the BBQ, I may be forced into joining mes compatriotes in this « Only in Québec » tradition.
I have no real reason to move. Maybe I’m just a masochist: the thought of joining the 120 000 person tango that we call le démenagement turns me on. Maybe I’m just in need of a change: the common complaint I’ve had from all my ex-partners is my fear of commitment. It seems as if this fear not only affects my relationships with people but also my relationship with neighbourhoods.
But as I set off to find the place of my dreams, I quickly remember that apartment hunting ain’t easy. In a society drowning in technology, finding a flat should be as simple as hello. Instead, it has only made the population more unreliable than ever before.
In the old days, if one were offering or looking for a place to live, one would have to write out an advert, and then either pay for it to be posted in a local newspaper or physically affix it to a window or a telephone pole. If the apartment were available July 1st, you would begin advertising it at least 3 months in advance. This process took diligence, perseverance, and zeal. Nevertheless, once started, one saw it through to its bitter end.
Now, with the internet, I could decide today I want to move, put my place up for rent on kijiji tonight, have an open house tomorrow, and be out by the next day. In fact, last year, I did exactly that – and now live with my 2 beautiful roommates.
I have to admit, however, I am marvellously organised. Most Montrealers are not even close to being as sedulous. Online classifieids are brimming with quantity but not quality. Poorly written descriptions, missing contact information, and bold faced lies have become all too common on sites like craigslist and kijiji. 9460 Lajeunesse is NOT near métro Jean-Talon! 4023 Rachel is NOT in the Plateau!
You send a thousand e-mails and receive no reply. You call someone directly and they answer surprised; as if they didn’t even know they had posted an ad online for their place. You arrive for the scheduled visit and no one is home. I honestly believe people get off on making others' apartment search as miserable as humanly possible. I have this image in my head of a man sniffing the classified section of the Gazette while jerking off to his fellow citizens desperate online replies to his fake « 4 ½ in the Plateau, corner St-Denis and Mont-Royal, $450, ABSOLUMENT À VOIR » ad. Graphic, yes. But it is this image which supplies the necessary rage to fuel my perpetual search.
People have gotten wise to the deceit and manipulation. More and more, I find apartment seekers using alternate media to find the place of their dreams. This month, I’ve already been invited to 5 events on Facebook to help Jenna X. or Mathieu Y. find a home. Twitter is ablaze with desperate calls for housing. Soon you’ll have people shamelessly writing blogs about stipulating the kind of flat they are looking for.
p.s. Je suis à la recherché d’un 3 ½ ou 4 ½, situé dans une zone délimitée par Hutchison à l’ouest, Papineau à l’est, Jean-Talon au nord et Duluth au sud. Du ou triplex préférablement. Dernier étage OU rez-de-chaussé avec petit jardin. Loyer maximum – $700.
APARTMENT HUNTING TIPS
May 19th, 2010
Bike deaths inspire vigils…and tickets
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
Concern about cycling safety is at a high after four cyclists were killed by vehicles on rural Quebec roads over the past week. Tomorrow, fourteen communities around the province will hold a "tour de silence", where cyclists take to the streets in silence to commemorate those have been victims of road accidents. The event aims to raise awareness about sharing the road among both cyclists and drivers.
But Montreal, where cycling and cycling accidents are at an all-time high, is not on ...
World Wide Wednesday: London, Bangkok, and New Delhi
By Kat Snukal // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• Though still incomplete, New Delhi's subway system is already being hailed as "a runaway success". According to the The New York Times not only is the Delhi Metro "scrupulously ...
Sentier Urbain: The Unlikely Gardeners
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
One of the gardeners is tattooed from head to toe: his face is a grimacing skull and, under a loose tank top, demons claw through the flesh of his torso, exposing pale ribs. The third graders at Garneau elementary school stare unabashedly at this creature, who would seem more suited to the pages of a comic book then their playground. But his blue eyes sparkle from the depth of their black-ink sockets as he leads the kids into the flower garden.
He is one of ten young people employed by Sentier Urbain, a non-profit with a focus on “social greening.” Each summer, Sentier Urbain hires youth with a history of drug-use, homelessness, and mental health to help landscape and maintain half a dozen thematic gardens in the east-end of Montreal. They also build flower boxes and grow seedlings for local businesses and social housing projects, and partner with École Garneau to run a gardening program.
May 21st, 2010
Terrace troubles in the Plateau
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
When Projet Montreal was elected in the Plateau Mont Royal last winter, the candidates promised active, animated, and human-centered streets. Sidewalk cafés and terraces are a much beloved part of the summer scene, but this year, rather than forcing pedestrians dance around dining tables placed willy nilly on the sidewalk, the borough is asking restaurants to put their terraces out in the street.
The borough insists on maintaining a 1.8 meter clearance on the sidewalk. Seems reasonable when you consider how much foot traffic you get on Mount Royal avenue and The Main during ...
May 22nd, 2010
L’archéologue urbain à l’Île des Soeurs
By Spacing // 3 Comments
Contribué par Alex Lefrançois Leduc, un étudiant à la maîtrise en archéologie à l'Université de Montréal
Le rôle de l’archéologie dans l’aménagement urbain est souvent occulté par un sentiment pressant de nouveauté et de transformation. On cherche à revitaliser un site, on veut le refaire, le rentabiliser, le remettre au goût du jour sans trop se soucier des dommages inapparents que de telles interventions occasionnent.
Certains organismes bien connus de défense du patrimoine tentent tant bien que mal de protéger notre héritage architectural apparent, anciennes fabriques du canal ...
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Responding to speculation that roundabouts may soon be coming to the streets of Halifax, Steve Bedard gives a ringing endorsement of the plan by reflecting on observations of how well the round arrangement works in Europe. Bedard notes in particular how well the French use roundabouts to manage traffic efficiently and promote shared roadways.
As St John kicks off the celebrations of its 225th birthday, Abad Khan reflects on the city's priorities as demonstrated by the two year closure of one its most important pedestrian routes to facilitate bridge construction. Would the city have closed a road as well?
Even in Ottawa, its hard to wring money out of 'Ottawa.' Spacing continues to follow the ongoing story the proposed new LRT, this week focusing on the question of federal funding. While many expected a funding announcement to come quickly, the silence from Transport Minister Baird is beginning to make some worried, and could put the whole project in jeopardy.
Ian Capstick opened the next chapter of the CityVote 2010 feature this week. The renewed focus will be on using visual technology to open up a dialogue between the voters, community groups and candidates
The question of whether or not Toronto is really a world class city has finally been definitively answered. Thursday morning city officials gathered on the Waterfront to unveil Toronto's first public pay toilet, complete with friendly female voice, and soft waterfall music. Nicole McIsaac satisfied her curiosity about the new street furniture with a visit and shares her observations with readers.
Moving on from the disappointing failure of the University Ave bike lanes proposal, cycling advocates were out in front of Queen's Park this week to push for intelligent new safety laws requiring drivers to leave at least three feet of space when passing cyclists. The new law could help address the main barrier keeping more people from cycling: safety.
May 24th, 2010
Happy Birthday Mount Royal Park
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Last year I blogged about the Journée Nationale des Patriotes (except that I left out the 'Nationale' and got called on it in the comments). It used to be Dollard Day but nobody was into it, and way before that it was Queen Victoria's Mother's birthday for whatever that's worth.
But here's something that perhaps all Montrealers can all agree to celebrate every May 24th: it's Mount Royal Park's birthday. The park was inaugurated on this day in 1876, making her 134 years young!
Cher ...
May 25th, 2010
Parc Lahaie transformation underway
By Devin Alfaro // 13 Comments
Parc Lahaie with areas to be revitalised shown highlighted (photo credit: Étienne Coutu)
Earlier this month the Plateau administration announced a series of measures to revitalise parks within the borough. Chief among them are two key initiatives that will change the face of Parc Lahaie in Mile End.
This park is located at the corner of St-Laurent and St-Joseph in front of the Saint-Enfant-Jésus Church. Parc Lahaie is in the historic core of Saint-Louis-du-Mile-End and it is, along with Parc Saint-Michel, one of the ...
Photo du jour: W. St-Zotique Street
By Devin Alfaro // 9 Comments
Pre-101 street signage on St-Zotique near du Parc.
Commuting snapshots across the Spacing map
By Spacing // 8 Comments
Source: Statistics Canada
By Emily Richardson — cross-posted from Spacing Atlantic
Despite dramatic differences in population, density, infrastructure, and growth, there is remarkable consistency between commuting patterns in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Halifax, particularly when it comes to travelling by car. And incidentally, when it comes to getting us out of them, we seem to find buses and bike lanes unconvincing. A closer look at our most recent census data raises some surprising – and some predictable – findings about the way we get to work and how preferences change as our cities grow.
First a few words on sources and statistics: All data in this article, with the exception of bike lane information, is based on the 2006 census of Halifax, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal's census metropolitan areas with trends from the 2001 census. I will be the first to concede two important shortcomings in the data. First, neither the number of cities nor the number of data points within each city is sufficient for any analysis to be statistically significant (in other words, proper analysis requires more, and more robust, data to hold up to scrutiny). Second, the data is a static snapshot in time, and it lacks any context that might explain why the upcoming 2011 census might paint a vastly different picture.
But despite these drawbacks, the census data does highlight some consistencies between cities and concerns about the economic, social, and environmental implications of our commuting habits. It remains to be seen whether erratic fuel prices, transit-pass tax incentives, and growing bike-lane networks over the past four years will meaningfully influence our commuting habits by 2011. In the meantime, comments and observations are welcomed in response to this anecdotal food for thought.
May 26th, 2010
Photo du jour : Canadian Pacific
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
Canadian Pacific Railway along the boarder of Parc-Extension and Petite-Patrie.
May 27th, 2010
Photo du jour: Suburban Towers
By Devin Alfaro // 4 Comments
Apartment towers in the borough of Saint-Laurent, on Côte-Vertu near Lebeau.
Place des Festivals: Who Moved the Trees?
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Lets just say a little bird told me. A little bird wouldnotice that kind of thing: with the Place des festivales nearing completion, where did they put the trees?
This image above shows plans for the Place des festivales released in July 2008. There are three rows of trees planted at the back of the plaza, along Boul. de Maisonneuve. Today's nearly complete plaza has trees in the Western, grassy slope, but none along the street.
As much as the trees add flourish to the model, ...
Place des Festivals on an Ordinary Day
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
I have griped about the bike path and I have griped about the trees, but I also have to give credit where credit is due: I love the Place des festivals for giving us the biggest interactive fountain in Canada.
The keyword here is interactive: as the temperature reached the high thirties this week, the downtown square became an impromptu, all-ages water park.
Who knew there were so many kids and toddlers in the downtown core on a weekday afternoon? Many had gleeful, soaked through parents in tow.
May 28th, 2010
Photo du jour: Outremont industriel
By Devin Alfaro // 2 Comments
Corner of Durocher and Beaubien in the industrial sector of Outremont, next to the old Outremont Railyards.
Société de règlements, société sans raisonnement?
By Liane Morin // 5 Comments
Liane Morin est une étudiante à la maitrise en urbanisme à l'Université de Montréal.
La signalisation routière fait partie de notre quotidien, que nous soyons automobiliste, piéton ou adepte du vélo. Avec les différents panneaux, feux de circulations et indications au sol, nous devrions logiquement améliorer la cohabitation des différents modes de déplacement. Or, les utilisateurs des transports actifs, souvent considérés comme des délinquants de la route, semblent vouloir faire perdurer des habitudes de transgression de la règlementation. Ces gens sont-ils tous inconscient des dangers de la route ou savent-ils mieux se servir de leur raisonnement? Et si les automobilistes faisaient de même, pourrions-nous survivre à une journée en ville?
À mon avis, en ce qui concerne la sécurité routière automobile, nous nous sommes collectivement tournés vers le consensus de la règlementation, parfois au détriment du raisonnement. Nos habitudes de conducteur nord-américain amenuisent notre compréhension de la route. Le raisonnement rangé dans le coffre à gant, la rencontre de quatre voies de circulation majeures est synonyme de signalisation (feu de circulation ou arrêt obligatoire) non pas d’une intersection proprement dite. La réflexion se fait en voie clause. Le feu est rouge, j’attends, il est vert j’avance, il est jaune… j’accélère! La réflexion quant aux autres utilisateurs de la route est mince. C’est pourquoi le virage à droite devient parfois hasardeux lorsque plusieurs modes de déplacement se croisent. Il est quotidien de voir le deuxième automobiliste en ligne pour tourné à droite klaxonner le premier qui n’avance pas à une lumière verte pour en fait laisser passer les piétons. Pas que le deuxième, s’il avait été premier, les aurait écrasé, mais plutôt parce qu’il ne les voit pas. Tout ce qu’il constate c’est que la lumière est verte et que ça n’avance pas. Autrement dit, la signalisation, en plus de ne pas être toujours garante de sécurité routière, accentue les frictions entres les utilisateurs des différents modes de transport.
Mais est-ce possible de gérer la circulation sans signalisation me direz-vous?
May 29th, 2010
Photo du Jour : Surf Spot
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Little standing wave off the coast of LaSalle. Those who get a hang of this baby can try out the bigger wave near Habitat 67. Photo taken May 24, 2010.
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
In his weekly column, John Lorinc finds some cause for optimism about the future of Transit City despite cries from the Mayor's Office that the province will not carry through with the plan. Lorinc examines the Mayor's claim that the Eglington line will run from Leaside to Forest Hill and contrasts it against the recent actions of Metrolinx and his forecast for the Province's political future.
In a call to action Hillary Best advocates the idea of 'Complete Streets' as was discussed during a recent conference held by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation. Best shows that the more we understand the idea of complete streets, the more apparent becomes their necessity to the future vitality of the region.
Steve Bedard promotes the Halifax Open Street Party, happening this weekend in the city's North Commons. The event is hosted by the Halifax Cycling Coalition and The Bike Week Planning Council.
David McClelland ponders the future of the Ottawa LRT by talking about the importance of engaging station design. In light of what he calls Ottawa's history of shying away from bold civic architecture, McClelland hopes that the architectural opportunities of the LRT project will not be squandered.
May 30th, 2010
Montreal is for lovers
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
« Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am home again. »
- The Cure
Montréal est la scène magnifique sur laquelle mes amours les plus passionnées que je n'ai jamais vécues durant toute ma vie se déroulent.
Ma dernière aventure m'a possiblement / rêveusement / enfin mené à mon âme soeur : la personne qui me choisira inconditionnellement.
On s'est rencontrés à un vernissage chez un ami commun. Chaque semaine, son appart se transformait en salle d'exposition, ouverte au grand public pour venir profiter des œuvres des différents artistes. On a ...
May 31st, 2010
Photo du Jour – After the “Bomb”
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
A couple of ladies lounge outside Café Cleopatra on a Sunday afternoon beside a fresh mural by Zilon et Seaz's that homage to Cleo's.
Somebody is eager to see this block reduced to rubble.
That's what crossed my mind when I heard the announcement for an event called "bombe sur la Main" which took place last Friday night on a block of the Lower Main that has been slated for demolition.
36 graffiti artists were invited to decorate the abandoned facades of ...
June 4th, 2010
Making the Link: Is the marriage of cycling with transit the future of transportation?
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
Riding Portland's LRT is a breeze with your bike - Image from Thomas Le Ngo's Flickr page
As North American urban planners grapple with the challenge of moving away from an auto-centric vision of urban mobility, new attention is being given to ways to integrate cycling with public transport. This marriage may hold the key to expanding the reach of existing transit service and encouraging "spillover" mode share gains, and is being successfully implemented in cities like Portland, Oregon, and all over Europe.
Montreal is aiming to capitalize on this synergy, ...
June 5th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // 3 Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Its election year in a city where both traffic and transit development are gridlocked and mayoral front runner George Smitherman's release of his transportation platform this week inspired critical examination from both John Lorinc and Jonathan Goldsbie. While Lorinc focuses on the political motivations for Smitherman's plan, Goldsbie looks specifically at the cycling initiatives to see if they hold sway, or a merely paying lip service.
On a lighter note, the hording finally came down last weekend on renovations to the historic John Street Roundhouse near the base of the CN Tower. Spacing's Nicole McIsaac visited the new National Railway Heritage Centre built into and around the roundhouse and the public space surrounding it and profiles some its exciting features, including restored steam locomotives, historic buildings and a miniature railroad.
Katie McKay reports from Halifax on the success of the May edition of the city's Critical Mass Bike ride which for the first time crossed the MacDonald Bridge over the harbour, closing a lane of traffic in the process. The success of the event was not in obstructing motorists, but in strengthening the breadth of the Halifax cycling community.
Speculating that Ottawa City council could be a very different place following the next election, Vicky Smallman talks about the advantages of both incumbents and fresh faces to a council. While incumbents don't face a learning curve they can become too narrowly focused on certain issues or particular interest groups as past civic officials in the city have shown.
June 6th, 2010
Parc Lahaie update
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
As Spacing reported last week Parc Lahaie will be seeing changes this summer. A few days ago the borough got to work painting the adjacent stretch of Saint-Dominique green as a precursor to a more thorough renovation.
Paint truck at work on Saint-Dominique (photo credit: Kevin Cohalan).
Saint-Dominique viewed from Laurier (photo credit: Kevin Cohalan).
Ecocities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
When?
Wednesday June 9th, 2010, de from 6:30 pm to 8 pm
Where?
Écomusée du fier monde
2050, rue Amherst, Montréal (Berri-UQAM Metro Station)
514 528-8444 / ecomusee.qc.ca
What?
To mark the last days of the exhibition Living in a sustainable city, one of the most influential urban ecology visionaries, Richard Register, president and founder of Ecocity Builders, will be presenting a conference at the Écomusée du fier monde.
This event is the occasion to explore the place of the city in evolution, history and nature. It will put the emphasis ...
June 7th, 2010
Spacing Radio is back on the air for the summer
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing Radio is back! For the summer we are changing things up a bit and so over the next few months we're going to give you a lot more to listen to, but in shorter doses. Every time we have a story to tell, we'll post it on the blog and put it out on iTunes. Sometimes you'll get one a day, or a few a week. It's a reflection of the season, when most of us are following a less structured life. ...
June 9th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: The World Cup, bike gadgets, and the fastest train in the world
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• The BP oil spill, which continues to wreak havoc on the United States' Gulf Coast, is just one more reminder of the perils ...
June 11th, 2010
Jump on da Bixi
By Émile Thomas // 6 Comments
Melbourne. London. Hip Hop videos. Bixi, the homegrown sensation, seems to be popping up everywhere.
(Well, everywhere except NDG, Parc-Extension, North of the 40, l'Est de l'Île ... but those places don't really count, do they?)
Music video : The Bixi Anthem, by Da Gryptions
Bouillonnement d’idées à l’Office de consultation publique de Montréal
By Liane Morin // No Comments
C’était journée de bilan ce mercredi pour l’Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) dans le cadre du colloque Grand Projet : Les temps forts de la consultation publique et c’est dans une atmosphère d’optimisme que l’organisme a fait le point.
En plus de passer en revue les projets sur lesquels l’OCPM a été mandaté ces dernières années et l’effet des débats publics sur ces derniers, nous avons eu droit à des exemples d’outres-rives-montréalaises. Si l’exemple de East Bayfront à Toronto a suscité beaucoup d'interrogations, le processus de participation publique qui a eu cours pour le réaménagement des berges du Rhône à Lyon en a inspiré plus d’un! Il faut dire que M. Gérard Claisse, vice-président au Grand Lyon (l’équivalent de la Communauté métropolitaine montréalaise) et communicateur hors pair, a soulevé l’enthousiasme et charmé la salle avec d'étonnantes analogies aux jardinages. (Les exemples mentionnés et plus encore seront bientôt mis en ligne dans le prochain numéro des Cahiers de l’OCPM)
June 12th, 2010
Taxi-top ads fall short of world-class design
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
In October 2008, mayor Tremblay challenged designers to come up with an identifying signature for Montreal's taxi fleet. The examples he conjured at the time were New York's iconic yellow taxis, London's black cabs, Mexico City's green buggies, but what they've dreamed up for Montreal is little more than a mobile billboard.
The mayor's challenge was picked up by marketing company Taxicom, who designed the sleek ad boards that will eventually top all of the the city's 4500 taxis. As of May 3rd, a municipal bylaw was changed to allow advertising on taxis. It will be up to each car's owner to chose whether or not they want to display ads in the panels.
Taxicom says that the public finds the advertisements beautiful, fun and interesting.
Taxi companies and drivers say that so far, people have mostly confused the ad-topped cabs with with pizza delivery vehicles.
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing editor Sean Micallef generated a great discussion this week about taking the cycling movement to the next level in Toronto. In an appeal to cyclists, Micallef advocates that riders acknowledge the political nature of everything they do and that accordingly they must approaching sharing the roadways as part of a sensible dialogue with drivers. Is there an onus on cyclists to promote better behaviour amongst fellow riders?
Major changes are coming to Toronto's iconic St Lawrence Market as the winning design was announced this week for the redevelopment of the 1960's era north market building. Spacing's Nicole McIssac covers the announcement and showcases the exciting new plan.
As part of an always great events series, Veronica Simmonds profiles World Naked Bike day and public consultation on the Halifax Central Library.
The Atlantic Snapshots feature this week focused on another distinctly Atlantic scene, this time in Saint John.
Evan Thornton covers two aspects of the city's recently announced plans for the Centretown neighbourhood. In the first piece Thornton decries the city's decision to widen Bronson Avenue, a critical artery in the neighbourhood and already a barrier to pedestrians. On the other hand, Thornton commends the plan's efforts to target surface parking lots, which are not only unsightly, but also damaging holes in the urban fabric.
Continuing the question of transit funding for the Ottawa LRT plan, Peter Raaymakers covers the recent announcement by the Feds to contribute $600 million to the project. While the funding announcement brings some surety to the plan, the real waiting game of working out the details and determining how the city will contribute its share has begun.
June 13th, 2010
Photo du jour : Pedestrian streets for car fanatics
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
I'm not going to hide it: I find people who get this excited about race cars completely ridiculous. All those "go fast" ads are kind of ironic considering the street closures and traffic snarles across the city this weekend. I'm thankful I had my bike to navigate the mess, but I could do without the souped-up bozos revving their engines at traffic lights as 3am and trying to accelerate 0-60 between stop signs. *sigh*
June 14th, 2010
Citizens mobilize to allow train track crossing
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
Dozens of citizens mobilized last Sunday to demand a level train track crossing between Mile End and Petite Patrie neighbourhoods.
The fence along the tracks where the citizens gathered shows the scars of a long battle between residents and CP security: over the decades the chain link has been cut through in dozens of places to allow for passage, only to be repatched by CP who owns the land around the train tracks.
According to one count done by the borough, 300-400 people cut across the tracks ...
June 15th, 2010
Photo du jour : Chaise longue sur tapis vert
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Aaah, l'été à Montréal... Qui a besoin d'une plage quand on peut s'approprier un beau parking?
Photo prise le 11 juin sur l'avenue Mont-Royal lors de l'événnement "Nuit blanche sur tableau noir."
Chantal Rouleau new mayor of Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles
By Devin Alfaro // 2 Comments
Vision Montréal leader Louise Harel with victorious RDP-PAT mayoral candidate Chantal Rouleau (photo: Vision Montréal).
Rivière-des-Prairies--Pointe-aux-Trembles now has a new borough mayor with Chantal Rouleau's victory in last week's by-election. With this gain, Vision Montreal now commands both the local mayorship and a majority of seats on the local borough council. The election results are as follows:
Chantal Rouleau (Vision) ------- 4,885 (40.7%)
Barbara Pisani (Union) ---------- 4,167 (34.7%)
Colette Paul (Projet) ------------- 2,100 (17.5%)
André Bélisle (Ind.) --------------- 843 (7.03%)
The most notable aspect of the results was the abysmal turnout: 15.8% of eligible voters. Voter participation in municipal by-elections is notoriously low but generally it is above at least 20%.
June 16th, 2010
Photo du jour : collision architecturale
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Deux styles d'architecture d'époques différents partagent un mur sur la rue Sherbrooke au coin de Berri.
June 17th, 2010
Planning for the Big Picture with Bill 58
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
On June 1st, Quebec's national assembly passed bill 58, a law requiring Montreal's Metropolitan Community (CMM) to draft a "metropolitan plan" for Greater Montreal by Dec 31, 2011.
The CMM is composed of 82 municipalities, including the biggies like Montreal, Laval and Longueuil. When it was formed in the year 2000, the CMM was mandated to create a detailed master plan for land-use in the metropolitan region by 2005. Then the deadline was pushed to 2006, then 2008, then seemingly forgotten.
Now bill 58 is intended to rope in the delinquent municipalities, but has also lightened the assignment: Rather than requiring a detailed land-use plan for the entire region, the province is only asking the island and off-island municipalities to agree on some broad directives. Bill 58 leaves more authority, including a greater say in regional planning, in the hands of the individual municipalities and MRCs (Municipalités régionales de comptés).
A metropolitan plan is an essential tool to ensure that transportation, environmental protection, agriculture and urban form don't come into conflict within the region. But the urban centres, suburbs and villages often have competing views of what's best. For instance, suburbs north of the island were in favour of extending highway 25 while the city of Montreal would have preferred to improve commuter trains.
Unfortunately, bill 58 means that the 82 municipalities don't really have to lay aside their differences and come together to plan with the big picture in mind as they would have had to according to the 2000 mandate.
June 22nd, 2010
Remembering history in our cities
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
Derrick Lovell, my colleague and political scientist in-training, recently wrote a very insightful piece about how we've allowed our cities to forget our history. I decided to share it with you:
A couple months ago, I was reading this biography of Pierre Elliot Trudeau for a Canadian Studies class at university. Like most biographies, it began by giving a little background information - some basic facts about Trudeau's early life. While scanning over the first few pages, I learned that I in fact live about 2 blocks from Trudeau's early ...
June 23rd, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Flip bridges, sewer diving, and the death of starchitecture
By Kat Snukal // 3 Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• In Hong Kong they drive on the left side of the road, in mainland China on the right. This simple difference creates an complicated engineering dilemma. How do you ...
June 24th, 2010
Jane Jacobs, Quebec sovereigntist
By Devin Alfaro // 11 Comments
"While it is quite possible that Quebec would do no better on its own than as a province of Canada, there is little reason to suppose that it would do worse, and there are even some practical reasons for supposing that it might do better.... Dependence is stultifying, and sometimes the obverse is true. That is, sometimes independence releases new kinds of effort, opens up formerly untapped funds of energy, initiative, originality, and self confidence. "
- Jane Jacobs, The Question of Separatism
The name Jane Jacobs is familiar to just about any person interested in cities and she occupies a place of honour in the pantheon of urban thinkers. Jacobs was made famous by her 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and to this day she is most well known for the influence that she had on modern urban planning. While she focused on urban issues throughout her life, she also intervened on a wide range of other political and social topics. One of her lesser know positions was support for Quebec sovereignty. What better day than La Fête nationale du Québec to take a closer look at her thoughts on the topic?
June 27th, 2010
Seeing like a Skateboarder
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
[caption id="attachment_7435" align="alignnone" width="469" caption=" David Bouthillier on his skateboard in Peace Park. Photo by Danny Stevenson."][/caption]
After talking to David Bouthillier for half an hour I start to see the urban landscape in a whole new light.
We sit perched on one of the raised platform that borders Place de la Paix, just next to the Société des Arts Technologiques on the Lower Main. Bouthillier, a pro skateboarder, sights along the inside edge of the granite slab where it comes to a corner: "You can jump over the first block ...
June 29th, 2010
LAST CHANCE : Top Spots Survey! / Sondage de vos coups de coeur montréalais
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
The survey is now closed. Thanks to everyone who answered!
Le sondage est maintenant terminé. Merci à tout ceux qui ont participé!
LAST CHANCE ! - If you havent done so yet, pleas take a moment to fill out Spacing Montreal's survey. We're curious to know what our readers think are Montreal's finest spaces, places and people. The survey will be active June 30th and then we'll share the responses on the blog. Please answer at least 10 of the questions; duplicate ...
June 30th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Transit maps, subway stations, and monorails
By Kat Snukal // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We'll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
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• Should private corporations be allowed to purchase the naming rights of public subway stations? The Transit Politic Blog muses on the answer as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation ...
July 3rd, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Evan Thornton summarizes both sides of the debate surrounding the recently approved redevelopment plans in Landsdowne Park. While many remain split on the merits of the plan, there is concern about the process used and how the vote reflects on the urban/suburban divide.
Dwight Williams introduces an interesting proposal to integrate the transit and Landsdowne redevelopment achievements of City Hall into a new transit proposal that offers to service the Landsdowne site while integrating into the city's existing transit plans.
In Halifax, Katie McKay shows how the public space of the Halifax Common was recently utilized to host the largest Pow Wow ever held in Atlantic Canada.
Rachel Carolin Derrah profiles the Neighbourhood Earth Project launching this summer in parks throughout the North End of Halifax. The project aims to educate about local landscapes and urban ecology.
As politicians continue to ignore demands for an independent inquiry into the failures of the police at last weekend's G20 Summit, Spacing played host to a number of attempts to bring some sense about how the legacy of the G20 weekend will forever change Toronto. Jonathon Goldsbie is scathingly critical of Mayor Miller's complicit response. Matt Blackett discussed the most important questions to be asking in the wake of the incidents. Dale Duncan reflects on the need to question police tactics on large event crowd control. Emma Feltes talks about how police used features of the public space against the populace.
In the immediate aftermath of the weekend, Spacing also featured excellent reports and unique perspectives on what happened on the city's streets. Matt Blackett highlights some of the most powerful footage of the protests while Nicole McIsaac shared observations from a weekend amongst the protests, and reported on the mood of the street following the weekend.
July 4th, 2010
Les meilleurs lieux montréalais selons VOUS
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Worth lining up for? Photo of Schwartz's deli by Rick's pics (Montreal).
Merci à tous ceux qui ont répondu à notre sondage sur les coups de coeurs montréalais. Nous avons reçu plus que 120 réponses! Quelques données vont prendre un peu de temps à traiter (j'ai hâte de rechercher tous les légendes et les artistes locaux que vous avez décrits dans vos réponses). Mais commençons toute-de-suite avec quelques lieux spéciaux que vous avez soulignés.
Meilleur attraction touristique (une place ou vous amenez vos visiteurs) / Best Tourist Attraction (a place you bring visitors)
1. ...
July 6th, 2010
Moins on en sait, mieux sont les préjugés dans Villeray
By Émile Thomas // 7 Comments
« Where facts are few, experts are many. »
- Donald R. Gannon
J’arrive vers la fin de ma maîtrise et il ne me reste qu'un cours à suivre durant la prochaine session scolaire. Ce dernier cours doit donc être le meilleur de tout mon parcours universitaire à Montréal. Save the best for last, n'est-ce pas?
Il y a quelques années que je voulais étudier le sujet du Nord canadien. Le Yukon. Les Territoires du Nord-Ouest. Le Nunavut. Le Nunavik et le Nord-du-Québec. Le Nunatsiavut et le Labrador. L’Inuit Nunangat. Le Nitassinan. Le territoire des nations inuite et innue.
Tout le monde est fou du Nord ; il fait l’objet de plusieurs études. Et pourquoi pas ?
La région est remplie des ressources naturelles. Le pétrole. Le gaz. Même la ville de Yellowknife est devenue la capitale canadienne des diamants. Grâce au passage du Nord-Ouest, le monde entier participe aux débats sur sa souveraineté.
Il va sans dire que la région est devenue une priorité pour tous à Ottawa et à Québec.
Et pourtant, les habitants de cette région sont assujettis aux pires conditions du Canada :
Le taux de tuberculose chez les Inuit dépasse de 32 fois le taux général national.
Le suicide hante le peuple inuit.
Le diabète est devenu un épidémie.
Et n’oublions pas le racisme et la xénophobie.
July 8th, 2010
Photo du Jour: Légumes frais et BIXIs
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Les fermiers de famille livrent leurs produits directement aux citoyens à des douzaines de "points de chute," qui apparaissent à des moments précis dans les coins cachés de nos quartiers. Cette photo a été prise un mercredi soir dans un stationnement près du métro Mont-Royal - pour en trouver un près de chez vous, consultez le site-web d'Équiterre.
Il y a une longue tradition d'échanges entre fermiers et citoyens urbains dans les rues et les places publiques de Montréal. Mais aujourd'hui les ...
July 9th, 2010
The Best of Montreal Politics…selon vous
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Thanks to everyone who answered Spacing Montreal's survey about Montreal's Top Spots. We got over 120 responses from readers. You can read the results for best tourist attraction, best street, best people-watching spot and best artwork.
Municipal politics in Montreal can be farcical, depressing and even disturbing. So when the Spacing Montreal team got together to hatch this survey, we made a point of sticking with the positive. There's got to be some good people doing some good things out there, and fortunately our readers were willing to give our politicians kudos for that.
Best City Council ...
Before the Quartier des Spectacles…
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
As several of you easily guessed in yesterday's pop-quiz, these satellite images show surface parking lots in the area between Bleury and Saint-Laurent, Rene-Levesque and Sherbrooke back in 2002, a year before the Quartier des Spectacles project was dreamed up.
The QDS revitalization transformed about 2000 downtown parking spots into mainly pedestrian spaces (that's more than thirty times as many parking spots as have been elimiated in the Plateau this year). That could be part of the reason why our transit-happy readers voted it the best ...
July 10th, 2010
Building community in Downtown Montreal
By Devin Alfaro // 4 Comments
The corner of Pierce and Ste-Catherine, in Shaughnessy Village.
Unlike many North-American "central business districts", Downtown Montreal is a lively place with constant activity. It is a part of town where there are many Montreal-wide institutions, major retail streets, three universities, as well as numerous cultural attractions. As a result, it is a destination for people from across the metropolitan region: hundreds of thousands of people pass through the area on a daily basis to work, study, shop, and access institutions.
It is also a living ...
Seulement à Montréal…
By Spacing // No Comments
Lors de notre sondage sur vos coups de coeur Montréalais, on vous à demandé de décrire ce qui rend Montréal une ville unique. Voici quelques réponses qui ont été soumises:
La diversité linguistique:
"Life in multiple languages -- not as officially mandated, but so many ordinary people who get along in two or more languages every day."
"20% de la population est trilingue !"
"Well, there are no other cities on earth with such a unique fusion of French, English and other cultures. This unique fusion is evidenced in our architecture."
"La seule culture urbaine de l'Amérique française"
"La multitude de langues ...
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Recalling the beloved phenomenon of the "take someth'n, leave someth'n" Swap Boxes that began appearing across Ottawa a few years ago, Spacing interviews the creator of the guerrilla art project to discover the inspirations and motivations behind the unique and inspiring idea.
Nine years into what was supposed to be a test project of light rail in Ottawa, Spacing's Evan Thornton looks at the role the O-Train has come to play both in the practical functioning and collective imagination of the city. As the service begins a five week hiatus for maintenance, Thornton wonders what will become the new norm for the route's 10,000 daily riders.
Veronica Simmonds profiles a fascinating public space art project taking place this month in the Halifax Common. The Common: For as Long as You Have So Far takes its participants on a personal journey through the natural history of the area using a fictional story about one's ancestors and future decedents.
Steve Bedard reports from Halifax on the troubles facing a proposal to build new infrastructure for active transportation on a short stretch of Herring Cove Road. As usual, the opposition is coming from local businesses who view the plan as potentially harmful to their business.
While the year 2010 hasn't left us with the moon bases we were once promised, at least we are finally starting to make progress on Jetson's style Personal Rapid Transit. Adrian Lightstone continues the Ideas For Toronto series by looking at a PRT pilot project which is about to begin in Stockholm, Sweden and points to how the transit mode could become an efficient and feasible feeder for higher orders of transit. It all begs the question of where this could work in Canadian cities.
As Toronto moves forward from the G20 summit, tempers and emotions are cooling enough so that practical questions can move to the forefront. In his weekly column, John Lorinc creates a list of 1o questions a G20 inquiry should address. With his characteristic pragmatism, Lorinc focuses on issues of how the police policy was established, who was behind it, and what grounds it was established.
July 11th, 2010
Photo du Jour : World Cup Watchin’ in the Mile End
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
A crowd gathers outside of Café Olimpico on Saint-Viateur to catch a glimpse of the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands.
Let the honking begin!
July 13th, 2010
Filmmakers seek old-time Empress photos
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
Remember when the Empress was alive and well? Got photos to prove it? A pair of documentary film-makers are looking for photographs of the Empress for a short film about the past, present and future of NDG's long-dormant theatre.
Family photos from the '60s, '70s and '80s, of you in front of the building, or inside, or of a movie poster, or anything in that genre would be very useful says Emmanual Hessler of Bis Films.
"It is a short doc that will look at the evolution of ...
Mixité EXTREME Mixing
By Joel Thibert // 7 Comments
[caption id="attachment_7557" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Un club échangiste (édifice beige) dans un quartier résidentiel"][/caption]
So I finally decided to write a post in both official languages. Not to be politically correct, but because (I think) the subject of urban mixing in Montreal lends itself particularly well to a mixing of languages.
J'écrivais, il y a quelques semaines de cela, que la cohabitation serrée et inusitée de choses opposée sur le plan symbolique à Montréal est en grande partie ...
July 15th, 2010
Événement : Journée des bons voisins dans le Mile-End
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
« We’re just a group of neighbourhood residents who want to make improvements to public space, and the streets are the biggest part of our public space. »
- Mathieu Vick
L'association Mile-End sans voitures vous invite à la première Journée des bons voisins. Samedi le 17 juillet entre 11h et 18h, la rue St-Viateur Ouest entre Jeanne-Mance et St-Urbain sera ouverte aux citoyens en devenant complètement piétonne.
Venez rencontrer une foule de groupes communautaires à l'info-marché et venez appuyer les artisans locaux au marché artisanal. Il y aura bien sûr ...
July 16th, 2010
Montreal’s Best Alleyways
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
When I asked readers to name their favourite alleyway in our survey, I didn't expect to run up against this roadblock: what is an alleyway anyways?
The official definition is "a narrow street; especially a thoroughfare through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots or buildings."
According to the Centre d'histoire de Montréal, alleyways as we know them first appeared in Montreal around 1845 when large farm-lots were being subdivided into smaller properties. Prior to this, inner courtyards were accessible through private carriage doors, but not from the street. The McTavish property was the first to be planned and subdivided with alleyways in the H-configuration that has since become common in Montreal's neighbourhoods.
[caption id="attachment_7580" align="alignnone" width="120" caption="H-configuration. Image from the Centre d'histoire de Montréal"][/caption]
These days, some alleyways have names - some are even called avenues - and these ones generally got the most votes: Demers, Saint-Christophe, Chateaubriand, and Lartigue each got lots of mentions, perhaps simply because they were the easiest to identify. Although they fit the official definition (narrow street; and acess to some rear lots) these alleys a far cry from your typical Montreal ruelle: there are addresses on each of these streets, and some even have sidewalks or parking lanes.
Le mal aimé de Montréal
By Liane Morin // 14 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Stade olympique. Photo de MatHampson."][/caption]
Nous le comparons souvent à une soucoupe volante, un grand éléphant blanc, voire même à un siège de toilette. Le Stade olympique, malgré les décennies qui passent, peine encore à se faire aimer ou seulement accepter. Chaque rénovation majeure vient rouvrir la douloureuse plaie du fiasco financier olympique. La RIO (régie des installations olympiques) a beau tenté de nous convaincre que 1.5 milliard ce n’est pas si énorme pour un complexe d’installation sportive de cette envergure, mais avec l’utilisation qu'il en est fait aujourd’hui, je crois ...
July 18th, 2010
Only in Montreal (suite)…
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
In our Top Spots survey we asked Spacing Montreal readers to tell us what makes this city unique. Some of your answers were posted last Sunday. There were, of course, mentions of bixis, bagels and poutine (all of which are best consumed at 4am) and even a shout out to the OPCM. Here is another batch of your elegies and rants:
People, culture & contrasts
"the obvious: the students, the cultural mix, the dual role of the city as francophone economic and social capital and anglo gateway to francophonia. the slightly less obvious: the promiscuity, the ...
July 19th, 2010
L’archéologue urbain / la Pointe-à-Callière
By Alex Lefrançois Leduc // 1 Comment
L'école de fouilles de Pointe-à-Callière, un partenariat entre le musée du même nom et l'Université de Montréal, existe maintenant depuis plus de huit ans. Elle est située dans un édifice anonyme de deux étages qui fait face à la place d'Youville dans le Vieux-Montréal, l'un des très rares endroits du secteur où le sous-sol n'a pas été creusé pour y ériger les fondations d'un immeuble plus imposant, d'où la conservation des vestiges. L'entreprise d'avitaillement Townsend était propriétaire du site jusqu'en 1998, date où la fondation du musée décide d'acheter le site pour sa grande valeur archéologique. De l'extérieur, ...
Court throws out Montreal’s anti-postering bylaw
By Christopher DeWolf // 9 Comments
Stapling a poster to a Saint-Viateur hydro pole
A Quebec Court of Appeal judge has ruled that Montreal's anti-postering bylaw, which prohibits posters from being stuck to public street furniture, violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Montreal will now have to find a way to legally accommodate posters on public property.
We have local activist Jaggi Singh to thank for this ruling. Ten years ago, he was charged with sticking a poster on municipal property, and with the help of civil rights lawyer Julius Grey, he took his case through the ...
July 20th, 2010
PODCAST: Listen to Spacing’s 5-part series on G20
By Spacing // No Comments
It has been over three weeks since the G20 Summit left Toronto but the actions of protesters and police are still lingering.
Spacing Radio's podcast team was on the streets during the tumultuous weekend recording sounds and reactions to the ongoing events. Our contributors have also sat down politicians, journalists, and human rights advocates to discuss the complex issues of policing and protesting an international summit. You can also read the posts by Spacing Toronto's writers for more analysis of the summit.
Take the time ...
Final farewell to the Seville Theatre
By Devin Alfaro // 26 Comments
Demolition under way at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Lambert-Closse.
After decades of neglect and indecision, the Seville Theatre's days are now numbered. Last week demolition began on the western buildings of the Seville Theatre block. The West-End landmark was built in 1929 as a Vaudeville theatre, and it went through several incarnations before finally closing its doors in 1985. It has been sitting derelict ever since, slowly deteriorating until all that remained was its brick exterior.
Various proposals to redevelop the building ...
July 21st, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: The US edition (plus parking)
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
• The hull of ship from the 1700s was found last week at the World Trade Centre site in Manhattan, reports CNN. Archaeologists suspect that the ship was sunk to retain and add precious land area to the island.
• Looking for a recession proof industry? The Globe and Mail reports that parking lots continue to pull in record earnings in Canadian cities. With supply limited by increasing real estate development in our downtown cores, the price of parking has increased 233 per cent in Calgary and 130 per cent in Toronto over the past ten years. While some bemoan the dent this has made in their pocket book, Spacing's Shawn Micallef calls this the "universal price of great urbanism" .
• As New York City cracks down on illegal advertisements, Treehugger reports that some of the city's guerilla gardeners are "turning billboard blight into pop-up planters".
Photo du jour : Lower Westmount
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
A Westmount townhouse at the corner of Abbott and Hillside.
July 22nd, 2010
SUMMER SHORTS PODCAST: Riding “the Clockwork Orange”
By Spacing // No Comments
LISTEN TO TODAY'S SPACING RADIO PODCAST
Sometimes exploring a city means just shutting your eyes and listening. In this soundscape, Spacing producer Mieke Anderson takes you underground into the Glasgow subway system.
Affectionately known as "the Clockwork Orange" because of its orange subway cars and circular route, Glasgow's underground dates back to 1896 making it the third oldest in the world. Recently, the city was considering shutting down parts of the system if they couldn't come up ...
July 23rd, 2010
Photo du jour : Art Deco Fish
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
Decorative panel on the façade of the Marché Saint-Jacques, constructed in 1931.
Montreal’s Best Architecture Psychoanalyzed
By Spacing // 5 Comments
Special contributor Justin Boulanger, architecture master's student and psych-architect extraordinaire, delves into Spacing readers' minds and analyses their personalities based on their favourite local buildings. These buildings were voted Montreal's Best Architecture in Spacing Montreal's readers' poll last month.
First Place: Canadian Centre for Architecture (1989).
[caption id="attachment_7690" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="image from Google street view"][/caption]
Your kitchen is stocked with wood and brushed aluminum paraphernalia that will last a century longer than you do; and they didn’t come off the Swedish mass-production line - many of those materials came from around here. You have an expensive and distinctly local fashion sense; you love the cachet of old places, you just wish they could be a little more modern, or better yet, a little more postmodern. You support worthy causes, cry when trees get cut down, and have trouble throwing things away – you probably have some fabulously restored antique in your living room that contrasts proudly with the rest of the stark, swanky decor. You were the first to discover the brunch menu at Sparrow but have already moved on to some far hipper place with no lineup. You love to attend vernissages where you schmooze with people dressed in all black with thick framed glasses . Most importantly, you know what a vernissage is.
July 24th, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing Ottawa editor Evan Thornton was on the road in Winnipeg this week and reports from that city on the dialogue surrounding the beautifully restored and vibrant Exchange District. During the decades when money was being funnelled into large scale modernist improvement projects the Exchange District was naturally and slowly rejuvenating itself.
On behalf of Montreal artist "Hyperalligina" Spacing is appealing to readers to help find the perfect empty lot in the city for part of an art project to be installed this summer using a grant from the Awesome Ottawa Project. The post includes some more details about what the artist is looking for.
On the transit file, the weekly Monday Musings column this week generated discussion on how the proposed service cuts to bus routes around Halifax will affect the city. Additionally, Lauren Oostveen delves into the Halifax archives to look at the city's public transit history.
Spacing Atlantic is launching a photo contest challenging readers to encapsulate their city in a single photograph. Read more about the specific criteria and how to enter.
As part of the Ideas for Toronto series Adrian Lightstone brings up the issue of using referendums to gauge public support for new revenue tools for transit funding. Citing that referendums having fallen out of style in Canada, Lighstone points out they are frequently used in American cities and other places around the world and have even been used in Toronto.
Mayoral Candidate George Smitherman walked Eglinton Ave all the way across Toronto this week suggesting his interest in urban walkability. Spacing's Todd Harrison caught with him during part of his walk for a discussion about how he would promote walkability as Mayor and put the discussion on Spacing Radio.
July 25th, 2010
Photo du jour : Îlot Voyageur
By Devin Alfaro // 11 Comments
Over three years and hundreds of millions of dollars later, the Îlot Voyageur still sits unfinished.
July 27th, 2010
Photo du Jour : Festival d’expression de la rue
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Aujourd'hui est la deuxième journée de la 14e édition du Festival d'expression de la rue, à Place Pasteur (Saint-Denis au sud de De Maisonneuve). Selon le communiqué de presse sur l'évènement, "sa longévité est l'une des preuves que la cohabitation avec les populations marginalisées dans l'espace public est non seulement possible, mais aussi nécessaire."
L'évènement est organisé par les Pairs-aidants, un groupe de jeunes qui ont vécu la rue, qui s'en sont sortis, et qui œuvrent maintenant à la lutte ...
July 28th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Maps, Trains, Trikes and Three Million on the A40
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
• Time's Michael Grunwald took the train ride from Miami to Orlando to consider the Obama administration's $8 billion investment in high speed rail. The US President aims to create 13 national high speed rail corridors to relieve road and air congestion, reduce carbon emissions and highway deaths, create jobs and jump-start the domestic manufacturing industry. The stimulus funding is a great first step but at 1/8 of last year's spending on highways, there is much more work to be done.
• The New York Times reports on the growing trend of cargo-hauling tricycles in New York City. The bespoke "industrial trikes" transform bikes from personal transportation devices to child-carrying, grocery-hauling complete car alternatives. Users even reported a positive change in their interactions with cars and trucks when using the device.
July 29th, 2010
Photo du jour : Good question…
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Scrawled on an STM info panel at the Pierrefonds/Roxboro train station: "Does anyone take this bus?"
On a similar topic, Jason Prince ponders how bus transit could be tweaked to win over West island commuters. But the comments point out the obvious difficulties with transit in low-density suburbs: people have complex trips (dropping off the kids; picking up groceries after work, etc), an increasing number of suburb-to-suburb commutes makes it near impossible to create direct routes, and it often requires a car to get to the transit terminus in the first place.
No wonder this ...
La construction de la nouvelle Plaza Swatow : une histoire de 2007 à 2010
By Cédric Sam // 10 Comments
Septembre 2007
Mai 2008
Mars 2009
Mai 2009...
July 30th, 2010
Photo du jour : Library characters
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
I always see a an assortment of curious characters on benches in front of the Grande bibliothèque.
Est ce que Montréal a peur du noir?
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Photo cc Asaf A Ali http://www.flickr.com/photos/asifali1985/"][/caption]
Le crépuscule tombe sur Montréal: le ciel perd son teint bleu et prend une lueur orangée. Les nuages sont des taches claires sur un fond sombre et deux ou trois étoiles scintillent faiblement, ou peut-être que ce ne sont que des satellites.
Les télés s’allument, les réseaux cellulaire bourdonnent: Rendez-vous sur la terrasse? Sortie au club? Les restaurants, bars et discothèques se font concurrence avec leurs néons toujours plus tape-à-l’œil; les clients y sont attirés comme des papillons de nuit.
Du sommet du Mont Royal, la croix conseil silencieusement de résister aux tentations. Quand elle a été construite en 1924, on se vantait qu’elle serait visible à 80 km de la ville. Mais aujourd’hui les tours à bureaux ont chacune levé leur propre idole illuminée. La ligne de toits est décorée d’une constellation de logos familiers par lesquels nous, habitants de la ville, avons appris à naviguer. Sans oublier qu’à son apogée, le phare de la Place Ville Marie balaye l’horizon comme une veilleuse géante.
Avec tout ça, il faut se demander: est-ce que les Montréalais ont peur du noir?
To renew or not to renew
By Émile Thomas // 15 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Photo cc Gareth Sloan"][/caption]
Je ne sais pas quoi faire. Renouveler ou ne pas renouveler mon abonnement BIXI.
Et j’ai jusqu’au 31 juillet à prendre une décision.
Lors de l’arrivée du BIXI, je suis tombé amoureux. C’était 2009. J'arrivai naguère à Montréal de Lyon où son Vélo’v était ma vie. Durant cette époque, il semblait que le BIXI ait corrigé tous les défauts d’autres systèmes mondiaux de vélo-partage
La 1re année, j’étais accro du BIXI
La 2e année, je suis devenu mesuré, modéré, tiède. Je ne peux continuer à excuser ses défauts :
July 31st, 2010
Spacing Saturday
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
At the corner of Mulder Ave and Scully Way (no joke), Dwight Williams takes a look at the history of Ottawa streets named after fictional characters; a practice which has occurred sporadically since 1899.
On the municipal election beat Vicky Smallman frames the large number of incumbents bowing out of this year's election as an unique opportunity to increase gender parity in municipal politics.
As part of a continuing look at unbuilt projects across Halifax Dustin Valen profiles and examines Thomas Evans recent thesis proposal Meta-Library: A Public Platform for Information Exchange.
Katie McKay profiles the Making Tracks locomotive related art project that took place this week at the Halifax Via Rail station.
Andrew Walsh and Mieke Anderson present another Spacing Radio summer short this week featuring Gentrification: The Game! by artist collective Atmosphere Industries.
If you haven't seen Alden Cudanin's strike Before & After photos of the city yet, this weeks work: A 72 Year Crossing at Yonge and Bloor is definitely a great place to start.
August 1st, 2010
Photo du jour – Forest floor
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Overgrown CP yards in Point-Saint Charles
August 2nd, 2010
Photo du jour : Traffic control guts
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Only look, no touch!
August 3rd, 2010
Photo du jour: Parc Avenue Eyesore
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
Abandoned building on Parc Avenue and Van Horne, August 1st, 2010.
August 4th, 2010
Photo du Jour : Rue Sainte-Cath en roses
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
La rue Sainte-Catherine, piétonnisé entre Berri et Papineau pour l'été, vue depuis le Pont Jacques-Cartier.
School yourself: 5 books you should have read about your urban space
By Émile Thomas // 11 Comments
With the dog days of summer lazily creeping up on us, there remain but a few weeks left to accomplish that summer reading that you so longed to do.
Remember? The promise you made back in May to read the complete works of Dostoevsky? Or to brush up on your 17th century French literature? And how about that attempt to become acquainted with the great works of philosophy? It was an ambitious commitment but let’s be serious: you and I know none if it is going to get done.
Planetizen, the urban planning, design, and development website, publishes its own annual TOP 10 in urban planning literature. For those more ambitious, it has listed its TOP 20 urban planning books of all time. And while every book on that tally is an obvious must-read (Hello Jane Jacobs and Rachel Carson, I’m talking to you!), I would like to take this time to share a few books that, if I were a professor, I would be assigning as mandatory reading:
Villeray–St-Michel–Parc-Extension mayor faces further criticism for racist comments
By Devin Alfaro // 4 Comments
Anie Samson, Vision Montréal mayor of Villeray–St-Michel–Parc-Extension.
Criticism continues to mount against the mayor of Villeray–St-Michel–Parc-Extension, Anie Samson, for her handling of the possible new Inuit patient residence at 7500 St-Denis. In a press release sent out this morning, Projet Montréal came out strongly in favour of the project. Party leader Richard Bergeron harshly criticised Samson's previous comments on the topic: "The defensive strategy of the mayor is an insulting approach as much for the Inuit as for Montrealers. Demanding a moratorium (on the project) is excessive, and it's part of a profoundly unhealthy, slippery slope towards ethnic and social profiling."
As previously covered in Spacing, for the past few months there has been a divisive debate going on in Villeray about the possible conversion of the former Chinese Hospital on 7500 St-Denis to an Inuit patient residence. This proposal ignited an opposition movement which destributed flyers throughout the neighbourhood and put together a website entitled "Imminent Danger". Their arguments were based on little more than thinly-veiled "drunk Indian" stereotypes and they attempted to incite opposition to the project with alarmist predictions.
Thankfully, their appeals were not well received by many Villeray residents. According to one resident: "I was so scared when I received that flyer in my mailbox. I felt sick to my stomach; it was so racist, so demagogic, and it said such horrible things about the Inuit." Supporters counter organised and successfully packed a public consultation with residents favourable to the project. According to group spokeswoman Geneviève Beaudet, "“I want the Inuit to know that it’s not everyone that shares these ideas. We want to welcome them the best we can.”
World Wide Wednesday: Bridges, Straddling Buses, Superhighways, Navigation
By Hilary Best // 2 Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
• The ten-lane I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota is being called the safest bridge in America. The bridge which replaces a structure that collapsed into the Mississippi River in 2007 killing 13 people, is bright white with stylish curved piers. But as CNN reports, its the 323 high technology sensors within the structure that set the bridge apart. The $1 million devices record corrosion, stress, bridge movement and security data. With such a huge price tag, some wonder whether the money might be spent on older bridges more likely to collapse.
• Those of you spending summer days exploring the city may enjoy this piece in the New York Times about navigating the urban jungle. Gooley and MacDonald offer some creative wayfinding techniques for the urban wilds.
August 5th, 2010
Photo du jour : High-rise living
By Devin Alfaro // 5 Comments
High-rise apartment buildings on de Maisonneuve between Chomedey and du Fort, in Shaughnessy Village.
August 6th, 2010
A ride on the 747
By KC Bolton // 18 Comments
STM’s direct bus link between downtown and the airport has arrived none too soon. The former route’s multiple confusing transfers (one of which was so close to the airport the weary traveller might have inhaled jet fumes) seemed to have been designed with jet-lagged torture in mind. The old route had been in place since at least 1999, when I was cruelly initiated with duffel, trunk, and bicycle in tow.
Montreal’s 747 is a welcome option for frugal travellers, and probably a cause for celebration among airport employees who make the daily commute.
It proves to be ...
PODCAST: St Mary-le-Bow’s bells in London, England
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
LISTEN TO TODAY'S SUMMER SHORT 017 ON SPACING RADIO
You know when you're exploring a city for the first time and you turn a corner only to stumble upon something completely unexpected?
This is what happened to Spacing producer Mieke Anderson on a recent trip to London, England. Initially, it was only a faint sound barely within earshot. Then suddenly she was face-to-face with the St Mary-le-Bow Church and consumed by the ringing of its famous bells. Wandering the streets of London you'll still ...
August 7th, 2010
Photo du jour : Concordia looming
By Devin Alfaro // 7 Comments
Concordia's John Molson School of Business looms large over heritage townhouses on Pierce Street.
Spacing Saturday: Photowalking, front porches and books
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing Ottawa editor Evan Thornton catches up with photographer Justin Van Leeuwen about photo-walking the city.
Erin O'Connell takes a look at front porches and the ways they are used in neighbourhoods as a method of interacting with the community.
Spacing Atlantic editor Emma Feltes revisits her article from Spacing's 18th issue, 'Oh, The Spectacle' on the newly developed Seaport Farmers' Market building in Halifax.
Spacing's publisher, Matthew Blackett, starts a discussion about the usability of subway maps. In Toronto the map is simple, because there are only 69 stations compared to New York's 486. Which is why graphic designer Eddie Jabbour wants to redesign New Yorks map — to make it less intimidating.
John Lorinc compiled a pros and cons list for both the Presto smartcard and open fare payment systems that are being proposed as fare alternatives for the TTC.
August 9th, 2010
Photo du jour : Riverview
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
Riverview Avenue, in Westmount, located just north of the Ville-Marie Expressway.
San Francisco’s plan to deal with parking
By Matthew Blackett // 3 Comments
SFpark Overview from SFpark on Vimeo.
I know I'm stating the obvious when I say this: parking a vehicle downtown, in Montreal or any city, can be a challenge if not entirely frustrating. But the parking policies of a city go a long way in determining how a city is experienced at street level. For instance, the city of Prince George, BC has nearly 50% of its entire downtown area covered in parking lots. The downtown of many Canadian cities ...
The death of a climbing tree
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
I came home from a weekend of camping to learn that Westmount Park willow had fallen. It was a heavy storm last Tuesday that finally bent the old tree to the breaking point, but by that time its trunk was already stooped nearly to the ground and its bark had been polished by thousands upon thousands of sneakers.
When I was a small that willow felt like a kingdom of possibilities hanging high above the ground. Later, as teenagers, we straddled the ...
August 10th, 2010
Mind the dou-dou-dou-door
By Alanah Heffez // 17 Comments
The STM is introducing a tone to alert passengers before the metro doors close. This is meant to increase efficiency and ensure comfort and safety aboard the metro, presumably by preventing bits of people from being slammed between the doors. Click below to hear the tone:
You can listen to the sound here.
I love that both the STM's press release and metro newspaper refer to the tones as "le fameux dou-dou-dou," a home-grown noun for an idiosyncratic local sound.
Last fall I wrote about the source of the sound which is unique to Montreal's metro system, a by-product ...
Photo du jour : Un condo en bordure de l’autoroute Ville-Marie ça vous dit ?
By Guillaume St-Jean // 14 Comments
August 14th, 2010
Photo du Jour : Street chalk
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
The Main in little Italy is closed for Italian Week festivities. Things were just getting started when I biked by Friday afternoon but these two little girls were taking advantage of the opportunity to plunk down in the middle of what is usually a busy artery.
Corner Saint-Laurent and Saint-Zotique.
Where is the dialogue about postering?
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Last month, the Court of Quebec ruled that the City's anti-postering bylaws violates Montrealers' freedom of expression. The ruling would imply that the City must either change the bylaw that currently prohibits postering on public street furniture, or supply a vast quantity of dedicated places for citizens to place public notices.
Fortunately, it seemed that there is already a solution in the works: on July 5th, just 10 days before the court ruling, the Direction de la culture et du patrimoine presented ...
August 15th, 2010
Photo du jour : La longue agonie du Motel Raphaël
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Saturday Adventures
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
One of the things that is so great - and so overwhelming - about this city is that a zillion things tend to be going on all at the same time and that time is Saturdays in the summer.It must be impossible to take advantage of everything that's going on even harder to wander around without having some kind of surprise encounter. None-the-less, I set out yesterday with a rather epic checklist of events to discover, all of which appropriated public space in some way or another.
First stop, I headed out the two new artsy markets that are taking place Saturdays in the Plateau:
August 16th, 2010
Photo du Jour : Riddell’s Door
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Given the kind of neighbourhood that Mile End has become, Riddell's storefront can easily be mistaken for work of installation art rather than a bona fide fishing gear store. Sadly, the curious storefront may not be around for much longer as the shopkeeper, George Riddell, passed away on June 30th at the age of 82 after keeping shop on Bernard street for 50 years.
Personally, I ventured through this door only once and quickly retreated, feeling as though I had stumbled into someone's private living ...
August 18th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Where in the world?
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
----------------------
• A report released Monday by the New York City Department of Transportation paints a fascinating picture of pedestrian safety. The study examined over 7000 crashes between 2002 and 2006 resulting in death or serious injury and yields some startling statistics. "Jaywalkers were involved in fewer collisions than their law-abiding counterparts who waited for the “walk” sign, though they were likelier to be killed or seriously hurt by the collision." "80 percent of city accidents that resulted in a pedestrian’s death or serious injury, a male driver was behind the wheel." "[L]eft-hand turns were three times as likely to cause a deadly crash as right-hand turns." "[T]hree-quarters of the crashes occurred [at intersections". As the New York Times reports, the study is providing a quantitative basis for the city to continue its program of re-engineering the street grid.
• Portland, Oregon is the proud owner of new and improved bike wayfinding signs. The green signs feature distances and directions and travel times to popular destinations. Residents can thank a $1 million federal stimulus grant for the improvement, says Bikeportland.org
August 19th, 2010
No right on red was a good choice for Montreal: MTQ
By Alanah Heffez // 16 Comments
La Presse recently dug up a provincial report that quantifies the deaths and injuries related to right turns on red lights, which have been permitted in most of Quebec since April 2003.
In the past seven years, 5 deaths, 30 serious injuries and 622 light injuries have been caused by accidents involving a right turn on a red light. In an interview with La Presse, the head of security at the MTQ said that, while of course 5 deaths are too many, that this is more or ...
August 21st, 2010
Sidewalk sales around town
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Another Saturday, another overwhelming list of things going on about town...
Saint-Hubert is having a sidewalk sale this weekend and ball-gowns are on special, among other more practical deals (even on a regular day, most Saint-Hubert shops fall into I-suspect-this-was-manufactured-by-slaves price range, although to be fair, its mostly the same brands available elsewhere for more). You might want to save this visit for a rainy Sunday since the plaza's awnings provide at least a little shelter.
Meanwhile the Grand Débarras brings local designers and eco-chic ...
August 22nd, 2010
Photo du Jour – Fruiterie sous la pluie
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
La Fruiterie Mile End sur l'Avenue du Parc, par un dimanche pluvieux.
August 23rd, 2010
Photo du Jour – Mile End Pumpkin Patch
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Spotted on the corner of Saint-Viateur and Waverly, during the Journée des Bons Voisins...Will it hold out until Halloween?
August 25th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Mobile Food, Noisy Hybrids, Fighting for the Empire, Moscow Traffic
By Hilary Best // 6 Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• NPR chronicles a growing trend for start up chefs who use trucks, trailers and mobile homes to sell their food to the masses. The overwhelming expense of starting a restaurant isn't stopping these gastro-preneurs from practicing their art.
• The Globe ...
August 31st, 2010
Devimco’s New Griffintown Scheme: “District Griffin”
By Chris Erb // 21 Comments
Devimco, the embattled developer with big plans for the forlorn neighbourhood of Griffintown, south of Downtown, have finally unveiled their new, albeit considerably scaled-down plan for four new high-rise residential buildings, which they are now calling "District Griffin".
The four buildings will be primarily residential with three condo buildings and one mixed 150 room, 3 star hotel/office building. Stores will be located on the bottom floor but potential tenants and sizes remain to be seen. The buildings will front rue Smith and will be bordered by Wellington to the north and west, ...
September 1st, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Hotspots – Tokyo, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Copenhagen
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• If you've been saving up for a trip to Tokyo's Shimokitazawa neighbourhood, be sure to plan your travels before 2013. The bohemian hotspot is due for revamping and some fear that the very characteristics which make this place a favourite (twisting alleyways, discount ...
September 7th, 2010
Je suis montréalais
By Émile Thomas // 10 Comments
« Well maybe it’s just the time of year, or maybe it’s the time of man – I don’t know who I am, but, you know, life is for learning. »
- Joni Mitchell
Bienvenu à la rentrée. This year, for a change, I actually went to class for the first day of school.
At the beginning of the lecture, the professor asked a seemingly benign question:
“How many non-montréalais or non-québécois are there?”
Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the daydreaming, but I found myself putting my hand up, then pulling it back down, and instantly falling into a new existential crisis.
Am I or am I not montréalais?
September 8th, 2010
Car-Free Neighbourhoods Week from the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
This month the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre is gearing up for an activity-packed week that aims to explore the concept of car-free neighbourhoods. Many European cities, particularly the German cities of Cologne and Fribourg have been working over the past decade on building new car-free neighbourhoods and transforming existing neighbourhoods to reduce the impact of cars. The Urban Ecology Centre, in collaboration with the Goethe Institute of Montreal, is inviting Montrealers to discover these initiatives and to begin a discussion about how some of the lessons learned in Europe could be applied in Montreal.
This first ever event series will be happening thoughout the city from the 20th to the 26th of September. Most of the week's events are open to the general public and free of charge. The full schedule of events can be found after the jump, or on the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre's website.
The BIXI Gap
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
While our home-grown BIXI's have taken off in London England and beyond, they have yet to hit the streets in many parts of Montreal, including my 'hood of NDG.
When guests come to visit or when a show lasts beyond the last metro, it occurs to me just how practical it would be to to tap this service that so many of my fellow Montrealers rave about. Last year we heard that BIXI would hit CDN-NDG in 2010, but the most populated borough in the city is still serviced by a mere 10 stations, all in the area adjacent to Outremont, at least 4 kilometres from where I live.
When I asked the borough when we could expect BIXIs, I was told that the Public Bike System Company, the division of Stationnement Montréal that manages BIXI, had only installed stations in the area adjacent to Outremont because they insisted that the bike docks to be a maximum of 300 m apart. However, BIXI stations were launched in Saint-Laurent, LaSalle, Lachine Verdun and Ahuntsic this summer, proving that there's more than a little wiggle-room in the 300-meter rule.
I was excited to learn that a neighbour, James Maclean, was circulating a petition to bring BIXI to NDG, and I agreed to accompany him to the borough council meeting to present his collection of over 1000 signatures and get to the bottom of the issue.
World Wide Wednesday: Say no to free parking, hawks and baggy pants
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Streetsblog NYC features a response from Donald Shoup (UCLA professor and author of The High Cost of Free Parking) to Randal O'Toole (Senior Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute) about his misconceptions of the role of government intervention ...
Photo du Jour: The Other Side of the Mountain
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Every once in a while, I'm reminded how much of this city I have yet to discover. Happy New Year to those who are celebrating today, and happy fresh starts and fall adventures to everyone.
Photo taken from Place Northcrest, looking north towards TMR and Ahuntsic-Cartierville
September 11th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Hurricane Earl, Bridging Bixi and Transit Plans
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Ottawa Mayoral hopeful Clive Ducet unveiled his transit plan for the city this past week. Eric Darwin meticulously examines the plan's highlights, shortcomings and believability.
Spacing Ottawa's Evan Thornton discovers the bridge that isn't, a curious old structure over the Transitway, and wonders why it isn't being used for something better; like a pedestrian/ cyclist crossing.
Ryan Bolton and Spacing Votes follow the increasing post labour day pace of the municipal election, covering both the new feel of the election in the Fall and the release of front-runner Rob Ford's transit plan.
Shawn Micallef continues his Toronto Flaneur series at the Toronto Zoo and explores its history, sense of place and role within the city.
As Hurricane Earl lashed the East Coast last week, Earth Sciences Professor and Spacing photo contributer Lawrence Plug documented life in Halifax as the storm passed over the city.
Veronica Simmonds reports on the Commons Dance Party, an event intended to celebrate the commons as a free public space at the end of summer.
Montage du jour : Le couvent des franciscains
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
2009-2010-2010
La partie subsistante du couvent n'ayant pas été détruite par le feu de février 2010 fut démolie au cours de l'été.
September 12th, 2010
Where the wild things were: Joe Beef’s Canteen
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
Joe Beef is Montreal's own brand of Robin Hood: he revolted the rich and got the poor good and liquored. While he is generally revered by those who still remember his name, he was reviled by many back in his day.
"Joe Beef is one of those despicable characters who, while they sell the vilest rum and keep places that disgrace a city, gain reputations for great charity and some goodness by giving ...
September 13th, 2010
Good Ad, Bad Ad
By Alanah Heffez // 19 Comments
Down with billboards
The Plateau Mont-Royal is en route to becoming the first billboard-free zone in Montreal: in July the borough passed a bylaw banning the installation of new advertising billboards, and this month they voted to remove existing billboards within a year.
In a press release, Projet Montréal said that the billboard ban aims to reduce visual pollution. There are currently 45 billboards in the borough which earn the central city $40,000 a year in tax dollars. The Plateau Borough does not get any income from these advertisements.
"The main beneficiaries of this advertising are a handful of powerful companies. The losers are the citizens exposed to theirs ugliness day after day after day. It's a very bad deal for Montrealers," said Alex Norris, borough councillor for Projet Montréal in the Mile End district.
In an editorial last Friday, The Gazette showed its true colours when it rushed to defend commercial advertisers' rights:
"Advertising does not exist to serve his borough. And companies that advertise create the jobs, the products and the wealth that governments tax. Fortunately, commercial advertising has some protection under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and a prominent lawyer predicts confidently that the borough's measure would not survive a court test."
The Gazette also pointed to the case of Oakville, ON, who lost a 14-year battle to ban billboards on their territory. In Vann Media Group Inc vs Oakville, 2008, Justice Paul Rouleau said billboards were "similar to books, newspapers and radio or television, in that they provide a medium through which messages are conveyed. Although the dominant use of billboards is to convey commercial messages, they are, on occasion, used to convey political, personal, charitable and many other types of messages."
September 15th, 2010
Event: Social Justice in the City with Peter Marcuse
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
Institut de politiques alternatives de Montreal (IPAM) feature speaker series presents:
PETER MARCUSE
"Social Justice in the City: What is it? Who really wants it?"
Thursday , September 16, 2010
7 pm to 9pm
1515 Ste-Catherine W.
Concordia University, EV Building
Amphiteatre (EV 1.605)
Metro Guy-Concordia
About Peter Marcuse:
Peter Marcuse, a planner and lawyer, is Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning at Columbia University in New York City. His fields of research include city planning, housing, homelessness, the use of public space, the right to the city, social justice in the city, globalization, urban history, the relation between cultural activities and urban development, and most recently, solutions to the mortgage foreclosure crisis. His most recent co-edited books include Globalizing Cities: A new spatial order? (Blackwell 1999), Of States and Cities: The partioning of urban space (Oxford University Press 2002) and Searching for the Just City (Routledge 2009).
World Wide Wednesday: Slow down
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Grist celebrates artists in Santa Rosa, CA, this week. Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector made use of the city's 1% for art law, which requires corporations doing major construction to fund public art projects, to build "Cyclisk" - a ...
September 16th, 2010
Montreal will Not Contest Postering Decision
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
The City of Montreal will not contest the decision made last July by the Quebec court of appeal, which deemed their anti-postering bylaw violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"Sur le plan légal, nous pouvons vous confirmer que la Ville ne portera pas en appel le jugement rendu par la Cour d'appel dans l'affaire Sing," wrote Gonzalo Nunez, a communications officer for the City of Montreal this morning.
"The decision of the court is forcing the city to change its ways," says Mile End district councillor, ...
September 17th, 2010
Consultation: how well does the City communicate with youth?
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
The City of Montreal, in collaboration with Montreal's Youth Council, is holding a series of public consultations to evaluate the lines of communication between the youth and the City. The floor will be open to people between the ages of 12 and 30, so even the not-so-very-young folks such as myself can make themselves heard.
What motivates young people to become involved citizens? Do young people have access to the services and information that interests them? Do youth feel they can make their ...
September 18th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Joe Beef, Election Influence and Alphabet Soup
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Ian Capstick explains his theory for how citizens can influence the mayoral election without spending a dime through a coordinated effort of engaging social media with a message of the values and messages people want to see from candidates.
Dwight Williams continues his look into the history of Ottawa street names by looking at the alphabet soup found in the Tremblay Rd area.
Emma Feltes is on the road in Western Canada and takes some time to celebrate Canadian cycling infrastructure victories there.
In an open letter to mayoral candidate George Smitherman, Shawn Micallef implores the candidate to change the character of the campaign by switching from being a Tie Domi to a Wendel Clark.
Congratulations to the Spacing Editors! This week Spacing was awarded the 2010 Jane Jacobs Prize.
September 19th, 2010
Joe Beef – The friend of the working man
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
"Joe Beef of Montreal, The friend of the working man."
How did a British army vet turned barman extraordinaire become the champion of Montreal's working class? For starters, Joe Beef's canteen provided a free lunch, cheap beds, and dubious entertainment to hundreds of the city's laborourers, unemployed, and drifters between 1868 and 1889.
His booze-fueled charity was likely welcome at a time when the church was the only provider of social services. Always pragmatic, if poetic, Joe Beef handed out cards proclaiming:
"He cares not for the Pope, Priest, Parson or King William of the Boyne; All Joe wants is the Coin. He trusts in God in the summer time to keep him from all harm; when he sees the first frost and snow poor old Joe trusts the Almighty Dollar and good maple wood to keep his belly warm. For Churches, chapels, ranters, preachers, beechers and such stuff, Montreal has already got enough."
Although Joe Beef brought in his fair share of coin - his assets were valued at $80,000 at his death - he is far better remembered for spreading around the wealth brought in at the bar.
September 21st, 2010
Événement : Sacrée montagne
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
(Selon L'Office national du film)
Lancement du projet documentaire interactif
SACRÉE MONTAGNE
le mardi 21 septembre 2010, de 18 h à 20 h
au chalet du belvédère Kondiaronk,
au sommet du mont Royal
Avec une prestation de Natalie Choquette
Le documentaire interactif Sacrée montagne propose une immersion interactive dans le parc du Mont-Royal, et met en lumière notre rapport au sacré à travers notre lien avec la Montagne. Empreint de poésie et de sensibilité, ce documentaire vivant est un cri d’amour au mont Royal. De toutes confessions et de tous horizons, des amoureux de la Montagne livrent avec générosité leurs histoires ...
Outremont Short-Cut
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
The staircase at the intersection of Côte-Sainte-Catherine and Laurier would appear to lead up to a private home, but those who follow it up past an imposing row of houses will find themselves in a narrow footpath between dwellings.
This seemingly-secret passage emerges on Maplewood Avenue. Half a block west, a second flight of stairs provides a short cut between Maplewood and Blvd Mont-Royal- if in doubt look for the green hand rail:...
September 22nd, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Traffic Jams, New York, Maps and Speed Humps
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• From the innovative efforts of PlaNYC to the remarkable pedestrianization of Times Square, urbanites from around the world marvel at the New York's ability to plan and execute ambitious and exciting projects. How do they do it? Katharine Jose at Capital New York attributes much recent success to Jan Gehl. This article profiles his approach and recent work. "A good city is like a good party, you stay for longer than you plan.”
• Crain's New York reports on the latest must-have for New York apartment seekers: bike storage. With the number of commuter cyclists increasing 79% over the past three years, landlords find themselves charging fees for the space to keep up with demand.
September 24th, 2010
Jean-Dominic Lévesque-René
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
« Gotta tell you what I heard / From Agent Orange »
- Tori Amos
À la suite du décès de M. Jacques Cardinal, conseiller de l'arrondissement de l'Île-Bizard—Sainte-Geneviève, il y aura une élection partielle ce dimanche dans le district de Sainte-Geneviève.
Trois candidats se présenteront : un Monsieur Éric Dugas, qui, malgré son statut indépendant, est largement reconnu dans le secteur comme candidat pour Vision Montréal ; un Monsieur Philippe Voisard de l'Équipe Tremblay – Union Montréal ; et un Monsieur Jean-Dominic Lévesque-René de Projet Montréal.
Moi, je me fiche des deux premiers candidats.
Avant que vous ne me critiquiez, je vous dirai le suivant :
Non — ce n'est pas à cause de son affiliation avec Projet Montréal que M. Lévesque-René m'intéresse. D'ailleurs, je doute que Projet Montréal, parfois critiqué pour son obsession de la République du Plateau, se soit intéressé à M. Lévesque-René lors de dernières élections en novembre 2009.
Non — Jean-Dominic Lévesque-René capte mon attention parce qu'il demeure un bel exemple d'un jeune citoyen qui s’inquiète de son quartier, sa communauté, et sa ville.
Flashback 1994, Jean Chrétien est le premier ministre du Canada, la LNH est en grève, et Lévesque-René commence sa lutte contre le cancer, provoqué par l'usage répandu de pesticides à Île-Bizard.
Je vous présente des extraits de son discours tenu à Ottawa en 2001:
Événement : la 3e Journée des bons voisins
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
Le groupe Mile-End sans voitures vous invite à la TROISIÈME (et dernière) Journée des bons voisins le samedi 25 septembre entre 11h et 18h. La section de St-Viateur Ouest entre Jeanne-Mance et St-Urbain sera encore une fois ouverte aux citoyens en devenant complètement piétonne.
selon l'événement facebook:
En espérant que cette fois-ci il n'y aura pas de pluie, ...
September 25th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Big Government, Urban Farming and the $100 Million Question
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing photographer Justin Van Leeuwen showcases a playful new public art project along Wellington Street, the result of Ottawa's 1% For Public Art program.
Spacing reader Adam Bentley proposes a fascinating idea countering the current trend to push for smaller city councils, instead advocating for a New Hampshire style super council which could curb individual influence and eliminate career politicians.
In a new weekly Farm Friday feature, Lizzy Hill profiles the Small Plot Intensive Farming techniques of the innovative Lake City Farm project which grows greens on the lands of people who sign up.
Spacing's Emma Feltes asks the $100 million question about whether or not the proposed the convention center is the right move for downtown Halifax.
As Rob Ford continues to pull ahead in the polls, Spacing Votes this week offered two competing visions of what the progressive side should do. On one hand John Lorinc argues that Pantalone would be best to fall on his sword and bow out of the race. On the other, former Miller campaign communications director Andrea Addario argues that Pantalone is the only viable alternative as Smitherman has already boxed himself out.
Spacing's Dylan Reid sparked infrastructure debate this week with two posts. The first dealing with how commuters actually get downtown, a response to Rossi's underground highway proposal. The second deals with a interesting new initiative on University Ave to raise pedestrian crosswalks, avoiding puddling in the winter.
September 26th, 2010
Joe Beef : The wickedest man in Montreal?
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
"Joe Beef is Dead. For twenty-five years, he has enjoyed in his own way the reputation of being for Montreal what was in former days known under the pet sobriquet of the wickedest man. His saloon, where men consorted with unclean beasts, was probably the most disgustingly dirty in the country... It has been actively at work over all that time for the brutalizing of youth — a work which was carried on with the utmost diligence by its, in that sense, talented proprietor." (Montreal Daily Witness, quoted in Montreal by Gaslight, 1889).
Charles McKiernan, aka Joe Beef, died in his canteen of a heart attack at the age of 54. La Minerve newspaper estimated that up to 5000 people came down to his tavern on Common street on January 18th 1889 to pay their respects. Even in death - or perhaps even more so - Joe Beef was revered for his ability to break down the barriers of social class:
"A larger crowd of people have seldom if ever gathered to see the funeral of any Montrealer..." reported The Gazette, "All the town was there. The millionaire rubbed his fur-cuffed sleeve against the shiny coat of the mechanic out of employment, and the deadbeat with a lugubrious air of assumed seriousness apologetically jostled the smart broker who had stolen away from the board to see the funeral of "Joe Beef"." (Montreal Gazette, January 19th 1889.)
His wife and six sons, aged between 7 and 23 years old at the time, led the funeral procession from the tavern to Mount Royal cemetery where he was buried and where his tombstone still stands. His epitaph, chosen by his second wife, Mary McRae, read:
September 29th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Union Square, Poop Power, Density and Urban Magnetism
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Streetsblog questions the conventional planning wisdom that successful transit depends on density. Using the counterintuitive example of the comparatively dense Las Vegas with Vancouver, Jarrett Walker discusses the importance of how we measure density and the role for transit-supportive design.
• Pop Up City advances the idea that it's opportunities for romantic partnership (rather than work) that attract us to the city. Urban ecologist Remco Daalder argues, "Sex in the City is not just a slogan, it is an important fundament for Amsterdam’s economic success.”
October 2nd, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Beaver Barracks, Electoral Reform and Hybrid Taxi
By Marcus Bowman // 2 Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Beaver Barracks is Ottawa's first sustainable rental housing complex. Spacing asked the group behind the project, Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, to talk about the innovative new building and why it is so important for the city.
Vicky Smallman reflects on a week that opened up that the Ottawa Mayoral Election and highlights some some of the ways community groups are also becoming involved in the campaign.
Lauren Oostveen dives into the vaults of the Nova Scotia Archives to find some fantastic images of Nova Scotia in the early 1960s.
Matt Neville continues the fanstastic [Re]presenting Halifax series which aims to explore the city through visual exploration. This time the focus on built form and open space.
Hilary Best reports on the growing on the growing movement for municipal election reform with some fascinating ideas tried elsewhere in the world that could improve dismally low voter turnout rates and overly high incumbency success rates.
In 2007 Toronto began an plan to convert all of its taxis to hybrid technology by 2015; to date it the city only has 40 hybrid taxis. Adrian Lightstone reports on the progress and impediments of greening a taxi fleet.
October 5th, 2010
Montage du jour : Intersection de la rue Sherbrooke et du boulevard St-Laurent
By Guillaume St-Jean // 13 Comments
Vers 1950-2010
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM6 R.3080.3
Seville’s Final Spectacle
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Demolition of the Seville Theatre began yesterday. This afternoon, I noticed that a small crowd had gathered on the sidewalk - most were older gentlemen come to pay their last respects to the theatre, which has stood on the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Chomedey for the past 80 years.
One gentleman told me that he remembered when the building housed a Vaudeville theatre, before it became a cinema. He pointed out the space at the north end of the ...
October 6th, 2010
1897 Bicycle Map of Montreal
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
1897 map of Montreal area cycling routes from the BANQ archives: the best cycling routes are indicated by dotted red lines while "normal" cycling routes are traced in solid red (click map to enlarge).
The preferred routes include Sherbrooke, Sainte-Catherine, Saint-Laurent, Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame, and Chemin des Carrières, as well as the more scenic waterfront roads. Interestingly, the industrial canal-side was also marked as prime cycling route a century before it was revitalized with a bike path.
Despite hundreds of new kilometers of bike paths and ...
World Wide Wednesday: No Ridiculous Car Trips
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• In Malmo, Sweden, a witty cycling campaign is getting real results. Now four-years old, "No Ridiculous Car Trips" capitalized on the unfortunate reality that 50% of all trips under 5 km in the city were taken by car. Recognizing this ridiculous waste (and enormous potential), a group of dedicated citizens combined installation art, story telling and incentives to get people to re-consider their modal choices. Copenhagenize has a delightful short film profiling the campaign.
• In London, England, the choice to take transit is now back on the table as Underground employees are return to work following a 24-hour strike. According to the BBC, the strike was prompted by job cuts and several more disruptions are planned for November if the dispute remains unresolved.
October 7th, 2010
Event Guide: Back alley photo installation
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_8377" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Jean Plessis-Bélair (young boy) with horses in the de Mentana alleyway, 1931"][/caption]
An art exhibit featuring called Laterna Magica has been inhabiting the alleyways between Mentana, Saint-André, Roy and Bousquet, until Monday October 12th. The temporary installation presents over a hundred historical photos from the neighbourhood and displays them in situ - in doorways, on fences, and illuminated in windows - as close as possible to the places they were taken, as well as maps and other documentation pertaining to the site.
The ...
October 9th, 2010
Montréal Ouvert : Taking Action for Open Data
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Toronto open data: Image by the Martin Prosperity Institute"][/caption]
The City of Montreal is a vault of important and fascinating information - maps, stats, schedules, and regulations that enable us to understand and navigate the urban landscape. Yet most of it is buried somewhere in a maze of a website, often difficult to extract from bulky PDF documents.
Montréal Ouvert is working to convince the city to crack open that stronghold and let citizens appropriate the City's data in creative ways. They envision that tech-savvy people could tap into this data ...
Spacing Saturday: Community Boards, Sharrows and Spandex
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Evan Thornton talks about the #iwantamayorwho twitter forum that has become an interesting discussion of the mayoral election. Thornton notes how both voters and candidates have approached the new medium.
Kathryn Hunt reflects on the question of how to convince people that anyone can cycle and on how to address the stereotypes that only young men in spandex are active cyclists.
Vicky Simmonds reports on citizens taking bike infrastructure into their own hands by painting their own sharrows on the streets of Halifax, following the guidelines of the Urban Repair Squad movement.
Emma Feltes profiles the 'City Mail' project in Halifax, a creative new initiative that aims to challenge the way participants think about landmarks and the flows of people through the community.
Two posts touched on the need for new approach to planning in the city this week. Dale Duncan talks about the need for voters to ask candidates how they will engage citizens in the planning process. John Lorinc talks about a recent proposal by Paul Bedford to implement New York style community boards.
Nadia Halim recounts the adventure of a recent Thursday night psychogeographic walk in Toronto. The tale comes complete with quick sand, celeb sightings, and of course: lesbian Wiccan poetry readings.
October 12th, 2010
Marché Saint-Jacques slowly coming back to life
By Devin Alfaro // 21 Comments
Marché Saint-Jacques seen from the corner of Ontario and Amherst.
After years of serving as a city office building, the Marché Saint-Jacques is finally being returned to its original vocation: a public market. Previously owned by the Ville-Marie borough, the market was sold for $2.3 million to private developer Rosdev in 2007 on the condition that it remain a market. This year, after extensive renovations and restoration, new shops are opening up inside the historic market building. There is currently a bakery (Première Moisson), a cheese shop, a greengrocer, a fresh pasta shop, an olive product store, a crêperie, and a coffee and tea shop. Other stores will be opening later this year.
In terms of protecting our city's heritage buildings, this is good news. The restoration work was well executed and this beautiful Art Deco market will be preserved. Moreover, it will continue to remain accessible to the public, which wouldn't be the case if it were converted to residential units as has happened to other old public buildings.
October 13th, 2010
Verdun : un portrait photographique
By Émile Thomas // 10 Comments
À cause de son histoire en tant que ville indépendante, ou bien, à cause de son isolement relatif, Verdun est un petit trésor urbain sur la carte montréalaise. Et maintenant, cet arrondissement fait l'objet des désirs des gens qui ont succombé à son charme villageois.
Une bonne blague circule parmi mes amis :
Nous disons que les hipsters démodés habitent dans le Mile-End, car tout le monde sait que ce quartier est à la mode ;
que les hipsters branchés habitent dans la Petite-Italie et à Parc-Extension, car seulement les gens branchés savent que ces quartiers sont devenus à la mode ;
et que les ultra-hipsters sont si branchés qu’ils habitent à Verdun, car, à l'exception d'eux, personne ne sait que ce quartier est en train de devenir à la mode.
World Wide Wednesday: Las Vegas seeks new motto
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• FOLLOW UP: For those looking for a little more on the Shweeb, CNN offers up a more extensive report on Google's $1 million investment in the new transportation technology. As to why the web giant is investing so much money in an unproven technology, Google spokesman Jamie Yood offers: "We looked for a concrete project where the funding available to us with Project 10^100 has the potential to yield impact. Shweeb's innovative approach toward low-cost and environmentally friendly urban transport has the potential for significant impact in the future." For those concerned about being stuck behind a slow Shweeber, never fear - shock absorbers allow the pods to stack together and let the faster people "push" the slow rider in front. Compellingly, Shweeb designers suggest that their technology represents the future of urban transit because it fits existing expectations and institutions. "It doesn't require any change in behavior."
• SimCity lovers take note: last week, IBM released their city problem solving game - CityOne. According to the Next American City article, "the game is intended to help business and civic leaders (or indeed anyone with a flash enabled browser) gain a better understanding of some of the challenges that are facing modern day urban areas, and how technology might play a role in addressing them." The author critiques the game for simplistic and technology-heavy answers that read like a sales pitch rather than a useful city building tool.
October 16th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Election Clutter, Transit Culture and a lack of Politicians
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vicky Smallman checks in on the Ottawa mayoral race, profiling the character positioning of the five main candidates as the campaign heads into the home stretch.
Evan Thornton rejoices in the latest example of Ottawa's emerging Transit Culture: the Hinton Cafe's O'Train special grilled chili dog.
Joshua Biggley reports on the troubling electoral climate in Charlottetown, where only seven of the ten wards even have challengers running and speculates on the troubles democratic stagnation could cause the city.
Veronica Simmonds profiles Halifax Housing week which aims to celebrate successes and highlight needs of homelessness in Halifax.
John Lorinc delves into the long and tumultuous history between George Smitherman and David Miller and speculates on how this affected Miller's Pantalone endorsement and what would have happened had someone with a similar resume run in place of Smitherman.
As opposed to many of its suburbs which are littered with campaign signs, Toronto has very tight rules regulating when and where candidates can put up signs. Sean Marshall looks at Toronto's regulations and at the merits of the practice in general.
October 17th, 2010
Yellow Street Stripes, also known as “Cross Walk”
By Alanah Heffez // 22 Comments
If a truck is 50 meters away, traveling West at a speed of 40 km per hour, a car is 30 meters away traveling East at 45 kms per hour, and the street is 10 meters wide, how fast do you have to run to make it to the opposite sidewalk unsquashed?
Montrealers implicitly master this kind of calculation at a young age as we learn to navigate our city.
How many times have I been shocked - even embarrassed - when cars quickly braked after I stepped off the sidewalk ...
October 18th, 2010
Down to the river to play
By Émile Thomas // 4 Comments
« En suivant le fleuve, on parvient à la mer. »
- Plaute
J'oublie souvent l'existence de notre fleuve ; j'avoue. Et pourtant, il n'y aura pas un Montréal sans un St-Laurent.
Fleuve, estuaire, bassin versant, et voie maritime : le fleuve Saint-Laurent creuse un sentier important dans l'histoire, la culture, l'économie, et la géographie de l'Amérique du Nord. Avec son paysage unique, il joue le rôle de la porte d’entrée qui permet au continent de s'ouvrir au monde.
Le Québec attache une importance majeure au fleuve Saint-Laurent, car une grande partie de ses eaux courent à travers son territoire. Selon le Ministère de Développement durable, Environnement, et Parcs, plus de 80 % de la population du Québec vit sur les rives du Saint-Laurent et de ses tributaires, et la moitié de celle-ci y puise son eau potable. Il va sans dire que ce fleuve exerce une grande influence sur la province.
Autrefois, les citoyens fréquentaient les berges pour s’y détendre, s’y baigner, et pêcher. Ils profitaient d’une grande accessibilité aux rives et d’un fleuve riche en ressources. Malheureusement, les conséquences de l’industrialisation, de l’urbanisation, et du développement agricole ont maintenant restreint l’accessibilité aux rives. Les problèmes environnementaux ont fait que vers la fin des années 1970, le nombre d'activités récréatives dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent diminuait. Les nombreux enjeux, dont l'état des berges, la qualité de l'eau, l'urbanisation, et la gestion gouvernementale, continuent à exercer une grande influence sur l’accessibilité aux rives du Saint-Laurent
October 19th, 2010
Verdun : un portrait photographique (L’aménagement)
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
Pour notre premier arrêt à Verdun, nous entreprenons une exploration de son aménagement.
October 20th, 2010
Photo du Jour : Grid
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Place Ville Marie in reflection.
World Wide Wednesday: Meters, TOD, Cranes and Floating Orbs of Light
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Slate offers a history of a ubiquitous piece of street furniture: the parking meter. The article traces the meter back to its roots in Oklahoma City and questions the move towards privatization of city parking. Privatization deals, such as the one recently undertaken in Chicago, argues planner Aaron Renn, assign a "property right interest in the biggest component of public space in the city to a private monopoly that doesn't have the public's best interests at heart."
• Does transit oriented development require a certification system? Bloggers at Liveable Bay and Straight Outta Suburbia think so, according to Streetsblog NYC. The term, which has been influential in defining and supporting the development of walkable, cyclable, accessible urban environments risks dilution without measurable standards. But what exactly does transit oriented development mean?
October 21st, 2010
Backstage at Silo No. Five
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
I had tried once before to wander around the backside of Silo No. 5 but was I was quickly herded out by security guards. So I jumped at the opportunity to take Héritage Montréal's legitimate tour of Silo No. 5, the imposing, if somewhat crumbly-looking grain elevator that stretches across the western end of the Old Port.
The occasion for the visit was that Silo No. 5 is about to change hands: the Montreal Port Authority will be selling it – and all of Pointe-du-Moulin - to the Canada Lands Company in November. The CSC is a non-profit organisation who none-the-less must pay market value for the lands they develop and make ends meet.
Although Silo no. 5 does not have any official heritage designation, the new owners seem eager to recognize the historical value of the site. Cameron Charlebois, a CSC representative, accompanied the tour and shared some thoughts on the future of the site (see the last section of this post).
October 23rd, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Silo No. 5, Baldwin Street and Walkshops
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Careful to avoid giving any direct endorsement, Spacing Editor Matthew Blackett makes an appeal to voters on the eve of the election to fully consider the power that the Mayor has and what someone could do with those powers.
As part of the ongoing Street Stories series, Eric Mutrie takes a look at Baldwin Street, a place that's hard to find but easy to love, and examines both the history of the street and what makes it so successful today.
As part of the ongoing redevelopment of Centretown, planners have invited the public to contribute to the process by submitting photos depicting the best, the worst and the future of the area.
Spacing is co-hosting a walking tour and workshop at the 4 Days Better City Lab event in Halifax, and invites readers to take a closer look at the event and some of the amazing things that have happened so far.
An unintentional public space
By Spacing // 1 Comment
This observation was submitted by Darniel Rotsztain, a student of Urban Geography at McGill University. Read his other articles on Spacing Montreal.
The ongoing construction along Sainte-Catherine, as part of the Quartier des Spectacles rejuvenation project, has been extremely disruptive to the flow of traffic and businesses in the area. Whether the disruptions are worth it remains to be seen, but in the face of the construction, I have found it interesting to experience an unintentional side effect: Sainte-Catherine and its surrounding roads, usually bustling thoroughfares, ...
October 25th, 2010
Election Schadenfreude and Retrospective
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Le Devoir ran this caricature by Garnotte last November after Tremblay took on the mayor's hat for a third term, among other roles"][/caption]
Having just spent the weekend in a Toronto ridden with pre-election-angst, I couldn't help but indulge in a little bit of voter Schadenfreude. Only one year ago we Montrealers faced our own depressing, nail-biting election (an unlikely pair of adjectives that none-the-less sum up a growing number of political choices...).
Although the results that came in last November were far from inspiring we pulled through and, ...
October 26th, 2010
Verdun : un portrait photographique (Le social)
By Émile Thomas // 3 Comments
Allez. Débarquez à la station De l'Église. Regardez autour de vous. Prenez note, que l'État est un fait de nature, que naturellement l'homme est un être sociable, et que celui qui reste sauvage par organisation, et non par l'effet du hasard, est certainement, ou un être dégradé, ou un être supérieur à l'espèce humaine.
De là, cette conclusion évidente, nous découvrirons les particularités verdunoises qui rend cet arrondissement sociable.
Smells in the City Photo Contest
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Although we rarely navigate the city by our noses, smells have a way of becoming inextricably linked with certain locations.
Spacing Montreal recently caught wind of a photo contest that challenges Montrealers to capture our city's distinctive odors in an image. Alexandre Cv, the event organizer, challenges participants to go beyond the obvious (bbq chicken and piles of doggy doo-doo) and explore their surroundings with a sense that rarely gets much exercise.
He points out the pizza-smell that permeates Berri metro station as an ...
October 27th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Bike Sharing, Libraries, Posters and City ag
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• While functional bike sharing systems are in the works for many cities, project execution can sometimes be a challenge. The New American City profiles Social Bicycle System (SoBi), a project founded by former NYC Department of Transportation bicycle planner, Ryan Rzepecki. SoBi uses secure lockboxes that can be added to any bicycle (and secured to any standard lock), along with enabling software which uses GPS and mobile phones. The system, being piloted in New York this fall, promises to reduce the cost of implementing a bike sharing system and creating opportunities for grassroots bike sharing systems to develop.
• Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card. And in St. Paul, Minnesota, you don't even need the card, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a time when library budgets are often the first to be slashed, unmanned robo-libraries are popping up in all sorts of unusual locations (strip malls, parking lots, city hall). For folks looking for out of the way books in New York City, the New York Times recommends the Terence Cardinal Cooke-Cathedral branch of the public library system located just outside the turnstile entrance to the No. 6 train on the northwest corner of Lexington Avenue and 50th Street.
October 28th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’église Sainte-Catherine-d’Alexandrie
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Vers 1967-2010
Vers 1967-2010
Vers 1967-2010
Cette église autrefois située à l'intersection des rues Robin et Amherst fut démolie en 1973 afin d'être remplacée par un immeuble à loyers modiques.
Source : Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain UQAM
October 30th, 2010
1995 : la mort de l’État-nation ?
By Émile Thomas // 7 Comments
Alors. Il y a 15 ans, le Québec a presque voté « OUI » pour son indépendance.
Ou, il a presque voté « OUI » pour qu'il devienne souverain, après avoir offert formellement au Canada un nouveau partenariat économique et politique, dans le cadre du projet de loi sur l'avenir du Québec et de l'entente signée le 12 juin 1995.
Ou bien, il a presque voté « OUI » pour la canonisation de Monsieur Lucien Bouchard.
Quoi qu'il en soit, le référendum de 1995 fut un moment inoubliable dans l'histoire de la nation.
November 1st, 2010
Photo du Jour: Full on
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Was crossing the McGill campus on my way to the Daily's journalism conference when I caught this stunning sunset sight. The best part was seeing students pour out of their classes and look up with surprise: I think every one's first instinct was to pass the word on (and whip out their cellphone cameras) and the murmur of "rainbow" rippled across the campus from crowd of strangers to the next.
November 3rd, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Markets, USBs, airbags for cyclists, water infrastructure
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Last week, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania celebrated the re-opening of Market Square - a pedestrianized market place which will play host to vendors and seating areas in the summer. As Project for Public Spaces reports, it is hoped that Market Square will spur downtown revitalization.
• Open source data reaches new heights with Dead Drop - an anonymous, offline, peer-to-peer file sharing network which uses built infrastructure as the medium for file sharing. Curbs, buildings and walls are injected with USB drives for any curious laptop user to plug into.
• Trust the Swedes to find a way to make cycling safe and stylish. The Incidental Cyclist presents the Hövding - an airbag helmet for cyclist. This USB charged airbag deploys on impact, surrounding the victim's head. Check out the crash test dummy video to see for yourself
November 5th, 2010
Campaign advertises pedestrian deaths
By Alanah Heffez // 19 Comments
I feel weird and kind of angry about this ad campaign in the metro and in bus shelters around town.
1367 pedestrians were hit last year, one poster advertises, above an image of man tangling with a car in mid-air.
50% of road deaths are pedestrians, another ad tells us, showing a woman's body being tossed aside by a passing vehicle.
There something if not downright wrong, at least disturbingly politically incorrect about this campaign, which is signed by the City of Montreal, ...
November 6th, 2010
Bergeron out of the Executive Committee
By Devin Alfaro // 8 Comments
Almost a year after it started, Projet Montréal leader Richard Bergeron's participation in Montreal's Executive Committee has come to an end. The issue that caused the break was a major disagreement between Bergeron and Mayor Tremblay in the latest instalment of the Turcot saga. Earlier this week Bergeron publicly threatened to resign if the mayor didn't commit to opposing any Turcot Interchange project that didn't meet the city's demands. The MTQ (provincial ministry of transport) is set to unveil the modified version of its project next week, and word is it falls far short of the City of Montreal's vision.
While Bergeron admits that he hasn't seen the actual plans, he maintains that Tremblay has and that he verbally explained what it will include. Bergeron qualified the changes in the project as cosmetic, and believes that it doesn't meet the conditions that all parties on city council have set forth. Tremblay says that the improvements are real, that this is the best the city will be able to get, and that we should accept the project and work with the MTQ to improve the details. All members of the Executive Committee will be required to support this position.
According to Bergeron he was originally planning on stepping down next week after the MTQ's "improved" plan was publicly revealed. But seeing the writing on the wall, Tremblay blinked first and this week demanded that Bergeron commit to supporting the administration in its decision to accept the MTQ proposal. When Bergeron refused, his participation in the Executive Committee was over. Some say he was fired, others say he resigned. It seems like the decision was made by mutual agreement by both players that Bergeron couldn't continue if he didn't support the project. Projet Montréal explains Bergeron's decision here, on its website.
Spacing Saturday: Blaming Pedestrians, Arthur Erickson and Happy City
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Peter Raaymakers reports on how the attempts to implement a U-Pass for University of Ottawa students has turned into a divisive and controversial issue and how this is largely an issue of misinformation.
The 1980's Bank of Canada extension remains today one of the most successful public building in Ottawa. Evan Thornton looks back at Architect Arthur Erickson's thinking behind the design.
Steve Bedard reports from Halifax on the crosstown connector bike route initiative which has gained approval to move on to the stage of public consultation
Andrew Harvey reports on the latest initiative of the Happy City organization in St John's, a unique event in which participants were invited to say whatever they thought was important to the city.
In a post that generated almost a hundred and twenty comments, Spacing attempted to make sense of election results through transit riding, non-driver Rick McGinnis who explains why he chose for Rob Ford.
Eric Mutrie continues the Street Stories with a look at Jameson Ave that profiles the history of a street that has been called a landing strip for immigrants into the city.
November 7th, 2010
The Oldest House in Griffintown
By Alanah Heffez // 17 Comments
The tiny house at 175 de la Montagne is quite probably the oldest house in Griffintown. In fact, it is so old that it was once part of a neighbourhood that predates even historic Griffintown.
Although the its architecture suggests that it was built around 1825-35, this house suddenly appears on an 1865 map of the neighbourhood.
Urbanist David Hanna has attempted to unravel the mystery of this temporal incongruity. The original owner was named Andrew Keegan, a schoolteacher at a school for Irish Catholics in Pointe-Saint-Charles. In 1862, Keegan built ...
November 9th, 2010
Photo du jour: Maison Cormier
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
Art Deco style house on Avenue des Pins, near Cedar. Designed by architect Ernest Cormier as his personal residence, and later the address of Pierre Trudeau after his retirement from politics.
Losing sight of the highway for the green: Understanding the “new” Turcot plan
By Jacob Larsen // 18 Comments
Welcome to Portland boul. Notre-Dame
In the face of harsh critiques from just about every imaginable governmental and non-governmental body in the province for its previous plan for the Turcot interchange, the Ministère du Tranports (MTQ) went back to the drawing board over the summer, promising to return with an improved plan for the monumental structure. Finally, the results have been made public. So has the MTQ responded to calls for a truly multimodal transport strategy that will improve quality of life for future generations of Montrealers?
Judging by their flashy updated website, interactive map, computer renderings depicting urban scenes like the one above and new moniker guaranteed to make holdouts feel warm and cuddly inside ("Turcot - Un projet aux couleurs de Montréal"), the folks at the MTQ have been busy. After a dizzying tour of their website, one almost forgets that behind images of a sexy new (potential) tramway, a futuristic marketplace and billions in future economic spin-offs, this is actually a highway project. So what changes are actually being proposed to this vehicle-moving machine? I have attempted to cut through the noise in order to highlight a few new details; you can decide for yourself what is substantive and just another layer of "green" frosting.
November 10th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Building British, Sidewalk Slowpokes and Parking Fortunes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Jonathan Glancey at the Guardian offers an interesting view into the role of architecture in contemporary British life. "Spending on architecture and building (not always the same thing) has fallen in real terms over the past 200 years. Where once buildings were the greatest, proudest and most expensive objects money could buy, today we spend on much else besides. ... For the most part today, we aim to build as cheaply as possible."
• Irritated by sidewalk slowpokes? So is the New West End Company, a group of 600 business owners in the district around Oxford Street in London and they're taking action. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the group plans to separate sidewalk traffic into speed lanes - directing slow movers to walk in a "shopper lane" along store fronts, so that hurried residents and workers can proceed without opposition on the sidewalk's edges.
November 12th, 2010
Catch Us Saturday Nov 13th at Expozine
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
The Spacing Montreal crew will be at Expozine on Saturday ONLY. Please drop by and say hi, pick up back issues of Spacing Magazine and chat about some of the things we have planned for the next year. We will also be organizing our annual post-card swap, where you can can receive an ode to this city from a fellow Montrealer.
Plus, this year we are really getting into the spirit of things and have printed up a stack of Zines. Don't miss 'em!
November 13th, 12 noon - 6pm at Église Saint-Enfant Jésus, 5035 ...
November 13th, 2010
Cultural Corridor to channel creative energy into Griffintown
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Image: Poetry reading in the Dalhousie Art Space, adjacent to the New City Gas Co. building, Aug 2010.
There are rumbles of change in Griffintown. After lying abandoned for years, the lot next to Judith Bauer's house is being dug up on a Sunday morning. She comes outside to speak with the foreman, partially out concern for the foundation of her 135-year-old building, and partially out of curiosity to learn about the new neighbours. The new project will be a 4-story condo ...
Spacing Saturday: Green Frosting, Road Widening and Peep Shows
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Concerned groups are rallying against plans to widen Bronson Ave through the Centretown neighbourhood as the issue continues to ramp up. Evan Thornton this week posted both a look at the current dangerous situation on the street as well as a profile of a prominent online petition against expansion plans.
Kathryn Hunt reports on the added dangers of November cycling as well some of the regular hazards that don't yet seem to be flying away.
Emma Feltes reports on the exciting plans for the Halifax Central Library and on the progressive public consultation process that was used in its planning.
Lauren Oostven continues the Front the Vaults series by exploring the archived history of Gottingen Street and its historic ties to Halifax's German community.
Launching the new Head Space column this week, Luca De Franco interviews Christina Zeidler, head organizer of the YIMBY Festival which aims to promote cooperation between politicians, developers and community groups.
Fred Sztabinksy reflects on what is perhaps the most common peep show on the streets of Toronto: portholes along the sidewalk that allow views of construction sites. Sztabinsky considers why developers include these windows and why we love them so much.
Photo du jour : The Joy of Cycling
By Émile Thomas // 5 Comments
Airside is a British creative agency working across the disciplines of graphic design, illustration, digital, interactive, and moving image.
« The Joy of Cycling » was a concept proposed to Transport for London for their winter cycling campaign. It is a take on the classic 70’s illustrated sex manual, The Joy of Sex. Rugged men, sultry women, and all that facial hair - Montréal, this winter, let's turn this biking fantasy into reality.
November 16th, 2010
Photo du Jour : Balcon-vélo
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Rue Sanguinet et René-Levesque
PODCAST: Saving BIXI, Bronson Avenue, and our parks
By Spacing // No Comments
LISTEN TO THE NEW SPACING RADIO PODCAST!
While some parks are jam-packed with kids, dog walkers and seniors practicing Tai Chi, others are deserted and neglected. Producer Mieke Anderson speaks to David Harvey about his recent study on improving parks.
Also, Spacing Ottawa's Evan Thornton discusses his city's plans to turn back the clock to a time when car was king. And reporter Andrew Walsh addresses the pros and cons of the public bike network, BIXI, with Spacing Montreal's Alanah ...
November 17th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: By Taxi, Bus or Bike
By Hilary Best // 2 Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Detroit has had its fair share of hurdles over the past few years but Time says the winds of change are blowing and they are coming from Mayor Dave Bing's office. In a city that has lost half of its population in the past half-century as well as its key industry, it may be time to cut losses on abandoned neighbourhoods and crumbling infrastructure to focus efforts on the city's core assets. As the prestigious Kresge Foundation fronts a massive planning effort for Detroit's future, Time offers a prescription of density, contiguity, naturalization, urban homesteading and ethnic diversity for Motown.
• While American bikesharing systems generally trail their European counterparts in terms of station density and overall ridership, Streetsblog reports good news out of Minneapolis. The city's Nice Ride system, which launched this summer, topped 100,000 trips in its first five months. Even more hopeful - of the 680 users surveyed, nearly 20 percent used the system instead of driving.
• "An icon of [New York City's] urban landscape, the humble yellow cab is set to undergo an unprecedented face-lift — perhaps the biggest change to the city’s street aesthetic since licensed cabs were required to be painted yellow in 1970," reports the New York Times. The three competing designs offered up by Ford, Nissan and Turkish manufacturer Karsan, are more minivan than sedan.
Montage du jour : L’église St-Enfant-Jésus-du-Mile-End
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 19??-2009
L'église telle qu'elle était avant les travaux de modernisation des années 1960 et son état actuel.
Source : Institut du patrimoine
November 18th, 2010
Montage du jour : L’église centenary methodist
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1913-2010
Cet édifice construit en 1891 fut totalement ravagé par le feu le 23 mars 1949.
Source : BANQ, cartes postales, CP 5914
Emplacement via : Google streetview
Watch NFB: Highrise/Out My Window, a 360° interactive documentary about vertical living
By Julie Matlin // 1 Comment
Editor: Spacing is pleased to announce we're resuming our partnership with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films and interactive projects from their online screening room. Julie Matlin of the NFB will be occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada's greatest resources. Click here to view their entire online collection. ...
November 19th, 2010
Photo du jour: l’Oratoire
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
Saint Joseph's Oratory, as seen on October 17th, the day of Frère André's canonisation.
November 20th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Tower Renewal, Metcalfe Ave and The Joy of Cycling
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing Ottawa marks the first anniversary of its launch this week
Its been one year since the launch of Spacing Ottawa. Evan Thornton reflects on seven things he's learned about the city over the past 12 months.
While the striking new glass lantern at the Canadian Museum of Nature is great, traffic on adjacent Metcalfe Ave only sees it in the rear view mirror while zooming down the one way arterial. Evan Thornton speculates about this tells of the broader missed opportunity on Metcalfe.
Crystal Melville reports on the Nova Scotia government's progressive plans to include cyclists and considerations for their safety in the province's Motor Vehicle Act.
Rachel Caroline Derrah reports on the exciting dialogue surrounding what to do with the former Queen Elizabeth High School site in downtown Halifax. The site is being transfered to Capital Health with has mused about making the grounds an urban farm.
Toronto has the second largest number of high rise buildings in North America. That's why the future of David Miller's signatureMayor's Tower Renewal program is so important. Adrian Lightstone reports on a prominent symposium held this week asking where to take the program next.
Jessica Lemieux attending a dinner honouring Charles Sauriol, the father of Toronto Conservation, and left inspired by the attitudes and projects of the award winers.
November 21st, 2010
How the City Can Talk so Kids Will Listen
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Last month, Montreal's Commission du conseil municipal sur les services aux citoyens, in collaboration with Montreal's Youth Council, planned a series of public consultations about youth and communication. I attended two of the four meetings, and ended up with some interesting reflections on how the City perceives communication, not just with youth but with all its citizens.
I have a lot of critiques, but it is important to say that some of the members of the Conseil municipal sur les services aux citoyens, particularly the president of the Commission, Jean-Marc Gibeau of Montréal-Nord, were gracious hosts who engaged in an honest exchange and seemed sincerely interested in what young people had to say.
...and listen so kids will talk?
During the first session, I began to suspect that the City's concept of communication just didn't cut it. They seemed primarily interested in how best to broadcast information about services and events to youth. But, to use a well-warn cliché, communication is a two-way street. At one point the city councilors proposed buying ads in the Metro newspaper in order to communicate "good news" about the City, or inventing an app that would send selected City news capsules to our cellphones daily. Non, merci!
This prompted me to include the following comment in my memoire:
Dans ma vision de la communication entre la Ville et les jeunes, le rôle de la Ville n’est pas de se faire connaitre, mais plutôt de se conscientiser au sujet des besoins et souhaits des jeunes, et de les traduire autant que possible dans les lieux et les activités qui font le tissu de la ville.
I have the sense that the City people forget that their organization is not an end in and of itself but an intermediate between the citizens and the city - no capital - that we commune with daily, like it or not.
November 23rd, 2010
Photo du jour : L’homme de Vitruve version 2010
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
November 24th, 2010
Saint-Sauveur needs a saviour
By Christopher DeWolf // 1 Comment
"Sauvons l’église Saint-Sauveur!" I wrote three years ago. And for three years, it seemed vaguely possible that the 145-year-old church on lower Saint-Denis Street wouldn't be demolished. The huge hospital for which it was supposed to make way, the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montreal (CHUM), has been stalled for years, and for awhile it would have been reasonable to guess that it would eventually crawl into the back room where tired, abandoned Montreal megaprojects go to die.
Alas, that wasn't the case. Kristian Gravenor broke the news in yesterday's Gazette that city council has issued a demolition permit for the church, which has sat empty and abandoned for years. It isn't in the best shape -- its prized stained glass windows, designed by the renowned Guido Nincheri, were stolen in 2006 -- but its bones are strong. More importantly, it remains a testament to the city's history.
Saint-Sauveur was built thirteen years after a fire swept through the Faubourg Saint-Laurent in 1852, its greystone façade, neo-Gothic architecture and tin steeple a testament to the fashion of the era. In the beginning, it was actually an Anglican church named Holy Trinity. It didn't become Catholic until the 1920s, when Holy Trinity moved west to NDG and the church was sold to a Syrian congregation.
World Wide Wednesday: Winter Cycling, Airport Links and Civic Engagement
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• As the weather turns colder, some are considering turning in their bikes for other transportation options. BikePortland.org urges you to reconsider! With plenty of helpful tips to help you brave the winter on a bicycle, you can keep on rolling into the spring.
• The Next American City offers some insight into the experiences of American cities planning airport-city connections. The article suggests that the best laid plans consider market demand, the ability of the service to reduce emissions and congestion, financial feasibility and the distance from the offsite terminal to the airport. DC's Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is cited as one of the nation's best: with stops connecting the airport to both downtown Washington as well as the much of the region, it is the mode of choice for a quarter of airport passengers.
Montage du jour : Intersection du blvd. René-Lévesque et de la rue St-Mathieu
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1970-2010
Cette rangée de résidences bourgeoises construite vers 1890 fut remplacée en 1976 par un immeuble de béton comportant bureaux et logements.
Emplacement via : Google streeview
Source : CULLEN, Mary (1990) Les couvertures en ardoises au Canada, Ottawa, Environnement Canada, Service des parcs
Events Guide: Montréal Ouvert and A City in Fiction!
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Thursday November 25th: 2nd meeting of Montreal Ouvert
The open data movement is picking up steam in Montréal. Momentum is growing but it must be sustained. Montréal Ouvert invites you to its 2nd public meeting next Thursday (Nov. 25th), from 6-8pm, at L'Espace coopératif de travail (ECTO). Come find out what's been keeping the Montreal Ouvert team busy and learn about what other stakeholders are up to. We'll also have time to network and discuss our next steps. So, if you're working on open data issues, reflecting about open data, or simply want to ...
November 25th, 2010
Photo du jour : Démolition jour 1
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Le presbytère fut en partie démoli ce matin. Prochaine étape ? Possiblement les maisons de la rue St-Denis.
November 27th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Rebelmayor, Accommodating Pedestrians and the Entertainers
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Dwight Williams continues the Street Names series, this week looking into the stories behind Ottawa's streets that bear that namesake of popular entertainers throughout the years.
Studying the City of Ottawa's detailed instructions to pedestrians and cyclists at a new roundabout in Orleans provides an interesting opportunity to explore the issue of how roundabouts handle non-auto traffic.
Rachel Caroline reports on an encouraging new trend of public consultation in a city not noted for engagement in the development process. Around 100 people came out a discussion session this week about what to do with the grounds of the old Queen Elizabeth High School.
In response to the HRM by Design recommendations, the City of Halifax held public meetings this week to talk about changes to the downtown road pattern such as removing one way streets.
Shawn Micallef reflects back on the lessons learned from his twitter based reincarnation of rebelmayor William Lyon MacKenzie who acted as a court jester, commenting on the angry nature of the past election.
As winter darkness drives up concerns about pedestrian safety, Matthew Blackett highlighted a great idea to make cross walks more ergonomic and safer at the same time.
November 28th, 2010
Events guide: IPAM’s Citizen Agora
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Last fall, the Institut de Politiques Alternatives de Montréal made a big media splash, promising to unite thousands of independent citizens groups to develop an inclusive long-term vision for Montreal. Then they disappeared for over a year. Now they are back with the Citizen's Agora on the Planning and Development of Greater Montreal, to take place this Friday and Saturday, December 3rd and 4th.
According to the press release, the event will include two components:
Presentation of model metropolitan planning efforts by those who have championed their success: Mike Burton, former Chief Executive ...
December 1st, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Building Tweets, DIY Safe Streets, Parks & Democracy
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• We'll fight the law for safer streets and sometimes the law will win. Treehugger showcases 8 DIY strategies for working around the system: guerilla gardening, knitting, bike/ped signage, eco-graffiti, parking, dumpster conversion, recycling bin art, and benching.
• From the zany, to the informative, to the creative, to the engaging, to the participatory, Architectural Videos has a 10 minute spot profiling "buildings that twitter".
• The Guardian reports on Ugandans Fred Kyagulanyi and James Sendikwanawa. The two are using plastic waste collected from Kampala's suburbs to produce high quality petroleum fuels suitable for use in a variety of vehicles.
December 2nd, 2010
Montage du jour : Le futur pavillon du Musée des beaux-arts
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
2009-2010
Photo du jour : La maison Redpath
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Listée dans le top 10 des édifices les plus menacés au Canada en 2010 selon Héritage Canada, cette résidence construite en 1886 et exposée aux intempéries suite à sa démolition partielle en 1986 sera possiblement démolie sous peu puisqu'une résolution qui autorise sa démolition a en effet été adoptée à cette fin le 8 novembre dernier.
December 3rd, 2010
Active Transportation on the Rise Across the Region
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Image: There sure do seem to be a lot more bikes on the road than there were 7 years ago...at least on the corner of Berri and Cherrier
Last February, the AMT released the preliminary results of their 2008 Enquête origine-destination, a transportation survey of 156,000 people in Montreal's ever-growing metropolitan region. The AMT's report spun the data to place the focus increasing transit ridership. Being a transportation nerd, I kept checking back for the full report, particularly in order to shed some light on ...
December 4th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Barbertown, Streetcars and Fort Court
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
In a video dedicated to Torontonians stuck swallowing the Rob Ford pill of cutting transit investment, Evan Thornton uses a striking video of Barcelona shot from the front of a streetcar over 100 years ago to show how well streets can function as living rooms of the city.
Evan Thornton searches for things to like about Ottawa's downtown Provincial Courthouse, colloquially known as 'fort court.'
Spacing profiles the innovative Four Funds project taking place in Halifax this weekend, participants have 100 minutes and $100 to make their community a better place.
As Mayor Ford began is term this week by throwing a brick into transit investment, Spacing looked back at the Miller years not through the record of the former mayor himself but through what the flowering years he presided over will mean for the city.
Sean Marshall brought back the popular Lost Villages series, following a long hiatus, touring the historical remnants of Mississauga'sBarbertown neighbourhood. Despite long since being surrounded by sprawl the area remains true to its heritage as a mill town.
December 5th, 2010
Too Big to Love: IPAM’s Citizen’s Agora and the Challenge of Regional Planning
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
All day yesterday, I looked at this map.
For their first Citizen's Agora, the Institut de politiques alternatives de Montréal went big: they chose the entire Metropolitain area for a spin in the think-tank. The timing is right: Bill 58 mandated the Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) to draft a regional plan by the end of 2011. The agora aimed to produce some concrete recommendations.
In one presentation after another, the map was used to describe trends in density, transit, greenspace.
But the map is not the territory. I once went to a rave at the Cosmodome in Laval; I once watched a movie at Sainte-Eustache's drive-in, but overall, the CMM's territory remains mysterious to me. And I assume that it is more or less unknown to everyone who attended, although many of them are professionals working in urban planning, transportation, or commerce in one of the 82 cities or towns outlined above. It is just too spread out to know with any level of intimacy.
December 7th, 2010
And Then it was Winter
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
I arrived at work grinning this morning at 9am. At the risk of sounding like spam, here are my 4 simple tips to Montreal winter glee.
1. Expect the unexpected. Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. But what about doing the same thing in an extremely different conditions and expecting the same result? Fact: there's a foot of snow on the ground. It's going to take longer to get places than it did yesterday. People will be ...
December 8th, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Forgotten Places, 20 is Plenty, City Wishes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Spiegel Online profiles the fascinating work of photographer Andreas Muhs. Muhs captures forgotten places from Berlin's broken past. Muhs speaks of the role these "empty" places (predominately in the "death strip" where the Berlin Wall once stood) play in the work of artists, alternative clubs and transient housing. The photographs chronicle a part of Berlin's history which slips away as new development takes hold.
• All hail the "best European city in America"! Metropolis Magazine celebrates plans for Portland, Oregon's Director Park. The city's latest urban space project features an old world style piazza, fountain and cafe. While these features will serve the city well, author Linda Baker notes the challenges of European-style planning in the American context: warning signs on fountains, the impossibility of shared streets and public consultation versus vision.
• 20 is plenty. Or so say a variety of transportation thinkers who endorse 20 miles per hour (roughly 32 km/h) as a life saving speed limit in urban areas. According to the UK Department for Transportation, "if a driver hits a pedestrian at 30 miles per hour, the victim only has a 55 percent chance of surviving. At 20 mph, the pedestrian has a 95 percent chance of survival." This threshold for pedestrian safety also appears to have a negligible impact on urban travel times, reports Streetsblog.
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Berri près de la rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1962-2010
Source : Denis Desjardins
December 11th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Citizen’s Agora, Presto 2.0 and Sustainable Christmas Trees
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
What's the most green way to have a christmas tree? Heather Yundt examines of what types of christmas trees are most sustainable (the fresh ones from Canada or the re-usable ones from China) and the business involved in dealing with them.
Spacing profiles the new Centretown Community Design Plan with illustrative visuals and an interview with George Dark of Urban Strategies, one of the planners behind the comprehensive new plan.
Emma Feltes recaps the results of the 4Funds initiative in which participants were given one hour and $100 to make their community better. The group in Halifax installed a community board to beautify a derelict building and facilitate sharing of ideas, reflections and musings.
The Atlantic Snapshots series continues to showcase striking photography of maritime urban settings. This week the series featured St John and St John's.
On the transit file, Jonathan Goldsbie breaks down Rob Ford's claim that Transit City was never voted on in council by showing the various stages through which it was approved, while John Lorinc explores the issue of how Ford's subway plan would further widen the TTC operating budget problems.
As part of the Head Space series, Spacing interviewed Ernie Wallace, Executive Director of the Presto transit smart card system to talk about Presto 2.0.
December 12th, 2010
How Did Tramways Make it Through Montreal’s Winters?
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="501" caption="STM archives: Chasse-neige, construit par la Montreal Street Railway en 1910"][/caption]
Over on Metropolitan News, Andy Riga recently recently put a spotlight on the debate about how tramways would fare the harsh Montreal winters. I've always thought it was a silly question: electric tramways operated in Montreal from the 1892 until 1959. Surely if trams worked over century ago, they would work just as well today, if not better?
So I decided to consult Spacing Montreal's favourite specialist on transit-of-bygone-times, who goes by the name of Cdnlococo, to get the lowdown on how tramways survived the Montreal winter. Below, he describes how juggling snow, ice, and electric trams was no easy task (the text has been re-arranged a bit for length and flow):
Streetcars DID operate successfully in Montreal for many, many winters, but, that's all that were available, and there were hundreds of employees and much expensive specialized equipment at work 24/7 at great cost!
December 15th, 2010
Une intersection à l’échelle de Montréal
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Contribution spéciale. Alexandre Campeau-Vallée travaille en aménagement depuis plus de 5 ans, particulièrement en art urbain et en verdissement. Il s'intéresse aussi à ce que la photographie peut apporter à la perception de l'espace.
Qu’elle est l’intersection la plus importante de Montréal?
Lorsqu’il est question des symboles forts d’une ville, les choix tendent habituellement sur les ouvrages architecturaux monumentaux, les grandes places publiques, les éléments géographiques caractéristiques et finalement sur ...
World Wide Wednesday: Cycling chat, clusters and Corbusier
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• If you're worried that the left wing pinko badge may make the cycling conversation more difficult, consider Streetsblog's recommendations on how to talk to conservatives about cycling. Author Angie Schmitt offers an important reminder that "bicycling and safer streets aren’t tethered to any particular political ideology".
• Urban regions the world over invest billions in cluster-theory economic development: the idea that with the right ingredients our cities can grow their own Silicon Valley enclaves. Vivek Wadhwa at the The Chronicle of Higher Education questions the traditional recipe for economic growth and focuses instead on risk taking, entrepreneurship skill development, skilled immigrants and freedom of expression.
December 19th, 2010
Montage du jour : Les maisons Thompson et Sparrow
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2003-2010
Source : Guillaume St-Jean/Sotheby's International Realty
2003-2010
Source : Guillaume St-Jean/Sotheby's International Realty
Abandonnées pendant près de 17 ans, ces 2 résidences bourgeoises du chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges qui furent récemment restaurées, sont actuellement à vendre au coût de 7,875,000 $ chacune.
Patiner Montréal Tracks the State of the City’s Rinks
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Now that temperatures have dipped permanently below zero you might be wondering when your local skating rink will be open, or where you can go to join in on a friendly hockey match.
Montréal Ouvert recently launched Patiner Montréal to provide up-to-date info on the condition of dozens of skating rinks across the city. The website allows you to search by type of rink (landscaped, free skate, hockey rink) or to subscribe to an RSS feed in order to get updates about the condition ...
December 22nd, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Urban Safari, Cyclist Species, City Happy
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• "That's why I bring people here, to show them what politicians do with their money. And to impress girls." The honest Mr. Buissart, quoted this week in the Wall Street Journal, runs an Urban Safari in his downtrodden industrial hometown of Charleroi, Belgium. While locals protest, Buissart shows willing tourists the local slag heap, unused subway stations and the "ugliest streets in the nation". Book quickly, business is robust.
• Who are these cyclists anyway? The Portland Bureau of Transportation has undertaken a demographic study of the species of cyclists (and non-cyclists) in their city to get a better sense of what's needed to increase the modal shift. "Strong and Fearless", "Enthused and Confident", "Interested but Concerned", "No Way No How" - do you fit these categories? On a similar tack, GOOD speaks to Portland's approach to recruiting women and people of colour to cycle and the association between bike infrastructure and gentrification.
December 23rd, 2010
The Mall Comes Crumbling Down
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
"Une bonne journée j'vas y retourner
Avec mon bulldozer
Pis l'centre d'achat y vas passer
Un mauvais quart d'heure"
- La rue principale, par Les Colocs
Soft snow blanketing the ruins of a demolished mall: just the thing I need to spark a bit of holiday cheer after a couple dreary days of Christmas shopping.
While Cavendish Mall is not nearly as deserted as other dead malls across North America, one of the anchor stores had been empty since Eaton's closed in 1998. Last summer, the town of Cote St Luc released plans to demolish 40% of the structure - and take over a good deal of the parking lot - in order to build new homes (Andy Riga maps the site on on Metropolitan News). The town has also given the mall permission to build an 8-story home for seniors atop the remaining commercial space. There is already a CLSC on site.
The bad news is that the failed suburban-style mall (built 1973) will be replaced with a bran new suburban-style housing development - the kind of thing I thought we'd left behind in the last millennium.
December 25th, 2010
Joyeux Noel – Happy Christmas!
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
It was lovely to see so many merry people enjoying the view, the snowy slopes and the sleigh rides atop Mount Royal this afternoon.
Thanks once again for reading, for writing comments and for caring about this beautiful city.
Happy holidays everyone!
December 27th, 2010
Photo du Jour : Flight of the snowball
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
More Christmas day fun on Mont-Royal
Down in the Dumps of Pointe-Saint-Charles history
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="CN yards and Nun's Island. Photo aèrien (AN-PA 37502) 1930s?"][/caption]
So it turns out that a good deal of Pointe-St-Charles is a dump. Literally.
Historically, the edge of the Pointe was a wetland, home to thousands of geese (could this be where the adjacent neighbourhoood of "Goose Village" got it's name?). But between 1866 and 1966, household and industrial waste began to be dumped into the swamp. Between the 1930s and '50s, dikes ...
December 30th, 2010
Photo du jour : Shining City upon a Hill
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
The Université de Montréal campus, seen from the Oratory.
December 31st, 2010
Photo du Jour – Flocks
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
I don't love pigeons but I do like the way they move. I like the sound of beating wings and the way they circle about aimlessly, yet seem perfectly choreographed, swooping and spiraling as if of a single mind.
To be fair Montreal's pigeons probably have deeper roots here than many of the city's human inhabitants as they all descended long ago from domesticated birds. In less flattering terms, there are no wild pigeons in the Americas, only feral ones.
Some time ago, I came across a film called "Up on ...
January 3rd, 2011
Old Montreal’s forgotten public square
By Devin Alfaro // 6 Comments
When most people think of important public squares in Old Montréal, two spaces come to mind. Place d'Armes, the setting for the imposing Notre-Dame Basilica; and Place Jacques-Cartier, preferred tourist promenade and site of summer activities. Rarely does one think of Place Royale, a small and easy to miss square next to the Pointe-à-Callière museum. But in the 1700s when Montreal was not much more than a frontier town this unassuming little square was the centre of community life.
As the nascent settlement was being laid out by the Sulpicians in the late 1600s, they reserved a small plot of land along the river's shore for use as a public market. True to this plan, every Tuesday and Friday it was market day in what was to aptly become known as Place du Marché. In the pre-industrial town this made the square the economic hub of Montreal, a status it would retain through the 1700s. Moreover, as the map below shows, it was around this square that the town developed the most densely built, "urban" character. It was also the location where public punishments were inflicted upon convicts, attesting to the fact that Montrealers of that era viewed it as the gathering spot of the community.
Montreal as it appeared in the late 1700s. The Place du Marché can be along the waterfront where the St-Pierre creek meets the St. Lawrence.
January 4th, 2011
Montage/Photo du jour : L’église St-Sauveur
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
2010-2011
January 5th, 2011
The Ever-so-short-lived Saint-Lawrence Ice Bridge
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Bridge tolls seem unreasonable? Hey, I hear the ice is pretty thick. At least that's what 19th century railway mogul Louis-Adélard Senécal must have thought when opened an ice bridge to run trains across the frozen Saint-Lawrence in 1880.
In 1859, the Grand Trunk Railroad opened the Victoria Bridge, the rail link across the Saint-Lawrence, at a cost of $6 million. Naturally, they were not eager to share the track with their competitors: they ...
World Wide Wednesday: Bike Art, Web-City, Streetcars
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The Pop Up City profiles infrastructure art in Madrid created by Luzinterruptus. The project, Pedaleo Seguro (Safe Biking) created lit bike lanes on three of the city's central streets.
• As part of their 10 Trends for 2010 series, The Pop Up City considers the changing relationship between the web and the urban realm as articulated through wireless technologies, GPS, and the smartphone.
• CEOs for Cities and the Rockefeller Foundation present a fascinating info-graphic entitled: The Future of the Crowd Sourced City
January 6th, 2011
Photo du jour : Brass Doors
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
Brass doors on the CIBC Building on Rue St-Jacques in Old Montreal.
January 7th, 2011
City Hall veteran Michael Fainstat passes away
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
Michael Fainstat and Mayor Jean Doré upon the RCM's victory in 1986 (photo links to La Press obituary).
The passing of 2010 also saw the passing of a great Montrealer. Michael Fainstat, a former Montreal city councillor and chair of the Executive Committee, passed away on December 29th as a result of complications from Parkinsons. First elected as an NDG city councillor in 1974 as part of the RCM's breakthrough year, he would go on to become a fixture of city politics. He was the only RCM candidate to ...
January 8th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Ice Bridge, Public Squares and Uptown St John
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
In a western neighbourhood of Ottawa with a long standing bad reputation, Spacing documents the human scale of urban renewal taking place by following the transformation of one building from crack house to comfortable modern rental.
Evan Thornton takes a stab at what he feels are the best and worst public spaces in Ottawa. The oft-neglected Garden of the Provinces comes off well, while the McKenzie King transit station fairs poorly.
Sean Gillis takes a wonderful nostalgic look at the historic district of Uptown St John. While the area has preserved many of its century old buildings, a variety of changes have still fundamentally changed the character of the neighbourhood.
Crystal Melville profiles the Tilted Landscapes art exhibition in Halifax featuring contemporary painting in a unique venue.
The latest instalment of the No Mean City series presented a fascinating look at the exciting design proposals for a new public square at John and King streets in the heart of the entertainment district.
John Lorinc focused his weekly column this week on pondering the question of when Mayor Rob Ford will have to face the fiscal reality of the city.
Montreal as seen from Space
By Chris Erb // 3 Comments
Today, NASA's image of the day features a beautiful inclined aerial photo of Montreal and environs taken at night from the International Space Station. While aerial photos are widespread and now fail to amaze as they once did, it is still rare to see one taken at night. With a night photo, some details of how we inhabit the city and its surroundings can be seen which aren't so obvious in similar daytime photos. We can see such things as how different types of lighting are used depending on the type of ...
January 12th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Bungalows, Stats, Maps and Quiet Train Cars
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Bungalows are the most common type of building in Chicago. The iconic homes, mainly built between 1910 and 1940, offered an accessible first home to many urban families. WBEZ takes a look at the history of the bungalow and considers what type of housing might qualify as its 21st century counterpart.
• Alternet salutes the top 5 smartest policies enacted by American cities in 2010: Denver Public Schools' spanish-language radio show, Pittsburgh/Allegheny County's new development wage law, New York City's juvenile justice reforms, Austin's transportation bond which targets complete streets and Cleveland's lawsuit against sub-prime mortgage lenders.
January 14th, 2011
1000 kms to Montreal
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
One thousand kilometers from North to South, from Waskaganish to NDG.
We set out yesterday into the setting sun, fretting about the flurries, anxious about the remoteness of the route. Along the dirt road out of Waskaganish and on the James Bay highway, there are only vast expanses of black spruce, perhaps a few caribou, and the occasional logging truck to notice if you should veer off track.
After hours of counting down kilometer markers along the dark, snow-blown highway, I develop a new affinity for gas stations and supermarkets in small towns with roundabouts.
Further south, I am surprised ...
January 15th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Sky Dome, Heritage Apartments, and the Historic Halifax Common
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
With the completion of the Western Transitway the City of Ottawa now must determine a future for a small, awkwardly shaped piece of land left over, a local community group has a proposal ready.
Mike Steinhauer takes a tour through central Ottawa's impressive but uncelebrated stock of beautiful heritage apartment buildings.
Lauren Oostveen continues the From the Vaults series with fascinating look through the rich history of the Halifax Common, first set aside in 1763.
Crystal Melville profiles the community art project Dartmouth's Vision Pavilion.
On a serious note, John Lorinc and Dylan Reid comment on the fiscal policy thus far of the Ford Administration.
On a lighter note, Spacing received a response from Don Cherry himself about the enormously successful Pinko buttons. While Sean Micallef comments on a great time-lapse video of the construction of the Sky Dome.
January 16th, 2011
Photo du Jour: A Murder of Crows in Saint-Henri
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
When you see them gathered by the thousands, blackening treetops for blocks, it is no wonder that crows were given such a ominous group-noun, a murder.
Like a growing proportion of humans, crows thrive in urban environments. A Nature of Things episode offers lots of fascinating insights about the parallel lives that crows and humans lead: Just like people, crows like open spaces with a few trees, they can eat just about anything we do, and they have an impressive capacity for learning ...
January 17th, 2011
Too many councillors in Montreal?
By Devin Alfaro // 16 Comments
An argument that has been circulating in the media lately is that Montreal is "over governed" because it has too many elected officials. Various commentators and organisations, such as the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, have come out in favour of reducing the number of city councillors. The eccentric Michel Brûlé, editor and possible long-shot mayoral candidate in 2013, has proposed to reduce the size of the Montreal council to "no more than 30". All this talk of too many councillors also seems to have some echo amongst the general public: a poll released at the end of last year shows that an impressive 65% of Montrealers agree with the statement that Montreal has too many elected officials.
So how does our City Council actually size up when compared to other major cities around the world? When up against many English Canadian and American cities, our 65 member council (103 including borough councillors) looks huge by comparison. Los Angeles has only 15 city councillors, despite being having over twice the population of Montreal. New York City has 51 councillors, a number comparable to ours, but the city also has five times our population. These are numbers that smaller council proponents are fond of bringing up, but it's only half the story.
January 18th, 2011
Watch NFB: Holy Mountain, an interactive project based on Montreal’s Mount Royal
By Julie Matlin // No Comments
Editor: Spacing is pleased to continue our partnership with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films and interactive projects from their online screening room. Julie Matlin of the NFB will be occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada's greatest resources. Click here to view their entire online collection. ...
January 19th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Conversation Cars, Phantom Highways and City Love Songs
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• In response to NJ Transit's Quiet Cars, Alex Marshall at NY Daily News has a proposal: conversation cars. "With a pair of earbuds, we can all have as much solitude as we'd like," he writes. So why not open up some space for chatting with a fellow traveller?
• Nearly every large North American city has a phantom highway: an unbuilt or torn down expressway which influenced the trajectory of development in one way or another. Tom Vanderbilt (Slate) profiles the phantom highways of New York, LA, Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Seoul.
• Pop Up City comments on the digital reincarnation of an old art form: love songs for cities. The article features three beautiful video tributes to Stockholm, Detroit and Toronto.
January 22nd, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Façadism, Carbon Neutrality and Holy Mountain
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Dwight Williams responds to criticism about the lack of a business case for a new central library in Downtown Ottawa and in the process reflects on the role of central libraries.
Evan Thornton reflects on the phenomenon of façadism and wonders when it may be preferable to start fresh if the facade in question isn't particularly interesting.
Natascia Lypny writes on the debate about the future of the outdoor skating oval in Halifax Common. While the future of the oval has been the subject of a populist appeal, long term considerations have yet to be adressed.
Crystal Melville profiles a public effort to find a solution to oppressive on-street winter parking measures in Halifax's North End neighbourhoods.
Despite Rob Ford's claims of being elected on mandate not to build LRT, a new poll released this week shows that most Torontonians still favour the Transit City plan, Dylan Ried comments on what this could mean for the Mayor's ability to compromise.
Dylan Ried reports on the Project Neutral initiative which is looking to build a template for Canadian neighbourhoods to gain carbon neutrality.
A view obstructed: The urban plan as social contract
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
The Museum of Fine Arts' (MBAM) newest pavilion, which is to open next September, is topped with a glass-walled lookout over Mount Royal. But a proposed condo development, which is nearly double the building height limit for this area, would obscure a good chunk of the view.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="435" caption="MBAM's model shows the 7-storey condo building (in red) obscuring the view from their newly-constructed lookout point. The developer says that the new building will be narrower than depicted above."][/caption]
This is not a debate about density, aesthetics or heritage preservation; it is ...
January 24th, 2011
The Post-Tourist
By Émile Thomas // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_9170" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Image by Archibald Ballantine"][/caption]
A friend of mine recently came to me with a dilemma.
Let me explain it to you.
For the sake of anonymity, I will not mention any names.
The friend of her friend's boyfriend ... you follow me so far?
Or better yet, her friend's boyfriend's friend ... confused? Me too.
To hell with anonymity: My friend Megan has a friend named Justine. Justine has a boyfriend named Stéphane. Stéphane has a friend named Adam who lives in Toronto.
Last week, Adam came to visit Montreal.
Now here's the dilemma. There is no word in either English or French to describe what it's like to be around Megan. "Fun" is so overused; it does not begin to describe the unique experience had whilst in her company. And "lively" only explains the half of it. I would say quality time with her resembles an intoxicating cross between merriment and jubilation (with just a touch of rapture).
Yes; Megan is awesome.
So this is why, whenever out-of-towners visit, they must hang out with Megan. She has become a tourist attraction that rivals The Botanical Gardens, or, The St-Joseph Oratory.
But unlike the aforementioned Montreal destinations, Megan is a human being.
And so, the day before Adam came to visit, she confessed:
"I have a thesis to write. I have a job to work. I have a life to lead. I don't have time to play tour guide."
I felt her pain.
I too have become a perennial stop on the tourist circuit.
January 26th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Streetcars Named Desire
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
This week, reader Spire Skyscraper offers a compendium of articles on new streetcar/light rail projects traversing the US.
• Minneapolis is studying a streetcar revival (Daily Reporter)
• In Dallas (Dallas Observer), Tuscon (KWST) and Tampa (Tampa Business Journal), the revival has funding
• In Portland (Oregon Live) and New Orleans (Daily Comet), the more the merrier
• Charlotte's streetcars will be a year late (Charlotte Business Journal)
January 28th, 2011
Anywhere but Meadowbrook?
By Alanah Heffez // 24 Comments
Never, in my experience, has a proposed condo development received so much praise.
Suzanne Deschamps presented the Petite Rivière project at UQAM yesterday evening on behalf of Groupe Pacific, a private developer. The most notable thing about this development is that it takes environmental considerations way beyond LEED standards and aims for "real sustainability." Deschamps described the principles behind one-planet communities, which aim to create a place where residents are able to live with an ecological footprint that does not overstep their fair share of ...
January 29th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Oval Art, Arena Partnerships and the Urban Plan
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Jamie Stuckless showcases a great new tool for Ottawa cyclists which allows users to rate the safety of various cycling routes and then maps the collective results. The new tool allows cyclists to find the safest routes, even where bike lanes don't exist.
Spacing profiles a new tour set up using the social media tool Gowalla which allows for users to set up or follow a walking tour.
Crystal Melville profiles an artist-led event to weave a creative design into the fence surrounding the Canada Games skating oval on the Halifax Common.
In Halifax's Point Pleasant Park, site of the city's best remaining colonial British settlement artifacts, an interactive community art project is underway to recall the area's history and its resilience to natural forces.
In conjunction with No Mean City blog Alex Bozikovik profiles the new 'Neighbourhood Maverick' exhibition at Harbourfront and a Toronto architect's finalist design for new wildlife highway overpasses.
John Lorinc takes a look at the push to build new arenas in Toronto using public private partnerships and questions whether such arrangements could produce the diversity of arena types that the city really needs.
January 31st, 2011
Events Guide: Confabulation Neighbourhood Stories
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Confabulation is a monthly showcase of true, lived stories, told by ordinary Montrealers from all walks of life. The stories are delivered without scripts, notes, props, or pretense, and it is one of the most lovely and sincere events I have had the pleasure to participate in (both as an audience member and storyteller on one occasion).
Each event has a loose theme and this month, I am thrilled to collaborate on a special edition Confabulation about neighbourhoods. We are still looking for storytellers, so if ...
February 2nd, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Public (Space, Art, Transit)
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• In Alexandria, GOOD reports that citizens are taking over many functions of municipal government. The Popular Committee for the Protection of Properties and Organization of Traffic is taking care of traffic, clean up, protection and emergency response for fellow citizens.
• Though the role of social media in this week's events in Egypt is well established, Grist celebrates "the streets of Cairo [, Alexandria, Suez etc. as] the medium that has carried the message of the Egyptian people." Author Sarah Goodyear highlights the occupation of Tahrir Square, Cairo's central public space, and movement over the Kasr-al-Nil Bridge as defining moments.
• Artist Alexander Chen used MTA data to create a musical transit map of the New York subway system (GOOD).
Photo du Jour: Snow, the Great Equalizer
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
t(walk to metro) = t(wait for bus) = t(shovel car + get towed out of snowbank)
Put on your snowsuits...
February 3rd, 2011
1872: Sorry out of Wood
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Long before we were concerned about fossil fuel shortages, Montreal's grappled with a different kind of seasonal fuel shortage each winter. Most heating and cooking was done around wood stoves and you can imagine that, come winter, the demand for wood in each and every household in the city was high. To make matters worse, casual jobs were harder to come by in the winter, and wages were often lowered to take advantage of the increasing demand for work, right at the time ...
February 5th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Infill, Satellites and Confabulation
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
The City of Ottawa is currently in the process of reviewing of how to handle infill development in established neighbourhoods, a process that brings up the question of just what it means to protect the character of a neighbourhood.
Spacing contributor and Ottawa planner Alan Miguelez speaks to the infill question from the City's perspective by taking readers through the behind the scenes process of reviewing an infill proposal.
Lauren Oostveen presents the history of the Halifax Public Garden accompanied by incredible historic photography throughout the garden's history.
After noticing a decline in winter cycling in recent years a planning student at Dalhousie University is launching a survey intended to more fully understand the barriers that winter cyclists face.
The Headspace series this week interviewed rookie councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon who describes herself as an fiscally responsible environmentalist, firmly in between polarized political discourse.
This week marked the first Spacing Satellite feature, challenging readers to identify arial photography of the city.
February 9th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Suburban War
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Music, film, and (sub)urbanism are set to collide next week in screenings of the short film Scenes from the Suburbs - a collaboration between Arcade Fire and Spike Jonze, which will run from 12-18 February at the Berlinale. (polis)
• A planned joint venture between U.S. retail REIT Tanger Factory Outlet Centers and Canadian RioCan REIT will seek to expand outlet centres into the Canadian market. (RetailTraffic Magazine)
February 11th, 2011
Watch NFB: Welcome to Pine Point
By Julie Matlin // No Comments
Editor: Spacing is pleased to continue our partnership with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films and interactive projects from their online screening room. Julie Matlin of the NFB will be occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada's greatest resources. Click here to view their entire online collection. ...
February 12th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Subway Architecture, Cross Country Trails and a National Transit Strategy
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Coping with the tough Ottawa winter involves embracing winter sports and fortunately Ottawans have access to several great cross country ski trailswithin a short distance of downtown. Kalle Hakala shows just how easy it is to use public transit to access multiple cross country ski courses.
Canada is the only country in the OECD without a national transit strategy; something which should come as no surprise. Peter Raaymakers looks into a new proposal by Toronto MP Olivia Chow to rectify this situation.
At the start of the year of the rabbit a new art exhibit in Saint John uses contemporary art and community events to explore perceptions of Orientalism.
Stakeholders in the institutional district of downtown Halifax are launching a series public engagement sessions to determine the next steps of establishing the necessary cycling infrastructure in the area.
Will Alsop unveiled his design for the new Steeles West station on the Spadina subway extension this week. Alex Bozikovic is critical of the design and its failure to give any recognition to the context of the surrounding area.
Dyland Reid looks to the Netherlands for an innovative solution to protecting bikes that must be stored outdoors. In the historic city of Delft, the Dutch are using stylish glass domes to protect bikes from the elements.
Heritage Preservation: Procedure over Postcard
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Perhaps the Redpath Mansion "victory" set the ball rolling, but heritage preservation grabbed a media spotlight in Montreal this week.
On Tuesday, I met with Héritage Montréal's Dinu Bumbaru and asked him to highlight some of most successful examples of Heritage preservation in Montreal. His answer was rather surprising in that it didn't include a single building nor historic monument.
For one thing, Bumbaru finds that an increasing number of ordinary property-owners are investing in upkeeping and repairing the architectural details like cornices and balconies that make Montreal's neighbourhoods so distinct.
Another great victory, he said, was the designation of Mount Royal as a protected area, recognizing both the greenspace and the social investment that went into the parks, cemetery and other institutions on the mountain slopes.
Finally, he mentioned a number of relatively new developments that help connect everyday Montrealers' experience to heritage sites: McGill college street which provides a visual connection between the bustle of Sainte-Catherine and the Mountain and Place Riopelle for repairing the connection between downtown and Old Montreal.
"Not every victory can be a nice postcard in the end," says Bumbaru. Some of the most important wins are procedural.
February 13th, 2011
Heritage Preservation 2: Koolhaas vs Casse-Croûte
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Here are a few more spin-off thoughts and bits of research from a heritage-perservation packed week in Montreal...
In a 2004 talk entitled "Preservation is overtaking us", architect Rem Koolhaas points out that first official heritage preservation laws in the Western world were enacted during times of drastic change, such as the French revolution and the industrial revolution. What started as a movement to preserve ancient monuments soon turned it's attention to ...
February 15th, 2011
The Migrations of the Rich
By Devin Alfaro // 14 Comments
Photo from 1850s of Beaver Hall Hill, the Anglo prestige district of the mid 19th century. The street visible in the foreground is modern-day St-Antoine.
In most unequal societies across time the rich have a tendency to stick to themselves, and Montreal is no exception. Throughout our city's history there have been special neighbourhoods, accessible only to the most wealthy. The recent debate around the Redpath Mansion put the spotlight on one, the old Golden Square Mile. Once a residential neighbourhood for the ultra-rich Anglophone elite of a very different Quebec, it is now in the heart of downtown; its former residents have moved on, leaving behind them a trail of opulent heritage architecture. But the Golden Square Mile is only one of a number of prestige districts that have existed in Montreal. Let's look back in the city's history and trace the trail of money through time and space.
February 16th, 2011
Appel à collaborer | Call for contributors
By Devin Alfaro // No Comments
La mission de Spacing Montréal est d'éclairer tous les aspects de l’espace public et de la vie publique de Montréal. Cela comprend des sujets tels l’architecture, l’urbanisme, le design, l’art, l’histoire, le transport, la politique et les questions sociales. Au courant des dernières années nous avons exposé plusieurs sujets alors sous-représentés ou simplement absents des médias montréalais. Notre lectorat, qui compte aujourd'hui en moyenne 2500 visiteurs uniques par jour, s’est élargi rapidement en conséquence.
Nous sommes présentement à la recherche de collaborateurs curieux et passionnés de notre ville. ...
World Wide Wednesday: Paris/NYC, Gehry, Arts Funding
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Would New York with Parisian streets still be New York? Planners at Columbia University pose this question with a map and rendering of New York superimposed with the grand boulevards of Paris. (Untapped Cities)
• New Yorkers are welcoming Frank Gehry's latest addition to the city's skyline with trepidation. The Spruce Street project is Gehry's first skyscraper and the tallest luxury residential tower in the city's history. NYT critic Nicolai Ouroussoff says it "epitomize[s] the skyline’s transformation from a symbol of American commerce to a display of individual wealth."
• In Tel Aviv, reports Sustainable City Blog, a member of city council suggests instituting a participatory budgeting process.
Montage du jour : La démolition de l’église St-Sauveur
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Novembre 2010-Février 2011
February 17th, 2011
Photo du jour : C’est la fin !!!
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Voyez plus de photos ici.
February 19th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Over-Fenced, Bike Lane Backlash and Migrations of the Rich
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
After a visit to the neighbourly east coast, Erin O'Connell asks the question are our cities over-fenced? In doing so she opens up an interesting debate about why we fence and what the implications are for our communities.
The second instalment of Spacing Ottawa's Gowalla walking tours was posted this week, this time focusing on the Chinatown neighbourhood. Gowalla tours allow users to follow a walking tour from their smartphone.
Crystal Melville used Valentine's Day to collect testimonials from readers about how and where they have found love for and in the city.
Emma Feltes discusses the results of the recently held bikeways forum by four of Halifax's largest institutional land users on how to create better bike infrastructure in the institutional district of the city.
Dylan Reid provides a fascinating look inside the transportation talk that took place at last week's GTA Summit. Discussion ranged from bold ideas on how to empower Metrolinx to expressions of hope for the implementation of the region-wide Presto fare card.
As Toronto struggles with 'war on the car' rhetoric, Jake Schabis reports on similar push back happening to new bike infrastructure all over New York City and that city's different political response.
February 23rd, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: River maps, safe streets, city guide
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Artist Daniel Huffman's transit-inspired river maps draw a new link between cities and rivers. "I wanted to create a series of maps that gives people a new way to look at rivers: a much more modern, urban type of portrayal," he writes. (CMYBacon)
• A team of researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health has published a study which compares cyclist safety on separated right of ways and on-street routes, using data from Montreal. Contrary to conventional transportation engineering thinking, the authors conclude that separated right of ways are safer for cyclists. (Bike Portland)
• Looking for an alternative guide to L.A.? A group of local artists have recently released, Scores For the City - an urban guide which highlights important moments in the city's social choreography. (GOOD)
February 24th, 2011
Université de Montréal expansion raises concerns in Parc-Extension
By Devin Alfaro // 8 Comments
The site of UdeM's new Outremont campus.
The past decade has seen the construction of major university building projects at Montreal universities, notably at Concordia and UQAM and to a lesser extent McGill. The Université de Montréal is also looking to expand, but according to administrators it has few options at its current Côte-des-Neiges campus given its location up against the side of Mount Royal. As a result, the university has set its sights on the former Outremont Railyards as a location for the construction of a second campus.
However, this plan has not been universally well received, all the more so in light of UQAM's Ilot Voyageur construction debacle. Jean-Claude Marsan, former Dean of the UdeM Architecture department, believes that a second campus would be a financially risky endeavour and that the university would be better maximising its current campus. Others point to the university's sale of 1402 Mt-Royal avenue to developer Frank Catania as a sign that the university was never really interested in exploring other, less grandiose options. Despite criticisms, the university bought the property from Canadian Pacific in 2006, and immediately set to work designing a campus on the property.
Photos du Jour : Bird’s eye view
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
I flew out of the city last Wednesday towards the North-East, heading to Quebec City and ultimately Schefferville/Kawawachikamach. But ten minutes into the flight, the pilot's voice came over the loudspeaker: "Due to a switch failure, this plane will have to return to Montreal." What followed was a glorious winter morning's tour of the city.
EAST: Where the tip of Ile Jesus and Montreal nearly ...
February 25th, 2011
Photo du Jour: “Station Longueuil, terminus, merci d’avoir voyagé avec la STM”
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
(a continuation of yesterday's tour of Montreal by Dash-8).
Nuit Blanche 2011 in Griffintown
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Image: Nuit Blanche 2010 at the New City Gas Co complex by Tristan Brand.
Forget backroom deals with developers and dull city council meetings -- the future of Griffintown just might be defined with an all-night party.
Tired of battling projects that were overwhelmingly wrong for their neighbourhood, Griffintown residents Judith Bauer and Harvey Lev took matters into their own hands and decided to showcase all that is right for Griffintown. They launched the Griffintown Cultural Corridor during Nuit Blanche 2010 with a ...
February 26th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Studentification, Trash Entrepreneurs and Black History Month
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
In the wake of a highly publicized video of an OC Transpo driver verbally berating a passenger, Spacing points to numerous examples of excellentservice to highlight that this once incident does not speak to the performance of transit workers across the city.
In a nod to black history month Francesco Corsaro speaks to two people with ties to different waves of black immigrants to Ottawa including some who came from the U.S. in the late 19th century and others who came from the Caribbean during the 1960's.
The Halifax Regional Municipality is looking for a new design for municipal bike racks. Spacing profiles the launch of the design contest.
Spacing Atlantic is home to an ever evolving collection of great photography from across the urban areas of the maritimes. The Atlantic Snapshotsseries continued this week with shots of Saint John and the Confederation Bridge.
Jessica Lemieux takes an interesting look at the issue of trash by highlighting the entrepreneurial activities of dumpster divers in Toronto, their ethical considerations and the interaction of the City in this urban closed cycle activity.
The Head Space feature this week sat down with architect Michael McClelland of E.R.A Architects to discuss the state of heritage preservation efforts in Toronto.
March 1st, 2011
Playing with Fire
By Alanah Heffez // 7 Comments
The 17-year old girl stared in fascination at the flames.
"I've never seen a fire like this before," she told me.
This was last week, when I was a thousand kilometers north of here, accompanying a group of Montreal kids on a high school exchange: we were toasting marshmallows over a few burning logs and a flaming wooden crate a camp site near the border of Labrador.
What do you mean? I asked.
"We never had money for summer camp," she answered with a shrug, and it occurred to me that this ...
March 2nd, 2011
Walk the region!
By Joel Thibert // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_9522" align="alignnone" width="601" caption="An example of the distance we could walk in 3 days"][/caption]
Nearly a century has passed since Benton MacKaye wrote The New Exploration: A Philosophy of Regional Planning, in which he called upon urban planners of policy-makers to firmly situate the city in its natural ecosystem and to balance the needs of humankind and those of nature. For MacKaye, and other members of the Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA) such as Lewis Mumford, the future of our ...
World Wide Wednesday: Growth, colour-coded buses and library revival
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• WebUrbanist has a series of stunning photos documenting the speed of development in Dubai (pictured above), Shanghai, Bangkok, Panama City, London, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Paris, New York and Shenzhen.
• Buses can be an unwieldy option for unfamiliar transit users; unlike fixed route systems, it can be more difficult to tell where you might end up. Unless you find yourself in Seoul where they are making it easier for bus riders to find their way. Using a colour coded system which differentiates between trunk, feeder, intercity, and circular routes, and route numbers which signify origin and destination, the city improved travel times, held transit modal share steady and decreased the transit operations subsidy by US $421 million. (Re:Place Magazine)
Spacing Ottawa adds Clive Doucet as columnist
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
OTTAWA — Long-time City Councillor and recent mayoral candidate Clive Doucet has joined Spacing's city blog network as Urban Policy columnist for Spacing Ottawa, it was announced today by Spacing Ottawa editor Evan Thornton.
“We are delighted to have an urbanist and writer of Clive’s accomplishment with us at Spacing,” Thornton said. “Our mandate at Spacing is to explore the urban landscape, and as his career has shown, there is no one thinking more clearly and incisively about urban issues in Canada. There are few writers with more practical experience on the challenges facing cities in an age of economic contraction than Clive Doucet.”
March 3rd, 2011
Camping en Ville?
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_9513" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The CN yards is one site that Vincent Léger has eyed for urban camping. (photoshopped by the author)"][/caption]
After contemplating the paucity of campfires in the city last week, I was excited to come home to news of the possibility of developing urban campsites here in Montreal.
Since the metro article left me with more questions than answers to I called up Vincent Léger who has been peddling the idea to various boroughs, as well as the provincial and federal governments.
Léger is part ...
March 4th, 2011
Space Ooze in the 21st century
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
So this is embarrassing but it must be admitted: I am only just now reading The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. And sure enough, here are all the familiar ideas, groundbreaking in 1961, mantras now for many urbanists: eyes on the street; mixity and diversity of uses; round-the-clock activity...
Oh, but what's this? According to Jane Jacobs, the number one quality that promotes safety and order on the streets is that: "Public and private spaces cannot ooze into each-other as they do typically in suburban settings or in projects." (1992 edition, p.35)
And what is this? Jane Jacobs dedicates the entire fifth chapter of the book to critiquing parks, and to deriding the way city-planners of her day uncritically vaunted open space as if it were a cure-all for social ills. With her knack for summing up the absurdities of modern planning, Jacobs highlights this except from the New York Times, 1961: "Mr. Moses conceded that some new housing might be 'ugly, regimented, institutional, identical, conformed, faceless.' But he suggested that such housing could be surrounded with parks."
Of course some parks are vibrant and successful - Parc Lafontaine, Parc Jeanne-Mance and Carré Saint-Louis come to mind as local examples. But, Jacobs argues, that when it comes to park space, less is more:
"people in cities, with all their other interests and duties, can hardly enliven unlimited amounts of local, generalized park. City people would have to devote themselves to park use as if it were a business...to justify, for example, the plethora of malls, promenades, playgrounds, parks and indeterminate land oozes afforded in typical Radiant Garden City schemes."
Although we have adopted many of Jacobs' insights about cities, it's still common to see not-quite-public space oozing about equally-uninspiring condo and apartment blocks:
Above: Space ooze in new developments in Saint-Laurent, Griffintown and Verdun
March 5th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: The Don Valley, Urban Camping and Versailles
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Urbanist, former councilor and recent mayoral candidate Clive Doucet made his inaugural post on Spacing this week comparing current government policies to the Treaty of Versailles in that they fail to deal with serious issues and ensure future problems.
Lamenting the state of curbside potholes which cause havoc for cyclists around this time of year, Evan Thornton asks why cities don't use center drainage collection to better clear roads and sidewalks.
Spacing profiles the project for Music in New Spaces which aims to expand music to new audiences and its upcoming string of performances in the quasi-public space of VIA Rail stations across the maritimes.
Emma Feltes makes an appeal to those who could lead Jane's Walks around Halifax this May.
With government privatization making news across North America, John Lorinc looks at the Ford Administration's move to bring in outside budget consultants and speculates about their potential role in an outsourcing process.
Jessica Lemieux reflects on a walk through the Don Valley and uses a German friend's confusion about the definition of a ravine to reflect on sense of place and urban conservation in evolving settings.
March 6th, 2011
A Rob Ford in Montreal?
By Devin Alfaro // 13 Comments
One of the most notable events in urban Canada last year was the election of Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto. Progressives across the country cringed as they watched Canada's largest city elect a boorish, car-loving, anti-bike, bungalow-dwelling, right-winger as mayor. What on earth happened? I'll leave it to the Torontonians to analyse what went so terribly wrong, but for us Montrealers this event makes us ask an interesting (err...terrifying) question:
Could a Rob Ford be possible in Montreal?
March 7th, 2011
A Highway Waiting to Happen
By Alanah Heffez // 15 Comments
A thick white stripe across the Eastern side of Laval marks the embryo of autoroute 25. It's come quite a way since Spring 2009. After 3 years of construction (and 3 more of controversy), the bridge and highway are due to be completed in May 2011.
Look at all that farmland and woodland in Laval just waiting to be developed. Some, but not all of it will be protected by agricultural zoning, at least for now (Laval zoning map). The provincial Commission de la protection des terresagricoles du Québec , or CPTAQ, has been known to make exceptions readily enough, and municipalities are pushing for direct jurisdiction over agricultural dezoning.
The debate over the "pont de la 25" was my first experience with highway politics in Quebec.
March 8th, 2011
Our Founding Mothers and Fathers
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
Gerald Tremblay and the city of Montreal has moved to officially recognize Jeanne Mance as a co-founder of the City of Montreal, along with Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve. This bold move goes beyond honouring Jeanne Mance's memory - her name is already immortalized in over forty local place-names - it's about recognizing the true value of her contribution to the establishment and survival of the city at its origins.
What does it take to found a city? Certainly more than the words of one man. Certainly the work of more than one woman... You don't have to dig ...
March 9th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Trouble in paradise and the beauty of dust
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• A city known for its pervasive car culture, Los Angeles is the proud new owner of a bike plan - and a broken arm may have started it all. While L.A.'s new plan targets bike lanes and bike parking improvements, local experts say it speaks to a cultural shift that will make roads more friendly for all users. Moving forward, cycling advocates will need to address funding issues and bureaucratic heel-dragging to ensure the plan is put into action. (GOOD)
• New York has long been the darling of bike infrastructure advocates. But for all the praise lavished upon NYC's bike infrastructure revolution, there is evidence that its well laid plans may be coming apart at the seams: a lawsuit over the Prospect Park West bike lane and political in-fighting over autocratic decision making.
• Perhaps those making a fuss in New York ought to consider this infographic from the Intelligent Cities Project. By their calculation, if a city can reduce car ownership by 15,000 vehicles, an additional $127,275,000 could stay in the local economy. (Intelligent Cities Project)
March 10th, 2011
Montréal Lit: Mémoria and the Mountain
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing Montreal is pleased to present a new bi-weekly column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
A great place to start, in this literary exploration of our city, is with the Mountain, of course:
Tous les matins, Vincent lève bien haut le store, comme maman, il guette les moindres reflets du soleil sur la montagne. Parfois, ...
March 12th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Grafitti Removal, Autoroute 25 and Pecha Kucha
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Eric Darwin talks about the details and neighbourhood dynamics of sidewalk snow clearing including reflections on good samaritans, local kids and how to get the City on the case of snow dumping offenders.
Following the announced move of the Ottawa Folk Festival to a new venue at Mooney's Bay, Spacing weighs in on the benefits of holding such festivals in areas where they won't bother residents versus being close to public transit.
How far should planners look into the future? Hugh Pouliot reports from the opening address of the IMAGINE Conference at Dalhousie University where Professor Bruce Tonn considered the merits of planning for the next hundreds to thousands of years.
Crystal Melville profiles some of the dialogue from a Pecha Kucha event in Halifax themed around Architecture's snub of the suburbs and suburban apologists.
Jessica Lemieux takes a look at the Portlands and the complexities of the soil remediation efforts taking place there. The post examines why the process is necessary, how it works and what surprises have been found as the earth is recycled.
Graffiti removal was a theme this week with Dylan Reid comprehensively delving into the issue of how the City should approach an area that has ideological issues for both sides of the political spectrum and subjective questions of what is worth saving. Shawn Micallef responded by showing some graffiti that the Mayor may not want to remove.
March 14th, 2011
Are we “Too Montreal” for the Conservatives?
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
"Montréal! Tu n’es qu’une salope
Et tu manipules le jeu"
-- Xavier Caféine
There was once a legend, concocted deep in the countryside of Quebec and recited to little children to keep them in their beds at night. As the legend would have it, one day the entire Island of Montreal would sink beneath the waters of the Saint-Lawrence River and be gone. Suspicion of the city ran deep: ours was the realm of decadence and deviance and such sinful liberties that was inevitable that it would be struck down. This story was told at least ...
March 16th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: All opposed?
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• UPDATE: For more on New York City's bike lane woes, check out: How one New York bike lane could affect the future of cycling worldwide (The Guardian), Battle of the Bike Lanes (The New Yorker), John Cassidy vs bipeds (Reuters).
• Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's Local School District and Fiscal Accountability Act allows state-appointed emergency managers to seize control of local governments in financial emergencies to renegotiate contacts, terminate collective bargaining agreements, close schools and dissolve or reorganize governments and districts. As Slate discovers this power is not unprecedented.
March 19th, 2011
Photo du Jour: Springtime Scars
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Ah, the first days of spring: the snow melts, revealing a season's worth of litter, and all the street furniture bears the battlescars from the long occupation by snowplows.
But I'm just elated to be outside on my bike and to feel part of this place again.
Spacing Saturday: Green Roofs, Greenbelts and Whistler
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Whistler Village from the Mountain
Clive Doucet took a break from the slopes during a recent trip to Whistler to speak with the Mayor of Canada's largest resort city. In doing so he was able to learn about some of Whistler's unique planning approaches which have made the city both walkable and attempted to protect housing affordability.
Eric Darwin uses revealing stains, sprayed from passing cars, on fresh winter snow to illustrate a point of dismay about the way sidewalks are built in Ottawa. While one good piece of sidewalk, with proper drainage and comfort is shown, it is about to be demolished as part of road expansion.
Hugh Pouliot takes a looks at the submission of Dalhousie planning student Kourosh Rad which was the recipient of the Mayor's Award for Excellence & Innovation in Planning.
Also from the Imagine Conference at Dalhousie University, Natascia Lypny takes a look at a proposal for a greenbelt in Halifax. Based on a presentation by Jen Powley the post looks at how a greenbelt would fit with long range planning objectives and what it would look like.
As Toronto continues to work through the implementation of its ambitious green roofs bylaw Jessica Lemieux takes a look at some of the recent history of Green Roofs in the city. She also looks at some of the players involved in their design and reflects on their social benefit.
With the new dynamic at Toronto City Hall becoming more clear, John Lorinc takes a look at a group of six independent councilors whose swing voting could hold the balance of power if they only realized it.
March 20th, 2011
You are listening to Montréal
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Image par photographer695"][/caption]
« La liberté d'expression, c'est aussi la liberté d'écoute. »
- Pierre, VE2PEM
Régalez-vous du spectacle qui est la ville de Montréal dans le confort de votre foyer avec cet excellent mash-up urbain — « You are listening to Montréal » marie harmonieusement le rauque murmure continu des fréquences radio du SPVM et un paysage sonore de musique ambiante de Creative Commons.
Les résultats — les coulisses de la ville dévoilées sous forme d'un ...
March 21st, 2011
Photo du Jour : More Domes!
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Behind the domed minaret of the Mosquée Al-Omah Al-Islamiah, the SAT's Sensorium ads a curious new point-de-repère to the cityscape. The SAT's website describes it as a complex dedicated entirely to sensory exploration, mixing technological and culinary arts. A holding cell for robot chefs?
March 23rd, 2011
Comment fait-on un grand projet d’aménagement urbain?
By Joel Thibert // 6 Comments
C'est hélas une question que se posent trop rarement nos politiciens et nos journalistes, qui s'intéressent à la surface de l'aménagement mais ne se préoccupent guère du fonctionnement de la ville (et de la Ville). L'exemple le plus récent: au lieu de se questionner à savoir comment on réalise, concrètement, un grand projet d'aménagement urbain (comme le projet du Havre), le chef du parti Projet Montréal a plutôt décidé, il y a quelques semaines, de déclarer la guerre aux organismes ...
World Wide Wednesday: Mines, Parking Lots and Truth Windows
By Hilary Best // 3 Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• We tend to associate mining operations with the hinterland. But in Johannesburg, 400,000 urban dwellers call the mining belt home and face incredible obstacles of environmental remediation, land tenure and service and infrastructure access. This breathtaking slideshow from Design Observer explores the human and natural ecologies of the mining landscape.
• In Vancouver, the city-owned parking management company has seen a dramatic 20% drop in revenues since the construction of the city's Canada Line. As more people choose to take transit, parking stalls totalling 10.5 hectares or 3% of the downtown land area have opened up. As the Vancouver Observer explains, this behavioural change has also opened up opportunities for additional affordable housing and public space.
• "The same proximity that got hogs heads on clipper ships now enables smart people to learn from each other". On this week's Guardian Business Podcast, host John Vidal speaks with Edward Glaeser and Jonathan Glancey about making city life more productive and Britain's ten enterprise zones. For more from Edward Glaeser, check out this recent interview about density, entrepreneuship and Indian cities at Globizen.
March 24th, 2011
Montréal Lit: “You Comma Idiot”
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
Spacing Montreal is pleased to host a bi-weekly column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
Doug Harris’ fascinating and hilarious novel, You Comma Idiot (2010 by Gooselane ), captures something of Montreal that is getting harder and harder to see: the working class roots, the hand-to-mouth way that most people here live, the sense of humour and joie de vivre ...
Passage à niveau sur la voie ferrée : les négociations sont entamées entre les arrondissements et le CP
By Spacing // 7 Comments
Le Canadien Pacifique (CP) et les arrondissements du Plateau-Mont-Royal et de Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie ont finalement entamé les discussions pour trouver une solution à la circulation des piétons et des cyclistes dans le secteur de la voie ferrée qui sépare les deux arrondissements.
March 26th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Transit Stations, Rail Crossings and Suburban Subsidy
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
The current Bayview Station in downtown Ottawa
How well do we treat public transit stations as public space? With LRT plans moving forward Jay Baltz writes about the corresponding progress on a Community Design Plan for the new transit corridor and questions plans for making the only areas exempt from minimum densities the stations themselves.
Clive Doucet tackles popular misconceptions about the necessity for suburbs to provide reasonably priced housing. By revealing the subsidy which must be applied to finance expensive suburban infrastructure Doucet paints a picture of the suburbs as dragging the city down.
Crystal Melville reflects on the process of narrowing down a broad set of long range planning goals from the Imagine Halifax session into something which can be sold to the municipality as a complete long range plan by asking questions of where to find value.
The final version of the Draft Bikeways Plan for the institutional neighbourhood of downtown Halifax was presented this week. Crystal Melville profiles the event.
With the bike lane dispute in Brooklyn taking a turn towards the courts, Jake Tobin Garrett makes an appeal for calm on all the sides of the driver-cyclist divide and backs it up by showing how a calmer head could lead to a more productive dialogue.
As part of the No Mean City series Alex Bozikovic talks readers on a tour of the striking Native Child and Family Services building. The incredible interior design of the building includes a stylized and functional long house and council fire.
Photo du Jour: Flock of Cranes
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
According to the Gazette, the construction of the MUHC's new Glen campus will set a record for the highest concentration of construction cranes in Quebec.
March 27th, 2011
Maggy Flynn: Créer des communautés à travers l’art
By Marie-Sophie Banville // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9737" align="alignnone" width="479" caption="Crédit photo : Péristyle Nomade"][/caption]
Collaboration Spéciale: Marie-Sophie Banville trouve son compte quelque part entre les études féministes, la science politique et l'urbanisme. Elle aime les initiatives, petites et grandes, qui humanisent l'espace urbain en le rendant original et imprévu.
Maggy Flynn est une artiste interdisciplinaire habitant le quartier Centre-Sud à Montréal. Depuis quelques années, ses interventions artistiques d’une grande originalité ont contribué à leur manière à transformer le paysage urbain de ce quartier. Parmi ses récents projets, notons l’Abri-Thé et la Freeperie.
Pendant ...
March 28th, 2011
La puck de Berri comme repère géographique évocateur pour les jeunes montréalais
By Jean Desjardins // 10 Comments
Ce billet est une contribution spéciale de Jean Desjardins, résident de Villeray, historien et enseignant d'histoire et géographie à la Commission Scolaire de Laval.
« On s'attend à la puck? Oh sois pas inquiet han, je suis généralement cinq minutes en retard ».
Cet extrait de conversation est certainement un chromosome de ce qu'Héritage Montréal désigne comme « l'ADN de la métropole », tant j'ai la certitude que chaque Montréalais francophone a reçu un jour du tournant de l'âge adulte point de départ analogue. Moi c'était 1997, quand mon Sherbrookois de collègue cégépien qui s'appropriait sa ville d'adoption bien plus vite que moi me tint à peu près ce langage. Chacun ses rythmes.
À 18 ans, j'avais à peu près les mêmes traits candides qu'aujourd'hui et pas plus besoin qu'on me fasse un dessin! La puck! Poignée de main secrète pour attester de la montréalité de son interlocuteur, avec suffisamment de prise pour que les non-initiés saisissent sans peine. De fait, il s'agit d'un nom riche de culture sportive, urbaine, bilingue comme sa ville et pas abstrait deux secondes tellement il colle au lieu qu'il évoque : le solide banc circulaire noir au milieu des quatre tourniquets de Berri-UQAM, comme le Pont croche avant qu'on le baptise Jacques-Cartier.
L'hypothèse que je me suis rendu sur le terrain vérifier supposait que la désignation hockeyeuse était encore en usage chez mes concitoyens. Qu'eux aussi quelque part se sont épris du vocable pour désigner ce carrefour où l'on ralentit sa course quelques minutes, plaque tournante, interface entre notre métro et le Quartier Latin, un lieu qu'on s'est appropriés comme Montréalais au point de le baptiser. Après avoir renseigné un musicien qui cherchait le Jello Bar et avoir moi-même croisé une amie (l'autre lieu commun de Berri, c'est qu'à partir d'un certain âge, on est certain d'y croiser une connaissance), la réponse si spontanée de deux bandes de jeunes montréalais successives a suffi pour me conforter dans mes intuitions.
March 30th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Decline, Manufacturing and Low Cost Place Making
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• UPDATE: Census 2010 figures, released March 22nd, add credence to Steve Tobocman's case for greater immigration to Detroit. According to the Detroit News, the city's population fell by 25% over the last decade to its lowest population in a century. The bad news left Mayor Dave Bing requesting a recount; a population of 750,000 is a crucial threshold for national funding (New York Times). For more census highlights, check out Next American City's roundup.
• Allison Arieff at the New York Times argues that manufacturing in North America isn't dead, it has just changed shape. Successful manufacturers in today's economy work in smaller, crafted batches which allow them to more easily respond to consumer preferences. She highlights “pride of place” as an essential ingredient in the brands of many local manufacturers; one that enshrines the role of local companies as more than just producers - as contributing members of their local community.
• In Bradford, England, a theatre troupe is celebrating the decline of the manufacturing landscape in another way. The Mill: City of Dreams is a play that celebrates the city's Lumb Lane mill and its rich history as a yarn-producing powerhouse. The play, staged in the abandoned mill, builds on interviews with residents and ex-mill-workers. (The Guardian)
March 31st, 2011
Ville-Marie Borough presents new plan for Downtown West End development
By Devin Alfaro // 7 Comments
Downtown's West End.
The West End of Downtown is a study in contrasts. Its residents are varied: from low-income recent immigrants, working-class rooming-house residents, and wealthy professionals, to students from across the country and farther. Beautifully restored Victorian townhouses rub shoulders with increasingly decrepit concrete apartment towers from the 1960s boom years. Home to 15,000 people, it is the densest neighbourhood in the city.
This unique neighbourhood will be seeing major changes over the coming years according to a Special Planning Initiative (Projet particulier d'urbanisme) unveiled last month by the Ville-Marie Borough. This goal of this initiative is to provide a framework for future development in this neighbourhood, and the borough council adopted a preliminary version in February. Public consultations are ongoing, after which modifications will likely be integrated. Here are some highlights of the plan's proposals:
April 1st, 2011
Watch NFB: Radiant City
By Julie Matlin // 3 Comments
Editor: Spacing is pleased to continue our partnership with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films and interactive projects from their online screening room. Julie Matlin of the NFB will be occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada's greatest resources. Click here to view their entire online collection. ...
Spacing Saturday: Pedestrian Bridges, Pedestrian Tunnels and Roadside Marquees
By Marcus Bowman // 2 Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Eric Darwin takes Ottawa's recent low-key proposal for a new pedestrian/cycling bridge across the Rideau River as an opportunity to look at some of the exciting work being done on such bridges elsewhere. In doing so, Darwin highlights the potential for the bridge to be both iconic and a functional extension of the adjacent parkland.
The internet regulating body ICANN is set to allow dotCity domain names and Morgan Peers uses this as an opportunity to explore the position of a civic community on the internet through his own experiences within information ecosystem of Ottawa.
Alison Creba takes a fascinating look at different examples of roadside marquees and discusses what they say about the urban vernacular of the city through their contribution to urban hum.
In one more sign that spring is coming, Crystal Melville profiles the upcoming Seedy Saturday event hosted by the Urban Farm Museum Society of Spryfield in which budding gardeners can exchange seeds and share gardening know how.
Adam Chaleff -Freudenthaler looks back at the Miller administration to consider the subtle ways that a mayor influences the direction of their city. While broad policy initiatives are called the broad strokes, decisions such as where to spend time and which groups to support reflect the small strokes.
The Headspace series produced another installment this week as Luca De Franco interviewed Brian Iler from the waterfront advocacy group Clean Air. With the Toronto Port Authority attempting to start construction on a pedestrian tunnel to the Island Airport some time this year the discussion provides a fascinating looking into the many facets of the airport issue.
April 5th, 2011
Event: Hitting the Benchmark
By KC Bolton // No Comments
Hitting the Benchmark is a student-driven project about sustainable urban design that was awarded a Sustainability Projects Fund (SPF) grant from McGill University in February 2011.
The project creates a pair of unique benches made of scavenged materials for McGill campus. By providing street furniture made of reclaimed waste, Hitting the Benchmark provides a platform for youth- driven design that engages the student body and community at large to interact with campus space and challenges the creative reusability of waste.
Come celebrate the unveiling of the benches Friday, April 8th from 2 pm - 4pm on ...
April 6th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: WiFi, Modern Maps and Spring Colours
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Much of the digital infrastructure that surrounds us is invisible, yet it shapes our environment profoundly. A team of designers at the Institute of Design in the Oslo School of Architecture & Design and the BERG design firm in London have created a Light Painting WiFi Project to reveal the invisible internet ether. Using blinking lights which respond to WiFi signal strength, the team used long exposure photographs to make visible an immaterial component of the urban environment. (Singularity Hub)
• Attention cartography and urban history nerds: the New York Times has a great interactive map which allows users to compare John Randel's 1811 proposed grid with modern day Manhattan.
• Those in need of a burst of spring colour may benefit from a look at BLDGBLOG's feature on the Arc en Ciel building in Bordeaux, France. While the building isn't to everyone's taste, the author offers a good reminder that sometimes reality improves upon the rendering.
April 7th, 2011
Montréal Lit: Russel Teed’s Novel Noir
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
Spacing Montreal is pleased to host a bi-weekly column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
In David Montrose’s crime noir novels set in 1940s Montreal (reissued by Véhicule Press, one of Montreal’s most innovative and interesting presses), private dick Russell Teed is on the hunt for a killer, and he intersects many aspects of Montreal society in ...
April 9th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Jeff Rubin, Noir Novels and Homelessness
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Clive Doucet weighs in on the coalition theme of the ongoing federal election by framing the suburban/urban divide as an example of the complexities that create differing political attitudes amongst Canadians. In doing so, Doucet makes the case that a coalition government would likely be more healthy than harmful.
Hans Cunningham offers a powerful argument for something that federal candidates should talking about other than threats of coalitions: homelessness. Cunningham, who is currently serving as President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, argues that society could save millions by addressing the problem of affordable housing.
Lauren Oostveen reflects on the passing of Chris Doyle, a local homeless man known in Halifax as the Clyde Street Pirate and someone who became a local landmark for his friendly and happy personality.
The Atlantic Snapshots feature this week highlighted an image that beauftifully captures the changing of the seasons in Canada.
The latest installment of the Head Space series includes a fascinating interview with Jeff Rubin the former CIBC chief economist who left the bank and went on to write the bestselling book Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller about the upcoming effects of peak oil.
Jacqueline Whyte Appleby introduces this year's installment of the Toronto Public Library's Keep Toronto Reading Festival. The 2011 book Midnight at the Dragon Cafe will serve as the base for an ongoing series on Spacing and events throughout the city.
April 12th, 2011
Fictions illustrées pour imaginer la ville autrement
By Spacing // No Comments
Collaboration spéciale: Victor Locuratolo a une formation en architecture/urbanisme. Après avoir exercé à Montréal et en France dans ce domaine pendant quelques années, il s'est consacré à un travail plus artistique, mélant une sensibilité affichée pour l'esthétique urbaine à une démarche plus proche de la bande dessinée ou de l'illustration satirique. http://sansdessein.canalblog.com/
Quelle peut bien être la proportion de l’espace urbain dédiée à la circulation automobile ?
La première fiction (ci-haut) tente un scénario en milieu urbain. C’est une rue typique ...
April 13th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Budget woes, skating highs
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray was released from custody yesterday after being detained during a protest of his city's budget deal. D.C.'s budget requires federal approval and consequently was subject to a number of overtly political riders targeting abortions for low income women, courts, and schools. (Washington Post)
• Metropolis Mag celebrates Holland's sidewalk district heating system. While the city's founding fathers and mothers ensured the downtown's success with snow-free pedestrian routes, more recent city builders have added to the sense of place with the installation of communal gas powered hearths.
• In Kabul, girls and boys are having fun, engaging with their city and with each other through an innovative project called Skateistan. A brief clip on polis provides a breathtaking view of the city through the eyes of young Afghan skaters.
April 14th, 2011
Moins d’automobiles et plus de déplacements verts sur le Plateau-Est
By Spacing // 5 Comments
Une collaboration spéciale de Julien Cayer.
Mercredi matin, le Plateau-Est a emboité le pas aux arrondissements de Mercier-Est et de Parc-Extension en se dotant d’un Plan d’action pour un quartier vert, actif et en santé. Le Centre d’écologie urbaine de Montréal (CEUM) et la Maison d’Aurore ont présenté aux médias et à l’arrondissement (les élus en ont pris connaissance trois jours plus tôt) une cinquantaine de propositions qui sont le fruit d’un long travail de consultation citoyenne qui a suivi la publication du Plan de transport de la Ville de Montréal, en 2008.
April 15th, 2011
Street, Avenue, Crescent, Parade
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
We are all familiar with terms like street, avenue and crescent, but across the country there are apparently 165 different words to identify the roads we call home. A friend who works on the back-end of a federal party website recently forwarded this list (with some of his favs highlighted), gleaned from a drop-down menu used for voters to identify their riding. Just for fun, here they are:
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Villeray et Chateaubriand
By Guillaume St-Jean // 11 Comments
2009-2011
April 16th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: South Beach, Citizen Adivisory and Reclaiming Streets
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
The Dome of the Library Parliament
While no one is going to dispute that South Beach in Miami, Florida is a nice place, Erin O'Connell points out the intricacies of the planning along the South Beach strip that make it such an attractive and progressive pedestrian environment.
Is Ottawa a city of domes? Mike Steinhauer shares the results of his search into the detail of the city's architecture to show some remarkable domed buildings around the city today, as well some fascinating details about buildings that have since been lost.
Every city has a stock of beautiful houses that inspire the imagination of passer by. Lauren Phillips tells the story of how one such home, the 1816 Acadian Cottage, in Halifax was opened up for a special event by Dalhousie Art Gallery.
With Plan SJ, the new Growth Plan for Saint John, recently having been unanimously endorsed by council Abad Khan profiles efforts to take the plan into practical implementation.
Sean Marshall examines Yonge Street's claim to be the longest street in the world; examining how this legend got started, what it means, how its been recognized and whether or not it stands to any kind of scrutiny.
Dylan Reid brings an update on the news this week that Toronto could be scrapping its Citizen Advisory Boards. The discussion, brought on by a staff report serves as a chance to assess the effectiveness, role and value of the boards.
April 17th, 2011
Battleground Montreal?
By Devin Alfaro // 11 Comments
One of the growing stories of this federal election is the rise in support for the New Democratic Party in Quebec. Traditionally a non-entity in the province, most polls now show the social democratic party neck and neck with the other federalist parties. Some recent polls are even showing the NDP in second place, behind the Bloc. Of course, as politicians are fond of saying, the only poll that matters is the one that happens on election day. The NDP's support is relatively uncommitted and given the fact that it isn't geographically concentrated, even a big increase in votes risks to translate into only one or two new seats. Despite these caveats, this new dynamic adds a bit of interest to what would otherwise be a lacklustre, predictable, campaign.
April 20th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: High speed rail, transit journeys and blue urbanism
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• China will slow down its high speed trains from 350 to 300 kilometres per hour in an effort to improve safety and affordability (AFP).
• Online platforms capturing geographic information, such as Foursquare, have been gaining popularity for a while. But a new player on the scene, Wanderlust, builds off of location-based sharing to allows users to capture the stories that come along with their journeys from place to place. (The Pop Up City)
• Across the pond, a company called Mudlark, has created a game which integrates the transit and bike journeys of London travellers. The game, Chromaroma, allows players to track their journeys and accumulate points via their Oyster cards.
April 21st, 2011
Montréal Lit: Le Matou et la Binerie
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
Spacing Montreal is pleased to host a bi-weekly column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
After walking by this non-descript store front on Mont-Royal near Saint-Denis countless times without a second glance, I was surprised to learn that La Binerie plays a central role in Yves Beauchemin’s classic 1981 novel Le Matou, a seminal and ...
Première édition de l’événement Lire Montréal
By Mathieu Payette-Hamelin // No Comments
Le 30 avril se tiendra la première édition officielle de l’événement Lire Montréal. Après une première expérience à Parc Extension, cet événement créé autour de la rencontre des thèmes de la ville et de la littérature aborde les quartiers du Plateau Mont-Royal et du Mile-End. Plusieurs activités proposeront alors de mettre en lien ces quartiers et l’imaginaire qu’ils évoquent.
« Les participants pourront visiter diverses expositions, assister à des lectures et rencontres avec auteurs, entendre une interprétation nouvelle des chansons de Leonard Cohen, prendre part ...
April 22nd, 2011
Pour des espaces publics inclusifs dans Sainte-Marie
By Marie-Sophie Banville // 14 Comments
Ce billet est contribué par Marie-Sophie Banville. Elle trouve son compte quelque part entre les études féministes, la science politique et l'urbanisme, et aime les initiatives, petites et grandes, qui humanisent l'espace urbain en le rendant original et imprévu.
[caption id="attachment_9969" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="L’École Gédéon-Ouimet, Crédit : Yan Chevalier"][/caption]
J’habite le quartier Centre-Sud. J’aime ce quartier. Je le trouve authentique et vivant. Il n’est pas lisse, propre et poli. Il est incongru, surprenant et rugueux. Comme le disait Leonard Cohen, il y a une faille en toute chose, c’est ainsi que la lumière y pénètre.
La ville de Montréal a récemment dévoilé son Programme particulier d’urbanisme (PPU) pour Sainte-Marie (PDF), un secteur précis du Centre-Sud. Après avoir parcouru la soixantaine de pages du document, un petit passage, presque insignifiant, persiste à me revenir en tête. En page 42 on peut lire la proposition suivante :
“Aménager sur le terrain situé en face de l’école Gédéon-Ouimet une nouvelle place publique afin de bonifier les aménagements publics de la rue Ontario et de conserver une percée visuelle sur la façade principale de l’école.”
Les terrains en face de cette école sont en fait des stationnements appartenant à l’usine JTI MacDonald. Les stationnements de cette usine sont, disons-le, une véritable plaie qui fragmente lourdement le tissu urbain de ce secteur. J’ai dénombré au total 357 places de stationnement (oui, je les ai comptées...) et à peine 20% de cet espace est quotidiennement occupé. Il est donc impératif de prendre en main ces espaces sous utilisés, d’autant plus que cette usine menace de fermer ses portes depuis quelques années.
Par contre, quand je lis “aménagement d’une place publique” une alarme sonne en moi. Je me dis, “merde, ils vont nous faire une Place Valois.” Et la Place Valois, c’est mal. Voici pourquoi.
Au lancement de « Montréal et l’eau, une histoire environnementale » par Michèle Dagenais
By Jean Desjardins // 4 Comments
Ce billet est une contribution spéciale de Jean Desjardins, résident de Villeray, historien et enseignant d'histoire et géographie à la Commission Scolaire de Laval.
.....
L'intérêt des environnementalistes, des géographes, des urbanistes et des administrateurs publics pour l'eau de Montréal atteste de son importance. Cependant, l'histoire des Montréalais et l'eau s'avérait un sujet encore inexploré par la discipline. C'est à Michèle Dagenais, professeure à l'Université de Montréal, que revient le mérite de l'initiative. L'historienne publiait le mois dernier «Montréal et l'eau, une histoire environnementale». J'ai pu assister à la conférence de lancement (transparence totale: Madame Dagenais a dirigé mon mémoire de maîtrise en histoire politique en 2005). On réécoutera aussi l'entrevue qu'elle donnait à Joël Lebigot. Par son livre, l'historienne se propose d'aider les Montréalais à comprendre les transformations de leur rapport avec l'eau, qu'en expliquant les arrangements du passé et les contraintes du présent, les citadins puissent mieux réinventer cette relation.
April 23rd, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Electoral Upheaval, Donut Shop Politics, and Sunday Shinny
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Eric Darwin zooms onto one specific stretch of recently renovated building frontage in downtown Ottawa to examine how a mediocre space was converted into a quite terrible one. The new design includes a strange cage along the sidewalk, and a hostile aesthetic which hampers the public space.
Clive Doucet devoted his column this week to a refreshing lament of the federal election. Highlighting the Donut Shop photo-ops of the Harper campaign Doucet notes that the debate is lacking in a proper discussion of culture and instead turning to the politics of consumption; most notably of consumption of security.
Jay Baltz provides an update on the Hiltonburg Hub project, an effort to bring much needed affordable housing and community health amenities to an undeserved part of the city. Baltz argues that government support is necessary to allow the not-for-profit project to include heritage and green space preservation at the proposed site.
Sean Gillis comments and speculates on the reasons behind a massive new commercial development at Bayers Lake approved without public consultation by the Halifax Regional Municipality. The development will help pay to upgrade infrastructure in the area but could adversely affect plans for a nearby regional park.
Following up on Earth Day, Halifax's Ecology Action Centre is kicked off a '40 Days of Action' campaign this week with a picnic at the site of a failed waterfront expressway project.
As part of the One Book Toronto series Jacqueline Whyte Appleby reflects on the use of highway 401 in this year's selected novel Midnight at the Dragon Cafe. Set during the time period in which the highway was being built, Appleby reflects on the process of building the freeway and how it changed lives in the Province; links to great historical shots are also included.
Following up on a feature in the latest edition of the magazine, Ian Malczewski highlights, and provides links to, a new short film about the Margaret Philip Cup, a memorial trophy awarded within the women's hockey league that plays in the frozen lagoons of the Toronto Islands.
April 25th, 2011
Mark the Anniversary of a Peaceful Revolution with a Literary Walk Through Montreal’s Bairro Português
By Spacing // No Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The bench dedicated to Luís de Camões, Portugal's bard and a contemporary of Shakespeare and Cervantes, glistened in the April rain. Photos and article by Mary Soderstrom."][/caption]
Mary Soderstrom is the author of Making Waves: The Continuing Portuguese Adventure as well as The Walkable City: From Haussmann's Boulevards to Jane Jacobs' Streets and Beyond, both from Véhicule Press.
Rain glistened on the granite last week, but the words of 12 Portuguese writers shone though the bad weather, even triumphing over graffiti left by taggers.
The words--short quotations in Portuguese with French translations--are a unique tribute to a culture that changed the world five centuries ago and changed Montreal much more recently. They are engraved on a dozen granite benches on St. Lawrence boulevard, a joint project of the city of Montreal, the Institut Camões and other groups. The series was inaugurated on the 35th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, that spontaneous upraising on April 25, 1974 which saw the Portuguese sweep away five decades of dictatorship practically without bloodshed.
April 27th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Pothole gardens and nuclear architecture
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Regina Urban Ecology showcases the delightful guerilla gardening technique of Pete Dungey: pothole gardens.
• Those of us in cities with food-vehicle woes will particularly appreciate the wares of Los Angeles-based catering company, Heirloom LA. Their full-service food truck offers locally-sourced meals and frequents favourite watering holes and farmer's markets. (GOOD)
• On the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Thomas Campanella laments the diminished role of planners from visionary professionals to bureaucratic hall monitors. (Design Observer)
Photo du Jour : Game Seven
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
A small crowd gathers around a sidewalk TV in front of Dépanneur Primo, on the corner of Villeneuve and Saint-Urbain, as the Canadiens and the Bruins take game seven into overtime.
April 28th, 2011
Photo du Jour: Clearly this calls for a smoke machine
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
It ain't called the "Quartier des Spectacles" for nothing...
April 30th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le 5972 rue Louis-Hébert
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1925-2011
Source : Musée McCord
May 1st, 2011
Montage du jour : L’école St-Jean-Berchmans, 5990 rue Chabot
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB22475
Saint-Pierre River Site to Become Montreal’s first Woonerf
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
The alleyway in Saint-Henri between Saint-Ambroise and Sainte-Marie streets, and between Côte Saint-Paul and de Courcelle, is somwhat of an anomaly: nearly 4-lanes wide, it is one of the only clues that the Saint-Pierre river once wound it's way through south-west Montreal.
[caption id="attachment_10084" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="1879 map of St-Henri showing the St-Pïerre River (Source: BANQ)"][/caption]
At the turn of the century, the river was canalised and the properties around it began to ...
May 2nd, 2011
Montage du jour : L’académie Proulx, 4247 rue Parthenais
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2011
Cette école fut construite en 1913 dans l'arrondissement du Plateau Mont-Royal, selon les plans de Charles Bernier, le même architecte ayant conçu l'école St-Jean-Berchmans.
La conversion d'édifices religieux ou institutionnels n'étant pas encore chose courante à la fin des années 1970 lors de la fermeture de cette école, cette dernière fut plutôt rasée en 1980 et remplacée par une tour à logements.
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28839
Janes’ Walk Previews May 7th and 8th 2011
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
This year's edition of Jane's Walk Montreal features 25 neighbourhood explorations on May 7th and 8th.
Spacing Toronto recently interviewed Jane Farrow, the executive director of Jane's Walk Toronto where the tradition began in 2007 to honour the legacy of Jane Jacobs. Farrow describes Jane's Walks as "a way to celebrate neighbourhoods by getting locals to share their neighbourhood specific knowledge with interested parties. It also serves as a form of civic engagement by getting residents involved in their neighbourhood, or at minimum, thinking optimistically ...
Où est Gerry ?
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
The federal campaign has drawn to a close and the polls are open. The politicians have made their pitches and it's now up to the population to decide, and no one really knows what's going to happen. Conservative majority? Conservative minority to be replaced by an NDP-Liberal government? Or even an NDP minority? At this point it's all guesswork. We will find out tonight where the cards lie, but it isn't too soon to look back at the campaign and how it played out in Montreal.
For our city this election has been a sharp break from the past. Liberals and Bloquistes have had to scramble to save previously safe seats as a surging NDP targets ridings no one would have imagined two weeks ago. Long a city of chateaux forts, polls suggest that we will see tightly fought races across the city. For the first time in a long while Montréal is a swing region that the federal parties need to court.
May 3rd, 2011
Montage du jour : Logements en rangée, rue Dufresne
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal,PB28814
How Montrealers voted
By Devin Alfaro // 2 Comments
The dust is finally settling from Monday's federal election and Montreal's (and Quebec's) political geography has been radically transformed. A total of 812,000 Montrealers cast ballots and here's how the votes add up on the island:
NDP 38.3% ------------ 10 seats
Liberal 27.3% ------------ 7 seats
Bloc 18% -------------- 1 seat
Conservative 13.3% ------------ 0 seats
Green 2.3% ------------- ...
May 4th, 2011
Montage du jour : Logements en rangée, rue Poupart
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28811
World Wide Wednesday: Portland-Squared, Parking Science, Pigeons
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• TreeHugger reports on a new development of microhomes in Portland, OR. The developer, D.R. Horton, is choosing to build multiple dwellings between 364 and 687 sq. ft. rather than one giant home on the large lot . It is hoped that recently relaxed regulations on such dwellings will help to spur similar developments and the density and active transportation benefits they bring.
• Across the country, Portland, ME's jetport is going geothermal. A new ground-source heat pump drawing energy from beneath the employee parking lots will keep travelling Mainers warm through the state's long winter. (Grist)
May 5th, 2011
Montage du jour : Caisse populaire Sacré-Coeur, 1399 rue Ontario est
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28768
May 6th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’édifice de l’Ambulance St-Jean, 405 blvd. Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1979-2011
L'édifice de l'Ambulance St-Jean, érigé sur le coin nord est des rues Maisonneuve et St-Denis, fut conçu en 1968 par les architectes Jean-Paul Pothier et George F. Eber. Ayant été totalement transformé en 1990-1991, l'immeuble est aujourd'hui devenu un pavillon de l'UQAM.
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27905
May 7th, 2011
Montage du jour : Un édifice à logements sur l’avenue des Pins
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2008-2011
Spacing Saturday: Election Fallout, Zinemobiles and Jane’s Walks
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
In the premiere of a new feature called Clickshift, Kathryn Hunt uses the return of warm-weather cyclists to the roads as an opportunity to explore how different riders conceptualize their relationship with cars. Going beyond the word of mouth that educates most cyclists, Hunt looks at just what exactly the rules of the road are governing cyclists.
In a post written on the even of the election, Clive Doucet emphasizes that cities, as human political creations, can be fundamentally effected by the outcome any one election. Using trajectory shifts caused by past municipal elections in Ottawa as examples Doucet makes some predictions for what a Harper majority could bring for cities.
Based on a curiosity regarding how the street-involved population proves residency in order to vote, Jessica Walker highlights the inherent difficulties of lacking an address and profiles the innovative Navigator Program in Halifax. Arising from the need to diffuse tension between shop owners and panhandlers the program aims to identify and fill in the gaps social support services and is funded largely by local business.
Just as libraries often reach out to geographically or otherwise segregated communities through book mobiles, a new project in Halifax aims to take Zines mobile by wheeling a collection of local publications around the streets. The project is currently looking for Zines to participate.
Jessica Lemieux takes a look at how the Norway Maple tree, a common part of urban landscapes in Southern Ontario, is both an invasive species and a symbol of local sustainability. While the Norway Maple can often crowd out local species like Red and Sugar Maple, its resiliency makes it ideal for tapping to produce Maple Syrup right from the backyard.
With Jane's Walks going on this weekend, Dylan Reid takes a look at how the project has spread throughout the world in just a few years, why it is so appealing and adaptable and how Spacing is contributing to some walks in Toronto.
The swingset orchestra
By Alanah Heffez // 6 Comments
The swingset becomes an orchestra in this inspired interactive installation in the Quartier des Spectacles. It begins with a single note as the swing sways back and forth and escalates into arpeggios and melodies as you swing higher. There are seven sets of three swings each with different classical sounds to compose with. Go with friends or meet strangers in a mid-air duet.
A space as thoroughly designed as the QdS runs the risk of feeling impermeable and uninhabitable: without a few rough edges it can be hard to ...
May 8th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une maison de l’avenue Jeanne-Mance
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27878
May 9th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le restaurant BENS
By Guillaume St-Jean // 10 Comments
2007-2008-2008-2011
May 10th, 2011
Montage du jour : La synagogue Shaar Hashomayim, avenue McGill College
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1911-2011
Source : Musée McCord
May 11th, 2011
Montage du jour : La synagogue autrichienne et hongroise, rue Milton
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1911-2011
Cet édifice aujourd'hui démoli, fut converti en cinéma, L'Élyssé, en 1959.
Source : Musée McCord
World Wide Wednesday: Brisbane Carparks and NFL Navel Gazing
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The New York Times offers an interesting portrait of Richard A. Baker - CEO of retail giants, Lord & Taylor and the Hudson's Bay Company. The piece offers a fascinating window into the financial and land use power Baker exerts through his retail property holdings in the US and Canada.
• PriceWaterhouse Coopers and the Partnership for New York City offer yet another ranking of the global metropolises. Perhaps more important than the individual results, VP Merrill Pond concludes, "a great city is all about growing, retaining and attracting talent. Whether it's Stockholm with its strong education system or Toronto benefiting from its smart immigration policies, getting and keeping talent matters." (The Atlantic)
• Toronto city councillor, Doug Ford, is game to attract more talent to Hogtown. The rookie councillor raised the ire of New Orleans NFL fans when he suggested that their franchise might be better suited to Toronto and named a number of possible sites for a regulation-sized stadium. (Globe and Mail)
May 12th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une maison en démolition de l’avenue du Docteur Penfield
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1966-2011
Cette ancienne résidence bourgeoise du Mille carré doré fut remplacée en 1967 par un édifice résidentiel de 20 étages.
Source : MATHER, E. (1977) Les rues de Montreal façades et fantaisie, Montreal, Tundra books
Montréal Lit: MacLennan’s subtle, intricate city
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
Spacing Montreal is pleased to present a new bi-weekly column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
I was thrilled to see McGill-Queen’s Press re-releasing some of Hugh MacLennan’s most well-known books the last couple of years. MacLennan, though his reputation has somewhat dimmed since the height of his career, is certainly one of Canada’s brightest literary stars, and ...
May 13th, 2011
Montage du jour : Édifices de la rue St-Urbain
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1993-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, AMEN111972
May 14th, 2011
Montage du jour : La buanderie du monastère du Bon-Pasteur
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2011
Ces anciennes dépendances furent converties en condominiums en 1984-1987.
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27747
Spacing Saturday: Fantasy Transit, Eyes on the Street and the Astrolabe Theatre
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Adam Bentley is the creator of a fantasy transit map that has spread throughout the Ottawa blogosphere and continues to stir debate about the long term future of transit in the National Capital Region. Bentley describes how the map was created and how he was able to disseminate it so effectively.
Andrew Snowdon speculates on the intentions behind the million dollar decision to demolish the Astrolabe Theatre located below the iconic statue of Samuel de Champlain at Nepean point overlooking Parliament Hill. Although its clear that the theatre is currently underused, the real intention behind its demolition may be to pave the way for a sculpture garden for the National Gallery.
Katie McKay provides a Jane's Walk debrief on a Janet Barlow lead walk through a suburban development where a lack of eyes on the street has caused residents to turn against the pathway system designed to encourage pedestrianism.
Crystal Melville profiles this year's Carmichael Lecture presented by the Downtown Halifax Business Association. This year's lecture will focus on Urban Sprawl; it's effects on downtown and how to curb it.
Jake Schabas provides another great look into the most innovative planning initiatives going on in New York City with a list of three of the most interesting NYC projects followed by three Toronto based initiatives that are making a splash in the Big Apple.
Jonathon Goldsbie takes readers through the back room politics that played out in the lead up to last fall's municipal election. In detailing the story of Shelley Carroll's considerations of running for Mayor, Goldsbie examines how the progressive movement got, or failed to get, behind a candidate.
May 15th, 2011
Montage du jour : Vue arrière du Mont-Saint-Louis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1979-2011
La façade arrière du Mont-Saint-Louis suite à la démolition de 2 de ses ailes.
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27938
Imagining NDG: snapshots of a community on the brink of big change
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
The winds of change are converging upon the west-end neighbourhood of NDG. Winds, gales, practically hurricanes. Between the plans for the MUHC superhospital on the old Glen yards, highway construction, new additions to Concordia's Loyola campus, the Benny Farm complex which has grown to incorporate a sports complex, library, CLSC and more, and the proliferation of condos popping up in NDG, it seems that the demographics and character of the neighbourhood are about to undergo a makeover.
Tim Schwab, a documentary filmmaker who teachers Communications ...
May 16th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue vers le square Victoria depuis la côte du Beaver Hall
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1967-2011
Source : Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain de l'Université du Québec à Montréal
Photo du Jour : Springtime Sieste
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
The days may be getting longer, but one of the best things about spring in Montreal is being able to break the day up by grabbing a nap just about anywhere.
Photo taken on Notre-Dame O, May 13th
Watch NFB: St-Henri, The 26th of August
By Julie Matlin // No Comments
Editor: Spacing is pleased to continue our partnership with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films and interactive projects from their online screening room. Julie Matlin of the NFB will be occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada's greatest resources. Click here to view their entire online collection. ...
May 17th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Sainte-Catherine vers l’est près de Atwater
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1967-2011
Source : Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine urbain de l'Université du Québec à Montréal
May 18th, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Joseph-Hercule-Dansereau, 901 rue Sherbrooke est
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28578
World Wide Wednesday: Prague’s Farmers’ Market, Tel Aviv Bike Lanes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• While much has been made of the recent controversy surrounding New York City's bike lanes, there is extensive support for this infrastructure and a record of this support from project inception. Check out the Blueprint for the Upper West Sideand this film produced by Streetfilms for some inspiration.
• Tel Aviv is experiencing similar backlash to its American cousin. As the Sustainable City Blog explains, the shift towards complete streets in what has traditionally been an autocentric town has raised the ire of many motorists. In contrast to New York's approach to the backlash, however, Tel Aviv officials are quashing resistance rather than looking for common ground: "the streets of Tel Aviv do not belong to the residents. No one owns the streets or the parking spots and the municipality does not have to conduct negotiations with the residents."
• As former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel stepped into his new role as Mayor of Chicago this week, The Transport Politic offers a sneak peak at the tough choices he'll face related to transportation policy. According to Emanuel's transition plan, focus will be shifted to bus rapid transit lines, well suited to the city's wide boulevards.
Bixi ad backlash
By Chris Erb // 18 Comments
The third season of the Bixi bike sharing program has started with a few changes. More docking stations have been added to four more neighbourhoods, especially in the previously unserved central-western areas of the city such as NDG and Westmount (who grudgingly allowed a mere four stations to be set up in their city) while base times before needing to pay for trips have been extended from 30 minutes to 45.
Also new is the addition of advertising on the bicycles themselves. Despite a promise at the initial launch that there would be no advertising on Bixi bikes, they rolled out this spring with red, white, and green sponsors from three different companies covering a portion of the rear wheels.
The backlash was quick to come with a Facebook group that now has nearly a thousand members and a CBC Daybreak story that interviewed a membership holder who vowed not to renew due to the presence of the advertisements. The company who oversees the program was quick to respond to the criticism with a plea for users and the general public to put up with the ads to help the program cover costs. Indeed, more than just sponsorship was needed; the city just bailed out the company with a $108 million dollar loan after they threatened to pull the bikes from the roads and close up shop.
Obviously, unhappy Montrealers quickly took to vandalizing the ads in a variety of ways. Michel Philibert, porte-parole of Bixi is calling it "un phénomène marginal" but one sponsor is displeased about the negative attention the problem is bringing to its brand. One journalist took a walk around and found that of the 170 bikes observed, 42% of the ads were vandalized in some way or another. If people at Bixi are at all surprised, they obviously haven't been paying attention to the Bixi programs they have been exporting to other cities, particularly London where their "Barclays Bikes" fell victim to an anti-Barclays sticker campaign within hours of its launch.
Initially, I was put off by the ads on the bikes, but after spending an afternoon walking around downtown taking photos of some of the vandalism, I was pleased to find that the ads have provided a new, mobile space for Montrealers to spread messages and/or express their creativity. Much of the vandalism is simple tags either on a sticker or done with a marker while others are quite artistic. My favourites are the ones that covered the expensive advertisements of giant corporations in favour of advertisements for small local events or causes. Not only can these messages be put on bikes all over the city, but owing to their being a means of transportation, also move from place to place as the bike is borrowed and replaced. Below (after the jump) are some examples of how the ads have been re-appropriated by some industrious residents of the city.
May 19th, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Arsène Brosseau, 525 rue Sherbrooke est
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28574
Spacing Poll: The Bixi Bailout
By Alanah Heffez // 10 Comments
Tuesday night, Montreal's city council voted on whether to financially back Bixi to the tune of $108 million. The Public Bike Service Co. (société de vélo libre service) a non-profit that manages Bixi, threatened to take the bikes off the street on Thursday May 20th and resign if the city did not intervene. The directors of the non-profit organization could have become personally liable some costs.
The "bailout" consists of a $37-million loan to cover Bixi deficit, incurred during the first 2 years of service, which includes the concept, design, patent, and manufacture of the ...
May 20th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Sherbrooke est près de St-André
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28576
Is urban agriculture a fad?
By Joel Thibert // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_10348" align="alignleft" width="618" caption="Earthworks Farm in Detroit"][/caption]
Based on the history of urban agriculture in North America, it would be appear not. Although it has only recently started to make headlines, urban agriculture (UA) has arguably always existed - insofar as humans have engaged in food production in and immediately around their settlements ever since they started to settle. And even UA on a grand scale in North America is nothing new: according to the United States Department of Agriculture, the Victory Garden movement during World War ...
May 21st, 2011
Montage du jour : L’édifice Caron, 2050-2060 rue de Bleury
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28558
Spacing Saturday: Bixi Bailout, Walkability and the Fort York Bridge
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Section 37 of the Ontario Planning Act allows municipalities to require that a developer provide community benefits in exchange for rezoning to allow larger buildings, yet few cities take advantage. With the City of Ottawa studying the issue, Jay Baltz makes a compelling case about why aggressively pursuing section37 benefits is absolutely necessary.
As part of the Walkspace series Eric Darwin chronicles the tale of a proposed multipurpose trail along the O-Train corridor. While construction has begun on an underpass, other parts of the trail, and some local landmarks along its route remain in bureaucratic limbo.
Spacing highlights two fascinating panel discussions taking place in Halifax which aim to study the interaction of art and technology in the public realm. The Tracing the City symposium looks at how public space challenges the private nature of experiencing art while the Cineflux Symposium examines the issues around the 'digital turn' in contemporary society.
Atlantic Canada is a beautiful place and the Atlantic Snapshots series continued to capture that beauty in unique ways with several interesting new posts this week.
The Fort York pedestrian and cycle bridge was a hot topic in Toronto this week and two posts on Spacing aim to capture the essence of the issue. As part of the Headspace series Luca de Franco interviews activist Richard Douglas to get his take on why the bridge should be saved. Shawn Micallef takes a step back to see what the debate says about Toronto itself.
Dylan Reid highlights the Walkability Slide Show that has come out of this month's Jane's Walks and is being shown at the Urbanspace Gallery. The show highlights walkability issues in Toronto's low income tower neighbourhoods and the effect this has the lives of residents.
Spacing Montreal Votes on the Bixi Bailout
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Last week, Montreal's city council voted to financially back The Public Bike Service Co. (société de vélo libre service), the non-profit organization that manages Bixi, to the tune of $108 million. We asked Spacing Montreal readers how you would have voted on the issue.
208 readers answered the poll over the past 2 days, and the majority (65%) were in favour of backing the Public Bike Service in order to keep Bixi on it's feet (or wheels!). In fact, the controversial "bailout" got slightly more support among Spacing Montreal readers than it did in council, where the measure was approved ...
May 22nd, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison de Charles-Joseph Coursol, 2229-2239 avenue Hawarden
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1870-2011 (Cliquez sur la photo pour voir les annotations)
Cette maison fut construite en 1830 pour Frédéric-Auguste Quesnel, un homme ayant fait fortune dans le commerce de la fourrure et la spéculation foncière. À son décès en 1866, la propriété ainsi que le terrain boisé de 240 acres sur lequel se trouvait un petit lac furent légués à son neveu, l'honorable juge Charles-Joseph Coursol.
Le domaine qui s'étendait autrefois entre les rues Dorchester (aujourd'hui René-Lévesque) et St-Antoine fut passablement modifié par l'urbanisation à la fin du XIX ...
May 23rd, 2011
Montage du jour : La rue Sherbrooke Ouest depuis Metcalfe
By Guillaume St-Jean // 5 Comments
1967-2011
À noter, la présence des maisons en rangée Prince de Galles ainsi que la maison Van Horne.
May 25th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: The Whitney, LeafSnap, Climate Change and Tornadoes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Construction crews broke ground this week on the new home of New York City's Whitney Museum. Check out this video on Architizer to learn more about the Whitney collection and the new space. While clearing space for the new Whitney, the Gansevoort Pumping Station in the city's Meatpacking district was removed. AsVanishing New York reports, old signage from the station will be donated to the FDNY. According to the Whitney press office, "[Architect] Renzo Piano was especially concerned with creating a building appropriate to its milieu and sensitive to its surroundings, but it was determined not to try to incorporate aspects of the old building in the design for the new one."
• GOOD shares the story of Vivian Maier, a street photographer, and the 26-year-old real estate who discovered her photographic canon of Chicago in a repossessed storage locker sale.
• LeafSnap - a new mobile field guide for smart phones allows users to identify tree species by photographing the leaves. As Garden Design notes, the app allow citizens to collect and share data on local tree species.
May 28th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Artscape, Machine Space and Philly’s Waterfront
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
In response to Adam Bentley's fantasy transit map, Clive Doucet uses his column to advocate that the thinking on transit shift from fantasy to reality. Using examples from the Turkish cities of Istanbul and Ankara, Doucet makes the case that critical parts of the fantasy map could easily become reality.
While street meat may be an iconic part of many North American cities Emily Sinclair uses to two recent debates on outdoor patios and food carts to make the case of how food can play an essential role in creating vibrant, healthy public spaces.
New contributor and Memorial University Professor, Josh Lepawsky applies Ronald Horvath's 1974 idea about 'machine space' to the University's St John's campus for a fantastic visual representation of the space devoted to automobiles. Lepawsky then asks the questions about how this information about delegation of space could be used to further the university's sustainability goals.
Crystal Melville profiles a number of exciting events and projects taking place across the Halifax region this week including growth tours, bike week kickoff, community art and live performance.
Through another installment in the Headspace series, Luca De Franco interviews Tim Jones, President and CEO of Artscape, a Toronto based non-profit that creates live-work spaces for artists. Jones discusses past successful projects such as the Wychwood Barns and gives some details about exciting new projects including the community arts centre in the new Regent Park and the conversion of the magnificent century old Shaw Street School.
Alex Bozikovic reflects on the disheartening waterfront talk coming from the Fords in City Hall by highlighting the success that Philadelphia is finally having on its waterfront after decades of stalled mega-projects. The lessons being learned in Philly speak to the importance of improving infrastructure and public space.
May 30th, 2011
Montréal Lit: Ed Macdonald’s Mountain moment
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
Laurier Est by DubyDub2009
By Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
Ed Macdonald’s 2011 novel, Spat the Dummy, is a tragically comic tale of pain, denial and new beginnings. Spat Ryan tells us almost immediately into his tale that “We’re only as sick as our secrets” and as his tale ...
Montage du jour : Le quartier Centre-Sud depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (1 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28997
Events guide: Mikael Colville-Andersen to speak at the Grande Bibliothèque
By Chris Erb // No Comments
Last year, Kristian S. Villadsen and Louise Kielgast of Gehl Architects visited Montreal to tell us how we might "Copenhagenize" our city (the video of their talk at McGill can be found here) by improving bicycle infrastructure and creating liveable and human-scale public spaces much as has been famously done in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Montreal, for all its pretences of being a "European" and "bike-friendly" city received failing grades from the urbanists and, having visited Copenhagen myself, I am inclined to agree (not that ...
May 31st, 2011
Montage du jour : Le quartier Centre-Sud depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (2 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28993
June 1st, 2011
Montage du jour : Le quartier Centre-Sud depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (3 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB29000
Des djs et des pucks
By Jean Desjardins // No Comments
Le premier jet de mon billet sur la puck de Berri appelait à l'appropriation du lieu par des gestes artistiques ou politiques comme certaines foules éclair réussies.
Dans la même veine, trois prestations de djs montréalais (Bowly, The Gulf Stream, Mateo Murphy) vont tenter d'y décharger cette semaine du matériel à souvenirs. Ils se produisent à l'heure de pointe de l'après-midi dans le cadre du festival Mutek. Si vous avez la chance ...
World Wide Wednesday: City games and urban hackery
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The Pop-Up City has a great roundup of urban games hosted by Berlin's Invisible Playground. Have fun with transparencies to decode a message in the urban landscape or play a real life version of farmville (life imitating web imitating life). In contrast to virtual games, Invisible Playground's games "focus on the people in the city instead of the stuff.
• What if changing a city was as simple as changing software? That's the principle behind Renew Newcastle, a not-for-profit company which seeks to incubate small initiatives in vacant spaces in Newcastle, Australia. They achieve this goal using the model of hacking. Rather than creating a new operating system, they created new rules, contracts and relationships to open up space through barter arrangements. "We made the city work for people for whom it had not worked in a long time." (Grist)
Privatizing Montreal
By Natascia Lypny // 4 Comments
[caption id="attachment_10560" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Coalition members rally in front of the Centre 7400 on March 16 for a press conference (Daryl Hubert photo)."][/caption]
Twenty-nine community groups are facing eviction from a public institution this month that has served Villeray-Saint Michel-Parc Extension for nearly 100 years.
The Centre 7400 on Saint-Laurent Boulevard will be converted into luxury condominiums come June 30 after a long battle to preserve its public function.
“Nous croyons qu’une bonne partie de la population aurait aimer que ce centre demeure avec une utilisation publique: c’est-à-dire, sous la forme de centre communautaire,” says Andres Fontecilla.
In February 2010, Fontecilla helped form the Coalition des amis du 7400 Saint-Laurent after a newspaper article reported on the Centre’s redevelopment plans. The coalition brought together the building’s current occupants; members of the deaf and mute community; merchant and tenant rights organizations; and Villeray inhabitants fearing the neighborhood’s gentrification.
The Centre 7400 is owned by the clerics of Saint-Viateur. It was built in the 1920s to house the Institut des Sourds-Muets. Since the 1970s, it has been occupied by religious and secular community organizations, as well as providing inexpensive short-term lodging and conference space.
The clerics of Saint-Viateur offered the building to the deaf and mute community—but for a price its members could not afford. The coalition then asked the municipal government to place a two year moratorium on the rezoning of the building to allow time to negotiate with the clerics. The moratorium was refused.
The building should remain in the public interest, as everyone had contributed to—and benefited from—the Centre, argues Fontecilla. But privatizing the space will change that: “Ces bâtiments sont construits grâce à l’argent de la communauté et aujourd’hui on privatise un bien qui était construit grâce à l’argent de nos parents et nos grans-parents…On ne voit pas pourquoi aujourd’hui seulement les plus riches peuvent en profiter alors que tout le monde à contribuer à la construction de ces bâtiments.”
June 2nd, 2011
Montage du jour : Le quartier Centre-Sud depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (4 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28996
A Rather Blustery Day
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
I spent part of yesterday trying to snap a picture of the wind with very little succes.
You could see it in the posture of the cyclists hunched over their handlebars with their jackets billowing, in the way the west-bound bikers swerving to a near-standstill as they struggle to push the pedal against the gusts. You could see the wind flirting on street corners, tustling girls' hair and turning up the hems of their dresses. You could see it, of course, in the way tree branches bowed and buckiled, and their leaves turned inside-out, and in the litter that tornadoed up from the sidewalks and skittled down the street. You could hear it, in the rustling leaves, in the cracks between buildings, in the laughs and quickened footsteps, but still it's no easy thing to capture.
I believe that the corner of Atwater and DeMaisonneuve is the windiest spot in the city, although I don't know it for a fact and I couldn't tell you why. Aside from the Alexis Nihon tower, the buildings are not so tall as to stir up air currents. Perhaps the wind is channelled between the Mountain and Summit Circle and comes rushing down Atwater, but this is conjecture.
On the corner of Atwater and DeMaisonneuve yesterday afternoon, people made goofy paddling motions and children leaned forward testing whether the wall of air could keep them vertical, and everyone was looking rather like Winnie the Pooh on a blustery day. It was one of those rare moments where our surroundings force their way into our consciousness, and we suddenly realize that we are sharing an unordinary moment with our fellow city-dwellers.
But the wind is not only visible in the ruslting of leaves and skirts: it has arguably had a profound effect on the organization of our urban landscape dating back several centuries...
On that note, a pop quiz: which way does the wind blow?
June 3rd, 2011
Montage du jour : Le quartier Centre-Sud depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (5 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1979-2011
Intersection du boulevard René-Lévesque et de la rue Dorion
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28995
June 4th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (6 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28987
Spacing Saturday: the magazine launches first national issue
By Spacing // No Comments
This weekend's Spacing Saturday is a special one: we focus on the magazine's first national issue that is set to hit newsstands on Monday.
While the look and feel of the magazine is no different than the local Toronto edition, the content has expanded to look at the joys, obstacles, and politics affecting all of Canada's large urban centres. Articles touch on topics like street performing in Victoria, Calgary's plans to support its arts community, how Ottawa's marathon is becoming more urban, and why the seasonal pedestrian mall on rue Ste.-Catherines has been a boon for local businesses.
We even created four regional covers for Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Vancouver (see the slideshow above).
The magazine is being launched on Tuesday in Toronto at the Design Exchange. All across Canada, starting this Monday, you'll be able to pick up an copy of the issue at all of our regular stores plus 85 new locations: every Chapter's/Indigo store across the country.
To celebrate this special issue, Spacing is hitting the road and hosting a series of events in 10 cities across the country — called the Spacing Road Show — in June and July. Hopefully you can catch us in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax. Keep an eye on our blogs, Facebook page and Twitter account to learn more about these parties.
Check out the web page to find out about the articles and features in this special national issue.
June 5th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le quartier Centre-Sud depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (7 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28988
June 6th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le quartier Centre-Sud depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (8 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1940-2011
Source : ONF, La mémoire des anges, 2008
June 7th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le quartier Centre-Sud depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (9 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28989
June 8th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue vers l’ouest depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (10 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1940-2011
Source : ONF, La mémoire des anges, 2008
World Wide Wednesday: Three-way streets, Before I Die, Public Space Music Videos
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Kottke highlights Ron Gabriel's video - 3-way Street - a look at bad interactions between cars, bikes, and pedestrians at a typical NYC street intersection. It offers a visually interesting perspective on the ways modes interact and conflict.
• Artist Candy Chang shares some notes on her recent public space project, Before I Die. With permission from the building's owner, Chang's chalkboard invited citizens to share their preferred ending to the sentence "before I die…". Says Chang of her project, "I believe the design of our public spaces can better reflect what’s important to us as residents and as human beings."
Birthday Party Planning Begins…
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Nothing seems to get cities thinking "vision" like multiples of 25. Which is why, with 6 years to spare, the City's Bureau du 375e anniversaire is busy planning for 2017. The anniversary is to be marked by both cultural celebration and a physical legacy: a party and presents, if you will.
But what to get the city whose resilience lies in a multitude of independent initiatives, and whose physical form often seems to be coming apart at the seams?
To answer that question, City Hall teamed up with the OCPM to host a massive brainstorming process called "carte blanche": a series of roundtable discussions organized by key actors in civil society, the boroughs and civil servants. Spacing Montreal collaborator Joel Thibert was called upon to organize the roundtable on urbanism, and he invited me to take part in the discussion with 9 others.
The invitation from the Office of the 375th displayed a rare inkling of self-awareness from city hall: "Au-délà de la morosité ambiante, Montréal vit une relations très souvent passionelle avec ceux et celes qui y sont nés ou qui sont venus d'ailleurs pour s'y établir..." it began.
June 9th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue St-Antoine/Viger depuis le pont Jacques-Cartier (11 de 11)
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB28985
Audiotopie : découverte urbaine multisensorielle
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Ce billet est contribué par Andréanne Chevalier. Andréanne a des formations en anthropologie, en études urbaines et en journalisme. Elle aime les sujets sociaux et urbains, l'art et ce qui sort de l'ordinaire.
Audiotopie a lancé, samedi dernier, un nouvel audio guide interactif intitulé Dans le ventre du parc Jarry. Il s’agit du 10e parcours créé par la coopérative montréalaise. Les circuits d’Audiotopie sont conçus dans le but de mettre Montréal en valeur par des ambiances. Mais surtout, ils visent à faire participer l’auditeur et à le rendre ...
June 10th, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Brignon dit Lapierre
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2009-2011
Cette propriété située au 4251 boulevard Gouin-est est une ancienne maison de ferme construite vers 1770. Ayant été acquise par la ville de Montréal en 1987, elle resta par la suite vacante et abandonnée pendant plus de 20 ans.
Récemment restaurée au coût de 1,2 M $, selon l'aspect qu'elle avait en 1870, elle deviendra sous peu un lieu de diffusion culturelle et artistique pour l'arrondissement de Montréal-Nord.
June 11th, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Joseph Prévost, 2229 blvd. Gouin est.
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2011
Source : Communauté urbaine de Montréal, (1986), Répertoire d'architecture traditionnelle sur le territoire de la communauté urbaine de Montréal : Architecture rurale, Montréal, Service de la planification du territoire, p. 198.
Spacing Saturday: Capital Bixi, Turkish Transit and the Cycling Etiquite Debate
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing Launched its first National Issue this week in Toronto, Todd Harrison gives those who couldn't be there a look at the party and introduces the Spacing Roadshow which will take the magazine across the country this summer.
Clive Doucet followed up on his previous insights on public transit in Turkey by examining the essential role that transit plays in other parts of the world and the lessons that Canada could learn in terms of thinking about moving people as opposed to advancing marquee projects and truly making the most out of capital investment.
As part of the Clickshift series, Kathryn Hunt reflects on her own surprise about how quickly Bixi has been taken up by the City.
Matt Neville reports on the formation of the 'Our HRM Alliance' as a follow up to early proposals to establish a greenbelt and tackle sprawl in Greater Halifax.
Spacing played host to an interesting debate this week past week that drew the attention of CBC Radio's Metro Morning. While Emma Woolley argued that cyclists need to embark on a fundamental shift in their respect for the rules of the road, Lisan Jutras retorted that perhaps if no one follows a law, the law itself may be the problem.
This week also saw the launch of an exciting new series that will appear every Wednesday on the Toronto Blog. David Miller: Transit Mayor is a series of candid interviews with the former Mayor that look into his life and leadership.
Dylan Reid analyzed to two fascinating new interactive maps of pedestrian safety and volumes across the entire city this week that provide an unprecedented look at where pedestrianism reigns and where pedestrians are in the most danger.
June 12th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une maison du boulevard Gouin est
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
2009-2011
June 13th, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Boudreau dit Graveline, 1947 blvd. Gouin est
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1979-2011
Cette maison construite vers 1750 fut passablement modifiée en 1910 afin d'adopter un style victorien.
Elle retrouva toutefois son apparence d'origine en 1981 suite à une restauration complète des lieux.
Source : Communauté urbaine de Montréal, (1986), Répertoire d'architecture traditionnelle sur le territoire de la communauté urbaine de Montréal : Architecture rurale, Montréal, Service de la planification du territoire, p. 105.
Spacing Road Show starts this week!
By Spacing // No Comments
This week marks the start of the Spacing Road Show!
Spacing's publisher Matthew Blackett is setting out on a 10,000km journey across Canada in June and July to promote the new national issue and to host launch parties/discussion panels in 10 cities (senior editor Shawn Micallef joins the tour in Edmonton). There are two parts to this tour: a western swing from Winnipeg to Victoria (June 16-July 5), and an eastern swing from Toronto to Halifax (July 12-25).
First up: Winnipeg on Thursday, June 16th at the RAW Gallery.
Events on the western swing will take place in Saskatoon (June 20th), Edmonton (June 22nd), Calgary (June 24th), Vancouver (June 28th), and Victoria (July 5th). The eastern swing starts in Toronto (July 12th), and heads to Ottawa (July 19th), Montreal (July 21st), and Halifax (July 25th).Check out the Spacing Road Show micro site for all the details of each event. You can also visit Spacing's Facebook page to RSVP to the events in your city.
June 14th, 2011
Photo du jour : John Spencer
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
Maybe the best lost cat poster ever. Seen all over Mile-End.
Montage du jour : Les maisons Thompson et Sparrow
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
La maison Thompson : 2003-2011
La restauration de ces deux maisons respectivement construites en 1907 et en 1910 sur le chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges se sera échelonnée sur une période de cinq ans. Les travaux effectués du printemps 2005 à l’automne 2010 sont l’œuvre de Gilbert Rashi et de l’architecte Endré Villeneuve, tous deux entrepreneurs au sein de la compagnie Vision en Vert.
Le projet de restauration de ces deux maisons ne visait pas seulement à rendre habitables des édifices laissés à l'abandon pendant 17 ans, mais également à en augmenter la superficie.
Ainsi, pour la maison Thompson, en plus des deux étages habitables d’origine la maison possède désormais un troisième niveau aménagé sous les combles ainsi qu’un sous-sol, entièrement fini . Du côté gauche de l’édifice, un garage triple avec aire habitable au dessus, dont le style est identique à celui de la maison, fut érigé et recouvert de brique de couleur rouge. Cette brique nommée brique d’Outremont, qui est la même que celle recouvrant le bâtiment principal, peut encore être trouvée aujourd’hui chez des recycleurs de matériaux de démolition.
Dans l’optique de redonner l’apparence d’autrefois au bâtiment, la mansarde ainsi que le toit du garage furent recouverts de tuiles d’ardoise. Les portes et fenêtres furent entièrement changées, certaines furent murées et de nouvelles furent également percées du côté droit de la façade. D’un style rappelant celui d’origine, ces nouvelles fenêtres sont par ailleurs dotées d’un système à crémones. Du côté droit de l’édifice, le solarium fut reconstruit dans le style qu’il avait autrefois et de multiples galeries agrémentent également cet espace.
À l’intérieur, puisque seule la charpente était récupérable, les murs furent totalement dégarnis et l’espace divisé en 6 logements fut redivisé en un seul. Ainsi, l’édifice comporte désormais une immense cuisine, une salle à manger et un salon à aire ouverte, un fumoir, trois salles familiales, une salle de gym, quatre chambres à coucher, quatre salles de bain, deux salles d’eau, une cave à vin en acajou, un bar, une salle de cinéma-maison et une buanderie. On y retrouve de plus sept foyers, dont six en travertin et des planchers en noyer noir américain. Dans la salle de bain des maîtres, un bain ovale taillé à même une pièce de travertin et pouvant contenir jusqu’à 145 gallons d’eau agrémente l’espace central. Puisque seuls les matériaux les plus nobles ont été utilisés dans ce projet, l’édifice est désormais hautement supérieur à ce qu’il était à l’origine.
June 15th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: International streetscapes, Montreal parks and too many bikes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Montreal artist, Martin Reisch, is celebrating vintage girls in classic Montreal parks. His series of thirty second shorts showcases beautiful Montreal bands in the city's spectacular parks.
• Portland, OR - famous for its cycling infrastructure and spinoff cycling industry - is the proud home of a new "bike bar", Hopworks. The small restaurant features a variety of bike-friendly features including: a bike frame canopy, 75 bike parking spaces, bike tools and loaner u-locks. (BikePortland.org)
• Vélo Quebec wants to invite cars and bikes to the same venue. Copenhagenize shares a cute video from Vélo Quebec asking if these vehicles get along so well in our garages, why not on the road?
The Regionalist: Does Montreal Need a Belt?
By Joel Thibert // 4 Comments
The analogy of the "belt" which is used to describe the way in which cities around the round have tried to contain and/or manage urban growth may seem a little bit odd, but it is in many ways quite fitting: a belt is something we wear so that our pants don't fall down; it doesn't make you thinner (although it may appear to do so). And it doesn't really prevent you from gaining weight, because belts are adjustable (up to ...
June 17th, 2011
Photo du jour : Le transport actif
By Devin Alfaro // 6 Comments
Grafitti in the laneway between Fairmount and Clermont, in Mile-End.
June 18th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Greenbelts, Historic Markets and Festival Space
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Jay Baltz takes a fascinating close up look at the detailed design features of an almost ideal Ottawa urban residential street to examine why the street's potential is being hampered by high traffic speeds and an unwise fear or on-street parking.
Eric Darwin questions our societal practice of not naming cycling and pedestrian pathways, noting that this practice denies them legitimacy and relegates them to a secondary status. Preliminary attempts in Ottawa could show the way for branding pathways to build constituency and prominence.
From the vaults of the Nova Scotia Archives Lauren Oostveen looks back to the history of the history of the Halifax Farmer's Market which has been housed in 17 different locations since its creation in 1750.
Malanie LaBelle looks at Charlottetown as a city perfectly positioned for an active bike culture and presents two fundamental reasons why such a culture has not yet taken root in the city.
John Lorinc uses the legacy and thinking of the individual for whom a prominent downtown public space was recently renamed as the basis for showing how such spaces can be transformed by the changing city and interplay of the arts. In doing so he challenges City Hall to consider the economic benefit of pubic investment in festival space.
Having recently come under fire from Doug Ford, Waterfront Toronto is the subject of this week's Headspace feature as Luca De Franco interviews Waterfront Toronto CEO John Campbell about the complexities of the agency's work and the scope of its benefit to the public.
June 19th, 2011
“I wish this was” in St-Raymond
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Looking for an innovative way to get people dreaming about their neighbourhood, McGill researchers took a hint from a whimsical artist and urban designer, Candy Chang. Based in New Orleans, Chang has come up with many brilliant ways to get people to interact with the urban form, including easy-to-remove, fill-in-the-blank stickers that prompt wishful thinking with the words "I wish this was."
Jason Prince and Adriana Olmos, both researchers at McGill, had only an afternoon to gather some input from local residents of Saint-Raymond in preparation for the 2011 Ecologez design ...
A new exhibit celebrates Montreal, UNESCO City of Design
By Natascia Lypny // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_10763" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Talked About Town, Place Ville Marie's new exhibit, is part of the Montreal landmark itself (Natascia Lypny photo)."][/caption]
You wake up and pour yourself a glass of Ovopur filtered water. Then, you don your new Philippe Dubuc shirt and trousers. An Aribus STM shelter protects your designer outfit as you wait for the bus that will transport to your office in the Quebecor Building. After a late lunch meeting in the Square des Frères-Charon, you dash to Place des Arts to catch Opéra de Montréal’s newest production.
Like many Montrealers, you are mostly unaware local designers have defined your day. “Design is everywhere,” says Jean-Philippe Tardif. “Design is in park benches; it’s in how the sidewalk is built and the lampposts.”
Tardif is the vice-president of branding and design at Bleublancrouge, the marketing firm behind Place Ville Marie’s public exhibits. Their newest, The Talked About Town, or Une ville si souvent citée, celebrates Montreal’s fifth anniversary as a UNESCO City of Design. Montreal was awarded this title in June 2006, making it the first North American city to receive this designation. Ten cities around the world now share this title.
“What this designation gave us was it helped Montreal make a big leap forward in its support in showcasing of local design talent,” says Helen Fotopulos, the city’s executive committee member responsible for culture, heritage, design and the status of women. That talent, she notes, stems from some 40,000 Quebec designers. Fifty two per cent of them are based in Montreal.
The exhibit presents three contest-winners from seven design disciplines (see insert). “Nous, c’était les sept (disciplines) qui étaient le plus près de nos activités à nous, à la Place Ville Marie; les activités de nos locataires,” explains Place Ville Marie’s senior adviser for communications, public affairs and marketing Marie Caron. The exhibit is incorporated into the infrastructure of Place Ville Marie itself: a staircase, two food courts, and pillars along a shopping corridor display photographs of the chosen projects and blurbs describing Montreal’s progress as a City of Design.
June 20th, 2011
ROAD SHOW: In Saskatoon tonight, Edmonton & Calgary this week
By Spacing // No Comments
To coincide with the launch of Spacing's first national issue, the magazine is hosting events in 10 Canadian cities this summer. The Spacing Road Show is sponsored by BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners and supported by Autoshare and the Canada Council for the Arts.
This week the Spacing Road Show kicks into high gear with events in Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Calgary.
SASKATOON
When: Monday, June 20, 7-10pm
Where: Persephone Theatre, 100 Spadina Crescent East
Cost: $5 (gets you copy of magazine)
Facebook: RSVP to our event listing
PARTNER: ...
Montréal Lit: Starnino’s poetic stompers
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
by La Belle Province
By Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
I have this friend who constantly complains about his upstairs neighbours and the noise they make above him in his Plateau apartment. Not as sensitive to noise as other people, perhaps, it’s a gripe that I often find exaggerated and surprising. Living in the centre of a city has down sides (many more upsides, of course, or ...
June 21st, 2011
Photo du Jour: Hula hooping
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Ah, summer in the city: that glorious combination of togetherness and wtf?
Montage du jour : La rue de Bullion près de St-Norbert
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1979-2011
Source : © Direction des bibliothèques, Université de Montréal, PB27933
June 22nd, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison de James Ferrier, rue St-Alexandre, coin René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1860-2011
Source : Musée McCord
Le MTQ peut-il s’inspirer de la gestion des entraves dans le Quartier des spectacles?
By Joel Thibert // 9 Comments
[caption id="attachment_10827" align="alignleft" width="592" caption="La carte "Info-Chantiers" de cette semaine, produite par les professionnels du Quartier des spectacles"][/caption]
Le projet du Quartier des spectacles jouit d'une très grande visibilité, ce qui fait sorte que le moindre problème de gestion, de coordination ou de communication est tout de suite décrié dans la médiasphère et la bloguosphère. À titre d'exemple, la fameuse piste de cyclable du boulevard de Maisonneuve dont il manque toujours un tronçon juste à l'ouest de St-Urbain.
Mais ayant moi-même été impliqué dans la ...
World Wide Wednesday: Swings, Shifts and Copycat Towns
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• At Project for Public Spaces, Gary Toth writes about an exciting initiative he's been part of called the Strategic Highway Research Program. The program breaks the traditional highway planning paradigm to embrace ideas such as shared-decision making and community building.
• The awesomeness of swings is undeniable. NOTCOT celebrates artist Jeff Waldman's project to install swings in all sorts of unexpected locations. The playful results are captured in pictures and videos.
• Spurred by numerous pedestrian fatalities, Chicago is beginning to develop a Pedestrian Master Plan. The city is home to some of the highest pedestrian fatality figures in the U.S. To combat these numbers, planners will consider countdown timers, curb bump-outs and medians - among other interventions. (Chicago Tribune)
ROAD SHOW: Edmonton tonight! Calgary on Friday, Vancouver on Tuesday
By Spacing // No Comments
To coincide with the launch of Spacing's first national issue, the magazine is hosting events in 10 Canadian cities this summer. The Spacing Road Show is sponsored by BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners and supported by Autoshare and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Over the next week the Spacing Road Show is kicked into high gear with events in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS AN EVENT IN EDMONTON TONIGHT
EDMONTON
When: Wednesday, June 22, ...
June 23rd, 2011
Montage du jour : Le monument Chénier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1895-2007-2011
Source : BANQ, Revues anciennes
June 24th, 2011
ROAD SHOW: Calgary tonight & Vancouver on Tuesday!
By Spacing // No Comments
To coincide with the launch of Spacing's first national issue, the magazine is hosting events in 10 Canadian cities this summer. The Spacing Road Show is sponsored by BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners and supported by Autoshare and the Canada Council for the Arts.
The Spacing Road Show has kicked into high gear with events in Calgary tonight and Vancouver on Tuesday. The Victoria event is the following Tuesday.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS AN EVENT IN CALGARY TONIGHT...
So close to the warmth of a Quebec summer…
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
I couldn't resist posting this 1970s ad by the Québec tourism department, scanned from an old National Geographic magazine. "Discover the other America: Québec," the tagline reads.
Québec's identity has come a long way over the past 4 decades... Mais plus ça change...
Bonne Saint-Jean à tous!
June 25th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Bike lane removal, City of Design and Transit for the Dogs
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Clive Doucet takes another lesson from the Instanbul Transit system and challenges the dominant Canadian assumption that efficient transit must operate its own right of way. Instead of pushing for expensive infrastructure investments to bury LRT, Doucet advocates five main principles for efficient urban transportation.
Crystal Melville collects the urban news from across the Atlantic Region and puts it all in one place for readers to looking to get a sense of current affairs in Atlantic Canadian cities.
Jake Tobin Garret covered the evolving story of Toronto Council's new bike plan this week documenting first the comprehensive report that went to council and then the surprise move later in the week to remove lanes on several important streets.
Dylan Reid takes a look at the City's proposals for the project to transform John Street and reflects on the process of trying to successfully accommodate all users of the street. Despite a push for bike lanes to be included in the plans, Reid argues this could jeopardize the entire project.
June 26th, 2011
Photo du jour: an angel among us
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
When I discovered Tam Tams, to my great delight, at the age of 13 or so, I remember dozens and dozens of drummers vying for spots the steps of the monument to Sir George Étienne Cartier. They sat facing the mountain, surrounded by wild-haired, flailing-armed, barefoot dancers, and you could hear the beat from blocks away.
Last Sunday, while there were thousands of people gathered on the slopes of the mountain for Tams, there were only a few drummers clustered in the upper left (technically south-west) corner of the square. ...
June 27th, 2011
Countdown to Walk the Region
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
The idea took root last December during IPAM's citizen agora on Metropolitan Planning. After two days of studying the map of Montreal's metropolitan area, I had to two seemingly contradictory conclusions:
On one hand, there is very little political leadership at the regional level. Although the CMM is supposed to allow for big-picture planning, it is composed of 82 separate cities and towns whose local priorities often end up clashing or competing The experience of other cities like Boston shows that civil ...
Montage du jour : L’hôpital St. Margaret
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1933-2011
En 1894, la veuve de William Notman céda sa propriété de la rue Sherbrooke à George Drummond qui y installa les sœurs de St. Margaret.
Au cours de cette même année, les religieuses firent construire derrière la résidence un hôpital de quatre étages ainsi qu’un corridor reliant les deux édifices entre eux.
Cette construction sera utilisée comme hôpital pour les incurables jusque dans les années 1920 et deviendra par la suite une résidence pour femmes âgées.
Vendu par les religieuses en 1991, l’ensemble d’édifices, qui furent restaurés en 1993, resta toutefois vacant jusqu'en ...
June 28th, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Daniel Ford
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
2003-2011
Cette maison fut construite sur la rue Simpson en 1890 pour Daniel Ford, un entrepreneur en construction.
Endommagé par le feu vers 2003, elle fut rasée en 2005 afin de faire place aux appartements Sir George Simspon.
Spacing Vancouver has finally arrived!
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Today, the Spacing family would like to welcome our newest sibling: Spacing Vancouver!
The editors and contributors of Spacing Vancouver will take a critical look at how Canada's third largest urban region is building and designing its city. Cities across Canada have a lot to learn about how Vancouver is designing one of the most livable and beautiful cities in North America.
Spacing is lucky to not be starting this Vancouver blog from scratch — we've absorbed the wonderful team at re:place magazine. To see why ...
June 29th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Brains, Sprints, Ads and Bridges
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• City brain, country brain. The impact of city life on mental health has been a favourite topic of social scientists for some time. Now neuroscientists are taking up the cause. Nature describes the work of Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg's Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany. Studying images of urban and rural brains, Meyer-Lindberg is demonstrating that neural structures respond differently to stress in these two populations.
• Seven interns from the D.C. area completed the Smithsonian Sprint this week. The challenge: visit 17 Smithsonian museums in one day. While the interns took in some of the region's greatest cultural opportunities, they don't recommend the Sprint to others. Facing transportation hold ups, the interns spent a mere 15 minutes in each. (Smithsonian Mag)
• Paris is taking strong steps to reduce advertising on city streets. The new rules place restrictions on the size, location and illumination of future signage. (The Guardian)
June 30th, 2011
Celebrating Montreal Moving Day…Since 1750
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Moving Day circa 1930 took place May 1st (note that the trees are still bare). "][/caption]
Newcomers to Montreal often remark that July 1st Moving Day rush is nonsensical. But I'm pleased to say that this tradition is rooted in 260 years of advocacy for tenants' rights.
The moving day tradition goes back at least as far as 1750, when a bylaw was put in place to prevent landlords from evicting tenants during the winter. However, this meant ...
The Regionalist: Why we need a regional plan
By Joel Thibert // 1 Comment
The council of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) has released in May the first draft of its regional planning and development plan for the Montreal metropolitan region (the PMAD or Plan d'aménagement et de développement métropolitain) - which, if adopted, will be Montreal's very first regional plan.
It is interesting to note that very few people, even those people interested in (or working in the fields related to) planning and architecture have heard of it. ...
July 1st, 2011
Montage du jour : Le domaine Ogilvie
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1940-1978-2011
Source : Inconnue, Ville de Montréal, VM6-R3089-2_9185o
William Watson Ogilvie fit construire ce manoir en tant que résidence secondaire en 1930, selon les plans de l'architecte Robert Findlay, dans l'actuel boisé de Saraguay, en bordure de la rivière des Prairies et du boulevard Gouin.
Occupés par la famille Ogilvie jusqu'en 1973, la demeure ainsi que l'immense terrain boisé l'avoisinant furent par la suite vendus à un investisseur désirant démolir l'immeuble afin d'y construire une tour à logements pour personnes âgées ainsi que des bungalows.
La résidence sera donc placardée et ...
Walk the Region: “Danger extrème” à Laval!
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
One of the challenges of Walk the Region, the 3-day journey across Montreal's Metropolitan Region, has been finding places to spend the night that would not require too stray too far from our route.
Parc Mont-Laval was once among the top ten RV campsites in North America until a private developer bought it in 2009, shut down the campsite, and got it rezoned for residential development. But while the park has been shut down, the new development is not yet in the works, ...
July 2nd, 2011
Walk the region: Laval à l’image de Montréal
By Joel Thibert // 1 Comment
Lorsqu'on marche Laval de long en large, on se rend compte que plusieurs des préjugés sur l'île Jésus sont erronés. Premièrement, il n'y a pas qu'un seul Laval, il y en a plusieurs. Laval compte de nombreux boulevards sans trottoirs, c'est vrai, mais aussi de nombreux milieux de vie à échelle humaine, des rues commerciales qui se marchent, des épiceries Halal de quartier et autres commerces de proximité.
Ce qui est le plus frappant, cela dit, c'est la cohabitation de choses disparates qui à prime à bord ...
Spacing Saturday: Walk the Region, Moving Day and the World’s Biggest Bike Share
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing Saturday celebrates Canada Day by going coast to coast. Welcome to west coast readers on the brand new Spacing Vancouver!
The Vancouver Public Space Network responds to the selection of Vancouver's top ten spaces in the current issue of the Spacing Magazine with a reflection of what the selection says about our psyche towards public space.
Caroline Toth launched the Video Vancouver feature this week with a link to an incredible video about the hugely successful and innovative bike share program in the historic city of Hangzhou, China. The program aims to expand to 175,000 bikes by 2020.
While researching the best cycling route to the Ottawa airport Eric Darwin discovers the best way is not one mapped by the City but one where space for cyclists exists in practicality but isn't officially recognized.
Crystal Melville reflects on her experiences riding Halifax's Metro Transit and profiles It's More Than Buses, a series of events centered around creating a new transit vision for the city focusing on exploring the options, designing the network and mobilizing public support.
As part of the upcoming bicentennial of the War of 1812, a team of archeologists have begun searching for the ruins of Government House in the heart of Fort York. Bronwyn Clement launches the first of a four part series following the excavations.
As one million people converge on Church Street for Pride Week, Shawn Micallef uses powerful stories, collected during the installation of the Murmur posts on the street, to reflect on why Pride is still important.
July 6th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Renegade infrastructure funding, Brazilian street art, ant planning
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• A group of injured cyclists in Seattle is so mad about poor infrastructure at the city's most dangerous intersection that they are willing to pay the cost of the improvements themselves. Their winnings from a recent lawsuit will more than cover the $13,000 price tag to fix the intersection where it's estimated that one cyclist is injured every day. (Seattle Times)
• This Blog Rules showcases some amusing street art from Brazil's 6emeia Project.
• Are ants genius urban designers? BLDGBLOG poses the question, after the work of Professors Graham Currie and Martin Burd from Melbourne's Monash University suggests that ants may be on to something: "Ants [move] in an orderly fashion, and never [seem] to panic, even when there [is] danger or congestion."
July 7th, 2011
Photo du jour : le Châtelet
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
A housing coop located on Avenue du Parc between St-Viateur and Fairmount. Built between 1904 and 1912 the building was originally a private apartment building aimed at well to do singles and childless couples. It was converted into a coop in 1979.
July 9th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Reallocating Laneways, Budapest Ubranism and Paddle the Don
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vanessa Kay brings readers the second part of her In Depth look at the challenges of accommodating families in an urban Canadian setting. Pointing to the need for diversity of habitat, Kay points to innovative and leading projects in both Vancouver and around the world.
Eric Villagomez showcases Paths to Plazas: Laneway Markets in Mount Pleasent, a series of events re-imagining laneway space as part of an effort to reallocate roadways for public space.
Eric Darwin looks at the resources poured into landscaping along arterials in the post-war suburbs and points to efforts to replicate that commitment to landscaping on a pedestrian scale in urban areas as part of a better sidewalk experience.
In another reflection on his travels in Europe, Clive Doucet reflects on the city of Budapest, its public amenities, the resiliency of its beautiful city building and its relatively young history.
Spacing Atlantic continues the Atlantic Snapshots series with great photography of Atlantic Canada
Sean Marshall traversed Mississauga this week to bring readers two installments in the Lost Villages feature exploring the history and legacy of the old settlements of Cooksville and Erindale. The series looks at the historic towns that have been swallowed up by Toronto's expanding suburbs.
Jessica Lemieux recounts takes readers on a new perspective of the city by recounting her canoe trip down the Don River as part of this year's Paddle the Don event.
July 10th, 2011
Feeling the Region in our Feet
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="The Walk the Region gang strolled by a casse-croute in Longueuil, apparently a popular teen hangout, last July2nd"][/caption]
Last weekend, I took part in Walk the Region, a journey on foot Pointe-Aux-Anglais, in Oka, to Sainte-Hilaire, in an attempt to understand what the heck they're talking about every time I hear mention of the Montreal Metropolitan Area.
I've been meaning to share this experience on the blog, but the 3-day journey was not the kind of thing that sums up tidily. Places that were once names and contours on a map resolved into landscapes, but my understanding of them has also become imbued with the physical and emotional state I experienced in them.
To be honest, the biggest surprise for me was how physically challenging the expedition was. All-told we walked 105 kilometers in 3 days. While I was spared the sprawling blisters that afflicted some of my colleagues, I discovered shinsplints. By the end of the first day - during which we covered 40 kms lugging camping gear - each step hurt.
Quickly, our priority became to find the shortest route from one point to the next. The problem, of course, is that suburban roads are anything but straight and narrow. Consequently, we ended up in some unlikely places: the collector road alongside the 116, or dirt-bike trails that cut through the fringe of woodland between Saint-Bruno and Saint-Basile.
But the physical challenge was also a pleasure: feeling like rugged travelers, we had fresh eyes for our home town. Under the beating sun, we sincerely appreciated the respite of air-conditioned malls and chain-store ice-caps, and the comfort of a strip-mall pizzeria at the end of a long day.
And while those things cannot be captured, here are a few photos of the region as we experienced it...
July 11th, 2011
Queue leu leu et autres incivilités
By Jonathan Lapalme // 9 Comments
Constamment, des lignes humaines se superposent plus ou moins longuement à celles de la ville. Des traits continus à peine brisés qui surprennent par leur droiture autant physique que morale. Un idéal de civilité?
Les lignes pour attendre l'autobus à Montréal me fascinent. Je précise «à Montréal», car je ne vois pas ça partout. À Toronto, et c'est probablement aussi en raison du fait qu'on prend le tramway au milieu de la rue, mais je n'ai jamais vu de queue leu leu. Plutôt des troupeaux. Même chose ...
Montréal Lit: Glory Days
By Gregory McCormick // 2 Comments
Photo by chispita_666
Spacing Montreal is pleased to present this bi-weekly column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
In an 1882 book called City of Montreal and its Environs, writer S.E. Dawson extols the beauties and uniqueness of Montreal. In a section about Montreal's economic base in days long ago vanished to history:
Montreal is not only a centre of commerce, ...
July 12th, 2011
Walk the Region: Density, Proximity, Intricacy, Intimacy
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
When I began blogging about Walk the Region a couple weeks ago, I was pretty honest about my revulsion towards places like Laval and the Dix30, although I have really only glimpsed them from the highway side.
But say what you will about the burbs’ environmental footprint and their potential for social mixity, on the ground some suburban forms were impossible to hate: take the sturdy bungalows in Vieux Longueil that still seemed to glow with 1950s optimism or the lakeside cottages in Oka and Beloeil crawling with vines and wrapped in flower gardens and shaded with tall old trees. Other forms, like the clusters of impersonal condos and strip malls by the highway side, or the rows of massive single-family dwellings that knocked shoulders on treeless cul-de-sacs in Laval would be hard to love.
In short, through Walk the Region I discovered that there are suburbs I can understand and suburbs that I cannot understand. Some suburban landscapes, especially those that began as villages or as cottage country, were rich living spaces. Others were stark and impersonal: their raison-d'être seemed nothing more than the product of down-payment vs commute-time.
Lost Neighborhoods: A Montreal few remember
By Natascia Lypny // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11032" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Former residents of Goose Village describe fond memories of their neighborhood in a video projected on a sheet-laden clothesline (Natascia Lypny photo)."][/caption]
The Red Light District, Goose Village, Faubourg m’lasse. These neighborhoods have disappeared from Montreal maps. Between 1950 and 1970, they were erased during the city’s modernization era. Hundreds of dwellings reduced to rubble; tens of thousands of people displaced across the island.
In a new exhibit, the Centre d’histoire de Montréal rebuilds these areas the only way possible: not brick by brick but memory by memory. Lost Neighborhoods is an innovative, documentary-style exhibit that reintroduces or, in most cases, introduces visitors to these three demolished neighborhoods thanks to the accounts of their former residents.
“It’s like you actually step into one of those photographs of demolition and have people talk about the impact it had in their life to lose their home, to lose their neighborhood, to lose their life in some sort of way,” says Catherine Charlebois, the Centre’s Project manager for oral history and memory projects.
July 13th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Transfer Accelerators, London Tube Map
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• A California man is facing jail time for disobeying local building codes in the construction of his home. The thirty year project includes a replica of a 16th century Viking house and a mobile home refashioned into an antique railroad car. (Salon)
• Passengers using the Overvecht railway station in Utrecht now have a more playful way to make their train on time. A new "transfer accelerator" (slide) has been installed and is getting positive reviews from passengers and the surrounding neighbourhood. (Pop-Up City)
July 15th, 2011
Photo du jour: Summertime and the living is ice cream
By Émile Thomas // No Comments
Dairy Queens and gas stations prove popular summer hangouts for Montrealers young and old.
Kind of reminds me of my teenage years spent in suburban Ontario. Except there, we hung out in Tim Hortons parking lots.
Seriously.
Those were the days.
At the corner of rue Jarry Est and rue Boyer in Villeray
Spacing Magazine Launch Party July 20th!
By Spacing // 4 Comments
Mark your calendars! Spacing Montreal is thrilled to team up with the McCord Museum to launch Spacing Magazine's first pan-Canadian issue in Montreal, Wednesday July 20th, from 6:30-9pm.
UPDATE: We will also be launching the first line of 25 Montreal metro pins, representing downtown stations on the orange and green lines! Pick one up to show your neighbourhood colours, or collect'em all.
What better place to launch a publication that explores the joys and politics, and obstacles ...
July 16th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Bold Transit Funding, Neighbourhood Memories and the Car in the City
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing reports on the bold plan by mayors in the Vancouver area to implement a small increase in the gas tax to help fund construction of the Evergreen Line. The debate highlights the need for new ways to bring sustained revenue to fund transit expansion.
Continuing the transit theme, John Calimente reviews Kenneth W Griffin's 2004 book Building Type Basics for Transit Facilities, a comprehensive look at what makes the best stations around the world successful.
In a city lacking in common street furniture, Eric Darwin reports on a recent spate of shop owners setting out their own informal public sidewalk seating along the lines of the approach taken in New York's Times Square. The project has been blessed by a blind eye from the City.
In cycling heavy downtown neighbourhoods, the City of Ottawa's recent removal of parking meters is causing a chronic shortage of bike storage space, something that Spacing's Eric Darwin predicted over a year ago.
Jim Guild analysis and explores the opposition to a controversial road widening plan that would significantly impact existing neighbourhoods for the benefit of suburban commutes.
My City Lives presents the sixth installment of the 'David Miller, Transit Mayor' series. This installment features a candid interview with Miller reflecting on the role of the automobile in the city during a winter drive to the lakeshore.
Perpetually stuck in 1973 Mayor Bert Xanadu takes readers through a thoughtful reflection on his experience with the conversion of Lower Yonge Street into a pedestrian only space in the summer of 1971. Xanadu shares the lessons learned from the project and plans moving forward.
July 17th, 2011
Walk the Region : Méditation sur l’île aux Fesses
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Ce billet est contribué par Laurent Lussier, diplômé en urbanisme, qui a participé à Walk the Region/Ville, Banlieue, Campagne en juillet 2011.
Lors d'une traversée à pied de la région métropolitaine, j'ai eu l'occasion de visiter l'île Perry, mieux connue, comme l'écrit l'arrondissement Ahuntsic-Cartierville, comme l'île aux Fesses.
Jusqu'à tout récemment ce charmant morceau de l'archipel montréalais servait essentiellement de support pour le pont ferroviaire du Canadien Pacifique, et une clôture garnie d'un écriteau « Défense d'entrer » venait en limiter l'accès. L'endroit était tout indiqué pour que ...
July 18th, 2011
“Mixité sociale” in defence of gentrification
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
The Ville-Marie borough's decision to approve a 300-unit condo project in the Centre-Sud is creating controversy. The project, to be built on the former site of Touchette automobiles on Papineau near Ontario, will contain no units of social housing despite the city's guidelines that projects over 200 units contain at least 15% social housing. This decision was denounced by the Comité Logement Ville-Marie, accusing mayor Tremblay of reneging on the inclusion policy that his own administration put in place. According to La Presse, a borough representative noted that the area already had a high percentage of social housing and that such projects will help "revitalise" it.
This decision was also supported by local district councillor Pierre Mainville, of opposition Projet Montréal. Mainville defended his position stating that he supports the construction of social housing, but that it should be put in other neighbourhoods where there is currently little to no social housing, such as the West-End of downtown.
ROAD SHOW: Ottawa on Tuesday, Montreal on Wednesday!
By Spacing // No Comments
When: Tuesday, July 19, 7-10:30pm
Where: National Arts Centre, 4th Stage 53 Elgin St.
Cost: $5 (gets you copy of magazine)
Facebook: RSVP to our event listing
PARTNER: National Arts Centre
Panelists: Matthew Blackett (Spacing publisher) moderator, George Dark (partner at Urban Strategies, urban designer & landscape architect), Allegra Newman (community planning advocate), Evan Thornton (Spacing Ottawa editor)
MONTREAL
When: Wednesday, July 20, 6:30-9pm
Where: 690 Sherbrooke Street West with event on Victoria Street (adjacent to the McCord Museum) between Sherbrooke and President Kennedy
Cost: Free! $5 ...
July 19th, 2011
The Regionalist: Do we need a new “new regionalism”?
By Joel Thibert // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11130" align="alignleft" width="633" caption="The new toll bridge crossing Rivière-des-prairies: a prime example of top-down planning (Photo by Alanah Heffez)"][/caption]
So it looks like the real reason IQT Solutions shut down its Laval operation (in addition to its operations in Trois-Rivières and Oshawa) and put 450 people out of work is because it is opening new call centers back in Nashville, Tenessee, where the company is headquartered. And why is it moving jobs to Tennessee? Presumbaly because the City of Nashville is giving ...
July 20th, 2011
Qualité de vie – Comment calculer l’incalculable?
By Jonathan Lapalme // 2 Comments
Le magazine Monocle sortait ce mois-ci son toujours très attendu palmarès des villes où il fait très, très bon vivre. Cette année, Montréal dégringole en 24e position (en raison, entre autres, de son « bloated municipal government »). Des classements du genre, il y en a tout plein: Mercer, où Montréal se classe au 21e rang mondial; ECA International, où elle arrive ex aequo avec Ottawa (!) au 27e rang; Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), où il faut vendre son rein droit pour se payer l'accès aux ...
World Wide Wednesday: Climate bowls, city cams and carmaggedon
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• For those of you wishing for an altered clime this week, consider the wisdom of your Inca ancestors. Over at BLDGBLOG, they've got a neat profile of enormous weather bowls - landscaped pits which created microclimates ideal for different Incan crops. The author questions to what extent the climate is a component of the historical of the value of the site. Is it a stretch to imagine that the fight against climate change could be seen as an act of historical preservation?
• If you're looking for a more modern solution, solar panels may be your answer. A recent study from UC San Diego found a 5°F reduction in temperature inside buildings with solar panels. Raised and tilted panels create an even more dramatic reduction, while white roofs are the most effective at reducing temperatures in the floors below. (GOOD)
• Fast Company profiles NYC's politically favourable alternative to congestion pricing: Midtown in Motion. The $1.6 million real-time traffic management system allows traffic engineers to adjust traffic signals in response to congestion data collected by sensors and cameras. This data is also available to drivers who want to avoid jams.
Photo du jour: bâtisse anti-syndicale à louer
By Jean Desjardins // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11185" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="L\'ancien dépanneur Couche-Tard au coin Beaubien/Saint-Denis fermé le 7 avril 2011"][/caption]
Le commerce qui deviendra locataire de l'ancien Couche-Tard du coin Beaubien et Saint-Denis n'aura probablement pas à composer avec la contamination. En effet, la pensée syndicale n'aura vraiment pas eu le temps de s'infiltrer dans les murs. Trois mois après sa fermeture pour ces raisons que le plus neuf phare de l'entrepreneurship québécois ne reconnaît pas (invoquant des questions de rentabilité à la place mais alors pourquoi l'avoir fraîchement rénové?), le lieu est toujours à la recherche ...
Spacing Road Show visits Montreal: tacos, wine and urbanism on the street
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
The Spacing Road Show touched down in Montreal last night, on the cross-country road trip to launch the Pan-Canadian magazine. What a great turnout! Our readers, contributors, and curious passers-by filled the McCord Museum's auditorium to hear presentations about how teens, food, regional planning and lost rivers shape the city, and how the city shapes us. My humblest apologies to those who did not make it into the auditorium, which overflowed it's capacity.
Afterwards, we spilled outside into the thick July heat, where ...
July 23rd, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Transportation 2040, New Regionalism and Guerilla Gardening
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Brian Gould takes an in depth look at some of the exciting thinking that is coming out of the public input into Vancouver's upcoming Transportation 2040 Master Plan.
Jackie Wong takes a look at the origins of Critical Mass and its subsequent spread around the world. As the movement approaches its 20th anniversary its founders have issued a call for submissions towards a book celebrating the milestone.
Continuing a series of posts from his European travels, Clive Doucet reflects on the Italian city of Ravenna and contrasts the candidate for European Cultural Capital to Bologna, its gritty neighbour.
Daniel Rotsztain looks at a marvelous plot of guerilla gardening in the Far North End of Halifax and uses it to talk about guerilla gardening as the nexus of do-it-yourself city planning and urban agriculture.
Jessica Lemieux tracks Toronto's ambitious goal to double its tree canopy in the next 40 years by looking at the challenges and benefits of urban forestry as well as the efforts of local community groups.
In the final installment of David Miller: Transit Mayor, the former mayor talks about his favourite place in Toronto and what it says about the city's successes and the path it will need to take in the future.
July 24th, 2011
Photo du Jour: Balcon-fête
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Saturday evening on Lower Crescent street during a heat wave.
July 27th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Bamboo bike, sea spires and quiet time
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Yes, Virginia, there is a bike tree. Design student Alexander Vittouris coaxed a bamboo stalk to grow into a bike frame shape - the Ajiro. Grist wonders whether we might see fields of bamboo bikes in the future.
• Artist Cliff Garten's Sea Spires installation in Long Beach, California gives new meaning to the "bus stop" concept. Commissioned by Long Beach Transit and the Arts Council for Long Beach, the sculpture enhances the transit experience at East 2nd Street and East Marina Drive. Officials in Long Beach hope that the installation "encourages pedestrians, drivers, and transit riders alike to reflect upon the power of art to enhance urban communities". (Contemporist)
• In Abu Dhabi, a new master plan for the suburban communities of Baniyas and South Wathba will revitalize and reintegrate the neighbourhoods with the metropolitan area. The neighbourhoods are currently separated by a major highway. The plan attempts to restore balance through growth and mixed use development. (The National)
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Notre-Dame et de Lorimier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
1921-2011
Source : Ville de Montréal, VM94,Z455
July 28th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Sainte-Catherine est près de St-Denis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1950-2011
Source : ONF, La mémoire des anges
Photo du jour: asiatisation d’une ruelle
By Jean Desjardins // 9 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11276" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Dans une ruelle à l\'est de Papineau coin Beaubien"][/caption]On coure les ruelles de la Petite Patrie cet été. À la tombée du jour le 17 juillet passé, l'arrière de ce bloc appartement nous semblait luire de lumières asiatisantes.
July 29th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Sainte-Catherine est près de St-Denis
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1950-2011
Source : ONF, La mémoire des anges
July 30th, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Urbain et St-Antoine
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1960-2011
Source : ONF, La mémoire des anges
Spacing Saturday: Urban Laneways, Rethinking Density and News Café
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing Vancouver launched a new feature this week. Price Point will feature a weekly photo selection from SFU City Program Director Gordon Price his reasons why it represents something worth talking about in the city.
Liam Lahey profiles a laneway makeover and neighbourhood party put on by Livable Laneways and The Vancouver Design Nerds. The event aims to challenge Vancouverites to make better use of the city's laneways.
In a little piece of car share geekery Spacing compares the design details of two leading car share organizations in Toronto and Ottawa.
Media organizations often set up shop is busy urban areas only to fail to engage with the street beyond using its activity as a backdrop. Evan Thornton uses the Winnipeg Free Press News Cafe as an example of the kind of media hub that should be tried in a city like Ottawa.
Sean Gillis engages readers on an important question of how we think about density. Noting that we often confuse height with density, Gillis demonstrates that high density can be achieved without tall buildings.
The Globe and Mail announced plans this week to add to the skyline with a new office tower at the site of its headquarters at Front and Spadina. Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City architectural feature to talk about the history the site and its future potential.
Luca De Franco's Headspace feature this week talks with Eric Kamphof, general manager of Curbside Cycle, to share some great insights into the long running evolution of cycling in Toronto and how to achieve "barrier-free cycling."
July 31st, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue vers l’est de la rue de la Commune
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1960-2011
Source : ONF, La mémoire des anges
August 1st, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues de l’inspecteur et St-Paul
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1887-2011
Source : Musée McCord
The Regionalist: Recreation Beyond Degradation
By Joel Thibert // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_11335" align="alignleft" width="631" caption="A man fishing at Pointe-aux-Anglais (close to Oka) on July 1st (Photo: Alanah Heffez)"][/caption]
I recently came upon a fascinating book titled "The ecological basis of planning", which is basically a series of essays about the (mis)adaptation of humankind to urban life, all written by the illustrious unknown Artur Glickson, published posthumously in 1971 and prefaced by none other than Lewis Mumford. There is a lot that could be said about his contribution to the fields of planning and ...
August 2nd, 2011
Montage du jour : L’édifice Rodier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte
Densité urbaine, consommation et nouvelles technologies. Ou comment faire du kayak pour pas cher.
By Jonathan Lapalme // 5 Comments
Aux nombreux avantages connus liés à la densité urbaine, ajoutez maintenant celui-ci: ce qui est à toi est à moi. Et inversement. Prenons un exemple concret. J'habite à Saint-Henri, tout près du Canal Lachine. Un superbe endroit pour faire du kayak. Par contre, je n'en ai pas et je ne suis pas passionné au point d'en acheter un à quelques centaines de dollars. Je pourrais en louer un au kiosque près du marché Atwater, mais je devrais payer plus de 10$ de l'heure, ce qui risquerait fort de refroidir ...
Photo du Jour : Strike?
By Spacing // No Comments
Photographer/Physicist-about-town, Daniel Cooper, captured this shot of a lightning bolt which appears to be smacking the BNP Paribas building on McGill College street during yesterday's thundershowers.
August 3rd, 2011
En 30 nocturnes minutes
By Jean Desjardins // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11377" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="4am dans les rues d\'Albany, état de New York"][/caption]
Se rendre jouer les touristes à New York par l'autocar de nuit comme nous le fîmes il y a quelques jours occasionne trente désagréables minutes obligées vers les quatre heures à Albany. Réveiller celles et ceux sachant dormir les transports, les forcer à descendre du véhicule: pareille politique me semble profondément inadéquate! Greyhound se garde toutefois bien de la reconsidérer.
Cependant, cette fois-ci, animé par les idées que nous cultivons dans ...
World Wide Wednesday: Container markets, miniature cities, all-door boarding
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• This weekend, Brooklyn saw the long awaited opening of the DeKalb Market - a collection of storefronts housed in discarded shipping containers. Inhabitat argues that the site functions as an outdoor community centre, hosting entrepreneurs of the new economy alongside relics of the borough's past.
• The Onion pokes fun at the disrepair of America's transportation infrastructure: "Al-Qaeda Claims U.S. Mass Transportation Infrastructure Must Drastically Improve Before Any Terrorist Attacks"
• German street artist EVOL has installed four blocks of cityscape below ground outside Hamburg. The installation provides a unique godzilla-esque experience for observers. (Colossal Art and Design)
August 5th, 2011
How to Care for your Concrete City
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Usually docile and well behaved, it feels like lately many of our city's concrete beasts have turned vicious over the summer. Bridges are closed, tunnels collapsed, roads are giving away under out wheels... what did we do to deserve this?
In order to understand the finer ponits of taming and looking after the countless concrete beasts that inhabit our urban jungle, I spoke to a structural engineer who works for a local consulting firm. "Theres a lot of stuff falling down for very different reasons," he says.
Know your concrete
Do not confuse concrete with cement - "that irks me!" says the engineer, "Cement is a powder. It's just a powder!" When the cement is mixed with water and crushed rocks of various sizes, a chemical reaction takes place which releases heat and bonds everything together. The resulting concrete is tough under compression, but nearly useless under tension. That's why most strucutres, especially those that are supposed to support heavy loads while hanging in midair, are reinforced with a lattice of steel bars (aka rebar).
The lifespan of concrete
The most commonly used building material in the world (some 20 billion tons are produced annually) has about the same lifespan as a human being. With quality ingredients, good design and regular care, reinforced concrete structures may be lucky to live a hundred years. In Quebec, the best concrete bridges and tunnels are expected to retire by the age of 70 or so. But few of them seem to make it that far without some kind of breakdown. Some were only really designed to stay up for 35 years; others simply did not receive the care and attention they require.
Close a street, open a neighbourhood
By Émile Thomas // 11 Comments
August begins and construction continues on boulevard St-Joseph, preventing commuters from heading south on rue St-Urbain.
The plan: Replace aging water infrastructure
The deadline: October 2011
I ask you: Is it selfish of me to hope that St-Urbain never reopens?
August 6th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Surprise Appearances, Making Space for Recreation and a Resident’s Alliance
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
In the Marpole neighbourhood of Vancouver Jo-Ann Pringle is leading a new kind of resident's association that aims to bring a conciliatory approach to the planning process. Yuri Artibise profiles the origins, successes and philosophy of the Marpole Area Resident's Alliance.
Brian Gould uses the Video Vancouver feature to showcase a day in the life of some of Vancouver's beautiful separated bike lanes on Dunsmuir and Hornby Streets.
Mike Bulthuis looks at the public square at the corner of Rideau and Colonel By which is currently subject to plans by the National Capital Commission to revamp the space into a monument to Lord Stanely. Bulthuis delves into the history of the space and the story of how it lost its role of hosting the memorial to Terry Fox.
Eric Darwin zooms in on the area surrounding Westboro Station on Ottawa's Transitway to look at the history of less-than-successful attempts at transit oriented development. The reflection comes as demolition of old buildings near the station presents a new opportunity for successful intensification.
Malanie Labelle critiques the new Holman Grand Hotel building in downtown Charlottetown and the perceived 'bait and switch' practice of the developers to produce a building without several of the redeeming features of its original design.
Daniel Rotsztain reports from the Sappy Fest Six festival in downtown Sackville, New Brunswick where Arcade Fire made a surprise appearance as the closing act. Rotsztain reflects on how Arcade Fire a used suburban themes to resonate with a generation that grew up in a largely suburban country.
Jake Schabas looks at the similarities between rumored attempts to replace the Chief General Manager of the TTC and the recent decision of the Chairman of New York's MTA to pack his bags for Hong Kong, using both cases as evidence of the high value of people who can manage financially strained transit systems.
Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City architectural feature to discuss a recently adopted Toronto policy requiring buildings greater than 1000 square meters to clearly display the name of their architect. Bozikovic hopes this will help call out bad architects as well as celebrate good ones.
August 10th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Luminaires, Luminato, Graffiti Surge
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The New York Times covers the surge in graffiti being reported in many US cities. Officials from L.A., Portland, OR, Nashville, Chicago, Denver, New York, and Seattle attribute the increase to a tough economy, the summer recess, and the glorification of street art in popular culture.
• A new traffic device called the "Intersector" is attracting new cyclists to the streets of Pleasanton, CA. The military-developed technology detects approaching cyclists and holds lights green until they pass through the intersection. City officials report that the device has been well received by cyclists and drivers. (Toronto Star)
• New York City has set a new standard for scaffolding design following an international competition. The winning design, the "Urban Umbrella" lifts the structure above the pedestrian head and allows more natural light to reach the sidewalk. (NY1)
August 11th, 2011
Quartier des spectacles: Entre vision et réalité /
Entre traversée magique et gazon mort
By Jonathan Lapalme // 12 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11443" align="alignnone" width="590" caption="Crédit photo: Alanah Heffez"][/caption]
L’homme sur cette photo est à la croisée de deux chemins. Le premier, blanc et enchanteur, est né du travail des designers derrière ce nouvel espace du Quartier des spectacles. Le second, jaune et terreux, est né des pas des Montréalais et visiteurs qui ont déambulé de façon instinctive à travers l’espace. La vision était de créer une belle promenade piétonne en diagonale qui allait relier la promenade des Artistes, au nord, à la rue Sainte-Catherine, au sud. Sorte de percée visuelle poétique entre les nouvelles places publiques du secteur Place des Arts. Conceptuellement, ça fonctionne très bien. La réalité, elle, c’est que les piétons affluent en grande partie de Maisonneuve (de l’est, comme de l’ouest) et qu’ils n’ont absolument pas envie de faire un quelconque détour pour poursuivre leur chemin. Ils prennent donc (et moi aussi) le chemin le plus court : la diagonale entre leur provenance et leur destination. Vision et réalité auraient pu représenter un seul chemin sur cette photo, mais il en a été autrement. Pourquoi?
August 15th, 2011
De l’intervention divine dans les structures
By Alexandre Campeau-Vallée // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11519" align="alignnone" width="600" caption=" (Photo: Alexandre CV)"][/caption]
En juillet 2007, soit environ un an après l’effondrement du viaduc de la Concorde, la firme de sondage Léger marketing présentait les résultats d’un sondage traitant du sentiment de sécurité des Québécois à l’égard des ponts et viaducs. Évidemment, nul besoin de s’étendre sur l’unanimité du sentiment d’insécurité des automobilistes lors d’un passage sous viaduc. Depuis environ cinq ans, les structures de béton et d’acier font beaucoup parler d’elles, avec l’apogée médiatique que connaissent Turcot, le pont Champlain ...
August 16th, 2011
Jane Jacobs on Toronto and Montreal development trends circa 1969
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
This is a must see clip in which CBC TV's "The Way It Is" interviewed Jane Jacobs about development trends in Toronto and Montreal, circa 1969.
As a Montrealer who somewhat guiltily enjoys my jaunts to Toronto, I felt I could relate to Jabos' description of Toronto's "civic schizophrenia" :
“On the one level, there’s the spirit of individuals and small groups who do things, what you might call the vernacular spirit. this ...
August 17th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Cycling monuments, Endangered places, Pop-Up Playgrounds
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The Guardian's Jane Madembo offers a moving portrait of the role of the bicycle in liberating her from the ordeals of Harare's public transit system.
• ArchiCentral shares the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the most endangered places in the US. Among the sites at risk: John Coltrane's house in Dix Hills, NY; China Alley, CA; Bear Butte Meade County, SD.
• Pop-up stores are a low cost way for companies to test out a location temporarily. In New York, public health and transportation advocates are appropriating the model to increase physical activity in low-income areas. Pop-up playgrounds shut down streets temporarily to provide play space and recreation facilities to children who need it most. (NYT)
August 18th, 2011
The Regionalist: Why Haphazard Urban Development is a Moral Failure
By Joel Thibert // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11577" align="alignleft" width="600" caption="Mascouche and Terrebonne: a clear example of haphazard urban development"][/caption]
Two weeks ago, I wrote an Op-Ed which was published in La Presse and which stirred some controversy - at least in the Facebook/Twitter world. The basic question that I posed was the following: is there a moral dimension to an individual's (or a corporation's) decision to move from the city to the suburbs or the exurbs. The answer I gave was that the current patterns of development in the ...
August 20th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Rental Housing, Haphazard Development and Underpass Park
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Waterfront Toronto Rendering of the Future West Don Lands Neighbourhood
As the Vancouver Region is engaged in an important discussion about funding transit expansion, Paul Hillsdon questions why bridge tolls are not being seriously considered even though they have proven a very effective way to raise revenue elsewhere.
In a fascinating look at Vancouver's rental housing shortage crisis Jackie Wong talks to several veterans of the rental housing debate to explore what needs to change to open up the market to providing new rental properties.
While a City can lay out grand plans for a fantastic new pedestrian realm, small decisions can quickly add up to negate these improvements. Eric Darwin reflects on how this is playing out in Ottawa with the awkward placement of large traffic signal control boxes.
Clive Doucet reflects on the experience of taking in a concert in a 1500 year old Roman Amphitheater and wonders what the continued use of such buildings can tell us about building longevity and how our modern structures will be used in the future.
In Saint John, New Brunswick the local airport authority has put up resistance to the the new PlanSJ community based Municpal Plan. David Drinnan looks at the politics behind the move to oppose the plan.
Emma Feltes profiles a photo exhibition on display in Halifax this week showcasing community opposition and proposed alternatives for the massive amounts of money about to be spent on a huge new downtown convention center.
Bronwyn Clement continues her Park City series highlighting some of the exciting new public spaces opening in Toronto over the next few years. This week Clement profiles Underpass Park, Toronto's first attempt at utilizing underpass space for neighbourhood connectivity in the new West Don Lands Community.
A recent cover story in Toronto Life Magazine caused a stir this week by claiming the city is in the midst of new wave of suburban flight. John Lorinc systematically refutes the article's claims.
La marquise de l’ancien cinéma Le Château est en péril
By Guillaume St-Jean // 6 Comments
Le cinéma Le Château en 2008
Samedi 20 août 14h39. Me voici devant l’ancien cinéma le Château situé au 6950 rue St-Denis. Cet édifice construit en 1931, à une époque où les cinémas de quartier étaient alors en abondance, est aujourd’hui utilisé en tant que lieux de culte, et ce, depuis la fin des années 1980. Étant la propriété du Centre chrétien métropolitain, visiteurs et résidents se plaisent depuis plusieurs années à lire sur la marquise de l’édifice donnant sur la rue St-Denis divers messages à saveur spirituelle. Possiblement diffusés dans l’optique de faire réfléchir, ces messages font plutôt sourire l’athée que je suis, quoique moins que le bien connu : LE SALAIRE DE TON PÊCHÉ C’EST L’ENFER, d’une certaine église de l’avenue Papineau en bordure de l’accès du pont Jacques-Cartier.
Quelle ne fut pas ma surprise de constater aujourd’hui que les paroles bibliques n’y sont plus et que pire encore, la structure de cette marquise semble actuellement être en démolition. Bien qu’elle n’était pas d’origine, celle-ci datant probablement des années 1960 ou 1970, cette marquise constitue en quelque sorte un repère visuel dans le quartier en plus d’être un élément caractéristique permettant l’identification de la vocation originelle du lieu.
August 22nd, 2011
Compteurs d’eau : un jeu dont vous êtes le héros
By Jonathan Lapalme // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11631" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Crédit: Banco Cyan"][/caption]
Un Winnipégois utilise en moyenne 187 litres d'eau par jour. Un Vancouvérois? 358. Un Montréalais? 504! Dans un rapport publié en 2008, l'économiste Claude Montmarquette revendiquait le besoin criant d'une taxe d'eau au Québec afin que cesse cette aberration. Une proposition bien fondée, car toutes les études démontrent que le gaspillage de l'or bleu est toujours plus élevé lorsque la tarification est forfaitaire plutôt que directement liée au volume d'eau utilisé (utilisateur-payeur). Combien de fois entend-on que l'eau est gratuite? Le système actuel nous donne pourtant l'impression que c’est vrai. Je ne sais pas pour vous, mais si je devais payer directement pour l'eau que j'utilise, j'aurais probablement beaucoup plus de motivation à prendre des douches plus courtes, plutôt que de rester là pendant 10 minutes à me perdre dans mes pensées (Ok, 15 minutes, parfois) (Ok, MAX 20, mais rarement...). Mais est-ce qu'un changement de comportement à l'échelle de la société doit nécessairement passer d'abord par le portefeuille? Le bâton ou la carotte, vous connaissez? Menace ou incitation? Il y a un autre modèle qui est particulièrement efficace pour motiver les gens, mais celui-ci se base plutôt sur une succession de niveaux à franchir, chacun ayant ses récompenses: les jeux vidéos. La « gamification » est probablement l'une des plus grandes tendances en marketing actuellement, et ça pourrait éventuellement bouleverser la relation que vous avez avec vos robinets...
Montréal Lit: Dog Days
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
Photo by McDemoura
Spacing Montreal is pleased to present this bi-weekly column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
Even at the height of summer, we Montrealers never take a gorgeous balmy day for granted. At this time of year, winter resides in each of us like the residue of a dream we once had, recalling its tactile sensations on our ...
August 23rd, 2011
Confessions of a Gentrification Double-Agent
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Home, 1981-"][/caption]
Spacing Montreal contributor Adam Bemma recently interviewed me as part of The Gentrification Project, a documentary film about how urban development effects low-income neighbourhoods in Montreal. Adam has done extensive interviews on the subject with academics, community organizations and citizens from Milton Park, Shaughnessy Village, Park Ex, Saint-Henri, Burgundy and Griffintown. (Although my interview isn't up yet, Adam assures me that it'll be integrated into the finished documentary).
To be honest, I'm not sure how I got into that mix: Gentrification is a topic that I generally steer away from. It is a subject I have mixed up feelings about: a sense of loss, a dose of guilt, maybe even a hint of righteousness. In short, it's complicated...
When I was a kid, my mom had a knack discovering finding the neighbourhoods that were full of potential, yet still affordable to a young couple who were students and unemployed in turns. We lost three separate apartments in Saint-Henri before before I was out of diapers. Later, the lease ran out on a sprawling 2-story apartment with hardwood floors in Little Burgundy. We even had to leave a granny flat in Beaconsfield which was slotted to be converted into an old-folks home.
August 24th, 2011
Paysages et pièges d’un travailleur cycliste
By Jean Desjardins // 3 Comments
Paysages et pièges de mon parcours de 16km quotidien vers le nord de Laval l'an dernier. Celui de cette année sera un peu moins nord, mais plus ouest: 19km(x2). Tout recommence demain!
On mettra le diaporama en plein écran et cliquera «afficher les infos» pour l'explication des photos. On peut aussi ralentir leur défilement.
World Wide Wednesday: Bike lights, car decline, rail lines
By Hilary Best // No Comments
http://vimeo.com/27280439
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• It's time for a bike light revolution! Or so say the inventors of Revolight - a bike light which mounts directly to the wheel rims for a sleek and safe design. The team is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter to further refine their prototype.
• A report out last week from the Brookings Institute notes a new trend in American urban life - 10% of households in the largest US cities do not have access to a private vehicle. Fred Pearce at New Scientist points to economic challenges, demographic shifts, a change in our approach to work and the embrace of a culture of urbanism as reasons why vehicle-km have declined across the west.
• High-speed rail could be a lifeline for Buffalo. A recent plan to develop the network in Western New York offers the possibility of improved economic integration with the Greater Golden Horseshoe, faster travel times, and a revitalized downtown area. But according to Ian Carlino at Artvoice, Buffalo's perception of itself as a car-town could derail these plans.
August 27th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Suburban Transit, Gentrification Agents and Neighbourhood Watch
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vancouver's Skytrain turned 25 this week, read about it on Spacing Vancouver
Liam Lahey introduced readers to the Neighbourhood Watch feature this week giving readers a fascinating look at the issues being tackled in municipalities across British Columbia.
John Calimente reviews Paul Mees' book Transport for Suburbia and finds it a surprisingly honest and convincing analysis of the problems and potential solutions to bring effective mass transit to the suburbs.
Alexander Laquerre launched the new series Maintenant et Avant profiling parts of Ottawa that have seen dramatic change over the last several decades. The first installment looks at 80 years of evolution on Sparks Street.
Jessica Lemieux visits the 1920's era Toronto home that it playing host to the Ravina Project; an effort to experiment with ways to make individual houses more sustainable in their energy use.
Ian Malczewski profiles the 'Through My Lens' project put on by the Toronto Urban Exchange. The project looks to encourage Torontonians to use their cameras to tell the stories of the city.
August 29th, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine et de Lorimier
By Guillaume St-Jean // 4 Comments
Vers 1960-2011
Pour ou contre la reconstruction d'édifices en bordure du pont Jacques-Cartier ?
Source : Ville de Montréal, VM94, SY, SS1, SSSS, Em1-001
August 30th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’hôtel de ville
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Détruit par un incendie en 1922, il sera par la suite reconstruit à même les murs de maçonnerie subsistants.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 3-162-c
August 31st, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la place Jacques-Cartier
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1879-2011
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.1452.47
World Wide Wednesday: Slow streets, city centre, airport bees
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Are slower streets more popular? Flickr user Eric Fischer attempts to quantify the relationship through a series of graphs which plot the number of photos/tweets per 100-ft sq. area and the indicated vehicle speed. By his calculation, 9 miles per hour is the ideal speed for a photograph/tweet-worthy street.
• Modern airports have lots of unused space. At Chicago's O'Hare airport, some of that space is being put to use for a beekeeping program. Local community groups have installed a 2,400 sq. ft. apiary, complete with 23 hives which will produce 575 pounds of honey. Other program benefits: the program trains felons in the art of bee keeping and the bees provide a useful indicator of air quality. (GOOD)
• NYT writer, Jeff Gordiner, comments on the possibility for high and low speed urban living created by NYC's High Line. On the High Line, the pace of life slows down, people sit, stroll and contemplate. Below the High Line, the loud clubs of the Meatpacking District thump. "It’s all New York, of course, both the manic and the muted; the city thrives on opposition."
New bike infrastructure arrives in Montreal
By Devin Alfaro // 21 Comments
This summer has seen the arrival of two new types of biking infrastructure in Montreal: bike boxes on Milton and a hybrid bike path/lane on St-Urbain.
Milton bike box at University.
Bike boxes are not a new concept; they're just new to Montreal. Simply put, they provide cyclists with the ability to stop in front of cars at an intersection, thus improving their visibility and safety. They are generally used on streets with bike paths and a high volume of bike traffic. It's a technique which has ...
September 1st, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue en direction du monument Nelson depuis la place Vauquelin
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1870-2011
Source : Musée McCord, MP-0000.2843
September 2nd, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison de James McGill
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Cette maison construite en 1720 pour le baron de Bécancourt fut également occupée par le fondateur de l'université McGill, James McGill. Elle fut démolie en 1903.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 3-155-e
September 3rd, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Fortier
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1890-2011
La maison Fortier, construite en 1767, se dressait autrefois au coin des rues Notre-Dame et St-Pierre.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 4-29-b
September 4th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Notre-Dame depuis la rue St-Pierre
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1915-2011
Source : Ville de Montréal, BM42, SY, SS1, P1477.
September 5th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le manoir de Beaujeu, 320 rue Notre-Dame est
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1896-2011
Cette maison fut construite en 1796 pour William Maitland, un homme d'affaire impliqué dans le commerce de la fourrure. Son volume fut modifié en 1903.
Source : Musée McCord, MP-1992.8.61
Taking Responsibility for the Quartier des spectacles Bike Path Debacle
By Joel Thibert // 11 Comments
[caption id="attachment_11797" align="alignleft" width="580" caption="Obstruction on the de Maisonneuve bike path on August 26th"][/caption]
Paul Arcand, the radio show host, often characterizes Montreal as the city-where-no-one-ever-takes-responsibility. Yet, there are instances where the attribution of responsibility is clear, and the QDS bike path debacle is a case in point. The City made the commitment to keep it opened during all of the QDS project and for the most part, it did (other than during the Festivals, of course). However, the safety of pedestrians and cyclists alike was often compromised - especially ...
September 6th, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Rosemont et Chabot
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1924-2011
Source : Musée McCord, VIEW-21129
September 7th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’hôpital Sainte-Justine, intersection des rues St-Denis et Bellechasse
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1930-2011
Source : Ville de Montréal, BM42, SY, SS1, P1411
World Wide Wednesday: Open source planning, test cities, Change by Us
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• According to the International Federation of Surveyors, approximately 70% of urban growth occurs outside of formal planning channels. Researchers at MIT have recently released an open source urban planning software to help reduce inefficiencies resulting from haphazard planning. (Fast Company)
• Place Pulse, another planning software platform out of MIT Media Labs, is also making waves. The platform uses a "hot or not" set-up, asking users to identify which of two images appears to be the safest environment. The data collected allows administrators to better understand collective perceptions of space. (Pop-Up City)
September 11th, 2011
Stip-tease QDS: what is your vision of the city’s core?
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Every public space is imagined and experienced differently by different users, but heart of downtown Montreal - the area recently dubbed the Quartier des spectacles - is part of almost every Montrealer's identity. Stip away the branding, and you'll find a thousand veils of perception and experience intertwine in this place.
Spacing Montreal is excited to work with the Trudeau Foundation, l'Université de Montréal, and the Maison de l'architecture du Québec to organize Stip-tease QDS, a conference that will explore how different visions of place confront eachother in the Quartier des spectacles, and how ...
September 12th, 2011
Between design and day-to-day in the QDS
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
After the construction crews pack up, after the fanfare of the grand opening, after the grass takes root and the dust settles, only then begins a quieter negotiation between designers and users of a public space. Look closely at the QDS and you'll see small signs of evolution, as design ideals are confronted with day-to-day use.
Back in 2010, I posted a critique of a bike path that was only differentiated from the sidewalk by the shade of the grey paving stones. Dozens ...
September 13th, 2011
Montréal Lit: Montreal’s Gothic Roots
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
Photo by Cynnerz
Spacing Montreal is pleased to present this bi-weekly column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
Available only online here, I overcame my usual distaste for reading books on my computer once I started into this fascinating gothic tale of 19th century Montreal.
As the story opens, Dr. Thorborne is visited by a patient in his clinic, ...
September 14th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Safe Cities, LA Bike Lanes, Park(ing) Day
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Brent Todarian, Vancouver's Director of City Planning, comments on the balance between liberty and security in urban design. Focusing in on the rebuilding efforts in New York, Todarian contrasts the high-security approach of Lower Manhattan with the inspirational successes of place-making elsewhere on the island. "Places that try to be totally safe tend to lack life, and usually fail as people-places," he writes on Planetizen.
• Congratulations to Los Angeles, which last week opened 2.2 miles of new bike lanes along Catalina Avenue! Carving the lane, part of the city's transformative bike plan, out of vehicle space is seen as a politically daring move in a city where the car has long been king. (LA Times)
September 15th, 2011
Pourquoi ce n’est pas chic de cadenasser son vélo à un arbre.
By Alexandre Campeau-Vallée // 8 Comments
Un cycliste, qui peut pédaler la moitié de la ville pour se rendre à un lieu, devient parfois paresseux lorsqu’il est question de stationner son vélo. Pour limiter les risques de vol, il est aussi important d’avoir un bon cadenas que de barrer son vélo au bon endroit. Si les endroits accessibles et fréquentés sont à privilégier, c’est justement autour de ces derniers qu’il n’y a souvent plus de place où fixer son cadre et sa roue.
Les arbres d’un diamètre inférieur à 10 cm (soit l’espace moyen entre les tiges d’un cadenas en U) sont nombreux, accessibles et faciles à situer. ...
September 16th, 2011
Park(ing) Day!
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Today, Friday, September 16th, is PARK(ing) Day!
In cities around the globe, artists, activists and citizens will transform metered parking spaces into temporary public parks and other social spaces, as part of the annual event.
PARK(ing) Day invites people to rethink the way streets are used and promotes discussion around the need for broad- based changes to urban infrastructure.
In recent years, PARK(ing) Day has inspired city governments to create legal mechanisms to extend the public realm into the parking lane. In San Francisco, the Pavement to Parks “Parklet” program provides a permit system for businesses, community groups and individuals to transform metered parking spaces into small “parklets” that are open to the public. In New York City the “pop up café” program offers similar permit system for local cafes wishing to offer sidewalk service.
A listing of events scheduled for Canadian cities follows. For more information, visit the PARK(ing) Day project website.
Corruption, Cartels and Crumbling Infrastructure
By Jacob Larsen // 7 Comments
Images all Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of MPD01605, lestudio1, mechanikat & theseoduke
With allegations of corruption and collusion in the highway construction industry emerging with impressive (and depressing) regularity, Montrealers could be forgiven for responding to the damning report of the Jacques Duchesneau anti-corruption squad with a shrug. Corruption? What else is new?
Yet in this report we find more details (though no names) about the kind of crooked and costly dealings we have been hearing about since the Charest Liberals began frantically dumping billions into repairing (and expanding) the province’s neglected highway infrastructure. (An eye-watering $4B will be spent in this and subsequent years, representing 5.8% of total 2011-12 government program spending.) The primary contribution of the Duchesneau report is simple yet horrifying to comprehend: at a time of incredible public expenditure on highway infrastructure, there is no effective government oversight leading and controlling this process. In the words of the report’s authors, we are no longer talking about marginal or parallel criminal activities, but rather a takeover of provincial and municipal responsibilities by organized crime. This, of course, to maximize their profits at the public’s expense.
The details of the corruption and collusion identified are interesting to read and follow the same pattern as much of what has already come to light: price-fixing between colluding construction companies (including intimidation when rogue companies actually play by the rules); major engineering firms drafting plans and policy in the absence of the adequate expertise at the Ministry of Transport, then winning the contracts overseeing the work; and of course the political contributions, not just to the embattled premier's Liberal party, but to the PQ and much-reduced ADQ.
September 17th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Toronto Portlands, Quartier des Spectacles and Collecting Scraps
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Gordon Price's Price Points feature takes a look at Jack Poole Plaza, the public space on top of the new convention center expansion. Price examines how the space has stood up to its post-olympic role of hosting small gatherings as well as large.
Eric Villagomez profiles the Urban Food Scraps Collection Project, an effort to use farmer's markets and other centralized locations in high density neighbourhoods to collect organic waste in areas currently excluded by municipal pick up.
As cities around the world start to look more seriously at the idea of urban gondolas, Adam Bentley considers the possibility of running such a system across the Ottawa River at Parliament Hill.
Evan Thornton takes readers along a perfect cycling shortcut between two busy Centretown corridors and highlights some of the Easter eggs that can be found a long the way including the 'Google centre' of Ottawa.
Jayme Melrose reports on the sentiments expressed at a public meeting about the proposed road widening on Halifax's Bayers Road. The sentiment at the meeting was largely opposed to the widening with many expressing a desire for a more compact urban form.
As part of a new series looking at the densest neighbourhoods in Atlantic Canada, Sean Gillis examines the built form of downtown St. John's.
The controversial new proposal for development in the Toronto Port Lands was addressed by both Matt Blackett and John Lorince this week. Lorinc questioned whether backing out of the understanding with upper levels of government will hurt the City's credibility as a partner. Matt Blackett posted a 24 reality check prepared by the group Code Blue that questions the logic for abandoning the existing plan.
Through a fluke of Science, Mayor Bert Xanadu once again speaks out from 1973 with his response to Doug Ford's proposed Port Lands plan. Impressed by the proposal, Xanadu parlays Ford's thinking into a strategy that will also eradicate the barren park landscape of the Toronto Islands in favour of an international tourist mecca of kitschy commerce.
September 18th, 2011
Photo du Jour : “Sanctuary”
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Behind the Anarchist Bookstore, Saint-Laurent between Sherbrooke and Ontario.
Exploration souterraine, art et paysage avec Danièle Routaboule
By Spacing // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11900" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="Intermittence © Danièle Routaboule"][/caption]
Article par Andréanne Chevalier
Le plus grand ensemble souterrain au monde se trouve à Montréal, apparemment. Vous le connaissez probablement très bien: Trente kilomètres de tunnels qui relient des tours à bureaux, des commerces, des résidences, des universités. Mais êtes-vous déjà passés par le segment qui relie le Palais des congrès à l’immeuble de la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec? Discrète à cet endroit, la Maison de l’architecture du Québec y a un espace d’exposition où présentement, on peut voir ...
September 19th, 2011
The Regionalist: Is Regionalism an Ideology?
By Joel Thibert // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11922" align="alignleft" width="568" caption="Portrait of Stalin, from Robert Huffstutter (roberthuffstutter on Flickr)"][/caption]
The recent (and current) discussions regarding the MMC’s proposed regional land-use and development plan have exposed (but not addressed) an important issue that underlies the entire debate: is there a theoretical justification for regionalism and if so, what is it?
Those who oppose regionalism and its manifestations will often try and discredit regional planning efforts by claiming that regionalism is merely and ideology – i.e., a normative view ...
September 21st, 2011
Tales of Gentrification in a Bohemian City
By Alanah Heffez // 8 Comments
Montreal: Tales of gentrification in a bohemian city, is a documentary by freelance journalist (and Spacing Montreal contributor) Adam Bemma.
I was at first skeptical of the film's description: "Distinct neighbourhoods such as Shaughnessy Village, Saint-Henri, Griffintown, Pointe Saint-Charles, Parc-Extension and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve are being targeted to become more like Montreal's most well known district, Plateau Mont-Royal."
Fortunately, Adam's interviews with academics, residents, community activists, and local businesspeople present a more nuanced picture of the tension between poverty and privilege in the city's central neighbourhoods, and the diversity that can flourish in this flux.
Perhaps the most interesting segment was the portrait of Hochelaga Maisonneuve where new middle-class residents are contrasting sharply with the traditionally down-and-out locals. Marie-Sophie Banville, who has written about her neighbourhood here on Spacing Montreal, has some fascinating insights about the tension just may be hot enough to set new construction aflame (start watching at 50:40).
World Wide Wednesday: Shovel ready, transit garden, museum advocacy
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Infrastructurist asks: "what is shovel ready and why does it matter?" In a classic case of buzzword overuse, "shovel ready" projects have lost meaning for the public and politicians looking for instant job creation from infrastructure projects.
• On Design Observer, MoMA's Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, Barry Bergdoll, explores the advocacy and laboratory functions of museums. He writes: "we have an important opportunity to foster new research and fresh thinking ... about the collaborative prospects for architects and landscape designers, and about the fact that design can be a forum for imagining new solutions rather than a means of decorating solutions found by others."
• A Chicago transit rail car has been turned into a mobile public garden. The native garden car will have regular service around Chicago for a month, pending financial support. (Colossal)
September 22nd, 2011
Bike Counters Find Cycling Trips Have Doubled on Laurier Ave
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
Bicycles tend to be quiet, flexible, and take up little space. Unfortunately, this affords cyclists relatively little visibility on the city streets. Jean-Francois Rheault, North American director of Eco-Counter, a company that specializes in counting pedestrians and cyclists, says that, consequently, engineers tend to underestimate the number of cyclists on Montreal's bike network by a factor of 10 - 100.
Fortunately, Eco-Counter is tallying the true number of bicycle trips on ten of Montreal's most important bike paths. At conferences he attends, Rheault says, ...
September 23rd, 2011
EVENT: Strip-tease QDS
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Spacing Montreal is excited to work with the Trudeau Foundation, l'Université de Montréal, and the Maison de l'architecture du Québec to organize Stip-tease QDS next Friday Sept 30th. Part neighbourhood exploration, part panel discussion, the event will focus on how different visions of place confront each other in the Quartier des spectacles, and how this clash contributes to shaping the place itself.
10h00-12h30: experience the QDS as never before, by meeting some of the characters who inhabit and shape the Quartier des spectacles: Pierre Dénommé from Sentier Urbain who gardens with street kids on the Corner of Ste-Catherine ...
Watch NFB: God’s Lake Narrows
By Julie Matlin // No Comments
Editor: Spacing is pleased to continue our partnership with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films and interactive projects from their online screening room. Julie Matlin of the NFB will be occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada's greatest resources. Click here to view their entire online collection.
Over the ...
September 28th, 2011
How MESH is changing cities
By Spacing // No Comments
EDITOR'S NOTE: Long-time supporter of Spacing, Robert Ouellette, wants residents of Canadian cities to take part in his new project called MESH Cities.
Whether they knew it or not, anyone who followed Toronto’s Port Land debacle over the last few weeks got a first-hand introduction to the power MESH Cities have to shape our communities.
Let me explain.
We’ve been hearing a lot about so-called “smart” cities in the news recently as the major computing and infrastructure players like IBM, Cisco, GE, and Siemens look at the next frontier in the trend towards ubiquitous computing. That new frontier is our cities.
Whatever you might think about a computer-driven modernity, MESH Cities are not just smart cities. MESH Cities go beyond the management of infrastructure to the heart of what makes cities worthwhile—their livability. Metaphorically, MESH Cities are the offspring of an improbable marriage between Jane Jacobs' ideals and ubiquitous city computing.
Their kids, in this context, are named MESH: M=Mobile, E=Efficient, S=Subtle, H=Heuristics
This is how the www.meshcities.com website introduces the concept.
World Wide Wednesday: Road ecology and city night moves
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The growing field of road ecology brings together experts from diverse academic backgrounds to investigate interactions between roads and the natural environment. An article on Design Observer examines some of the unique and affordable infrastructure solutions proposed by road ecologists to facilitate the movement of plants, animals, water and soils around highway infrastructure.
• NPR reporter David Greene speaks to Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett about the needs of cities in an era of federal budget cuts.
September 30th, 2011
EVENT – À la track, regards sur l’emprise ferrovière – Samedi 1 Oct
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Dans le cadre des Journées de la culture, le collectif Ouvert/Open organise deux activités sur la thématique de la voie ferrée et sa réappropriation citoyenne, le samedi 1er octobre, au Café Le Falco (5605 de Gaspé)
17h-18h : Atelier d'expérimentation cartographique et de création.
Cet atelier de création cartographique propose de réfléchir aux usages et réappropriations de l'emprise ferroviaire. À partir de leur propre expérience du lieu, les participants seront invités à représenter sur une carte leurs chemins de traverse, ...
October 1st, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Infrastructure, Cycling and Intensification
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Christopher Porter breaks down incredibly detailed cycling data collected by the City of Vancouver to examine the cycling traffic patterns of the downtown core and analyze the effects of new infrastructure on cycling numbers.
Eric Villagomez profiles a new exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver looking into the history of neon signs in the city and the movement that arose in the 70's to rid the city of them.
With Canadian cities pushing headlong towards intensification, Spacing Ottawa presents counter points questioning if this really is the path to better cities. Planner Alain Miguelez presented five reasons that intensification will succeed. Community activist Jay Baltz countered with reasons that intensification could fail.
Clive Doucet reports from France on a different paradigm towards local development that is producing growth in small villages throughout the countryside and incredible new investments in public transit infrastructure.
Morgan Lanigan looks at the successful implementation of bike lanes on Main Street in Saint John, NB and wonders why they were so long coming. It's concluded that the answer may lie in the mandate of the 'Department of Transportation.'
As authorities in Halifax plan renovations to the Macdonald Bridge with a focus on sustainability, the question remains as to whether or not they will address dangerous accesses to the bridge's bike lane that currently impede cycling growth.
Hilary Best profiles an exciting and innovative community led project to build a cricket field in Toronto's high density Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood. The project has already built bridges in the community while the design of the field will promote sustainability and improve the Don River watershed.
Fred Sztabinski ponders the relation between cycling infrastructure and local governance structure and wonders what amalgamation has meant for Toronto's ability to produce an enhanced cycling network.
Photo du jour: Tipi urbain?
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
2-22 Sainte-Catherine, en construction le 30 Septembre 2011
October 2nd, 2011
What space or place for our collective memories?
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Upon arriving at Strip-Tease QDS last Friday, participants were offered twenty questions exploring the intersection of urban design and the collective imagination. While only a few of the topics fed the panel discussion, over the next week we'll pose some of the same questions on Spacing Montreal in the hopes that the discussion can continue and expand on the blog:
Does the imaginary need a space in which to exist?
Every once in a while, to my great pleasure, a post on Spacing Montreal develops a life of its own. Take a look at Christopher DeWolf's post about a ...
October 5th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Participatory budgeting and underground parks
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The first of a series of participatory budgeting assemblies begins this week in four New York City districts. During the assemblies, members of the public will be free to propose community improvement priorities. In March, votes will be held to decide which projects will be funded by the $1 million in discretionary capital funds available for allocation in each district (PBNYC).
• You've heard of the High Line, but are you up on the Low Line? A team in New York City is proposing an underground park be fashioned out of the former Delancey trolley terminal. Initial reaction in the public space-hungry city has been positive. (WebUrbanist)
October 8th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’église St-Louis-de-France
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2011
La première église St-Louis-de-France fut construite de 1890 à 1897 sur la rue Roy entre Laval et Hôtel-de-ville.
L'édifice ayant été détruit par le feu en moins de deux heures le 12 janvier 1933, la paroisse décida par la suite de reconstruire un nouveau lieu de culte au coin des rues Berri et Roy.
Fait à noter, l'ancien presbytère existe toujours au 3860 avenue Laval.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 5-20b-b
Spacing Saturday: French Highways, Yaletown Park and Collective Imagination
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Clive Doucet continues his observations from Europe using the French model of privately funded tolled highways as basis for discussing the shape that nations take as a result of the long term philosophies and decisions.
Commemorating the recent passing of Elmaks, an artist who did much to enliven public space in Ottawa, Spacing re-posts an interview from last year talking about the innovative 'Swap Box' project.
Sean Gillis continues his look at the different forms of urban density through the Atlantic Canada's Densest Neighbourhoods feature. This week Gillis looks at the Quinpool Road area of Halifax.
Lauren Oostveen shares a series of magnificent, century old photographs that were recently unearthed a digitized at the Nova Scotia Archives. The pictures are now the subject of an online appeal for help determining where they were taken and what they depict.
Andrew Cuthbert uses a Cartographically Speaking feature to map distinct elements of street feel in the famously troubled and rapidly changing Downtown Eastside, revealing insights into the effects of change on Hastings Street.
Gordon Price uses the Price Points feature to analyze the design failings of the maturing Yaletown Park which despite its potential fails to entice users to stop and animate its space.
Spacing's Dylan Reid reports back from the opening lecture of the UofT Cities Centre 'Toronto in Question' lecture series addressing the question "Is Toronto Broke?"
Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City architectural feature to talk about the meaning of representational forms in contemporary architecture, highlighting new projects similar in appearance to the recent expansion of the Royal Ontario Museum.
October 9th, 2011
Montage du jour : La rue Ahmerst vers le Nord près de Maisonneuve.
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2011
On aperçoit au loin l'église Sainte-Catherine-d'Alexandrie qui fut démolie en 1973.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y4-P030-2
October 10th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue du boulevard René-Lévesque depuis la rue Amherst
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1950-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-D96-125
October 11th, 2011
Montage du jour : Immeuble situé à l’intersection des rues Papineau et de la Gauchetière
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2011
Ce secteur de la ville fut entièrement rasé au début des années 1960 afin de faire place à la tour de Radio-Canada.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94C196-0299
Photo du jour : J.P. Rioux Antiquaire
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Vous trouverez art, antiquités, vélos, et toujours un sapin de Noel bien décoré chez Jean-Pierre Rioux, coin des Érables et Gilford.
October 12th, 2011
Montage du jour : Immeuble situé au coin des rues Maisonneuve (aujourd’hui Alexandre-de-Sève) et Craig (aujourd’hui l’avenue Viger Est)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1960-2011
Ce secteur de la ville fut entièrement rasé au début des années 1960 afin de faire place à la tour de Radio-Canada.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94C196-0517
World Wide Wednesday: Stolen bridges and brutalist preservation
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• At FastCompany, urban designer Ryan Gravel speaks to power of catalyst projects to revitalize urban communities. He cites the example of the Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile rail route turned linear park, as a possible model.
• At The Atlantic Cities, Allison Arieff reflects on the industrial re-design of NYC's Times Square. Architect Craig Dykers muses, “There’s that film noir quality that some people have about Times Square… and the grittiness of the street is a part of it... It’s not taking its cues from pretty little things in Europe or something. It’s kind of like the heart of New York City. It’s a heavy, muscular thing.”
• Thieves in North Beaver Township, Pennsylvania, raised the (re-)bar this past week when they stole a 50 by 20 foot bridge for scrap metal. The bridge dated back to the early 1900s and was primarily used for rail traffic. (CNN)
October 13th, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues de la Visitation et Bonaparte
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2011
Ce secteur de la ville fut entièrement rasé au début des années 1960 afin de faire place à la tour de Radio-Canada.
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM94C196-0767
October 14th, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Beaudry et Bonaparte
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2011
La photographie ancienne représente l'élévation arrière d'un édifice des soeurs de la Providence, à l'intersection des rues Bonaparte et Beaudry.
Ce secteur de la ville fut entièrement rasé au début des années 1960 afin de faire place à la tour de Radio-Canada.
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM94C196-0900
October 15th, 2011
Montage du jour : Immeuble situé à l’intersection des rues Beaudry et de la Gauchetière
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2011
Ce secteur de la ville fut entièrement rasé au début des années 1960 afin de faire place à la tour de Radio-Canada.
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM94C196-0206
Spacing Saturday: CanU, Safe Cycling and the Legg Residence
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Brian Gould reports back from the third annual conference of the CanU, the Council for Canadian Urbanism. Both the conference and the make up of the group itself are reasons for high optimism about this budding organization.
Erick Villagomez highlights a troubling application to demolish the Legg Residence, one of Vancouver's significant heritage buildings, and the rising efforts to save it.
Allegra Newman profiles the results of last month's Next City Cafe event engaging a wide variety of interests on the issue of how to make cycling better in Ottawa.
In light of a highly publicized deadly cycling accident in Downtown Ottawa this week Spacing highlights a compelling video response to a similar tragedy in Northern Ireland.
Sean Gillis reveals the final result of the Atlantic Canada's Densest Neighbourhoods series. This week profiling the most densely populated neighbourhood in the Maritimes, Halifax's Spring Garden/ Queen Street area.
Last week's profiled crowd-sourcing project to attach stories to a series of old photographs unearthed in the Nova Scotia archives produced some interesting results. Lauren Oostveen reveals the intriguing story of one of the series' most interesting photographs.
Two posts this week complimented the upcoming release of the food issue of the Spacing Magazine. Jessica Lemieux tells the story of how a vegetable garden built community for a newcomer to the city. Luca de Franco uses the Headspace feature to interview Debbie Field, executive director of the innovative organization Foodshare.
Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City column to profile a fascinating New York City program pre-qualifying high quality architects for local public works projects to support local firms and make the most of limited budgets.
October 16th, 2011
Montage du jour : Édifice commercial au coin des rues Sainte-Catherine est et Dorion
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1959-2011
Source : Stampsahoi sur Flickr
October 17th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’édifice Barsalou, 1359-1389 rue Sainte-Catherine est
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1891-2011
Cet édifice fut construit en 1888 pour Joseph Barsalou, un homme qui était à la fois encanteur, agent d'immeuble, agent commissionnaire et fabricant de savon. Ce sera par ailleurs dans cet édifice que furent logé les bureaux de la J. Barsalou & Cie, le seul fabricant canadien-français de savon.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 5-88-a
October 18th, 2011
Montage du jour : Magasin de Dupuis et frères, intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine et St-Hubert
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 5-61-e
Photo du jour: Rue Crémazie, l’église Saint-Alphonse-D’Youville convertie
By Jean Desjardins // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_12212" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="L\'église néo-gothique Saint-Alphonse-D\'Youville (1932) s\'apprête à être convertie en condos. État du chantier le 19 septembre."][/caption]
Elles ne peuvent pas toutes survivre, mais j'ai l'impression que la perte est plus lourde qu'à l'habitude: l'église Saint-Alphonse-D'Youville de la rue Crémazie est sur le point d'être avalée par les condos Liguori. Au moins l'imposant site de construction vaudra le détour quelques mois! Construite en 1932, la belle bâtisse néo-gothique allait désormais voir sa paroisse coupée en deux et sa façade donner sur l'autoroute métropolitaine à partir des années 1960. ...
October 19th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le théâtre Parisiana, rue Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 5-71-a
World Wide Wednesday: Bankruptcy, transit pass, commute times
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Harrisburg, PA filed for bankruptcy protection last week after failing to make debt servicing payments on its trash-to-energy incinerator. Bloomberg reports that Harrisburg is the second and largest American city to file for protection this year.
• In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will require city employees to take transit when travelling on official business. The new policy is expected to save $1 million (in expense claims for car washes and parking tickets). (Grist)
• UK-based researchers are exploring the potential of synthetic protocells to capture atmospheric CO2. While scalability and commercial production remain concerns, the team suggests that such materials may one day improve the carbon footprint of the buildings they coat. (CNN)
October 20th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le marché St-Laurent
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1930-2011
Ce marché public situé sur le boulevard St-Laurent fut démoli en 1932 afin d'être remplacé par un second marché, à l'allure plus moderne, qui fut quand à lui démoli en 1963.
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM94-Z100
October 21st, 2011
Montage du jour : Le marché St-Laurent
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1932-2011
Ce marché public fut construit en 1932 sur le boulevard St-Laurent à l'emplacement d'un précédent marché. Il fut démoli en 1963.
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM94-Z154-2
FAVOURITE FRIDAY: Which piece of local public art is your favourite?
By Matthew Blackett // 4 Comments
Across the Spacing Blog Network today we are asking our readers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Otttawa, and the Atlantic cities to let us know which work of local public art is your favourite (feel free to name more than one). We want to hear back from our readers on what they like/dislike about our shared public spaces so we plan to run this feature with regularity.
If possible, please provide a link to a photo you are commenting about. We suggest using Flickr as the photographers ...
October 22nd, 2011
Montage du jour : Édifice situé à l’intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine et Aylmer
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1910-2011
Cet édifice qui fut à l'origine construit en tant que résidence fut converti en cinéma à la fin du XIXe siècle. Il sera connu notamment connu sous le nom de Gaiety theatre, The Holman theatre et Cinéma System.
L'édifice est utilisé en tant que commerce depuis la fermeture du cinéma System en 1993.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 5-131-c
Spacing Saturday: Walk 21, Local Food Systems and YIMBYism
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
At the closure of nominations for Vancouver's upcoming municipal election, Brian Gould takes a look at the early candidates and issues; asking if there is Rob Ford equivilant, who will back streetcars or bike lanes and providing a glimpse into Vancouver's interesting electoral system.
Brian Gould used the In Depth feature to highlight some of his experiences from the Walk 21 Conference. Themed around "Transforming the Auto City" the conference placed a heavy emphasis on public health and attracted a wide range of professionals and ideas.
An estimated 700 people took part in a tribute ride along Ottawa's Queen Street this week in memory of Danielle Naçu who was tragically killed while cycling on the street; Spacing shows a video of the procession.
Having been involved in local food systems in both Ottawa and her current residence of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kathleen Courtney is able to provide a fascinating comparison of food systems between 'advanced' Canadian cities and the highly traditional systems in Ethiopia.
Abad Khan profiles two significant projects that are taking two very different approaches to revitalization in the urban heart of Saint John, both offering their own set of challenges and opportunities.
The Atlantic Snapshots feature continues to provide fascinating looks at maritime cities and their history.
John Lorinc used his column this week to pick apart Rob Ford's assertions about the cost of the municipal civil service in response to the Mayor's escalating posturing ahead of upcoming contract negotiations.
Spacing profiles this weekend's YIMBY - Yes in My Backyard Festival which aims to turn the tables of the relationship between developers, politicians and community groups in order to build momentum for positive change.
October 23rd, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Sainte-Catherine près de l’avenue Union
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2011
Fait à noter, l'édifice au premier plan à droite fut le premier pavillon du Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal.
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM98-Y2-P020
October 24th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’édifice formant un tunnel au dessus du blvd. de Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1950-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z696-3
October 25th, 2011
Montage du jour : La banque Molson, intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine et Stanley
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 5-112-d
Photo du jour: Chateaubriand championne de l’émondage
By Jean Desjardins // 9 Comments
[caption id="attachment_12232" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Arbres émondés avenue de Chateaubriand dans Villeray."][/caption]
C'est nécessaire pour éviter les interruptions dans la distribution d'électricité mais pour l'allure de la rue on repassera! L'émondage provoque la même aversion chez moi que dans l'enfance, et vivre dans Villeray cet automne est quelque peu désolant. Existe-t-il des normes, des bonnes pratiques dans la confrérie émondeuse? Y a-t-il des quartiers centraux qui continuent d'enfouir leurs fils comme l'axe Sainte-Catherine jusqu'à Papineau de jadis?
October 26th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’église presbytérienne Knox de la rue Crescent
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2011
L'église presbytérienne Knox de la rue Crescent fut construite en 1878 à l'intersection des rues Dorchester (aujourd'hui René-Lévesque) et Crescent. Elle fut détruite par le feu en 1946.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-11
World Wide Wednesday: Bridges, record playing bikes, Libyan development
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Transportation for America reports that communities across the U.S. are demanding repairs to aging and unsafe bridges. A staggering 9.8% of bridges in the Chicago metropolitan area are considered structurally deficient.
• The UBC School of Public Affairs profiles a recent report on the impact of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The study used 126 IOC-mandated indicators to assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Games. While the reported findings are somewhat vague, researchers note that the Games helped with the creation of new jobs and businesses and increases in visitor spending.
• At Next American City, Michael Hooper examines the role of public participation in infrastructure projects. While some prominent urbanists question the value of what they term 'excessive participatory requirements' - citing slower construction times, Hooper identifies other positive spillovers from public participation including user satisfaction, long-term economic and social sustainability and the development of social capital.
October 27th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue du boulevard René-Lévesque depuis Mackay
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1930-2011
L'édifice en brique rouge est l'ancien Hôtel Ford. Construit en 1929 il fut utilisé par Radio-Canada suite à la fermeture de l'hôtel en 1948 et ce, jusqu'à 1970, année du déménagement de la station dans l'est. Ce même édifice est aujourd'hui convertie en immeuble à bureaux.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94Z171
October 28th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une résidence située au 1471-1473 Boulevard René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-8
FAVOURITE FRIDAY: What is your favourite pedestrian bridge?
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Across the Spacing urban blog network each week we're asking our readers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Otttawa, and the Atlantic cities to let us know their favourite things about their respective city.
THIS WEEK: What is your favourite pedestrian bridge(s) in Montreal?
If possible, please provide a link to a photo you are commenting about. We suggest using Flickr as the photographers that use this site usually provide the best quality images (and often with ...
October 29th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une résidence du blvd. René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1946-2011
Cette résidence construite vers 1906 sur le blvd. René-Lévesque fut démolie dans les années 1970 pour faire place à une bretelle de l'autoroute Ville-Marie.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-7
The Regionalist: Is “local” commerce morally defensible?
By Joel Thibert // 5 Comments
[caption id="attachment_12269" align="alignleft" width="594" caption="A screenshot of Équiterre's home page advertising "local consumption""][/caption]
I argued in a recent post that regionalism is not an ideology (in the sense of an all-encompassing worldview) but rather an ethical stance which recognizes the importance of regions as biological and social entities. Does it necessarily follow that localism is also “ethical” and therefore morally defensible? More specifically, one might ask: is it possible to formulate a moral argument in favor of local commerce based on similar premises/arguments?
I ...
October 30th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue du Vieux-Montréal depuis Viger
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1958-2011
Source : Stampsahoi sur Flickr
October 31st, 2011
Montage du jour : Le Victoria skating rink
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Le Victoria skating rink, une patinoire intérieure chauffée ouvrit ses portes en 1862 sur la rue Drummond près de Dorchester (René-Lévesque).
Ce fut entre ces murs que le premier match officiel de hockey codifié fut joué en 1875.
La patinoire ayant fermée ses portes en 1937 l'édifice fut par la suite remplacé par un stationnement étagé.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 2-120a-b
Halloween Special: “Factory Face”
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Spacing Montreal has never thought of holding a Halloween costume contest but if we did, I'm betting Ian Langohr would take home the prize with "Factory Face," a reproduction of the Canada Malting Plant in mask form.
"I have been fascinated by the old maltage plant since moving to St. Henri in 2009. I find it surrealistic in itself, as it sort of resembles a bizarre collage of industrial buildings. The holes, rust, graffiti and ...
November 1st, 2011
Montage du jour : Une résidence située au 1319 blvd. René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2011
Une résidence située au 1319 Boulevard René-Lévesque.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-12
Montreal moves on Open Data
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
For just over a year, Montréal Ouvert has been pressuring the city to provide data to citizens that is readable by a computer program, centralized in a permanent location, and licenced in a way that allows other to use it. They envision that this data can be incorporated into interactive websites, social media, and iPhone applications that will in turn make it more accessible and useful to citizens.
Last October 27th, the city launched its first platform for open data. Montréal Ouvert ...
What’s wrong with this picture?
By Jacob Larsen // 5 Comments
It's amazing what a few hours poking around the Ministry of Transport's website can reveal.
What does this province spend on new highway construction and maintenance, I wondered? What are the trends? How does this compare with provincial spending on public transit? I knew what I would find wouldn't be pretty, but I had no idea.
Over the past seven years, a fairly consistent relationship of 10:1 spending of highways to transit has been maintained. But ...
November 2nd, 2011
Montage du jour : Le club de crosse Shamrock
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
À l'emplacement de l'actuel marché Jean-Talon construit dans les années 1930 se dressait autrefois le club de crosse Shamrock.
Aménagé à la fin du XIX siècle, le site comprenait un pavillon, un vaste terrain gazonné et un stade avec gradins couverts.
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 5059
Rosemont-Petite-Patrie mayor crosses floor to Projet Montréal
By Devin Alfaro // 5 Comments
Yesterday Rosemont-Petite-Patrie borough mayor announced in a press conference that he is leaving Louise Harel's Vision Montréal and will be henceforth a member of Projet Montréal. He explained his decision saying that he had come to believe that his former party lacked a coherent vision for the development of the city and that he sees his values and priorities better represented in Projet Montréal. A more detailed explanation from the mayor is available here.
He elaborates saying, "Ma réflexion m’a amené à constater que depuis mon entrée en fonction, les mesures ...
Pourquoi “Occuper Montréal” n’occupe-t-il pas nos pensées?
By Joel Thibert // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_12356" align="alignleft" width="598" caption="Photo du Square Victoria, le 1er novembre 2011"][/caption]
Je ne sais pas ce qu'en pensent les lecteurs de Spacing, mais personnellement je trouve ça plutôt étrange que nous n'ayons pas encore parlé d'Occuper Montréal sur ce blogue. C'est vrai qu'on parle du mouvement un peu partout sur la toile et que relativement peu de gens passent par le Square Victoria tous les jours. Pourtant, j'ai l'impression qu'on en parlerait plus s'ils s'étaient installés ailleurs - disons dans les cours de triage du CN, sur le ...
World Wide Wednesday: Healthy cities, arenas, historic sites
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Three Southern California cities are taking dramatic steps to improve the health and well-being of residents. Using a program designed by Dan Buettner, the cities are attempting to make the healthy choice the easy choice for local residents. Measures include walking schools buses for children, improving access to healthy food, enhancing bike infrastructure and pedestrian access and encouraging personal interactions. (CNN)
• Edmonton moved one step closer to a new home for the Oilers this week when council voted in favour of a new arena cost-sharing arrangement with team owner Daryl Katz. The new rink is the centrepiece of a slate of revitalized commercial-residential downtown development. But with the deal $100 million short and both the provincial and federal governments refusing to pony up tax dollars to fund private enterprise, the way forward for the new rink is somewhat unclear. (Globe and Mail)
• Meanwhile in L.A., plans to build a downtown football stadium as a way to boost the city's bruised economy are being met with scorn by Joel Kotkin at New Geography. Kotkin says "urban vanity projects like sports teams and convention centers add little to permanent employment or overall regional economic well-being... Certainly mega-stadiums have done little to boost sad-sack, depopulating cities such as St. Louis, Baltimore or Cleveland."
November 3rd, 2011
Montage du jour : Édifice commercial, intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine est et Papineau
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, cartes postales, CP 6529
Spacing’s next issue will be national
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
With the success of Spacing's first national issue — our special summer edition has sold twice as well as any previous issue we've ever published — our editors have decided that we will continue to provide our readers with pan-Canada coverage of everything urban.
Since 2003, Spacing has published 22 issues with all but one of them focused exclusively on Toronto urbanism. As we've expanded our blog network across Canada — Montreal in 2007, Ottawa and the Atlantic cities ...
November 4th, 2011
Montage du jour : Édifice commercial, intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine Est et de la Visitation
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, cartes postales, CP 6443
November 5th, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des blvd. St-Laurent et René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1920-2011
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 6520
Photos du Jour: Occuper vs vivre Montréal
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Zoom sur Square Victoria, le 5 novembre, 2011. Plus de photos ici.
November 6th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le boulevard St-Laurent depuis la rue Viger
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1921-2011
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal
November 7th, 2011
Montage du jour : Édifice commercial, intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine Est et de Bullion
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 6085
November 8th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue sainte-Catherine près de St-Laurent
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 5166
Contribute photos to Spacing’s next national issue
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
As we mentioned last week, Spacing will continue to publish a national edition of the magazine twice a year (plus two Toronto-centric editions a year). That means we need to expand our cast of contributors (more specifically photographers).
If you love to photograph your city — wherever that may be in Canada — we want to see your images. You can add us as a contact on Flickr, or if you really want to be helpful to our production team, you can add your photos to the national issue's Flickr group. ...
Montréal Lit: The Survivors
By Gregory McCormick // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_12395" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Photo by Aguayon soy tu res"][/caption]
Spacing Montreal is pleased to present this column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of English Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
Montreal writer Terri Vlassipoulos’ lovely short story collection Bats or Swallows contains stories set in cities and countries all over the world, but mainly in eastern Canada. In “The Occult,” we hear about Hannah, ...
November 9th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le cinéma Bennett
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2011
Le cinéma Bennet fut construit en 1906 sur le site d'une ancienne église baptiste. Il fut remplacé en 1967 par un édifice à bureaux qui est aujourd'hui converti en résidence étudiante.
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 5770
World Wide Wednesday: Station art, transportation bills, health care savings
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Canadian transit stations are pretty, but we just can't compete with the likes of the Stockholm metro station pictured above which features pixel-art inspired by classic games. (BoingBoing)
•“Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century”, the US federal transportation authorization bill is up for debate in the Senate. Complete streets advocates were pleased to see that the draft bill makes bicycling and walking projects eligible under the core funding program and defines ‘road users’ as including people who walk and bicycle and use public transportation, as well as people with disabilities and older adults. (CompleteStreets.org)
November 10th, 2011
Montage du jour : La cour arrière de l’académie du Sacré-Coeur
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Voici une vue arrière de l'Académie du Sacré-Coeur, une école privée pour fille fondée en 1861.
Situé sur la rue St-Alexandre, cet édifice construit en 1892 fut possiblement démoli vers les années 1930, soit après le départ en 1928 de l'institution dans un nouvel édifice à l'intersection des rues Atwater et Docteur Penfield.
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 6221
November 11th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le Sailor’s institute
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 6494
November 12th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le Royal Insurance building et le Sailor’s Institute
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 2678
Spacing Saturday: Lost Villages, Election Distraction and World Heritage Sites
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
As part of Spacing Votes Brian Gould looks at the media fixation on the Occupy movement at a recent mayoral debate and how coverage for this one issue comes at the expense of other issues such as transit funding.
Eric Villagomez reports on the upcoming launch of Vancouver's Interactive Building Permits Database which will unlock and disseminate the story of many of the city's historic buildings and sites.
As part of the continuing transformation of Toronto's transit heart, Dylan Reid reports back on early plans for pedestrianization and an expanded public square in front of Union Station, along with an update of other pedestrian news in the city.
Sean Marshall brings a ghostly installment of the Lost Villages series from the former Hamlet of Clairville in Toronto's far northwest corner. Obliterated by shifting transportation infrastructure, the hamlet's few remaining elements lie abandoned or forgotten, isolated amongst industrial storage lots.
In his final report from abroad before returning to home to Canada, Clive Doucet takes a look at the remarkably well preserved city of Bath, England as a case study in the markedly different way that Europeans and North Americans regard the 'UNESCO World Heritage Site' designation.
Dwight Williams continues his Street Names feature, looking at sections of Ottawa streets named around the Riel Rebellions and the favourite fictional characters of the builders of the turn of the century Britannia Highlands neighbourhood.
Chris Warden begins a look at Ottawa's often neglected modernist architecture by examining the centennial era Library and Archives Canada Building. Recent government policy changes threaten the public accessibility of the building and underscore the intricate relation between 'town and crown.'
Spacing Readers in the Maritimes respond to a recent Favourite Friday call out for stories about reader's favourite pedestrian bridges.
November 13th, 2011
Montage du jour : La rue St-Antoine près de l’avenue de l’Hôtel-de-ville
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Drill hall, une salle d'entraînement militaire située sur la rue St-Antoine au coin de l'avenue de l'Hôtel-de-ville fut démolie dans les années 1970 pour faire place à l'autoroute Ville-Marie.
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 5090
November 14th, 2011
Eyes on the Street Seek Voice
By Alanah Heffez // 11 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="photo by mbeachy"][/caption]
It was once self-evident that "eyes on the street" in dense urban neighbourhoods would lower crime and vandalism because they belonged to concerned citizens who were prepared to intervene when things got unruly. Yet, while downtown Montreal is not short of eyes, and while some people will brave a call to 911 if they witness a full-out brawl or break-in, many of us are unwilling to speak up in other, less urgent instances when a simple word could be enough to ...
The Sunday Building Project
By Lauren // 4 Comments
Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Sunday Building Project! Every Sunday, I will post my favourite drawing of the past week. If you care to keep more up-to-date, a link to the Project's blog is provided thorough the image. I draw a building every day, and simultaneously offer to do drawings and paintings on commission. I've been invited to share on this blog the occasional piece.
This is the project -
Once a day, I take a point of meandering in the city until I find an attractive seating opportunity ...
Montage du jour : Drill Hall
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Drill hall, une salle d'entraînement militaire située sur la rue St-Antoine au coin de l'avenue de l'Hôtel-de-ville fut démolie dans les années 1970 pour faire place à l'autoroute Ville-Marie.
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 2699
November 15th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’Ancienne résidence du Dr. William H. Hingston, intersection des rues Sherbrooke et Metcalfe
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1950-2011
Source : BANQ, Cartes Postales, CP 2882
November 16th, 2011
Montage du jour : La résidence du sénateur J.P.B. Casgrain, blvd. René-Lévesque Ouest
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2011
Cette résidence fut démolie à la fin des années 1960.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-6
World Wide Wednesday: Avenue towards heaven, biking broadway
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Not for the faint of heart - if the top of China's Tianmen Mountain is your destination, your options are 1) The Avenue Towards Heaven - 99 turns and 1500m of elevation gain or 2) the world's longest cable car ride. (Kuriositas)
• Ever wondered what it is like to bike the length of Broadway? This video compresses the 13 mile ride into 5 minutes. The video includes great shots of some of the city's recent bike lane improvements. (Observer)
November 17th, 2011
Montage du jour : Incendie rue Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1959-2011
Source : Stampsahoi via Flickr
Legault peut-il mettre fin a plusieurs décennies de “montréalophobie” en politique provinciale?
By Joel Thibert // 4 Comments
___________
On croirait parfois, en observant le comportement des politiciens de la scène politique provinciale québécoise, que Montréal est une maladie infectieuse ou encore une chose corrompue et souillée qu'il faut tenir loin de soi. C'est d'ailleurs l'analogie qu'utilise Jean-Paul L'Allier dans le texte qu'il a publié récemment sur l'avenir de Montréal (texte à libre absolument, soit dit en passant). Il est intéressant (et ahurissant!) de noter, par exemple, l'absence totale de référence à la métropole dans les plateformes péquistes et libérales aux ...
November 18th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une résidence située au 1497 blvd. René-Lévesque Ouest
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2011
Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-10
Évenement: Hack ta ville! le 19 novembre
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Montréal Ouvert, en collaboration avec la Ville de Montraéal, Montréal Python, La Gazette de Montréal, OpenFile, et Hack/Hackers ont mis sur pied un Hackathon qui a le but d'explorer des outils et des stratégies qui permettront les citoyens à s'approprier les données publics de la ville. La Ville de Montréal a récemment adoptée une politique sur les données ouvertes et ont lancé un portail web qui a eu plusieurs milliers de visiteurs en moins de deux semaines.
Ateliers:
Atelier A (10 h à 10h30) : Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir à ...
NDG cyclists make the case for a safe connection
By Jacob Larsen // 2 Comments
Source: Bing Maps
NDG residents fed up with confusing, scary intersections take note: Tomorrow, your local cycling group will be meeting at Décarie and de Maisonneuve Blvds on Saturday November 19, at 3pm for a demonstration and press event to urge the City to build a safe connection for the de Maisonneuve bicycle path across Décarie Boulevard.
In their press release the NDG Cyclist and Pedestrian Association writes:
Now that the intersection at de Maisonneuve and Décarie Blvd is going to be completely transformed due to ...
November 19th, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Frederick Thomas Judas, 1980 blvd. René-Lévesque Oues
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
1946-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-9
Spacing Saturday: The Fourth Wall, Affordable Housing and Montréalophobie
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
An infographic showing a 390 square foot apartment from Jason Pfeifers look at a Vancouver affordable housing program
Affordable housing has become a major election issue in Vancouver. Asking the question of what defines 'affordable'? Jason Pfeifer explains some fascinating research on one of Vancouver's current affordable housing programs that allows increased density in exchange for rental units as small as 320 square feet.
As part of the regular Book Review feature, Erick Villagomez discusses 'Infrastructure: The Book for Everything for the Industrial Landscape' and how the book is useful and engaging for those interested in the urban landscape to understand the fundamental workings of our infrastructure.
Hillary Best began a new series this week complimenting The Fourth Wall, an ongoing exhibit looking at ways to break barriers to civic engagement. This week the series looked at how to teach municipal civics in schools and recognize contributors to public life.
Toronto's proposed Crosstown LRT project is amongst the largest public works projects currently underway in North America. John Lorinc questions whether the decision to put the entire project underground will result in financial boondoggle.
Mike Steinhauer profiles the changing face of Ottawa's Vanier neighbuorhood. Currently experiencing a construction boom, the area's unique street pattern compliments its natural features and proximity to downtown.
New mother Erin O'Connell attempts to help mitigate the frustration of those who are bothered by strollers on sidewalks and public transit by sharing her side of the story and her efforts to reduce car use.
November 20th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’hospice St. Brigide
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1960-2011
L'hospice St. Brigide était situé à l'intersection des rues Alexandre-Desève et René-Lévesque.
Ce secteur de la ville fut entièrement rasé au début des années 1960 afin de faire place à la tour de Radio-Canada.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94C196-0370
Photos du jour : Out with the old, in with the new
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Readying to replace the winding staircase in front of a triplex on de la Roche.
Montreal’s heritage protection policy requires homeowners to restore staircases according to their original characteristics, even if it sometimes means twisting the building code a little. I wrote more about Montreal's iconic staircases here.
The Sunday Building Project – Now Actually on Sunday!
By Lauren // 5 Comments
Thank you to those who offered sage suggestions of camping stools from Canadian Tire for under ten dollars. I will resort to that when I am sick of the camping chair that I found in the garbage this week!
Ah, Montreal. Mysteriously benevolent Montreal. How is it that you can provide me with such bounties of free food, cheap coffee, and arts and crafts? You provide me with almost anything for free - all I need is patience and a sharp eye. Currently, said eye is peeled for chairs. Any seating implement ...
November 21st, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Shaughnessy, 1923 blvd. René-Lévesque Ouest
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1946-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-5
November 22nd, 2011
Montage du jour : L’hôpital Western (actuel Children hospital)
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2011
Source : BANQ, Cartes Postales, CP2851
November 23rd, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Bleury vers le nord depuis Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y1-P012
Mes nouveaux colocs
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
[Image par lilies and bees]
« Un mauvais voisin est une calamité, un bon voisin un vrai trésor. »
- Hésiode
Je viens de découvrir que j'ai de nouveaux colocataires. J'ai vécu dans le même appartement pendant un an et je ne savais pas que je le partage avec plusieurs personnes.
Je vous raconte l'histoire :
Le 29 octobre — je décide (comme la plupart des Montréalais) d'inviter mes copains et mes copines chez moi pour un cocktail d'Halloween.
Je sers des bonbons.
J'allume des bougies.
Je joue de la bonne musique.
Tout le monde est bien chaud, bien arrosé.
Et vers minuit, l'inévitable se produit.
World Wide Wednesday: Occupy, Pocket Parks, Traffic Fatalities
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Sarah Fine at Next American City responds to recent incidents at the Occupy Oakland protest where drivers used their vehicles to injure and intimidate protestors. She considers the lessons from the Occupy movement for Complete Streets advocates.
• By its own standards, LA is park-poor (15,717 acres of parkland despite a standard of 10 acres for every 1,000 residents). But with a lack of available open space, LA will take the small is beautiful approach as it seeks to open 50 new "pocket parks" in urban neighbourhoods over the next two years. (LAist)
• Streetsblog DC has a powerful map of America's traffic fatalities, produced by British firm ITO World. The WHO reports 12.3 annual traffic deaths per 100,000 residents in the US.
November 24th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le Drummond Court building
By Guillaume St-Jean // 3 Comments
Vers 1960-2001
Vers 1960-2011
Le Drummond Court building fut construit en 1924 sur la rue Drummond. Dans les années 1960, lors de la construction du metro et du prolongement vers l'est du boulevard de Maisonneuve, la ville tenta sans succès d'exproprier l'édifice. En guise de compromis, le rez-de-chaussée fut alors percé et transformé en tunnel au dessus du boulevard de Maisonneuve. L'édifice subsista ainsi pendant près de 40 ans puis fut démoli en 2000....
November 25th, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine ouest et Guy
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y1-P005
November 26th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Good Neighbours, Unbuilt Toronto and Urban Screens
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vancouver's Director of City Planning, Brent Toderian, shares his take on the early results of an exciting public design and ideas competition to re-imagine the city's downtown road viaducts. Links are provided to the submissions in the reCONNECT design contest.
Urban Screens with interactive facades, buildings projections and networked communication are spreading to all kinds of urban environments around the world. Erick Villagomez showcases a an event held this week to discuss the issue of how these projections positively engage audiences and contribute to the experience of society.
Of course, this week also saw the conclusion of the municipal election in Vancouver. Spacing was quick to provide interesting analysis and cartographic representation of the results.
Alex Bozikovic discusses his recent piece in Architectural Record talking about the building boom currently reshaping the skyline of Toronto and other Canadian cities. Contrasted with the building stagnation in many American centers our situation is hope for both caution and optimism.
John Lorinc used his column this week to talk about Mark Osbaldeston's new book Unbuilt Toronto 2 which looks at proposed major developments that were never built. Lorinc shows that book reveals several close calls with monstrosities as well as a possible origin of second guessing on transit.
With the City of Ottawa pushing ahead with plans to widen Bronson Ave, Spacing looks at how the traffic artery currently harms the downtown urban fabric and where concerned people can voice criticism of the project.
As part of the Screen Grab feature, Evan Thornton reflects on his new insights on the social history of Ottawa gleaned from the pages of Alain Miguelez's extensive book on the history of theaters in the city.
November 27th, 2011
The Sunday Building Project – Now with Anecdotes!
By Lauren // 1 Comment
The Building Project, along with its fellow inhabitants of Montreal, experienced a cold shock earlier this week - literally, somewhat frigid. Snow, for cripes sake! Snow! As tardy as it was this year (don't we remember crunching across frozen lawns as trick-or-treaters, or enjoying the surprise white precipitate quilt that derails schedules across the city for a day and [less frequently] deems school cancellations in mid-October?), it was beautiful to wake up to the familiar ambient blue glow that saturates the indoors from all daylight sources.
Snow is fun for ...
November 28th, 2011
Watch NFB: Territories
By Julie Matlin // 3 Comments
Editor: Spacing is pleased to continue our partnership with the National Film Board of Canada to showcase films and interactive projects from their online screening room. Julie Matlin of the NFB will be occasionally posting films here on Spacing that explore public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada's greatest resources. Click here to view their entire online collection.
Over the weekend, in conjunction with ...
November 30th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Lots to Parks, Sidewalks to Roads, New Transit and Play
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Can a little greenspace reduce crime? That's the thesis advanced by a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology which analyzed a ten-year project in Philadelphia to turn 4,436 empty lots into park space. Researchers suggest the significant drop in crime is attributable to the way potential criminals view and interpret the space. (Grist)
• In London, traffic planners are experimenting with reduced barriers between motor vehicles and pedestrians on Exhibition Road. The planners are attempting to draw pedestrians back to the cultural centre of the city, using visual cues and textures to communicate proper behaviours while encouraging all road users to slow down. (GOOD)
• The New York Times explores three unconventional but highly successful modes of transportation. In Maine, the Brunswick Explorer is a small fare bus that affords independence to people living in rural communities without access to a car. In Brooklyn, private dollar vans provide an option to folks travelling where other options don't exist. Across the country, the Independent Transportation Network allows users to share rides with those unable to get around on their own. Users can transfer rides earned to those in need or bank them for a future time when they are unable to drive. These alternative models demonstrate that transit solutions require ingenuity and not necessarily major infrastructure investments.
December 3rd, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Downtown Schools, Participatory Budgeting and Development Wars
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Gordon Price used his Prince Points column this week to talk about the drawn out of history of a West End Vancouver condominium proposal. That the final proposal will likely result in the loss of a heritage building shows how extended community consultation must be accompanied with a willingness to compromise.
Christine McLaren, resident blogger with the BMW Guggenheim Lab, tells the story of a trip to the first post-war planned suburb of Levittown, New York and subsequent interactions with leading authors with ideas of how to retrofit it.
As part of the Lansdowne Park redevelopment planners are predicting a 2-3% cycling modal share for sporting events. In his first post for Spacing, Alex Devries examines the issues with this prediction and suggests the infrastructure that will be needed to meet this ambitious goal.
Alex Baltz looks at the fascinating story of two downtown Ottawa schools that were slated for closure as recently as 2004 but are now desperately searching for expansion plans. The story raises questions about how planners think about downtown schools as intensification policies begin to bear fruit.
As part of the ongoing Fourth Wall series looking at ways to break the barriers of citizen engagement at City Hall, Hillary Best takes a look at ways to help facilitate community association organizations and also examines the idea of participatory budgeting and its international best practices.
Continuing the discussion from the food theme in the latest issue of Spacing Magazine, Allie Hunwicks launches a series that will look at cafes and restaurants around the city that are expanding on their role to become community spaces.
December 5th, 2011
The Regionalist: Are cosmopolitanism and regionalism fundamentally at odds?
By Joel Thibert // No Comments
___
There is an apparent contradiction, some would say, between the philosophical/ethical regionalist stance and cosmopolitanism. Regionalism, after all, concerns itself with our (human beings') embeddedness in the ecological, social and economic systems that surround us. It is founded upon the idea that there exist important natural and social phenomena which cannot be apprehended, comprehended and/or acted upon by local, national or international political and ...
December 6th, 2011
Get your Montreal Metro Buttons and Magnets!
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
http://www.24hmontreal.canoe.ca/24hmontreal/actualites/archives/2011/12/20111201-164225.html
Les macarons et les aimants du métro de Montréal sont finalement en vente sur le web! Vous pouvez les acheter individuellement ou bien commander toute la série. Durant le temps des fêtes, ils seront aussi disponibles dans le réseau Distroboto et à la boutique du musée McCord.
Le design de chaque macaron et aimant est inspiré des motifs originaux des stations du métro montréalais. Jusqu’à présent, 25 stations sont représentées: celles de ...
Montréal Lit: Returning
By Gregory McCormick // No Comments
Spacing Montreal is pleased to present this column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
I love Pointe-Saint-Charles. It’s one of those neighborhoods where one can walk down the street and feel history all around. Not the history of movers and shakers, not the men of industry or past glories of our city but the common person’s history: generations of kids who’ve ...
December 7th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Digital placemaking, highway canopy, ferris wheel
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Project for Public Spaces is experimenting with digital placemaking in revitalization efforts for downtown San Antonio. The online platform, Placemap, allows residents to suggest interventions and illustrate their ideas with links and pictures. Participants have noted the advantages of the digital placemaking approach over limited public meetings.
• In 2012, a 5km stretch of Germany's Autobahn 7 will be transformed into a public park - the largest of its kind. The 10 ft tall canopy will reconnect districts divided when the highway was built thirty years ago. (The Weather Network)
• Canadian firm, Bombardier, is piloting a wireless above-ground transit vehicle that recharges its batteries from cables embedded underneath the track. The technology, Primove, eliminates the need for overhead wires or stationary charging stations. Transportation experts anticipate cost and winter-readiness concerns. (Globe and Mail)
December 14th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Power washed murals, bike couriers, pavillions
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.• In Leuven, Belgium, street artist Strook uses moss and a power washer to shape living murals on bare walls. (Colossal)
• Officials in Flanders are taking a serious look at the role that bike couriers can play in reducing vehicle traffic and emissions. Recent studies of local bike courier firms highlight the additional flexibility and reliability of this mode of delivery. Moving forward, the Flemish government will evaluate which packages could be switched over to delivery by bike couriers. (Dutch Mobility)
December 16th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Victoria depuis Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1964-2011
Source : Guillaume St-Jean
December 17th, 2011
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine est et Sanguinet
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1921-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y2-P016
OCPM Takes the Future of Griffintown Online
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
A quick look at the map of Griffintown (pdf) shows that every other block is newly developed, under-construction, or awaiting authorization for transformation. So it may seem odd that the Sud-Ouest borough is only now putting together an integrated urban plan for the sector. In light of this plan, which will eventually be included in Montreal's updated urban, Montreal's Office de Consultation Publique has been given the mandate to open a discussion on Griffintown's future, and develop a vision for the neighbourhood taking into account issues such as:
cohabitation of new projects with current use;
preservation and integration of the neighbourhood's historical and architectural heritage and scale;
transportation demand management, public transit, and parking;
the presence of public spaces and green spaces, and local services;
how development in Griffintown will fit in with other local projects like the Bonaventure redevelopment, the ETS campus, and the Bassins du Nouveau Havre.
Presently, there are a number of competing visions for the neighbourhood : prime real estate near downtown for young professionals, a student area around ETS, a cultural corridor, an opportunity to build more affordable housing for families...
According to Anik Pouliot, the OCPM’s logistics and communications coordinator, that the important thing is to “ensure that there are intentions behind the development, and that it is not just the market that decides.” In short, it looks like the consultation that should have been held five years ago, when about 25 blocks of the industrial area were rezoned to make way for Devimco's 1.3 billion dollar raze-and-rebuild plan, which failed to materialize.
A first online consultation forum
While the OCPM has used online surveys in the past, Pouliot says that «Griffintown selon vous» is the first time that they’ve opened up a true web 2.0-style online discussion forum. The format they have chosen is "a consultation all in pictures": the public is invited to comment on a number of photos of the neighourhood, and may also submit their own photos to spark a discussion.
Spacing Saturday: Downtown Moves, Cosmopolitanism and Ho Chi Minh City
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Erick Villagomez recaps the results of the exciting re:CONNECT design competition to rethink the space currently occupied by Vancouver's downtown traffic viaducts. The story includes links to the winning designs.
As part of the ongoing Video Vancouver series Caroline Toth features an incredible video by Rob Whitworth of the captivating flows of traffic in Vietnam's emerging metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City.
Eric Darwin used two posts in the Walk Space feature this week to give a "biased, slanted and opinionated" overview of Ottawa's Downtown Moves initiative to improve downtown connections and prepare for the upcoming underground LRT. The first post focuses on connections to the west end as well as what to do about key streets including the Sparks Street pedestrian mall.
In the second part of his post on the Downtown Moves initiative Eric Darwin focuses on pedestrian experience and how to avoid and correct the deadening effects of certain buildings that ignore the street.
Hilary Best continued the discussion on breaking barriers to citizen engagement through The Fourth Wall series this week. The series looked at the increasing size of local government, analyzing the history of Toronto's amalgamations and comparing councillor to constituent ratios around the world. The series also began a look at the election process by suggesting ways improve outreach to run for office.
Concerned about the way that cities are often neglected or portrayed darkly in children's books, Todd Harrison presents a selection from his family library of books for children that celebrate and take place in cities, just in time for Christmas.
December 18th, 2011
Montage du jour : La Banque Royale du Canada, intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine est et Amherst
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1930-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z114
Photo du jour: Paroise Saint-Étienne
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
With the abundance of churches in Quebec, I'm always surprised to find religious groups occupying non-traditional sites, like this Catholic church in a ground-floor of an old-folks' residence on Christophe-Colomb (Petite-Patrie).
The priest seems to have kept a website for some time, which provides insight into why the parish decided to sell their church to the residence's developers, and how the parish's identity has changed since the church was demolished and they began "celebrating mass around a table."
December 19th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Sainte-Catherine est depuis Amherst
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1914-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y1-P006
Confessions of a Condo Architect
By Alanah Heffez // 9 Comments
[caption id="attachment_12745" align="alignnone" width="435" caption="Image via la Presse"][/caption]
Right after completing her Masters degree in Architecture, Alex got a job with a local firm that designs those condominiums you always see cropping up in the Plateau, Rosemont and Villeray. We have all seen these new constructions and shuddered, or perhaps just sighed it could be worse. The blocks are neither offensive nor inspiring: they're mediocre at best.
“We’re creating a generation of condos that are really ugly," Alex says,"It’s as bad as the 'eighties. Frankly, I think it’s going to be worse.”
She runs ...
December 20th, 2011
Montage du jour : La maison Hubert Lacroix
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1960-2011
Cette ancienne maison de ferme construite en 1690 fut déménagée à Carignan en 1964.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94C196-0530
December 21st, 2011
Montage du jour : Édifices à fonction résidentielle et commerciale, rue st-Antoine près de Berri
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1953-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z500-86
Comment rendre ta rue plus sécuritaire (en 10 étapes faciles)
By Émile Thomas // 1 Comment
De menaçant à vivable — un court tronçon de goudron à Montréal est devenu plus sécuritaire pour tous ceux qui habitent dans (et transitent par) mon quartier. Comment peux-tu effectuer une telle transformation chez toi ? Suis avec une rigoureuse exactitude les indications ci-dessous :
World Wide Wednesday: Busways, SMS tickets and haikus
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The Atlantic Cities looks at some key lessons learned from America's busway systems (segregated roads left exclusively to bus traffic) - Boston's Silver Line, Los Angeles' Orange Line, the Miami Busway and the Pittsburgh Busway. Best practices include off-board fare collection, elevated boarding platforms and signal priority at intersections with auto traffic.
• Belgian transportation company, De Lijn, is pioneering the SMS ticketing system on public transit systems in Antwerp and Gent. Users text a number and receive confirmation of their purchase by text message which they can then show to the driver and use to transfer between lines. SMS tickets are applied to mobile bills and save users up to 28% of the cost of standard tickets. (Dutch Mobility)
• It's "poetry in motion" according to NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. Known for her innovative approach to safer streets, JSK's new poster campaign to improve road safety uses haikus and bold images by artist John Morse to catch attention. (Transportation Nation)
December 22nd, 2011
Montage du jour : La caserne de pompier # 6
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1920-2011
La caserne de pompier # 6 fut construite en 1872 à l'intersection des rues Ontario et Hôtel-de-Ville. Elle fut utilisée jusqu'en 1964.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z418-C
December 23rd, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue du boulevard St-Laurent vers le Nord depuis Sherbrooke
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1920-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94Z12
December 24th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Stanley derrière l’hôtel Windsor
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y2-P062
Sad End in Sight for the Lower Main
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
This week the the Lower Main redevelopment saga is drawing to a sad and quiet close: on December 21st, the Ville-Marie borough ordered the demolition of 1190 to 1220 boulevard Saint-Laurent. The five buildings, which were constructed between 1889 and 1900, have been left vacant since the Société de Développement Angus purchased them in 2009.
Given that the owner has not maintained the properties or even heated them during the winter, it's no surprise that the centennial buildings have become so dilapidated that they present a risk to public safety and fire hazard. The ...
December 25th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’hôtel Laurentien
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2011
L'hôtel Laurentien qui ouvrit ses portes en 1948 fut démoli en 1978.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z181-3
Photo du Jour : Noel à saveur de Montréal
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
A calèche trots along Beaubien, in front of the a bagel shop and a restaurant offering a mix of Hots Dogs, Souvlakis and Italian food. In the coming year, we'll be talking a lot about how food shapes the urban landscape and defines the Montreal experience here on Spacing Montreal.
Happy Holidays!
December 26th, 2011
Montage du jour : La résidence de Hormidas Laporte
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1946-2011
Cette résidence du boulevard René-Lévesque qui fut occupée par le 27e maire de Montréal (1904-1906) fut démolie dans les années 1960 lors de l'élargissement de la voie publique.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-2
December 27th, 2011
Montage du jour : Une résidence située au 1896 boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1946-2011
Cette résidence qui fut occupée par le Collège des Médecins pendant plusieurs années fut démolie dans les années 1960 lors de l'élargissement de la voie publique.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-13
L’adoption du PMAD à la quasi-unanimité: un faux consensus?
By Joel Thibert // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_12820" align="alignleft" width="621" caption="Membres de la Commission de l'aménagement de la CMM. Crédit photo: CMM"][/caption]
La nouvelle n'est plus très fraîche, mais cela ne peut pas faire de tort que de le répéter: le Plan métropolitain d'aménagement et développement (PMAD) - le premier plan régional de l'histoire du Grand Montréal - a finalement été adopté le 7 décembre dernier par le Conseil de la Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM).
L'adoption du PMAD n'a surpris personne, puisque Montréal, Longueuil et les municipalités de la couronne ...
December 28th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’Asile des vieillards des Petites Soeurs des Pauvres
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 8-12-b
Montreal’s first traffic light
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Red means stop; green means go: It's just about the only thing that people across North America can wholeheartedly agree upon. They are such a structuring element of our environment that it's hard to believe that some of our grandparents have been around for longer than our traffic lights.
On November 16th 1927, The Montreal Gazette reported on the first traffic signal in Montreal, in front of the Craig Street Terminal, on what is now the corner of Saint-Antoine and Saint-Urbain. Each day, 25,000 pedestrians crossed Craig street to ...
December 29th, 2011
Montage du jour : L’hôtel de ville de Montréal après l’incendie de 1922
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1922-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, R3067-2-1-275E
December 30th, 2011
Montage du jour : Le centre Raymond Préfontaine, 3100 rue Rachel est
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1930-2008
Cet ancien hôpital pour les maladies contagieuses, construit en 1886 et mieux connu sous le nom de centre Raymond Préfontaine est à l'abandon depuis 1978.
Un projet de condos, le U31, conçu par le promoteur Rachel Julien, verra le jour sous peu en ces lieux. L'édifice ancestral sera conservé et réinterprété de façon contemporaine (principalement au niveau des ouvertures) tandis qu'un ensemble d'édifices en forme de «U» d'une hauteur de 6 à 8 étages sera implanté à l'arrière....
December 31st, 2011
Montage du jour : L’Académie St-Antoine, intersection des rues de Lagauchetière et de l’Inspecteur
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y2-P063
January 1st, 2012
Montage du jour : Enfouissement des fils électriques, rue de la Montagne
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1930-2011
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y1-P036-2
January 2nd, 2012
Montage du jour : Édifice commercial et résidentiel, intersection des rues Maisonneuve et St-André
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1947-2008
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM6, R4825-2
January 3rd, 2012
Montage du jour : La chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Pitié
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1911-2011
La chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Pitié fut construite en 1856 sur un terrain où se dressait la maison-mère des sœurs de la congrégation de Notre-Dame.
Elle fut démolie en 1912 lors du prolongement vers le sud du boulevard St-Laurent.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte, 7-30-d
January 4th, 2012
Montage du jour : Une vue du boulevard St-Laurent vers le nord depuis Sainte-Catherine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2007
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte
World Wide Wednesday: Ghettos, hospitals and green zoning
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Which Canadian cities are seeing the fastest ghettoization? Researchers from Queen's University, University of Toronto and StatsCan released a working paper in December showing increasing segregation by income in virtually all of the country's major cities. (Huffington Post)
• Cradled next to the State Department, the Vietnam and Korean War Veterans Memorials, the World War II Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial, architect Moshe Safdie's design for the U.S. Institute of Peace transformed a navy parking lot into a monument for humanity. (Huffington Post)
• Behold Boxpark - the world's first pop-up shopping mall. The London retail location is comprised of 60 shipping containers (five wide, two high). Owner Roger Wade calls it the most environmentally friendly shopping mall ever built and promises "after five years, we'll return the land back to its owners in exactly the same condition as we got it, and then the community can decide if it wants a more permanent retail space there." (CNN)
January 5th, 2012
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Bleury près de René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1910-2007
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte
January 6th, 2012
Montage du jour : Une vue de la rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest près de Metcalfe
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1895-2007
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte
January 7th, 2012
Montage du jour : La cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1899-2008
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle.
Spacing Saturday: Optimism, Falling Crime Rates and the Vancouver Special
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Yuri Artibise tells the story of a specific group of the 'Vancouver Special,' a stock housing design developed in the 1960's which was made cheaply available and manifested in several thousand houses throughout Vancouver. The group of houses tell a unique story of the history of the Strathcona neighbourhood.
Cameron Barker examines the striking architecture of the new Visitors Centre recently opened at Vancouver's Van Dusen Gardens.
Predicting that this new year will not only be good to Ottawa but will make it the Canadian city to watch in 2012, Alan Miguelez presents the top ten reasons for optimism in 2012.
Mark Brandt reviews the book Cities as Crucibles: Reflections on Canada's Urban Future by Francois Lapointe, current VP of Capital Planning at the National Commission, and finds it to be a comprehensive and accessible understanding of how to re-create Canadian cities in the coming years.
Toronto's homicide rate hit a 25 year low in 2011, John Lorinc reflects on the reasons behind this success as well as the shifting politics behind public safety in the city under Rob Ford.
Alex Bozikovic's No Mean City architectural feature asks tough questions about the soullessness of international waterfront redevelopment based on recent states from leading architect Rem Koolhaas.
In a separate post No Mean City also pays homage to the walk-up apartment, advocating how this residential form could fill an important niche in Toronto's housing market which is currently neglected.
January 8th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’orphelinat St-Patrick
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2008
L'orphelinat St-Patrick, qui fut construit en 1851 sur un terrain en bordure de la basilique St-Patrick fut démoli en 1904.
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle.
January 9th, 2012
Montage du jour : La chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1899-2009
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle.
January 10th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’hôtel de ville de St-Henri
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2008
Le premier hôtel de ville de St-Henri fut érigé en 1883 à l'intersection des rues St-Henri et St-Jacques.
L'édifice qui logeait également une caserne de pompier fut démoli en 1930 et fut remplacé par la caserne #23 qui s'y trouve encore aujourd'hui.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94Z14
January 11th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le monastère du Bon Pasteur
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2012
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle.
World Wide Wednesday: Dark and empty places, neighbourhood names and parking lots
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• While most global cities boast round the clock activity, made possible by armies of streetlights, many cities are moving to reduce nighttime lighting to save money on electrical bills. Citizens have expressed concern about safety, environmentalists welcome a darker night sky and others are exploring solar or concentrated lighting systems to reduce costs and focus the illumination where it is needed. (NYTimes)
• A photographer in London, a city famous for 24-hour hustle and bustle, captured what happens when the streets are empty on Christmas morning. (Flickr)
• Forget the metropolis. The new unit of urbanity ought to be the megapolitan area, argue Arthur Nelson and Robert Lang, authors of the new book Megapolitan America. By 2040, they forsee a United States carved up into 23 "megapolitan" areas - large regions of interconnected metropolitan areas. While issues such as housing and education will be controlled at a smaller scale, the authors argue that the megapolitan area will be the unit of choice for transportation, economic development, and environmental planning. (The Atlantic Cities)
January 12th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’école Aberdeen
By Guillaume St-Jean // 8 Comments
Vers 1900-2012
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 6069
January 13th, 2012
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Denis et Sherbrooke est
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1920-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y2-P075
January 14th, 2012
Montage du jour : La synagogue Shaar Hashomayim, avenue McGill College
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2012
Ce temple de style victorien fut érigé en 1866 sur l’avenue McGill college qui était alors bordée de luxueuses maisons en rangée. Tout comme les autres synagogues de la ville, celle-ci sera abandonnée par sa communauté en 1922 suite à la construction d’un nouveau lieu de culte plus vaste à Westmount. Sa date de démolition est inconnue.
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 6048
Spacing Saturday: Urban Screen, City Place and the Family Motel
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Toronto's City Place Neighbourhood Rises
Don Schuetze continues the theme of urban screen, sharing his experience of stumbling across the opening night of a Surrey art exhibition and witnessing the reactions to it.
Yuri Artibise reviews The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver written largely by Chuck Davis, the city's unofficial historian, and completed posthumously by friends and admirers. Artibise concludes that the book is perhaps the most accessible history of Vancouver yet written, talking down the idea that city has no history.
From the position of a former Policy Adviser and Senior Assistant to a councillor, Donna Silver presents the top ten ways to reduce unnecessary tension between citizens and their planning department and restore confidence in city planning.
As part of the Forgotten Vanier feature Mike Steinhauer looks at the rise and fall of the Butler Motor Hotel as a parable for the history of small family-run motels across Canada and the fading built legacy they left.
Could you cycle between Montreal and Toronto in three days? Niki Siabanis presents the first in a series of posts intimately and honestly describing a summer three day cycling journey between Canada's two largest cities.
The jury is still out on City Place, the forest of sleek glass condominiums taking shape on Toronto's former railway lands. Ryan Bolton gives readers an inside scoop from a resident of the community, finding it far from a ghetto but still in need of some love.
Meet Liza Frulla, Mayoress-in-the-Making
By Joel Thibert // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_12934" align="alignleft" width="602" caption="Liza Frulla when she was vice-president of the radio station CKAC in 1988. Source: www.radioville.info"][/caption]
The rumor has been circulating for a while among the city's politicos, and since there's been no denial on her part, we can only assume it's at least half true: Liza Frulla (the Honourable!) is seriously considering running for Mayor in 2013. And there's no question that if she did, she would be hard to beat (given her notoriety and TV presence), so we ...
January 15th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le refuge St. Bridget
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1899-2012
Construit en 1869 et démoli en 1977.
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle.
Battleground Montreal, round two
By Devin Alfaro // 2 Comments
The provincial electoral map of the Montreal region.
Last spring during the federal election I wrote an article about the possibility of Montreal becoming a major battleground region in federal politics. After the ballots were counted this possibility was turned into a reality with over half of Montreal's incumbent MPs going down to defeat, creating a radically different political landscape. Unfortunately, in the short term the results of the election were negative for Montreal: a majority government that is at best indifferent, at worst hostile, to the interests of our region. But in the mid and long term it can only be an advantage for us that finally no party can take Montrealers for granted and that they will all have to actively work to win our support.
Now with the next Quebec election looming, a repeat scenario is looking more and more possible at the provincial level. Just like at the federal level, Montreal has long been a region of safe seats. The anglophone and allophone ridings vote Liberal, the francophone ridings vote PQ and maybe a few in the middle flip back and forth. This has been our city's political geography since the PQ's breakthough election of 1976. Elections in Quebec are thus made in the suburbs and a few swing regions, leaving Montreal often neglected. As a result we get a metro to Laval but no metro to Anjou; a commuter train to Saint-Jérome but no rail link from downtown to the airport; a stadium in Quebec City and an interchange in Montreal that no one in the city wants. But the political scene is changing quickly and it's looking like we're in for another paradigm shift.
January 16th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’Académie St-Patrick, rue St-Alexandre
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1899-2012
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle.
La dernière immunité sonore ?
By Alexandre Campeau-Vallée // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_12992" align="alignnone" width="614" caption="Église Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix reconvertie en condos. Rue St-Laurent. Photo: AlexandreCv"][/caption]
Entendre l’histoire
Depuis quelques décennies, plusieurs églises de Montréal ont été reconverties afin de recevoir des fonctions plus rentables. Dans des circonstances de raréfaction des fidèles, donc des revenus, c’est souvent l’option la plus intéressante lorsque les choix restants sont la démolition ou l’abandon. Le débat que suscite la reconversion des églises est habituellement d’ordre patrimonial et religieux, avec ses questions inhérentes sur la conservation de l’intégrité architecturale et la place ...
January 17th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’hôtel de ville après l’incendie du 3 mars 1922
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
1922-2012
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 5630
January 18th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’hôpital général de Montréal
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2012
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 2838
Urban Planet: How the Dutch Got Their Cycle Paths
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Today, World Wide Wednesday becomes Urban Planet (please no jokes!), a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• The Netherlands has the world's largest number of cyclists. But this low-lying country wasn't always a two-wheel paradise. This video, posted by markeniel, documents the country's tumultous cycling history: a focus on car travel, the proliferation of surface parking lots, protests, the oil crisis, and the advent of pro-cycling policies.
For more stories from around ...
January 19th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le jardin de l’enfance
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1899-2012
Cet édifice fut construit en 1883, acheté par la ville de Montréal en 1963 et démoli en 1963-1964 pour permettre la construction du métro.
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle.
Urban Planet: Saving Modernism’s Treasures
By Hilary Best // 2 Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
They are the buildings you love to hate. "The machines for living in". The brutal structures of High Modernism, constructed in the 1960s and 70s, are beginning to show their age. Now, historic preservation laws in many countries will attempt to keep these buildings in tact - protecting their ...
January 20th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le jardin de l’enfance (2)
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1959-2012
Source : Stampsahoi via Flickr
Urban Planet: Smart Cities
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Fast Company asks: what makes a city smart? Boyd Cohen, author of this ranking of the top ten smartest cities on the planet, defines them as "cities [that] use information and communication technologies (ICT) to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of resources, resulting in cost and ...
January 21st, 2012
Montage du jour : L’Académie du Sacré-Coeur, rue St-Alexandre
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2011
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP 6220
Spacing Saturday: The Golden Rule, Planning Politics and Little Mountain Rennoviction
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Following the recent release of new redevelopment plans, Andrew Witt tells the story of the controversial Little Mountain social housing redevelopment. The project has been criticized for decade late return dates, encouraging gentrification and falling short of new affordable housing units.
As part of his Price Points feature Gordon Price looks at the history of the Burnaby Metrotown as a harbinger of a growing regional awareness and planning initiative in the 1970's in light of thesis work by David Pereira.
While praising Ottawa's Transportation Master Plan, Alex Devries synthesizes a golden rule that cycling advocates in the city must work around: "No change to drivers at any cost." Devries uses a lists of successful project to show how cycling advocates have worked around this rule.
Alexandre Laquerre used his Maintenant & Avant feature this week to show off 110 years of change on the upper Rideau Canal showing a city that has both matured greatly and moved away from the railway.
Adria Young features a provocative public art installation on the site of Halifax's new downtown convention centre. The installation, Town Square by Scott Saunders draws on the site's public consultation controversy by populating the site with ghostly business figures.
Abad Khan provides an update on a story which appeared in the fall issue of Spacing Magazine about two different strategies to road widening proposals in Moncton and Halifax. Moncton's bold approach of reducing car lanes has received vindication while Halifax's road widening has become tangled in politics.
Spacing's Dylan Reid reports back from the fascinating proceedings of a recent University of Toronto conference "Is there Planning Law or just City Politics?" The conference provided a lot of insight and opinions on Ontario's convoluted planning process.
Niki Siabanis continues taking readers along her summer cycling journey from Toronto to Montreal, with the second day including a brief stint on the 401 and the beauty of the thousand islands.
January 23rd, 2012
Urban Planet: Flash! Comics Explain Transportation Demand Management
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
If there's too much congestion, why not build more roads? The laws of congestion and transportation demand management aren't necessarily intuitive. Which is why Brent Toderian, chief planner for the City of Vancouver, was so pleased to see comic book hero The Flash discuss ...
Seeking feedback about electronic payment in public transit
By Alanah Heffez // 19 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="image cc Antoine Belaieff"][/caption]
I've been invited to participate in a conference organized by the association québécoise du transport et des routes (AQTR), called « La mobilité urbaine à l’heure du paiement électronique ». This non-profit works in collaboration with the Ministère des transports du Québec. The conference is geared towards transportation planners, management, consultants, and designers in the public and private sectors. I've been invited to discuss how electronic payment could help improve mobility for transit users.... apparently I'm meant to speak right before the OPUS marketing team. ...
January 24th, 2012
Urban Planet: Pedestrian behaviour
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
When trying to plan pedestrian environments, the answer may be to follow the crowd. Mehdi Moussaid of the Max Planck Institute and Dirk Helbing of ETH Zurich study pedestrian behaviour. Using computer models and particle theory, they analyze decision making patterns of people travelling by foot. ...
January 25th, 2012
Urban Planet: Temporary Architecture
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
We often think of architecture as a permanent art form, but temporary installations are becoming more and more pervasive. Think pop-up shops, post-disaster shelters, mobile food carts, streets cafes and pocket parks. Allison Arieff at the New York Times considers the challenges and advantages that ...
January 26th, 2012
Urban Planet: Rem Koolhaas
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Spiegel speaks with starchitect Rem Koolhaas about the magazine's new building, generic urban design, the changing role of the architect and the negative outcomes of commercial and bureaucratic impulses.
Image from Spiegel
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do ...
Mind the Marsh (Or how the CN-MTQ dispute may alter the future of the Turcot Interchange)
By Jacob Larsen // 1 Comment
The buried Otter Lake occupied a good deal of the present-day Turcot Yards (courtesy of Walking Turcot Yards)
The Ministry of Transport has hit a major snag in its plans to replace the crumbling Turcot Interchange.
Last week, le Soleil reported that “high level” negotiations between the Ministry of Transport and CN would be required, with ex-premier Daniel Johnson at the helm. The sticky issues include a CN bridge used by motorists in Quebec City, and the MTQ’s plans for the rail company's right-of-way ...
January 27th, 2012
Urban Planet: Highway Caps
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Highways can carve up and scar urban neighbourhoods, which is why many North American cities are looking for ways to cover this infrastructure and restore community. The Chicago Tribune explores the experience of Columbus, Ohio which saw increased pedestrian traffic and business for local stores following the ...
January 28th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Wellington Barracks, a Leslie Street Gateway and Dispatches from Edmonton
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
The Video Vancouver feature presented its first original video this week, capturing the atmosphere of Vancouver at the winter solstice, a feeling described as unique amongst Canadian cities.
Yuri Artibise reviews new work by Emmanuel Buenviaje who uses mix of photography and graphic design to create images of his Mount Pleasant neighbourhood that capture the intricacy and history of Vancouver's older and industrial districts.
Members of the Spacing Ottawa diaspora returned this week with posts from their new home cities. David McClelland writes about his observations of Niagara Region's new inter-city regional bus service as a prime example of the question of what comes first: the transit or the riders?
Adam Bentley, a Spacing Ottawa contributor who recently moved to Edmonton, shares his observations of his first several months in the city including its good and planning history. His central conclusion: Edmonton doesn't suck.
As part of the ongoing Altantic Snapshots series Stephen Archibald profiles the Wellington Barracks. Hidden within an active Canadian Forces Base, the barracks is amongst Halifax's most important mid-nineteenth century buildings, retaining significant elements of grandeur.
Like the ends of many north-south streets in Toronto, the bottom of Leslie Street presents a fantastic opportunity to become a gateway to the waterfront. Dylan Reid presents a detailed plan to capitalize on an excellent opportunity at the bottom of Leslie despite heel dragging from the City.
Niki Siabinis completes the tale of her three day cycling journey from Toronto to Montreal within a marathon last day that includes construction obstacles, night riding and lots of sore muscles.
January 30th, 2012
Urban Planet: Citizen Cartography
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
“The map user has now become the map creator,” says Fraser Taylor, Director of the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre at Carleton University. In a recent article on This Big City, author Christine McLaren explores the phenomenon of citizen cartographers. With the proliferation of ...
January 31st, 2012
Photo du jour : Wilfred Laurier monument
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
The back of the Wilfred Laurier monument, in Dorchester Square, as seen last fall. Its design features the crests of the provinces imbedded in a stylized tree trunk.
Urban Planet: Anamorphic Gardens
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
The Smithsonian Magazine explores Who to Believe?, a Parisian garden in front of City Hall designed by Francois Abelanet. Playing with the traditions of the French garden and Anamorphosis, Abelanet shows that the view of City Hall is quite different depending on where you stand.
Video from WorldScott
For more stories from around ...
February 1st, 2012
Spacing party in Vancouver this Friday!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
WHAT: Spacing's 2nd national issue release party
WHEN: Friday February 3rd, 2012, 9pm-1am
WHERE: Canvas Lounge (99 Powell St. in Gastown)
HOW MUCH: free! (mag costs $5)
RSVP: Let us know if you can come at our Facebook event listing
The editors of Spacing and contributors of Spacing Vancouver are excited to announce that the magazine will host a release party at the Canvas Lounge in Vancouver to celebrate the publication of the newest national issue. We will have some fun activities and a few door prizes.
This event is held in conjunction with the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS).
Urban Planet: Urban Highway Removal
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Anthony Flint at The Atlantic Cities explores the expansion of urban highway removal across more North America centres and notes the cultural tensions that can flare when such a major piece of infrastructure is slated for demolition. Also worth checking out, the Atlantic Cities has ...
The Regionalist: Of suburbs, genes and childhood memories
By Joel Thibert // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_13126" align="alignleft" width="565" caption="The so-called "prototypical average suburban American white middle-class family". Source: ThirdAge.com"][/caption]
One of the most politically charged and ideologically loaded question in the field of metropolitan studies is that which concerns people's motivations to live where they live within a given urban region - i.e., why some people choose the suburbs over the city, or the countryside over the suburbs, etc. In the US, this question has strong racial overtones because of the raging debate (outside of academia, mostly) as to whether black ...
Opposition showdown in Rosemont on the horizon
By Devin Alfaro // 4 Comments
Vieux-Rosemont council district.
Last week Vieux-Rosemont city councillor Pierre Lampron resigned, citing personal reasons. Having previously been the president of SODEC and later vice-president of Quebecor, he was presented as a star candidate (well, as close as it gets in municipal politics) by Louise Harel during the 2009 election. And when Benoit Labonté was expelled from the party, he became Vision's candidate for chairman of the Executive Comittee. After losing the mayor's race, Harel named him as the Official Opposition's finance critic.
Lamrpon further explained his reasons for resigning in an interview with Rue Masson, essentially stating that he found being an opposition councillor tiring and that he wanted to move on to other projects. While not particularly expected, this resignation does not come as a big surprise to city hall observers. After Vision's loss in the last election, some wondered whether the former executive would be interested in being a "mere" city councillor. Moreover, in 2010 he suffered health problems and was absent from city council for a few months. And finally, he had also been criticised for not being very present in his district.
This resignation means that in the next few months a by-election will be called to elect a new councillor. The outcome of the election will not change the balance of power on either the Montreal-wide city council or the local borough council. It will, however, be an important test of strength for the opposition parties. In 2009 Pierre Lampron won 42% of the vote against 34% for Projet Montréal's Christine Gosselin, a relatively unknown newcomer.
February 2nd, 2012
Photo du jour : Dorchester Square
By Devin Alfaro // 1 Comment
Dorchester Square looking towards the north, as seen last fall. The prominent statue is a monument to Montrealers who fought in the Boer War. Extremely unpopular amongst Francophones, who saw it as an imperialist war that didn't concern them, Anglophones rallied around it as loyal British subjects.
Urban Planet: Witold Rybcyznski vs Richard Florida
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Grist talks to urbanist Witold Rybczynski about his recent efforts to call out Richard Florida for playing "fast and loose" with income statistics for American urban centres. Florida posited a positive relationship between density and household income, using figures for metropolitan areas rather than city ...
Sim City: Welcome to Spacington
By Dylan Collie // 8 Comments
Well, here it is: Spacington. The new look of 21st century urbanism- well, kind of. The truth is there is nothing here yet, and that is because this is just the beginning. Every week this plot of land, slowly or quickly, will become our Sim City version a 21st century urban city.
During the week the Spacing team and myself will attempt to develop Spacington into a walkable, densely populated, diverse cityscape. Borrowing some suggestions from urban theorists such as Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, and Ken Greenberg, as well as the LRT focus of 21st century urbanism, Spacington will become a simulated version urban city we all want. Check the blogs every Thursday and keep on track with our city's evolution.
February 3rd, 2012
Urban Planet: Super tall
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Mark Lamster and Alexandra Lange at Places:The Design Observer discuss Supertall - a recent exhibit on the world's tallest buildings at New York's Skyscraper Museum. The exhibition focuses on buildings built between 2001 and 2016 that are taller than the Empire State Building (100 stories ...
February 4th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Transit Planning, the Tall Building Century and Founding Spacington
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
A new city was founded this week, the city of Spacington . Spacing staffers will use Sim City to attempt to turn Spacington into a 21st century utopia over the coming weeks using feedback from reader commentary. Comment early, comment often and help build the city.
Gordon Price uses the Prince Points feature to look into the story of a cluster of towers at Lougheed Town Centre. Through the work of David Pereira, Price explores the tower's connections to Simon Fraser University and why such density was built in the midst of what was significant greenfield at the time.
While many questioned the future of the skyscraper after September 11th, Sean Ruthen shows that the last decade may have precipitated a century in which the tall building will be zeitgeist. Through his review of Andres Janser's new book Highrise Idea and Reality, Ruthen discusses the global phenomenon which has seen the number of high rise buildings on earth double in the past 10 years.
Jay Baltz reports on the ongoing effort to enact guidelines on Ottawa's use of Section 37, the portion of Ontario's Planning Act that facilitates density bonusing, and criticizes how the guidelines have changed over a year of consultations.
Eric Darwin uses the Walkspace feature to highlight some of the difficulties Ottawa pedestrians face this time of year through a photo series of a good samaritan getting no respect from drivers.
As Saint John enjoys the completion of its new Official Plan, Morgan Lanigan comments on how the next step will be a thorough review of the Zoning By-law in light of the lessons learned over the 40 years of urban planning.
As disagreement on council continues to leave Toronto's transit planning in shambles, John Lorinc weighs in on the roles of various actors in the debate and who needs to step up to restore order.
Shawn Micalleff uses the Toronto Flaneur feature to react to John Tory's appointment to head up the revitalization of Ontario Place, making a compelling argument that the rethink should stay rooted in the site's rich past while emphasizing its role as a public space.
Photo du jour : Most beneficient and most glorious reign
By Devin Alfaro // 8 Comments
Detail of a monument to Queen Victoria, in Dorchester Square. The amount of "The Maple Leaf Forever" style kitsch in this one public space is really over the top.
February 6th, 2012
Photo du jour : Bière d’épinette de Chez-Nous
By Devin Alfaro // 4 Comments
A wonderfully kitschy gem located on Marie-Anne just east of De Lorimier, in the east end of the Plateau. Unfortunately the casse-croûte in question is boarded up.
Urban Planet: Pedestrian Desire Lines
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Two major road revitalization projects in London, England have planners talking about pedestrian priority and behaviour. As The Economist reports, improvements to Oxford Circus and Exhibition Road have required a fundamental re-examination of pedestrian "desire lines" - the paths individuals choose to take, as ...
February 7th, 2012
Urban Planet: White Ribbons in Moscow
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
In Moscow last week, drivers adorned their vehicles with white flags and ribbons to show their support for protests against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The city's Garden Ring highway was jammed with cars, demonstrating the widespread involvement of the urban middle class in ...
February 8th, 2012
Photo du jour : Silo 5
By Devin Alfaro // 3 Comments
The Old Port's Silo 5, out of commission since 1996.
Urban Planet: Walking, talking and texting
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Can you walk and text? Researchers at Stony Brook University suggest that while you may be able to multi-task, you likely walk a bit differently when you do. Participants in the study walked 16 per cent slower while talking and 33 per cent slower ...
February 9th, 2012
Urban Planet: Pedestrian Signals
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Walk. Don't Walk. Could urban designers get a bit more creative when it comes to pedestrian signals? This cute animation by designer Li Ming Hsing illustrates the possibilities when pedestrian signals are given free reign. (...
February 10th, 2012
Sim City: Week One in Spacington
By Dylan Collie // 1 Comment
It's not much of 21st century urban city yet, but in the first week of Spacington's developments we have focused on a couple things.
With the amount of great suggestions we received since Spacington's launch last week, we have taken the majority of them into consideration (skipping over some of the more anti-Rob Ford suggestions such as adding ferris wheels and extensive subway to low-density neighbourhoods) and added the Network Addon Mod, the Street Addon Mod, and additional LRT stations ensuring the best possible results.
Urban Planet: Demolition Dilemmas
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Many American cities, facing shrinking populations and vacant buildings, are deconstructing and redeveloping large swaths of land. But as Next American City reports, while the vision of revitalization has been sold to the masses, communication about the hazards of demolition have not been so ...
February 11th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Ontario Place, Suburban Versailles and Imperial Kitsch
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Building on the idea of the 100 mile diet which encourages consuming local foods, Eric Villagomez profiles an ideas competition into the design of a 100 mile house. The competition aims to explore ways that a modern house could be constructed from local materials.
Gordon Price brings readers the story of how the towers and striking gardens of the City in the Park development were successfully built in an unlikely location. The story is a another look at the history of town centers throughout Metro Vancouver and holds lessons for successful public consultation.
A forced closure of the Transitway this week diverted a solid stream of buses onto nearby Scott Street, although the scene presented some interesting video, it also raised questions about how the city will deal with the impending closure of the Transitway to accommodate LRT construction.
Shawn Micallef continues his look into the potential future for Ontario Place, the now defunct attraction on Toronto's Waterfront, bringing his own personal ideas as well as those of a host of other prominent planners and designers.
Dylan Reid follows up on a previous post about the potential to develop lower Leslie Street into a gateway to the waterfront. His experiences at a recent public meeting show the interplay of politics and long-term planning as well as the need to rethink the EA process.
February 12th, 2012
Photo du jour: pick-up game
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Parc de Lorimier, parc Laurier below.
Boundaries or Barriers for Petite-Patrie-Mile-End?
By Alanah Heffez // 14 Comments
[caption id="attachment_13241" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Image from the Passages sur la voie ferrée Facebook group"][/caption]
Last summer I moved from NDG to Petite Patrie and, for the fist time, I began to move through the city primarily in a North-South axis - with most of my weekly activities bookended between UQAM and the Jean-Talon market - rather than in the East-West axis. (For the curious, my previous bookends would have been Akhavahn Iranian grocery on Sherbrooke and Grand, and my parents' place near de Lorimier and Mount ...
February 13th, 2012
Urban Planet: Extending the Lives of Bridges
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
The U.S. is home to nearly 73,000 structurally deficient bridges. Though you'd think that such bridges would be high priority infrastructure projects, the waiting list for replacement spans several decades. Enter Mohamed Saafi, a civil engineer at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, who has developed ...
February 14th, 2012
Photo du jour: J’aime ma ruelle
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Bonne St-Valentin!
Graffiti près de de la Roche et Saint-Joseph.
Attention all map lovers: Spacing’s Creative Mapping Contest!
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE?
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc....)
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
KEEP UP TO DATE: Visit the Creative Mapping Contest web page for updates and feel free to "RSVP" to our event listing on Facebook in order to receive reminders about the deadline and other announcements.
Urban Planet: Outdoor Ad Ban in São Paulo
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
This 10 minute documentary explores São Paulo's experiences in banning outdoor advertising and the political maneuvers that led to the implementation and evolution of its Clean City law.
Video from pansouthproductions
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like ...
February 15th, 2012
Photo du jour: Winter washing
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Towels hanging to dry on a sunny, -10 day, in the allwey between de la Roche and Brébeuf.
Urban Planet: Before & After Photos of London Riots
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Riots in London, England caused massive damage this past summer. The Guardian's interactive photo feature allows users to fast forward six months to see the way buildings, streets and neighbourhoods have recovered.
Image from The Guardian
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on ...
February 16th, 2012
Urban Planet: Jay Walkers
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
On Mother Nature Network, Chris Turner asks, where did the term "jay walker" come from? Back in the early twentieth century, "jay walkers" were those who carelessly wandered in the way of other pedestrians and later motorists. 'Jay' was a derogatory term for a ...
February 17th, 2012
Sim City: Walking and LRT in Spacington
By Dylan Collie // 2 Comments
Spacington is slowly getting bigger. The population is still low at around 1,500 residents, but nevertheless the city has adopted it's first LRT system. The current LRT system consists of only one line, but the square-shaped route replaces previous car commutes to the opposite side of the city. Although thet LRT in Spacington isn't heavily used, it more importantly initiated the groundwork for future transit.
The city is divided into mixed use streets and sections. Therefore, the majority of residence commute by walking at most a couple of blocks or in some cases only across the street (shown in the picture above).
Urban Planet: Best Cities for Street Food
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
It's lunch time. Are you angling for some street meat? Chances are good that you'll have to wander a little further from home if you are looking for a great street meal. Food and Wine Magazine profiles the top ten cities for street food, including ...
February 18th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Affordability, Lighting Winter Space and LRT
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
European Lights Festivals may be a way to enliven public space in the Canadian winter.
With Vancouver having been many times named one of the world's least affordable cities Mayor Gregor Robinson has appointed a 'Blue Ribbon Affordability Task Force.' Sean Antrim profiles the appointees to the task force and critiques its composition.
The theme of affordability was tied heavily with a discussion about the Downtown East Side, another major theme on the Vancouver Blog this week. Sean Ruthen profiles the interesting redevelopment of the historic Burns Block while Caroline Toth's Video Vancouver feature showcases an interview on the Gastown Project.
Ottawa's pedestrian-only Sparks Street has long been fodder for ideas to increase its vitality. Marie-Judith Jean-Louis puts forward some stricking images of the Light Festival Ghent in Belgium has an idea to liven the pedestrian space in the winter time.
Alexandre Laquerre takes a look at 102 years of change at the corner of Sussex and Rideau in Central Ottawa.
In response to Mayor Ford's claims that LRT technology is the same as streetcars and trams, Noah van der Laan has undertaken a new feature showcasing some of the world's most impressive modern LRT systems. This week the feature looked at the world's largest LRT system in Melbourne and an impressive suburban system in Stockholm.
Responding to the need for traffic calming on urban streets, Dylan Reid looks beyond the speed bump at examples of other effective design features in use both in Canada and around the world.
February 19th, 2012
Photo du Jour : Tiny Horizon
By Spacing // No Comments
City Skyline as seen from Île Ste-Hélène. Photo by Martin Reisch (snapped with iphone).
February 20th, 2012
Photo du jour : Homogeneity in the city
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
A homogenous landscape is a rare bird in Montreal's downtown neighbourhoods.
Urban Planet: Los Angeles Sidewalk Lawsuits
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
L.A. has never been known as a sidewalk friendly city, but with a recent spate of lawsuits, sidewalk users are beginning to fight back. In several cases before the courts, disabled plaintiffs contend that the broken sidewalks which make it impossible for them to ...
February 21st, 2012
Urban Planet: Public Perception and the Economic Benefits of Light Rail Transit
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
It's generally accepted that light rail transit spurs positive economic impacts along the length of the planned corridor. Property values rise, commercial sites experience more customer traffic, and further development is encouraged. But as a recent article in The Atlantic Cities points out, the window of time one looks ...
February 22nd, 2012
Urban Planet: Chattanooga’s Type Face
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
GOOD asks "can a font help a city make a comeback"? Designers D.J. Trischler and Jeremy Dooler are trying to do just that. They believe their font, "Chatype", to be the first of its kind - a grassroots font developed specifically for city ...
February 23rd, 2012
Urban Planet: London’s New Recycling Bins
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
A new fleet of recycling bins are coming to the streets of London. The Renew bins feature two LCD screens which will provide news updates to pedestrians. The designs are intended to improve recycling and reduce the threat of terrorism. Each unit costs £30,000 ...
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Jean-Talon et Drolet
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1937-2012
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM98-Y4-P027-2
OPUS 2.0 Urban mobility in the age of electronic payment
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
"We transport millions of people…soon we will get to know who they are," said Michel Labrecque, president of the STM'S governing board, during his opening remarks for AQTR's conference on Urban mobility in the age of electronic payment this morning.
He's the kind of guy I wouldn't mind getting to know. He's been president of Vélo Québec and the Commité régional de l'environnement, a Plateau city councillor, and a CBC journalist. With his black, long-sleeved t-shirt and wire-rimmed glasses he is overtly going for the Steve Jobbs look.
I was ...
February 24th, 2012
Uncovering Rivière St Pierre during Nuit Blanche
By Andrew Emond // No Comments
In the Spring of 2009, I found an entry point into a sewer that now contains a portion of the former creek known as Rivière Saint Pierre. The discovery led to the creation of undermontreal.com, which I used to document my experiences exploring this particular sewer/creek and several others situated beneath the streets of Montreal. The Saint Pierre, once one of Montreal's most important and prominent watercourses has essentially vanished from the visible urban landscape. Originally over 15 kms in length, today only a ...
Urban Planet: Unique Manhole Covers
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Manhole covers can be the most mundane pieces of urban infrastructure. But as this collection of photographs at The Atlantic Cities shows, they can also be the most distinctive.
Image from The Atlantic Cities
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing ...
Sim City: Heritage buildings in Spacington
By Dylan Collie // 3 Comments
It’s development time here in Spacington and we've made the jump from small town to big town. To celebrate the small but substantial development, Spacington has designated a few of its own historical buildings.
One of our favourite features in Sim City is the “make historical” option which allows for any building to be designated as heritage. This feature proves to be very similar to the work of heritage preservation acts and allows us to choose particular buildings that we wish to preserve. The home shown above is designated “historical” and is preserved not only architecturally but in its current zoning of high density residential.
Spacing Saturday: Gary Webster, Brent Toderian and Transit Futures
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Brent Toderian has been in focus in the urbanist community ever since the visionary and articulate former Vancouver Planning Director's contract was terminated early several weeks ago. Spacing Vancouver sat down with Toderian this week and presents the conversation in a two part interview about his legacy in Vancouver and the trajectory of Canadian urbanism. [Part One] [Part Two]
Vancouver has set the ambitious goal of having over 50% of all trips in the city taken by biking, walking or transit. Spacing presents part two in a series showing the results of work by a team of UBC planning and landscape architecture students on how the city can realize this goal.
Alexandre Laquerre shows the startling impact of grandiose public projects over a century of transformation at one of Canada's most monumental intersections: Elgin and Sparks.
Following the recent announcement by Halifax's Mayor Peter Kelly that he will not run for re-election after 12 years in office, Jake Schabas proposes a basket of issues that should shape the city's next political period.
Alex Bozikovik's No Mean City architectural profiles a fascinating addition to a historic home in Toronto's Cabbagetown neighbourhood that is beginning to collect some prestigious awards.
Gary Webster's termination as the Chief General Manager of the TTC continued a string of dramatic transit events in Toronto. John Lorinc provides some his characteristic political analysis on the decision and its broader context.
February 25th, 2012
The Regionalist: Of francophones, condos and migration flows
By Joel Thibert // 10 Comments
[caption id="attachment_13373" align="alignleft" width="600" caption="Migratory flows of people registered with the RAMQ within the Greater Montreal region, 2000-2009. Source: Institut de la statistique du Québec, data processed by the MMC (from the Montréalités urbaines website)"][/caption]
I have to say I find the phenomenon of "francophone flight" (to be a bit provocative) certainly very intriguing and also a little bit disturbing - it does seem strange to me that we hear so many complaints about the fact that Montreal becoming "less francophone" (which is true, ...
February 26th, 2012
Where have all the snowbanks gone?
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Having just spent an hour pushing two cars out of the driveway at a friend's cottage, it seems like an appropriate time to re-examine some of our expectations about winter mobility. After all, the practice of removing the snow from the streets of Montreal is less than a century old: throughout the 1800s, sidewalks were shovelled by local residents and snow was packed on the streets, creating a throughway for horse-drawn sleighs (see image of Craig Street, 1869, ...
February 27th, 2012
Urban Planet: Alleyways
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
On The Atlantic Cities, Seattle architect Daniel Toole speaks about his passion for alleyways. These out-of-the-way infrastructure corridors, he argues, can pull together communities, improve service delivery and add colour to city-dwelling.
Image from The Atlantic Cities
For more stories from around the planet, ...
February 28th, 2012
A Taste for the City: Urban Food Unconference
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Spacing Montreal is teaming up with the Canadian Centre for Architecture and Avenue Huit to host an event exploring two of our favourite themes: food and, of course, Montreal. How has food shaped the urban landscape over the centuries? How has the city transformed our relationship to food? And how will food and urbanism find common ground in the future?
On April 5th, from 4-9pm, the unconference is a choose-your-own-adventure event, inspired by all the gorgeous spaces the CCA has to offer: Gather in the Shaughnessy house for a salon, hop into a fishbowl conversation in the rotunda, or take ...
Le Gout de la ville: à l’intersection de l’alimentation et l’urbanisme
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Spacing Montréal, en collaboration avec le Centre Canadien d"architecture (CCA) et Avenue Huit, est heureux d'annoncer la tenue d'un événement explorant l'intersection de nos deux thèmes préférés: la nourriture et la ville. Comment l'alimentation a-t-elle façonné le paysage urbain au fil des années? Comment la ville a-t-elle transformé notre relation avec la nourriture? Et comment l'alimentation et l'urbanisme pourront-ils co-évoluer dans le futur de Montréal?
Le 5 avril, de 16h à 21h, l'événement "non-conférence" s'inspirera des fabuleux espaces offerts par le CCA: réunissez-vous dans la maison Shaughnessy pour prendre part à un salon, sautez dans le "bocal de poisson" situé dans ...
Urban Planet: Underground Parks
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
New York City's High Line has been universally praised as an inventive re-imagining of urban infrastructure. But as Fast Company reports, developments underground are equally exciting. The LowLine, now seeking funding on kickstarter, is a 13-acre underground park located in former Delancey St. subway stations.
Image from Fast Company
For ...
Montréal Lit: Crescent Street and Cheap Vancouver
By Gregory McCormick // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_13425" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="http://www.flickr.com/photos/friedwontons4u/"][/caption]
Spacing Montreal is pleased to present this column exploring Montreal's literary landscape, written by Gregory McCormick, Director of Programming for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
There’s a kind of permanence to downtowns that isn’t real. The heavy stone buildings, the skyscrapers, the motion and grime of certain corners. And it’s that way with the downtown areas of most cities. But downtowns, like cities generally, have a ...
February 29th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’école et l’église Sainte-Brigide, rue Alexandre-Desève
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2008
Source : BANQ, cartes postales, CP 5988
March 1st, 2012
Urban Planet: Yarn Bombs
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Cracks and potholes rarely endear us to our cities, but artist Juliana Santacruz Herrera has made a valiant attempt. Her yarn bombs have added colour to Parisian streets. (ApartmentTherapy)
Image from ApartmentTherapy
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban ...
March 2nd, 2012
Urban Planet: Moscow’s Human Chain
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Thousands gathered on Moscow's 15-kilometer "Garden Ring" road last Sunday, attempting to form a human chain to express their discontent with Russia's disputed parliamentary elections. (CNN)
Image from CNN
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article ...
March 3rd, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Transit Politics, Regional Migration and Olympic Legacy
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vancouver Olympic Village
Brent Toderian, former director of planning for the City of Vancouver, makes his debut post in part one of a new ongoing series looking at Vancouver's Olympic legacy and the challenges and opportunities of Olympic city-building in host cities around the world.
Victor Ngo presents the results of a study looking into the best sites with potential for major Transit Oriented Development along Vancouver's SkyTrain lines using GIS mapping techniques and Statistics Canada housing data.
Alexandre Laquerre takes a look at the difference 80 years makes at the corner of Bank and Sommerset in Ottawa.
As the political drama around Toronto's transit planning continued this week Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler got into the details of an Angus Reid poll exploring what options Torontonians really support. In another post, Dylan Reid explored the positives of Rob Ford's push to start the debate on new funding sources for transit.
Noah van der Laan continues the LRT Today series, looking at the Gold Line in Los Angeles as a system which passes through a variety of environments and may bear similarities to what could be built in Toronto.
March 5th, 2012
Urban Planet: Energy Use Mapping
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Inhabitat profiles the work of Columbia University engineering students who mapped the energy usage of buildings in NYC. It's hoped that the mapping project will allow planners to more effectively design and implement energy saving plans.
Image from Inhabitat
For more stories from around the planet, ...
March 6th, 2012
Urban Planet: Historic Buildings as Parking Lots
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Is it better than paving paradise to put up a parking lot? Residents in Cleveland are of two minds about proposed plans for the May Company building, a historic site for which developers are seeking permission to convert four floors into parking. Does the ...
Sim City: A detailed look at Spacington
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
This weeks post is all about showing off Spacington to give readers a closer look at our newly established city. The images display an overview of Spacington as well as the details of what's going on at ground level.
This is our first photo update so give us your feedback on the current state of Spacington and what you'd like to see close up next time.
Here is Spacington from above, it's situation, and the available space for future growth.
Montage du jour : Procure des soeurs des Saints-noms-de-Jésus-et-Marie, 441 rue de Lagauchetière est
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1899-2012
Source : Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle
March 7th, 2012
Enter Spacing’s creative mapping contest!
By Matthew Blackett // 1 Comment
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
Why the demise of big box stores is not necessarily good news for main street shops
By Joel Thibert // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_13480" align="alignleft" width="578" caption="Wal-Mart store recently closed somewhere in the U.S.. Photo by Brave New Films. Source: Flickr"][/caption]
Considering that the SAQ announced last June that it would close two of its smaller outlets in the Southwest borough of Montreal (presumably to open up larger outlets in other parts of town or the suburbs), it may seem surprising to hear that other chains, such as Rona, are actually in the process of closing big box outlets to open up smaller stores instead.
Yes, that's ...
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: New South China Mall
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Since it's opening in 2005, the New South China Mall in Dongguan has held the world record for largest mall in terms of gross leasable area, which is also the problem.
With Dongguan's population of over seven million people, developers projected the mall to attract ...
A Taste for Montreal: How Santropol May Have Saved St-Urbain & Duluth
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Café Santropol by Mike Gifford (cc flickr)"][/caption]
Garth Gilker moved in to the third floor of the triplex on the corner of Duluth and St-Urbain street around 1970. An anglo Gaspésien, Gilker says that he picked the apartment because he'd grown up with a horizon and the view of Mount-Royal was the closest he could get in the city.
"I lived upstairs and downstairs there was this dirty, ugly, disgusting old plumbing store called Shanks," Gilker says.
The triplexes on St-Urban street were in bad shape, ...
March 8th, 2012
Urban Planet: DIY Crosswalks in Baltimore
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Fed up with a lack of action on pedestrian infrastructure, citizens of Baltimore are taking to the streets to install their own crosswalks. And while some residents reported the incident as a destruction as civic property, authorities appeared indifferent to the development. (Baltimore Brew)
Image from Baltimore Brew
For more ...
March 9th, 2012
The People’s Yellow Pages – A Guide to 1970s Underground Montreal
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
When I met Santropol owner Garth Gilker to talk about the café's impact on the urban landscape, I ended up with more stories than I had bargained for. Before I left, Gilker dashed up to his third-floor apartment and brought down three editions of the "Montreal People's Yellow Pages," a guide-book to free-wheelin underground of 1970s Montreal that he and his friends had published in the 1970s under the banner of egg publishing. Although the books aren't dated, this 1973 Montreal Gazette article reviews the second edition.
Each book offers an alphabetic listing of local "attractions" - from Abortions to Zoos - interspersed with short stories, trippy '70s doodles and hand-drawn maps of the downtown neighbourhoods.
Urban Planet: Insull’s Chicago Transit Posters
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Salon.com explores the unlikely artistic legacy of Samuel Insull, former assistant to Thomas Edison, co-founder of General Electric and owner of many Chicago area utilities and regional transit lines. Borrowing from the style of London's underground posters, Insull's branding campaign enticed riders to take ...
March 10th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Downtown Halifax, Evolving Big Box and Demographic Bombs
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vancouver's astronomical housing prices are well documented, the effects of the situation are beginning to show in rapidly falling numbers of school-aged children as Patrick Condon explains in the third instalment of his series on a long term vision for Greater Vancouver.
Yuri Artibise profiles the new Constructing a Village, Creating a Community photography show by Leslie Hossack documenting the rise of the Vancouver's innovative and controversial Olympic Village neighbourhood.
Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood has continuously evolved along with the city, Alexandre Laquerre looks at the emergence of high density over 80 years on Sommerset Street.
With a spat of recent development proposals calling the relevancy of the HRM by Design document into question, Spacing profiles a student conference at Dalhousie School of Planning aimed at engaging those concerned with shifting the debate around downtown Halifax.
Stephen Archibald explores the abundance of historic iron fences and railings in central Halifax, looking at their history and their art.
As turmoil continues around leadership at the TTC, John Lorinc provides strategic advice for LRT advocates, making the case for keeping moral authority in the messy debate.
The No Mean City feature by Alex Bozikovic profiles a weekend architecture conference that will pay tribute to George Baird, a long time architecture professor and former Dean at UofT considered one of the most influential people in Canadian architecture.
March 11th, 2012
My First Time
By Émile Thomas // 16 Comments
I am not ready for a career in politics.
Not that I was ever planning one; but after attending my borough’s council meeting for the first time last Monday, I realized that I wouldn't be able to sit through another one of them and remain polite.
How our elected officials are able to do it on a monthly basis, I haven't the darndest idea.
My adventure actually began last month: The administration of Le Plateau Mont-Royal decided to use Facebook to invite citizens to February’s council meeting. So my friend Mathilde and I decided to go check it out. Needless to say, so many people showed up that they had to open up an annex with no view of the proceedings.
Being the diva that I am, I did not stick around:
“Me? Be relegated to standing-room only? Who does democracy think I am?”
And we left in a huff.
So last week, Mathilde reminded me that borough council meetings happen regardless of whether or not there is a Facebook event associated with it.
And that’s what brought us to Monday’s council meeting.
March 12th, 2012
Urban Planet: The Urban Genome Project
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
In the video above, Urve Tiidus, mayor of the city of Kuressaare, Estonia, speaks of city's challenge to retain young people. Imagine if she could connect with the hundreds of other small cities facing this challenge and better yet, tap into a network of relevant solutions. Curated by Joseph Grima ...
March 13th, 2012
Urban Planet: Habitat 67 in LEGO?
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 may have received the world's highest architectural honour. The distinctive Montreal landmark won LEGO Architecture's online competition for the next building to be immortalized in LEGO. While the win doesn't secure Habitat's LEGOization completely, it does bring the modular building ...
March 14th, 2012
A Taste for Montreal: Hot Dogs for Humanity
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
For three years I volunteered with Dans la Rue van, handing out hot dogs to Montreal's homeless on Monday evenings. The first thing volunteers learn is that hot dogs are just a hook: their nutritious value may be disputable, but they reliably draw street kids into the van where they can socialize in safety, pick up emergency supplies like blankets, socks and condoms, and be put in touch with resources including shelters, clinics, and legal aid. The hot dogs, in short, build a bridge between two worlds. And on ...
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Grand Central’s dirty secret
By mikebulko // 1 Comment
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
High above commuter's heads, there is a small, black stain on the ceiling of Grand Central Station's main concourse.
The distinctive rectangle (half on the teal background of the astrological mural, half on the beige bordering) is what the ceiling looked like before restoration efforts in the mid '90s. The black residue was long thought to be caused from years of exposure to ...
March 15th, 2012
Urban Planet: Participatory Mapping
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
The City Fix examines the practice of participatory mapping - a consultation method that involves citizens in the spatial planning of their cities. From identifying common cycling routes in Moscow to group gatherings to sew a map of Bushwick, planners and citizens are ...
March 16th, 2012
Urban Planet: Pothole Advertising
By Hilary Best // 2 Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Are potholes the next frontier for outdoor advertising? In Montreal this week, morning commuters were caught off guard by a sedan which appeared to have been swallowed by an enormous pothole on de la Cathédrale. The stunt was the work of an ad agency ...
Sim City: Density Growth
By Dylan Collie // 1 Comment
Spacington has grown from a little town to a city. Plenty of single-family homes in each of the neighbourhoods have changed their faces and transformed into residential buildings. We have pushed Spacington forward to try and able our city with what it needs to become a real simulated 21st century urban city.
March 17th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Food Hub, Market Street and Local Democracy
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vancouver first lost its public market in 1897 when its building was converted into City Hall, Jeff Nield explains why the concept of a food system is still essential to a city's well being, profiling the hubbub around a soon to open new food hub.
Peacock sits down with Jak King, the unofficial historian of Commercial Drive, the 'back door to Vancouver.' King uses his detailed knowledge of businesses, technological change and personal stories to look back on a unique part of a city which tends to spend more time looking forward.
Alexandre Laquerre continues his photographic series looking at the changing streets of Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood over the course of the 20th century.
With Toronto's municipal political theater taking a twist towards mayoral impeachment this week, John Lorinc questions the merits of the strategy and its implications for the Mayor's opponents.
Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City architectural feature to look at a recently approved plan to drastically improve Market Street, next to Toronto's Saint Lawrence Market. The improvements will open the street to patios and frame the last project advanced by noted developer Paul Oberman.
March 19th, 2012
Urban Planet: Beautiful Streets
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
What makes a beautiful street? Tree-lined sidewalks? Brightly coloured homes? OpenPlans is trying to crowd source the answer to this age old question. Their platform, Beautiful Streets, uses Google Street View to provide users with images of two randomly selected streets in ...
March 20th, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue St-Hubert près de Bélanger
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1937-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y4-P010-2
March 21st, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue St-Hubert depuis St-Zotique
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1937-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z179-4
Urban Planet Weird Wednesdays: Roadtown, history’s longest utopia
By mikebulko // 1 Comment
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
In 1910, Edgar Chambless released his plans for his utopia Roadtown, a completely linear city with everything the community needed housed in one miles-long stip and completely self-contained (picture an excessively large skyscraper laid on it's side).
The idea was for the building to be three storeys high, and two units wide, with three subway tunnels running directly beneath. ...
March 22nd, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue St-Hubert près de Beaubien
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1937-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y4-P011-2
Le goût de Montréal // Bouffe de rue : pour une approche systémique | Partie 1 – Contexte et « adversaires »
By Jonathan Lapalme // 1 Comment
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="525" caption="Photo par Watchara Phomicinda"][/caption]
Fish and chips, satay, curry, Laksa, Mee rebus, burritos, marrons chauds, poutine; tous des plats que j’aimerais bien déguster dans la rue avec vous. Cette pratique nous semble peut-être exotique, mais on dit que 2.5 milliards de personnes mangent de la cuisine de rue à travers le monde. Une personne sur quatre. Dans les pays en développement, le street food constitue parfois même jusqu'à 40 % de la diète hebdomadaire des habitants et est profondément ancré dans l'identité. Ce pan oublié de notre gastronomie gagne en popularité partout sur la planète. Et dans les villes où c’est interdit, les choses changent tranquillement: pressions et contournements à Chicago, projet pilote à Toronto et à Vancouver (où l’administration a littéralement cédé sous la pression populaire)... et pendant ce temps à Montréal? Quelques petites initiatives, mais rien d’officiel. Il y a certaines raisons connues pour cette stagnation, mais si on regarde la situation d’un angle plus constructif, je crois qu’il y en a une autre qu’on oublie : un ralliement désorganisé. Ce que j’entends par «approche systémique»? Une méthode revendicatrice plus globale qui permettrait d'aborder ce sujet complexe et ses ramifications de manière plus complète et convaincante.
Water and citizenship
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="455" caption="1879 map of Montreal's municipally-owed water-works"][/caption]
If you're among the 50% of Montrealers who rent their homes, and the 38% of Montrealers who vote in municipal elections, you may have one extra reason to be thankful today on World Water Day. A recently-published essay by by UdeM History prof, Michèle Dagenais, explains how Montreal's water-works transformed the nature of citizenship and democracy in the 19th century.
At this time, it was believed that stagnant water caused epidemics of cholera, typhus ...
Urban Planet: Walk Raleigh Wayfinding Signs
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
In Raleigh, NC, neighbours and businesses are copying one resident's initiative to provide guerilla walking and wayfinding signage. The pop up signs direct residents to visit a neighbourhood businesses by providing estimated travel times to the destinations. (New Raleigh)
Image from New Raleigh
For ...
March 23rd, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue St-Hubert près de Beaubien
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1935-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y4-P012-1
Le goût de Montréal // Bouffe de rue : pour une approche systémique | Partie 2 – Plaidoyer et appel à tous
By Jonathan Lapalme // 1 Comment
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="537" caption="Photo via Inhabitat"][/caption]
Vous n’avez pas lu la première partie de ce texte ? Cliquez ici. Vous y trouverez le contexte général de la cuisine de rue, autant ici qu’à l’international, ainsi que les principaux « adversaires » à son déploiement officiel à Montréal, selon moi.
Il existe probablement plusieurs arguments contre la bouffe de rue, mais vous n’en trouverez pas beaucoup dans ce texte. Aucun, en fait. Biaisé? Un tout petit peu. Si vous y tenez, je vous invite à les ajouter au bas.
Animation des rues / espaces / stationnements - Pendant que les gens attendent pour leur nourriture autour des camions et des kiosques, ils interagissent d’une manière qui ne serait pas envisageable dans les restaurants conventionnels. «De la Boqueria de Barcelone aux souks du Moyen-Orient, manger dans la rue dans les pays méditerranéens est un moment de partage où l'on prend son temps, une forme de convivialité, de sociabilité tournée vers le brassage des classes et des générations», d’expliquer Bruno Giraud-Héraud, délégué général du Conservatoire international des cuisines méditerranéennes, à Marseille. La cuisine de rue permettrait de dynamiser et de diversifier le paysage commercial – chose dont plusieurs coins de Montréal auraient bien besoin. On peut penser à certains sièges sociaux en périphérie du centre qui n’ont presque aucun endroit où manger le midi, ou bien à plusieurs espaces publics entourés de grandes institutions dont le rez-de-chaussée est totalement dénué d’activité commerciale.
Hygiène - Où sommes-nous les plus susceptibles d’ingérer des virus, parasites, bactéries et autres variantes? Dans les restaurants sur roues ou sur ciment? Dans les deux cas, cela dépend bien souvent de la personne responsable et de la réglementation en vigueur. Mais surtout : « les problèmes surviennent, règle générale, avec le niveau d'hygiène du pays: plus il est bas, plus le risque est grand. », précise le Dr Michel Habel, de la Clinique du voyageur à Montréal. L’argument de la propreté était peut-être valable en 1947, mais qu’en est-il aujourd’hui? À New York, les quelque 3 000 kiosques / camions sont sujets à une centaine de lois et de règlements et sont inspectés au moins une fois par année. La violation la plus commune: se tenir à plus de 18 pouces de la rue…
Urban Planet: Urbanology
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
"A company wants tax credits to convert a vacant skyscraper downtown to a juvenile detention center. Will you allow this?" The answer you select will determine the city you create in BMW Guggenheim Lab's new game, Urbanology. By answering a series of question ...
March 24th, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue St-Hubert près de Roy
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1937-2012
Du côté gauche se trouve la caisse populaire St-Louis-de-France, un projet de façadisme réalisé dans les années 1990.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y4-P016
Spacing Saturday: Robson Street, Water Politics and Regent Park
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Kathleen Corey presents a plan to address the lack of places to sit on busy Robson Street that builds on the area's traffic calming mini-parks, drawing inspiration from abroad to create an exciting and much needed new public space.
Patrick Condon presents the final instalment in a series of collaborative student work on the future sustainability of Vancouver, summarizing the group's push for new connections, good jobs and affordable places to live.
Alexandre Laquerre shows the striking transition from a tight urban block to the Garden of the Provinces over a 100 year period in the heart of the nation's capital.
With High Park's fantastic, labrynth-like play ground in ruins following a recent incident of arson, Emma Feltes shares the story of how the playground brought the community together, acted as a hub and is inspiring a new collective spirit in the drive to rebuild.
As the redevelopment of Canada's largest public housing project continues at a remarkable pace, My City Lives brings a video previewing the exciting new Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre opening this Fall.
Square Chaboillez and the Dangers of Precedent
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
The images and some of the content of this post has been adapted from Montréalités Urbaines with the author's permission.
Can the City sell a park? That's the question that question raised by the decision earlier this week to put the Dow Planetarium up for sale.
Projet Montréal leader Richard Bergeron fears that the sale of the lot, which is zoned as a park, will set a dangerous precedent for the privatization of public space. The Tremblay administration has replied that only the area covered by the planetarium and it's parking lot are for sale, not the little park bordering the Planetarium ...
March 25th, 2012
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues St-Hubert et Ontario
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1937-2012
L'immeuble à tourelle a fort possiblement été endommagé par un incendie.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y4-P014
A Taste for Montreal: Anticipation
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Most Montrealers are so accustomed to he lineup on the sidewalk outside of Schwartz's deli it may as well be part of the street furniture. Just another way that food transforms our urban landscape...
On Thursday April 5th, 2012, from 4-9pm, Spacing Montreal is teaming up with the Canadian Centre for Architecture and Avenue Huit to present A Taste for Montreal / Le goût de Montréal, an event about all the ways that food urbanism intersect. From urban agriculture to the late-night diner, everyone's relationship with the city is influenced ...
The Sunday Building Project – Now emerging from hibernation!
By Lauren // 2 Comments
Despite the (contested, but maintained, in this humble opinion) mildness of the winter, the arrival of a first wave of sun-basking weather is still universally relieving and adulated, bringing upon the city a reign of vitamin D-riddled joy and leg-baring mischief. Picnics are thrown until the night chill chases them along, children vacillate up and down alleyways scootering, screaming, and bearing toy weapons, patios are tentatively opened, and the bike population quintuples. It has been a wonderful week of weather, and fine treat at that. But at the risk of sounding ...
March 26th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’église Sainte-Catherine-d’Alexandrie
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1930-2012
L’église Sainte-Catherine-d’Alexandrie fut érigée en soubassement en 1912 puis surhaussée d'une partie haute en 1924. Elle fut démolie en 1973 afin de faire place à un immeuble à loyers modiques.
La statue d’une sainte qui était autrefois juchée au dessus du portail d’entrée est aujourd’hui installée au sol, en bordure de l’édifice.
Source : BANQ
Sim City: Neighbouring Cities & Updates
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Spacington hasn't grown very much this week: the population is still sitting around 50,000 people, there was is no new major business or residential developments, and waterfront looks the same. However, there are some interesting things to talk about.
Spacington's empty waterfront.
Urban Planet: People-Powered Street Lights
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
In dense urban environments, can we harness the power generated by thousands of feet on the street? Viha thinks so. Their “producer" sidewalk slabs turn power generated by the movement of walking into electrical energy that is used to power LED street lamps. (Living Labs Global Awards)
Image from ...
Le goût de Montréal: chronique alimentaire d’un baby-boomer
By Joel Thibert // 2 Comments
Mon père est né en 1944, il n’est donc pas techniquement un baby-boomer. Mais alimentairement parlant, c’est tout comme: il a vécu, avec les Québécois et Montréalais qui ont eu conscience des bouleversements de la révolution tranquille et de l’Expo 67, une incroyable épopée culinaire.
Gilles Thibert est né à St-Jude, près de St-Hyacinthe, mais il a grandi à Ste-Martine, près de Châteauguay - un village tout à fait banal. L’enfance culinaire de mon père, elle, ne l’a pas été, puisque ma grand-mère avait ...
March 27th, 2012
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Amherst et de Lagauchetière
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1937-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y4-P029
Urban Planet: Open Spending Budgeting App
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
An increasing number of cities are engaging their citizens in the budgeting process. Even so, many participatory budgeting initiatives present citizens with abstract choices and ask them to prioritize. OpenSpending.mobi - a public service delivery app tries to engage the public in a more tangible way. The mobile application ...
March 28th, 2012
Montage du jour : La synagogue Sherith Israel
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1900-2012
Ce temple de style néo-égyptien fut construit sur la rue Stanley près de Sainte-Catherine, de 1887 à 1890.
Tout comme les autres synagogues de la ville, celle-ci sera abandonnée par sa communauté en 1922 suite à la construction d’un nouveau lieu de culte plus vaste à Westmount. Elle fut démolie dans les années 1960.
Source : BANQ
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Yemen’s 16th century skyscrapers
By mikebulko // 1 Comment
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
Residential high rises weren't exactly a "new" idea in the mid 1500s—Rome has its insulae since the days of the empire, and many medieval European and Middle Eastern cities had buildings in excess of ten floors—but the Yemeni city of Shibam bears special mention as one of the earliest examples of vertical urban planning.
While the area of Shibam has ...
March 29th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’église presbytérienne Knox de la rue Crescent
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2012
L'église presbytérienne Knox de la rue Crescent fut construite en 1878 à l'intersection des rues Dorchester (aujourd'hui René-Lévesque) et Crescent. Elle fut détruite par le feu en 1945.
Source : BANQ
Urban Planet: Houston’s Crosswalks
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Houston, Texas is not known for its innovations in planning, but check out the vibrant crosswalks outside its Museum of Fine Art. This post on Drilling for Art examines the diversity of crosswalks across America (many of which are named after animals) and ...
March 30th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’église presbytérienne américaine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2012
L'église presbytérienne américaine fut construite en 1865 à l'intersection des rues Stanley et René-Lévesque (autrefois Dorchester). Elle fut démolie en 1937 pour faire place à un terminus d'autobus, lui même démoli dans les années 1970.
Source : BANQ
Berri Square: Keeping Our Common Ground
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
Last week I wrote about how, after three years of volunteering with Dans la Rue, I came to see Berri Square as one of the few places where Montreal's homeless and marginalized people find common ground with more fortunate Montrealers. I concluded by saying I believe that people who are visible will tend to be better citizens.
From Gotham City to Metropolis?
Yet it seems that many Montrealers want nothing more than to put the homeless out of sight and out of mind. Earlier this month, the mayor recommended shortening the Ste-Catherine pedestrian zone to exclude Berri Square from the seasonal festivities, citing police concerns ...
Urban Planet: Retrofitting Parisian Towers
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
French public housing, as in many other locales, has had mixed success. Low-income high rise communities are characterized by high unemployment and more recently, unrest. Like many American cities, the conventional approach to these planning failures was to destroy these buildings and start from ...
One month left to enter our Creative Mapping Contest!
By Spacing // 3 Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
March 31st, 2012
Montage du jour : L’hôtel Prince de Galles, avenue McGill College
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2012
Source : BANQ
OCPM Announces Urban Agriculture Consultation
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Montrealers asked for it, and the City of Montreal is delivering: the OCPM has announced a public consultation about Urban Agriculture from May 12th - June 18th.
Since 2009, Montreal's Charter of rights and responsibilities gives citizens the right to initiate a public consultation on almost any municipal issue: they simply have to gather 15,000 supporting signatures within 90 days.
Last fall, the Working Group on Urban Agriculture doubled that number: on November 15th they presented 29,000 signatures at city hall to initiate a city-wide consultation about urban agriculture.
CRAPAUD, one of ...
April 1st, 2012
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Ontario et St-Denis
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1937-2012
Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM98-Y2-P078
Photo du Jour: Musée d’harcèlement
By Alanah Heffez // 3 Comments
Intrigued by the signs posted outside this residential building on St-Antoine street in Westmount, I googled "Musée d'histoire d'harcèlement par Westmount." To my immense surprise, it led me straight to an ad in the Westmount Independent, wishing a Happy Easter to the tenants of the building, along with contact info for potential renters. Curious, I contacted the landlord, Sam Fattal, for more ...
April 2nd, 2012
Montage du jour : La maison Arthur Dubuc, 438 rue Sherbrooke est
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1936-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94,Z63
Urban Planet: Train above the High Line
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
New York City's High Line may soon be home to a unique piece of public art. The sculpture, entitled 'Train', is the work of Jeff Koons. Train would be a full-size replica of a 1943 Baldwin 2900 steam locomotive, suspended in the air above ...
Sim City: Waterfront
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Spacington has gained a waterfront. Surprisingly, Spacington does in fact have a waterfront, and much like Toronto, we've endured little interaction with it. We have offices and homes next to the water, but have seen the type of little interaction most commonly seen between strangers sitting next each other on the TTC: not a peep, not a look; nothing. It's two separate worlds next to one another, existing individually without knowing the other exists — or at least pretending the other doesn't exist. Either way, we've fixed this problem and begun a waterfront to interact with, the type of space that Toronto's waterfront will hopefully soon become.
Montréal Avant : visitez Montréal il y a 100 ans sur iPhone et Android !
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
À partir du 12 avril 2012, il sera désormais possible de visualiser in situ les photographies avant-après publiées sur le blogue au cours des dernières années. Grâce à l’application cellulaire MontréalAvant, montréalais et touristes pourront ainsi découvrir plus de 200 photographies d’archives et les superposer à la réalité augmentée.
Cette application créée en partenariat avec l’équipe de MaVilleAvant est la 5e à voir le jour après : Paris, Metz, Nantes et Barcelone.
Pour plus d’infos : http://www.mavilleavant.com/
April 3rd, 2012
Montage du jour : Le cinéma le Château
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1936-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z125
Urban Planet: Roll-Up Crosswalk
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Are you miles away from a streetlight? No problem. Just roll out this handy cross walk and you're all set. Artist Florian Rivière, part of the Démocratie Créative collective in Strasbourg, created the cross walks which sell for 10 Euros. While they don't change ...
April 4th, 2012
Montage du jour : Une vue du boulevard René-Lévesque près de la Place Ville-Marie
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1959-2012
Source : Alfred Bohns
Le goût de Montréal: fine cuisine et noms communs
By Jean Desjardins // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_13957" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Casa, caverne, cabane, orchidée, parasol... Nom commun + adjectif = restaurant de la diversité culturelle"][/caption]
L'orchidée de Chine devant la maison chinoise, ses propriétaires à l'ombre du parasol chinois; ce billet est un clin d’œil à la recette nom commun+adjectif des raisons sociales de plusieurs restaurants de la diversité culturelle montréalaise. Le coin du Prince-Arthur et de Laval ...
“A Taste for Montreal” Tomorrow at the CCA!
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
The Spacing Montreal team is getting excited for A Tate for Montréal / Le goût de Montréal this Thursday April 5th from 4pm-9pm at the CCA.
The "unconference" format provides a multitude of ways to get involved in the conversation - from sharing food memories, to brainstorming about how food and urbanism will intersect in the future.
The full schedule for the event, which is organized in partnership with Spacing Montreal, the CCA and Avenue8, is now online in English and French. Participants are welcome to drop by ...
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Hanshin Expressway
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
Ever heard of William O'Dwyer's proposal of running a Mid-Manhattan elevated expressway through the 10th and 11th floors of the Empire State Building? Crazy, right? Well, Japan did it.
In the mid '80s, the Hanshin Expressway Company needed land to build the Umeda Exit of the Ikeda Route of the expressway in Osaka. However, that land ...
April 5th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’édifice Keefer
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
1936-2012
L'édifice Keefer fut érigé en 1924 à l'intersection des rues Sainte-Catherine Ouest et Mackay selon les plans des architectes Ross & MacDonald. L'édifice fut agrandi en 1968 et son revêtement extérieur fut entièrement remplacé.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94,SY,SS1,SSS17,D145
Urban Planet: Argentinian Book Patrol
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Argentinian artist, Raul Lemesoff, has transformed a 1979 Ford Falcon into a roving library. The vehicle, which used to belong to the Argentine armed forces, is now a 'Weapon of Mass Instruction.' While the Falcon generally roams the streets of Buenos Aires, it occasionally ...
April 6th, 2012
Montage du jour : Crescent Chateau, rue Crescent
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1920-2012
Source : BANQ
April 7th, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue Peel près de Maisonneuve
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1936-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z59-1
Le Food future de Montréal: foodies and urbanists find common ground at the CCA
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
I was overwhelmed (and exhausted) by the outpouring of interest for A Taste for Montreal / Le goût de la ville at the CCA last Thursday April 5th. Nearly 400 people - from foodies to farmers to architects - attended and participated in the soirée.
A huge thanks to the CCA, and especially to Elsa Lam, for being so willing to open up every nook and cranny - from the library to the winter garden. This event would not have been possible without the experienced and imaginative team at Avenue ...
Spacing Saturday: Public Squares, Gould Street and The Dominion Building
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Canadian planning students gathered in Vancouver this past February for the annual CAPS Conference. Andrew Cuthbert recaps the keynote messages delivered there by various planning luminaries while Cameron Barker profiles some of the conference's walking tours.
Eve Lazarus looks at the interesting history of the eccentrically designed Dominion Building in downtown Vancouver, which for a brief period following its completion in 1909 was the tallest in the British Empire.
At Elgin and Queen Streets in downtown Ottawa, historic photos show how space has been opened up to enhance public vistas.
Along Wellington Street however similar photos show how building mass has increased significantly, filling a different demand of government.
Spacing's Shawn Micallef was fortunate enough to be part of a University of Toronto Architecture laneway studio this past semester. Micallef brings the intriguing results of this studio in a series of posts on ideas of laneways uses at sites throughout the city.
Ryerson University students have finally succeeded in their long running campaign to close Gould Street to cars in the heart of the campus. Daniel Viola discusses the vote that lead to the creation of Ryerson Square and the site's future potential.
April 8th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le boulevard de Maisonneuve (anciennement Burnside) depuis la rue Peel
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1930-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y3-P011-6
April 9th, 2012
Montage du jour : Une vue du boulevard de Maisonneuve (anciennement Burnside) près de la rue Metcalfe
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1930-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y3-P011-4
Urban Planet: Seasteading – Floating Tech Cities
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Silicon Valley has long been known as a hub for tech innovation, but unfriendly US immigration policies sometimes keep foreign innovators out. Marty Max, a Cuban immigrant, and Dario Mutabdzija, of the former Yugoslavia, have proposed a floating city for foreign innovators to get around ...
April 10th, 2012
Montage du jour : Intersection des rues Ontario et Sanguinet
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1957-2012
L'un des nombreux «taudis» démoli pour faire place aux Habitations Jeanne-Mance à la fin des années 1950.
Voyez d'autres vues de l'intersection ici et ici.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94S40D2-101a
Photo du jour: Chinese Jump-rope
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Patch of grass on the edge of Chinatown, Easter Sunday, 2012
Urban Planet: Chalktrail
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
What's more fun than sidewalk chalk and a bicycle? Scott Bauman of Washington has found an ingenious way to combine the two in Chalktrail - a bicycle attachment that allows a rider to leave a chalk trail behind them. Bauman is currently raising funds ...
April 11th, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue Balmoral depuis la rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1930-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y3-P011-1
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Plan your zombie escape route
By mikebulko // 1 Comment
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
Ever visit a new city and have a hard time getting the lay of the land? What will you do once you check into your hotel, turn on the news and find out that legions of undead picked your vacation week to rise up with brain-eating fervor?
Map of the Dead has you covered.
Using data ...
April 12th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’école et l’église St-Louis de France, rue Roy
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2012
Source : BANQ, Cartes postales, CP, 6258
Photo du jour: Passage pour écoliers
By Alanah Heffez // 2 Comments
Boul Saint-Joseph près de de Lorimier
Is the Place d’Armes Redesign a Success?
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Three years ago, I lamented that Place d'Armes was just a pretty picture: The public space that had been the heart of Montreal for over 300 years had become nothing but a spot for tour-buses to dump snap-happy tourists. After nearly 3 years of construction, a redesigned Place d'Armes was unveiled this Spring, and I happened upon it last Sunday. So how does it compare?
Well, there ares still lots of cameras out (including my own!), but it also feels like people are lingering more in this space, even on a ...
Montréal Avant : visitez Montréal il y a 100 ans sur iPhone et Android !
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_vjSuv8COA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
L'application MontréalAvant, qui permet de visualiser in situ à même votre cellulaire (Iphone et Android) les photographies anciennes présentées sur ce blogue au cours des dernières années est désormais disponible !!!
Grâce à l’application cellulaire MontréalAvant, montréalais et touristes pourront ainsi découvrir plus de 200 photographies d’archives et les superposer à la réalité augmentée.
Cette application créée en partenariat avec l’équipe de MaVilleAvant est la 5e à voir le jour après : Paris, Metz, Nantes et Barcelone.
Pour plus d’infos et pour télécharger l'application : http://www.mavilleavant.com
*** Ce ...
Urban Planet: Jungles in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
The population of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward has decreased by 85% since 2000. Without owners to tend the lots and given the region's fertile soil, much of the neighbourhood has been reclaimed by nature. Nathaniel Rich at the New York Times writes, "trees that ...
April 13th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le marché St-Jean-Baptiste, intersection du blvd. St-Laurent et de la rue Rachel
By Guillaume St-Jean // 2 Comments
Vers 1900-2012
Ce marché public construit dans les années 1880 fut démoli et remplacé en 1931 par un nouveau marché, lui même démoli dans les années 1960.
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte
Urban Planet: Ikea Neighbourhood
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Move over Ektorp and Lack - Ikea is moving out of the living room and into the world of urban planning. The furniture giant's land development arm, LandProp, is developing a series of all-rental private neighbourhoods. The first, Strand East, will be located in ...
Sim City: A Better Look at Spacington.
By Dylan Collie // 1 Comment
While Spacington gets a little bit larger (the population is now up to 100, 000), and we try to get a jump start on the two things we are going to talk about next week — city slums and public transit — here are some photos to give a closer look at Spacington. Like always, let us know your feedback on what has been going on in Spacington.
High-density commercial building next to the university. This building is one of the few new business "tower" buildings in Spacington.
Just over 2 weeks left to enter Spacing’s Creative Mapping Contest
By Spacing // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
COST: Free!
April 14th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le boulevard St-Laurent depuis la rue St-Antoine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1900-2012
Source : BANQ
A Taste for Montreal: A City Built of Stories
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
The idea of using food as a lens to explore and understand the city is something that Avenue 8 has held dear for a long time. We were initially inspired by the Foodprint project in New York City. And we were even more inspired when we realized that everyone - from our friends to the people in the mayor's cabinet responsible for the new urban plan - had a story to tell. That's why story-telling became one focus of A Taste for the City last week.
Illustrators Marta Juliol Masferrer (ab0ve) and ...
Spacing Saturday: Vague Terrane, the Missing Middle and Place d’Armes
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
As the Vague Terrain exhibit closed at the Surrey Art Gallery, Don Schuetze noticed the strange coincidence that another exhibit opened at the new downtown library in Surrey's emerging center; a fitting basis for a discussion of the relationship between city and suburbs.
Gordon Price uses his Price Points feature to show a surprisingly traditional looking easter home in the heart of Vancouver's West End. A further look at the building reveals a lot about the issue the missing middle in Canadian residential construction.
Drained for the spring, a contemporary view down the final leg of the Rideau Canal reveals how much space has been opened up along the waterway since the 1920's.
Alexandre Laquerre compares post card images of Ottawa's evolving museum scene at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
As talk of Ford's subway notion subsides, transit advocates are turning their attention to a badly needed downtown relief line. But in light of urban/suburban divide and conquer politics, the search is on for a better name for the proposed line. Spacing put the question to readers and received over a hundred ideas.
With the Hot Docs film festival set to get underway, Jacqueline Whyte Appelby starts a look at some the screenings which may of particular interest to Spacing readers.
April 15th, 2012
Lessons from 311
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
Montreal OpenFile recently published an article called Tangling with the 311, in which the author critiqued the hotline introduced by the City of Montreal in order to improve access to the City. The article prompted me to think back on my experience with 311 and the Accès Montréal network. Soon my comment on OpenFile got so long that I decided to write my own reflection based on the 5 or 6 times I've tangled with the 311:
1. Can the borough install some bike racks here? The guy at ...
Montage du jour : La rue St-Antoine (autrefois Craig) depuis le boulevard St-Laurent
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2012
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte
April 16th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le premier palais de justice
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1880-2012
Le premier palais de justice de Montréal fut construit de 1851 à 1857. Il fut surhaussé d'un 4e étage sur toute sa longueur et d'un 5e au centre surmonté d'un dôme entre 1890 et 1894.
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM6, R.3067.2
Urban Planet: Comparing Transit in Toronto, Montreal and Los Angeles
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
What happens when a Los Angeleno rides Toronto's TTC and Montreal's Metro? Blogger Tim Adams did just that and his discovered some interesting contrasts between the three transit systems. Adams take-aways include: Canadian politicians don't take transit; our subways are graffiti-free; our stations leave ...
MTQ to Expropriate Schoolyard for Highway Construction
By Alanah Heffez // 5 Comments
It may not be the most lush, nor the most welcoming patch of grass in the city, but it is none-the-less the school yard for 200 students who attend James Lyng, the high school nearly tucked under the Turcot interchange in Saint-Henri. In the spring they host a celebratory end-of-year BBQ here. Last year the students in the Green Team built composter and placed it in the space. Some of the younger students say they like to play in the little tunnels under the thick vines that grow over ...
April 17th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le marché St-Jacques, rue Amherst
By Guillaume St-Jean // 1 Comment
Vers 1920-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z23-2
Urban Planet: Remarkable Parking Garages
By Hilary Best // 3 Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
The classic brick and limestone building pictured above is a beautiful feature of Michigan State University’s campus. But would you believe that this gem is actually a 730 car parking facility? Rana Florida of the Creative Class Group catalogues some architectural beauties that serve ...
April 18th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’église St-James
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1890-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94, SY, SS1, SSS17, Z1795
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: That’s elephants over the bridge
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
One year after it was opened, the Brooklyn Bridge was still a topic of skepticism for New Yorkers—many still believed that it would crumble into the East River under the weight of commuters.
In 1884, P.T. Barnum organized a publicity stunt to show off the structural integrity of the bridge. With much spectacle, he held a procession of elephants and ...
April 19th, 2012
Montage du jour : L’église St-James (2)
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1890-2012
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte
Urban Planet: Old Maps Online
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Google Maps has revolutionized the way we approach cartography, but really old specimens have a je ne sais quoi that is tough to replicate in digital form. Old Maps Online, an initiative of the The Great Britain Historical GIS Project and ...
À quoi sert la Ville dans la ville?
By Joel Thibert // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_14160" align="alignleft" width="603" caption="Graffiti sur un des lampadaires du Quartier international, qui est toujours là même s'il a été signalé il y a plus d'un an"][/caption]
La Ville avec un "V" majuscule est souvent perçue, d'abord et avant tout, comme un "fournisseur de services publics", c'est-à-dire une entité publique responsable principalement de nettoyer, entretenir et déneiger (dans le cas de Montréal) les espaces de voirie; d'assurer la libre circulation des personnes et des biens, de fournir des services d'égouts et d'aqueduc ainsi que de faire respecter la loi et ...
April 20th, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue Bleury depuis St-Antoine
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1914-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM98-Y1-P011
Urban Planet: Scoring Walk Score
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Launched in 2007, Walk Score is a popular website for evaluating the walkability of a particular address or neighbourhood. Embraced (for the most part) by both the planning and real estate communities, Walk Score provides a single number which translates a variety of complex ...
Sim City: City Amenities, Inconveniences, Opportunities
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Among the many features in Spacington—A university, city hall, jail and courthouse, major league baseball station, golf course, harbour, boat docks and shops, a beach, medical research center, a municipal airport, a convention center, etc -there are some unique features readers may not be aware of. Some of these features are cherished amenities, a few of them are inconvenient eye sores, and some are simple opportunities for community rebirth, space for development or growth. Anyway, here are some things you maybe didn't know were in Spacington:
April 21st, 2012
Montage du jour : Le boulevard René-Lévesque depuis la rue Union
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1942-2012
Le Architects building construit en 1931 à l'intersection des rues Côte du Beaver Hall et René-Lévesque (autrefois Dorchester) fut démoli dans les années 1970.
Source : John Roberts
“Build it and they will come” : Alleyway Hockey Rink
By Spacing // No Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="461" caption="Agreements with the city and Éco-quartier ensure vehicle traffic does not interfere with after-school hockey games."][/caption]
Guest contribution by Michael O'Shea, reprinted from Parks and Excavation blog. Version française ici.
Marcel L. of Montréal's Plateau-Mont Royal neighborhood has created something very cool in his backyard alley. Something so cool that only works when it's below freezing. It involves a lot of ice, two hockey posts, and a pile of free equipment.
What is it? One of the neighborhood's most popular "white alleys." They're part of homegrown movement to create ...
The Sunday Building Project – Now going transient!
By Lauren // No Comments
Not once have I ever heard a person - native Montrealer or otherwise - bemoan this city in the summer.
In sentiments parallel to the unfurling greenery, blooming flowers, and scrubbed sidewalks, 'les Montréalais' burst forth into the warmth and sunshine with a joy that can only be rivaled by the misery invoked in severe restrictions of winter. It is undeniable that the flow and consequential ebb of our particular climate cultivates a true appreciation for the seasons proper.
Summer is also a more social season. In winter the picnickers and street strollers leisure and ...
April 22nd, 2012
Montage du jour : La rue Drummond depuis le boulevard René-Lévesque
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
1928-2012
Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z5-1
Lire Montréal: Les carrières de Saint-Michel
By Spacing // No Comments
Ce billet est contribué par Olivier Légaré, co-fondateur de Lire Montréal. Cet évenement, présentement dans sa 2e édition, propose d’explorer le quartier Saint-Michel à travers une dizaine d’activités qui auront lieu le samedi 28 avril 2012. Cette journée sera l’occasion de faire le trait d’union entre l’espace urbain et son imaginaire et de révéler la ville à la fois comme source d’inspiration et comme lieu d’expression.
Un des romans marquants de l’imaginaire minier français est Germinal. L’histoire de cette révolte des mineurs d’une localité du nord de la France est probablement le roman le plus célèbre d’Émile Zola et un symbole de la lutte des classes au 19e siècle. Les mines offrent un prétexte idéal pour raconter les malheurs de la classe ouvrière.
Plus près de nous, un conflit minier a aussi marqué l’imaginaire collectif et a, en quelque sorte, lancé la carrière politique de Pierre Elliott Trudeau. La grève de l’amiante de 1949 à Asbestos, sous le gouvernement Duplessis peu enclin à prêter l’oreille aux revendications syndicales, a permis aux Québécois de découvrir celui qui allait devenir Premier ministre du Canada quelques décennies plus tard.
Le territoire de Montréal renferme aussi un grand nombre de mines et de carrières puisque l’extraction de la pierre fut une industrie florissante au 19e siècle. Aujourd’hui une seule est identifiée au plan d’urbanisme comme étant encore en exploitation, soit celle de Lafarge à Montréal-Est. Le quartier Saint-Michel est l’un des plus marqués physiquement par ce type d’activité : les deux immenses carrières, Francon et Miron, façonnent son paysage. Étonnamment, il existe très peu de fictions qui abordent le thème minier à Montréal, et encore moins dans Saint-Michel. On trouve ça et là des représentations de carriers au travail, telles celles publiées dans L’Opinion publique du 22 mars 1877, ou encore un couplet paillard de la Chanson du métier à propos des carriers :
VIDEO: The Social Life of Small Places
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
William Whyte got it right: the legendary urbanist created the film "The Social Life of Small Places" that has become one of the best learning tools for students, professionals, and urbanists about understanding the dynamics of public spaces.
The films is almost an hour long, but its worth that watch on a Sunday afternoon.
April 23rd, 2012
Montage du jour : Le Montreal Amateur Athletic Association club, rue Peel
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1900-2012
Source : BANQ, Albums Massicotte
Urban Planet: Dumpster Camera
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Colossal reports on the artistic exploits of a group of garbagemen in Hamburg, Germany. By drilling a hole and suspending a sheet of photo paper inside, this group has turned dumpsters into pinhole cameras. The results are incredible - check them out at ...
STRAPHANGER: A week of excerpts from Taras Grescoe’s new book
By Spacing // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Shanghai, China
For first-time car buyers on the floor of the Shanghai Auto Show, the future looks bright, if not downright dazzling. Throughout the cavernous showrooms, lithe motor-show girls in shimmering nylon evening gowns and leatherette mini skirts drape themselves over aerodynamic fenders, like molten watches drizzled over branches in a Dalí landscape. On rotating platforms, surrealistic concept cars languidly pirouette: the Geely McCar, a tiny hybrid with an outsized hatchback that pops up to release a three-wheeled electric motorcycle, and the chrome-grilled Engrand GE, which features a V-8 engine, rear seat massagers, and a built-in refrigerator that, according to the brochure, “gives access to mobile joy.”
Caught in the crush, a visitor is torn between amusement and awe; it’s hard not to chuckle at cars with names like the Great Wall Wingle Pick Up, the Jiangling Landwind, or the Book of Songs. At the same time, the audacity of China’s carmakers is impressive: the Noble is a near replica of Daimler’s Smart, the Lifan 320 appears to be a clone of a Mini Cooper, and the Dongfeng Crazy Soldier looks like the love child of a Humvee and a Tonka truck. Every few minutes, cameras flash and applause ripples through the showrooms as another “delivery ceremony” is completed: a proud owner is presented with flowers, a framed photo, and a bag of gift s as he is handed the keys to his brand-new Lavida, Cowin, or Beauty Leopard.
The lust to buy is almost palpable. Fourteen million cars were sold in China last year, which means the country has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest automobile market. Over eight days, three-quarters of a million people will pass through the seventeen hangar-like halls of the Shanghai Auto Show — which has now surpassed New York’s to become the world’s largest — lining up for their chance to caress vinyl, shift gears, and slam doors, publicly dreaming of owning modernity’s ultimate consumer item: the private automobile.
The big news at this year’s auto show is that subcompacts are no longer at center stage, and major manufacturers have relegated hybrids and electrics to the sidelines as they promote old-fashioned gasoline-powered sedans. For years, the Chery QQ, a fuel-efficient, jellybean-shaped bumper car that retailed for less than $5,000, was the nation’s most popular automobile. Lately, though, the aspiring middle class has set its sights higher. China’s best-selling car is now the BYD F3, a four-door sedan that bears more than a passing resemblance to a Toyota Corolla, with a sticker price of $9,300. The popularity of the F3, which sold over a quarter of a million units in 2010, is a sign that Chinese consumers have made the Great Leap Forward from economy to midsize.
April 24th, 2012
Urban Planet: Cracking Down on Chicago’s Food Trucks
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
“You can’t get me for premeditated selling of a cupcake,” says Chicago truck vendor Lupita Kuri. A police officer noted her intended location from a Facebook post and ticked her for parking in a loading zone. Food trucks are very popular in the windy ...
STRAPHANGER: Vancouverism and smart transit planning
By Spacing // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Vancouver
It’s hard not to see Vancouver, British Columbia, and Portland, Oregon, as the long-lost twins of Cascadia, separated when they were still young. Both were born as Gold Rush boomtowns, and both grew up as Pacific Northwest regional centers with thriving ports and economies based on logging and resource extraction. Both developed streetcar and interurban networks, and count smaller areas of postwar suburban sprawl than similar-size North American cities. Both opted for regional governance in the 1970s, Portland with Metro, Vancouver with the Greater Vancouver Regional District (now Metro Vancouver).
Vancouver doesn’t have a growth boundary, but it has de facto limits to growth, both geographical — the Pacific Ocean to the west, steep mountains to the north and east, and the United States border to the south — and legal, in the form of a large stock of agricultural land forever protected from development. Both have central city populations of 600,000 in regions of just over two million. It is only now, in their early adulthood, that the twins are showing signs of following distinct life paths. Portland remains a regional center, a city comfortable with incremental growth. Vancouver has lately become an international hub, a model for its own brand of urbanism, and a futuristic city of glass towers bound together by the soaring elevated tracks of streamlined rapid transit.
I grew up in Vancouver. It was here, working as a courier, that I witnessed one too many accidents, and developed a lifelong aversion to traffic and cars. My family arrived in the ’70s, settling in a neighborhood of single family homes near the university. Streamlined Brill trolley buses, drawing power from overhead wires, ran down the nearest major artery, Dunbar Street, where only recently streetcars had run. The local housing ran from Tudor-style manses in Shaughnessy Heights, a neighborhood built on an eccentric garden city street plan, to stucco-coated Vancouver Specials, boxy working-class homes with low-pitched roofs and second-floor balconies. Coming from Toronto, Vancouver felt like the edge of the world, an outpost of the British empire experiencing a few timid blooms of alternative culture. This was the place I became a pre-adolescent urbanist, pacing out our block and building a model showing how, if you removed the cars, city streets could be made into parks.
When I visit these days — my parents and sister still call Vancouver home — I barely recognize the place. The shock begins when I get off the plane, walk among the totem poles of the coolly West Coast–themed airport, and wheel my bags to the elevated SkyTrain station. The Canada Line, completed for the 2010 Winter Olympics, whisks passengers in Koreanmade electric trains at 50 miles an hour toward the West End. As the driverless light-rail train crosses the Fraser River, I marvel at how thickets of office and condo towers, each cluster corresponding to a SkyTrain station, have cropped up at intervals of about a mile and a half, where once there was only low-rise suburbia. The single-family homes on small lots, which make Vancouver’s west side so reminiscent of East Portland, still exist, but they are now bordered by slickly designed, European-inspired condo blocks with names like City Square and Arbutus Walk. Arriving at the station in Yaletown, once a downtown district of forlorn ware houses, I’m surrounded by “see-throughs,” the slender condominium towers of pale green glass that rise against the snow-dusted coast mountains. After Manhattan, Vancouver’s downtown is now the second densest in North America. In my absence, the backwater of my youth seems to have morphed into a temperate-zone Singapore, a transformation that has spawned a new buzzword among urbanists: “Vancouverism.”
April 25th, 2012
STRAPHANGER: The Copenhagen Syndrome
By Spacing // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Copenhagen
I was prepared to admire Copenhagen, grudgingly, as you might a doughty Lutheran aunt who prides herself on her strong opinions and sensible shoes. I didn’t expect to become infatuated with the place, jealous of those who got to live there year-round, and, to my wife’s annoyance, an advocate for an eventual emigration to Scandinavian climes.
I’ve been to more striking cities. Copenhagen is like a greatest hits of more glamorous destinations: it has the canals of Amsterdam, the squares of Florence, and the Baroque architecture of Vienna; there is even a single, New York– style modernist skyscraper (the SAS building, all of twenty stories). I’ve been to more exciting cities. Copenhagen’s biggest attraction is the Tivoli Gardens, a nineteenth-century amusement park complete with Ferris wheel and carousel, though the Lego Store and the Bodum Hus, where you can splurge on interlocking plastic bricks and functional coffeepots, are close runner-ups. And I’ve definitely been to balmier cities.
Copenhagen is windblown and rainy, and because it is at the same latitude as Ketchikan, Alaska, the winter sunset — when the sun deigns to appear at all — tends to come at mid-afternoon. Yet the scale of the place is perfect: Copenhagen is big enough to keep you interested, but small enough that you feel comfortable. In truth, though, the depth of my affection probably comes from the way I discovered Copenhagen.
During my first couple of days in the city, I walked and rode the two-line Metro. The brand-new system has state-of-the-art platform doors in its deep underground stations, and gleaming automated Italian-made trains, the kind that allow kids to sit in the front and watch the lights in the tunnel rush by. This being Northern Europe, there are no turnstiles, and passengers board on the honor system. (When I blundered on ticket-free on my first day, a platform attendant smiled indulgently and rode the escalators back to street level to give me a lesson on the proper use of the ticket machines.) From the central train station, eleven commuter train lines, run by Danish State Railways, extend deep into the suburbs. Cheerful orange buses, with low floors to allow easy entry for strollers and wheelchairs, run along most major streets. In fact, Copenhagen is the only city I’ve been where people complain there is too much public transport. When the Cityringen, a circle line that will add fifteen new stations, is completed in 2018, only the residents of the city’s most isolated districts will be more than a 600-yard walk from a Metro station.
April 26th, 2012
STRAPHANGER: The Trouble with Downtown Los Angeles
By Spacing // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Los Angeles
In spite of heroic efforts at revival, downtown Los Angeles can be a pretty forlorn place, filled as it is with polo-shirted security guards on Smith & Wesson mountain bikes fruitlessly trying to herd panhandlers back to the “Nickel,” the city’s skid row. If you know where to look, though, you can catch glimpses of the future Los Angeles once imagined for itself, of enduring architecture and walkable public places, stitched together by rail rather than roads. My favorite piece of Southern California retro-tech is Angel’s Flight, a funicular railway whose two slant-floored cars still haul passengers 300 or so feet up to Bunker Hill, the skyscraper, museum, and concert hall — topped incline that is traditionally considered the heart of Downtown. On Broadway, a plaque in the sumptuously restored Bradbury Building, whose sky-lit interior is all lacquered filigree and exposed cog-works, informs visitors that its architecture was inspired by the 1888 novel Looking Backward, whose author imagined a future in which densely settled American cities would be full of colossal public buildings. One block away, on Hill Street, the words Subway Terminal Building are engraved in the pavement outside an old commercial building that has been converted into upscale condos and lofts. This was where the now-condemned Hollywood subway used to emerge from underground, a mile of tunnel completed in the 1920s in an attempt to solve the congestion problem once and for all by channeling streetcars beneath the pavement and out of the way of cars.
It is a reminder that Los Angeles was supposed to turn out a lot differently. Even as engineers were planning the freeway system that would blow the metropolis apart, ambitious rail schemes were being devised to reassert the hegemony of downtown. After the war, hundreds of business owners campaigned under the slogan “Rail Rapid Transit — Now!” to have mass transit rights-of-way built alongside freeways. In 1963, the Alweg Monorail company of Germany even offered to build Los Angeles a 43-mile monorail operation, for free. “Between 1948 and 1980,” writes transportation historian Martin Wachs, “at least six different plans that included some form of rail transit were placed before the citizens, and all failed to be enacted.”
Urban Planet: Unique Hydro Pylons
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Hydro pylons can be a bit of an eyesore. In response, Russian creative collective Design Depot has proposed a set of creative approaches to beautify this challenging piece of infrastructure. Spacing asks: is there potential to use these modified pylons in the urban environment? ...
April 27th, 2012
Sim City: Bus Shelters & International Buisness
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Bus transit is big in Spacington. The city has adopted new lines, extended a few, and created a multi-city connection. Not bad, eh? Still not great. The Spacington folks are still only using 40% of the bus transit- 40% of the different routes and overall capacity. We have observed the lines, relocated a few things, but still the number teeters under 50%. Why don't they like buses? We tried losing the amount of buses for the optimal transit system- LRT -but for some reason Simingtons were even less trilled to use it.
So here is a map of a bus route in Spacington. This great route connects folks to a baseball stadium, local jobs, and residences from all over the top northern tip of Spacington. The route is straight, on major roads and avenues, and connects a slew of amenties in the city.
Urban Planet: Detroit’s 40 Square Miles of Vacant Land
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
It's well known that Detroit has experienced a large population decline leaving large swaths of land abandoned. The oft cited number is 40 square miles. But as Kate Davidson at Changing Gears reports, nobody is quite sure where that number came from. New ...
STRAPHANGER: The Toronto tragedy
By Spacing // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Toronto (last excerpt)
I’d always planned to end up in Toronto. After all, it was the city where I started.
I was born at the old Women’s College Hospital, near Queen’s Park station on the Yonge-University line, in 1966. At the time, my parents were renting a top-floor flat in a house on Lytton Boulevard, a short stroller’s push from Yonge Street; an auspicious first address for a newborn, it turned out, as it had belonged to one of the inventors of Pablum (his widow spoon-fed me the vitamin-rich baby mush, which may explain why I never developed rickets). When I was only four years old, my parents joined the exodus to suburbia, and we moved to a cookie-cutter bungalow on a curvy street in Burlington, twenty-five miles west along the shore of Lake Ontario from Union Station.
I used to wonder if this early exile from the city was the foundational trauma that led to my lifelong bias against subdivisions, but my Kodachrome-hued memories of Riverside Drive—of netting crayfish in the nearby creek, of walking to Frontenac Elementary School, and of pretending I was Bobby Orr in street hockey games—are for the most part fond, and at worst emotionally neutral. My parents tell me they bought the house as a short-term investment, but if they were hoping the suburbs would be a healthier setting than the city, they seriously misjudged Southern Ontario. Less than a mile from our carport were the multimillion-gallon storage tanks of the Oakville refinery, where British Petroleum was busy making jet fuel, and beyond a tiny stand of oaks known as Sherwood Forest Park lay the Queen Elizabeth Way—six lanes of rushing traffic that, in the days before emissions controls, must have created a formidable cancer corridor of leaded gas exhaust. My parents lasted two years in Burlington, before giving up on the land of loops-and-lollipops and bundling my sister and me onto a westbound train.
Spacing’s Creative Mapping Contest deadline on Monday!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
COST: Free!
April 28th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Large Urban Parks, Urban Alleyways and Transit Funding
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
As cities around the world continue to push for titles of largest new urban parks, Christine McLaren looks at the pros and cons of large urban parks and in the process strikes at the comparative value of smaller parks that are responsive and well integrated to their specific community.
Ian Lowrie contributes to the Cartographically Speaking feature with the first two of three installments in a series using mapping to show the relationship between crime an urban form in Greater Vancouver. First looking at broader areas of crime intensity and then focusing in on the details of these areas.
As Saint John heads into a municipal election Abad Khan recaps a tumultuous year while attempting to frame the upcoming vote and the challenges the city faces moving forward.
Alexandre Laquerre uses historical images to show how government office blocks have dramatically altered the urban context in Hull.
My City Lives, takes readers on a three part guided tour of the historic 'Old Town Toronto' neighbourhood with guide Bruce Bell. The first installment introduces the broader neighbourhood, while the second looks at the iconic Gooderham Flatiron Building.
John Lorinc focuses on the topic of GTA transit funding, as the region looks to build off the momentum of the populist subway debates. Lorinc shares the results of a Spacing-Environics poll showing wide support for a gas tax and later goes into detail about the political difficulties ahead.
April 29th, 2012
The Sunday Building Project ‐ Not Any Ol’ Chip‐wagon
By Lauren // No Comments
There is a thriving food truck culture in the United Steezy. Particularly fueled by meandering lunchers, dates, and tourists, the trucks can be found clustered to the side of parking lots, surrounded by proud drinking establishments, isolated in the shade of a bank. Food trucks are expensive to run, and so prices are typically similar to those in the cheapest air‐conditioned environments with seating, but it's well worth it ‐ people learn how to wait in a line‐up and enjoy the sunshine.
April 30th, 2012
Urban Planet: Street Vendors’ Guide
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
New York City's 10,000 street vendors face myriad rules and regulations. Add to that many first languages other than English and it becomes easy to see how cart owners could face steep penalties for simple infractions. To address this issue and empower the city's ...
Today is deadline for Creative Mapping Contest!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: By the end of the day today! If you want to submit and cannot meet today's deadline please send us an email [ creativemapping@spacing.ca ] and we can work something out. We're more concerned with quality entries than with strident deadlines!
COST: Free!
May 1st, 2012
Urban Planet: LA’s First Pedestrian Plaza
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Welcome to Sunset Triangle - LA's first pedestrian plaza. The street-to-plaza conversion opened in March, modeled after the successful installations in NYC. The street is demarcated with green polkadots and planters, and first reports suggest that LA residents are enjoying their new open space. ...
HEADSPACE: Author Gabriel Campanario discusses the Art of Urban Sketching
By Noah van der Laan // No Comments
Sketching is a way of discovering communities, showing lively streetscapes, soaring architecture and intriguing faces. Gabriel Campanario's book The Art of Urban Sketching presents a visually arresting, storytelling take on urban life driven by artists drawing their cities and sharing their visual dispatches. Starting tomorrow, Spacing will showcase three excerpts from this book.
Spacing: What is the link between urban sketching and the public realm? How does urban sketching contribute to city building?
Gabi: Urban sketching connects space with the people who use it. It increases awareness of place. You need to spend time looking at something to be able to draw it. An urban sketcher always has his eyes peeled when out and about in the city. I see with those sketchers eyes, often tracing the skyline or the outline of buildings. One of the benefits of urban sketching is that it brings appreciation to the spaces one inhabits and the subtle beauty which can be found even in the texture of a wall or brick.
Spacing: Do you consider the visual art as an important tool for engaging citizens and bolstering public participation?
Gabi: Art is very individual. Sketching creates an interpretation of a space that is then shared with others. It's a very unique transaction. People like this book even if they don't draw, because they can see cities through the artists' eyes. I see art more as a communication tool, rather than meant to be put in a frame on the wall. My background is in journalism, and sketching is a way of communicating my experiences. If I can show you my experiences then I don't need to tell you, you see how I'm interpreting my own city. Art is important in experiencing your own city because anybody can understand it, it's in a universal language. it crosses borders, languages, and backgrounds.
May 2nd, 2012
The Art of Urban Sketching: Montreal
By Noah van der Laan // 2 Comments
This week, Spacing presents excerpts from The Art of Urban Sketching, the new book by Seattle-based artist and journalist Gabriel Campanario. The book examines a global movement driven by urban sketchers drawing their cities and sharing their visual dispatches.
MONTREAL
Montreal's small, walkable city center makes the second-largest city in Canada ideal for urban sketching. Local artist Marc Taro Holmes is drawn to the ornate architecture of French and English historic buildings around the Old Port, as well as the many intricate lines of cathedrals and churches.
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Kansas City’s Community Bookshelf
By mikebulko // 3 Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
Parking garages usually don't make it very high on a city's list of urban beautification projects — most end up looking pretty similar to each other.
Kansas City, MO is one of the citys who have broken the mould. The parking garage of city's downtown public library branch has a 25-foot tall "bookshelf" facade made from signboard mylar that features the spines of a number of local stories as well as many famous works.
May 3rd, 2012
The Art of Urban Sketching: Toronto
By Noah van der Laan // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents excerpts from The Art of Urban Sketching, the new book by Seattle-based artist and journalist Gabriel Campanario. The book examines a global movement driven by urban sketchers drawing their cities and sharing their visual dispatches.
TORONTO
From red rockets to tall towers, Toronto's iconography is ubiquitous. Architect Eugene Zhilinsky likes to sketch while strolling with his family. Find artist and Spacing contributor Jerry Waese along Dundas Street, drawing streetcars. His column, Street Scene, appears twice a week on Spacing Toronto's site.
Urban Planet: Mapping the World’s Road, Shipping and Air Routes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Welcome to the Anthropocene - the era where human activity is the greatest single force shaping the surface of the earth. This video from Gizmodo charts the many ways we are changing the planet and the incredible connectivity we have achieved as a result. (LA Curbed)
Image from ...
Plateau Reveals Plans for Saint-Viateur Est
By Spacing // 1 Comment
Special report by Steve Charters.
On Tuesday May 1, the Plateau borough held an open house in the Mile End to launch their redevelopment plan Secteur Saint-Viateur Est, the enclaved industrial buildings located between rues Saint-Laurent, MacGuire and Henri-Julien, abutting the railroad tracks. Plans for redeveloping this area have been in the works since 2005, and are publically available on the City website (PDF).
Several Borough representatives and members of the design team were on hand to discuss their proposals for the next phase of construction with ...
May 4th, 2012
The Art of Urban Sketching: Victoria
By Noah van der Laan // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents excerpts from The Art of Urban Sketching, the new book by Seattle-based artist and journalist Gabriel Campanario. The book examines a global movement driven by urban sketchers drawing their cities and sharing their visual dispatches.
VICTORIA
For local architect Matthew Cencich, Victoria's Chinatown neighbourhood and downtown ornate architecture are favourite sketching subjects. The climate in the western Canadian city is relatively mild, but it's often wet and chilly, so sketching outdoors can be a challenge. Still, Cencich says he has done some of his best sketches in winter, often making it back to a coffee shop chilled to the bone and vowing not to return until spring.
A note on Urban Planet
By Spacing // No Comments
A note to our readers: We've recently decided to publish the Urban Planet column once a week rather than on a daily basis. This column links to blogs from around the world that deal with urban issues. If you miss the feature, you are welcome to follow any of the other Spacing Network blogs, which will continue to run the daily Urban Planet posts. At Spacing Montreal, our objective is to focus on publishing original content about Montreal's urban experience, and to become increasingly bilingual.
Thanks for your understanding!
Note à nos lecteurs: Nous avons récemment pris la décision de ne publier ...
Sim City: Fire!
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
A fire broke out in Spacington. In fact, two fires broke out in the little city this week. There has been a couple close calls with fire before but this week with the combination of derelict buildings sitting side by side, the flames broke out and spread the neighborhood. Since this is the first semi-major disaster In Spacington, we thought we'd share:
May 8th, 2012
Takers and Breakers of Public Space
By Alanah Heffez // No Comments
#manifencours. The students are on the march again tonight, as they have been on the march every night for the past two weeks. This is how we live now.
Public space as an arena for expression has always been at the core of Spacing's values but never, in my experience, has Montreal's public space been appropriated so thoroughly and on such a large scale as it has over the past 12 weeks, with students demonstrating daily and nightly against tuition hikes imposed by the provincial government.
It has been exhilarating to witness the students ...
May 10th, 2012
Fine Art in the Back Alley
By Spacing // No Comments
Guest contribution by Michael O'Shea, adapted from Parks and Excavation blog.
Last month, I spent a couple of hours in an alley with three circus performers, an accordionist, and a hundred other Montréal residents. I stood around around talking, watching children play with hula hoops, and viewing slide projections of a German Bauhaus artist. Where was I?
Well not in just in any ordinary alley. I was in the Rue Jaune created by the Museum of Fine Arts, in collaboration with Sun Life Financial, and one of Montréal’s leading environmental organizations, Éco-quartier. The “yellow street” was illuminated for two ...
May 11th, 2012
The Forest, a Fortress, and the Future of Participation
By Alanah Heffez // 1 Comment
Between the tree trunks, I can spot the traffic light at the corner of Cote-Saint-Catherine road. The outline of apartment buildings half a block away is hardly subtle, yet I still have the distinct impression that I am in a forest. It must be the wildness of the forest floor, where heaps of scraggly branches tangle on the ground and a bushy green layer of underbrush is pushing up through the whispy remains of last year's fallen leaves.
Mackenzie-King Park in Côte-des-Neiges, is one of the few neighbourhood parks ...
Creative Mapping Contest deadline extended to May 31
By Spacing // No Comments
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MAY 31st
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
To date we have received an amazing assortment of submissions. But we also had a whack-load of requests for late submissions. In the spirit of openness, we've extended the deadline until the end of May.
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Thursday, May 31st, 2012
COST: Free!
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE (see examples at bottom of page)?
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc....)
Sim City: City Slums
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Like we mentioned a few weeks ago, Spacington has developed a bit of a slum. As displayed above, this once thriving neighborhood has become an area of little growth, dirty abandoned buildings, and a limited amount of available work. We get it, this slum isn't nearly as "slummy" as it could be- there is still a strong mix of wealths, mixed use, and utilized transit- but the neighborhood has lost it's drive.
Usually in the game, a no job logo hovering above a building represents the lack of jobs in a commutable distance. Basically, it takes too long for a Sim to get to work, or they can't find work.
Urban Planet: New York’s Subway Map, Vancouver’s Parking Garages
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• In 1979, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled a redesign of its iconic subway system map. The redesign was an attempt to bring clarity to the tangle of colours and lines that crisscross the five boroughs. But as Matt Flegenheimer at the ...
May 13th, 2012
Montage du jour : La maison de Le Moyne de Maricourt, intersection des rues de Lagauchetière et Côté
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2012
Cette maison de pierres construite au XVIIe siècle, qui avait autrefois servi de résidence de campagne pour un gouverneur de Montréal et qui avait de plus été occupée par Paul LeMoyne, l’un des 11 fils de Charles LeMoyne, fut acquise par les Sulpiciens en 1839. Elle fut alors réaménagée afin de servir de logement pour les religieux tandis qu’une école pour garçons fut érigée en bordure de celle-ci (à droite). La date de démolition de l’ensemble est inconnue.
Source : BANQ
May 14th, 2012
Montage du jour : Le square Phillips
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vers 1910-2012
Source : Vixie Robinson
Quel avenir pour l’ancienne coopérative d’habitation de St-Léonard ?
By Guillaume St-Jean // No Comments
Vue aérienne de Saint-Léonard prise en 1958 montrant la coopérative d’habitation en construction au milieu d’un champ. Source : Bibliothèque de Saint-Léonard
Après plus d’un demi-siècle d’existence, les quartiers de bungalows de première génération ont vieilli, socialement et physiquement. Les enfants ont grandi et ont quittés le nid familial, les ménages ont pris de l’âge et certains ont même été remplacés. Les rues et les canalisations de ces premiers quartiers développés dans les années 1950 et 1960 seront à refaire d’ici dix à quinze ans puisque ces infrastructures approchent de leur durée de vie maximale. Du côté des bungalows, nombre d’entre eux ont par ailleurs été agrandis, lourdement modifié, voire même démoli et remplacé, puisque leur taille réduite ne répond plus aux besoins actuels de la population. Étant bien différent du monument historique auquel la majorité de la population associe la notion de patrimoine, le bungalow, seul ou dans un ensemble, est aujourd’hui menacé puisqu’il n’est pas encore considéré comme étant un bien à préserver.
Dans l’arrondissement montréalais de Saint-Léonard, la situation est aujourd’hui critique pour un quartier de bungalow aménagé entre 1956 et 1962. Ce quartier, le premier développement suburbain à voir le jour à St-Léonard, fut érigé en tant qu’ensemble coopératif par la Coopérative d’habitation de Montréal. Il était originellement composé de 654 résidences unifamiliales, de sept différents modèles, d’un à un étage et demi, recouvert de briques rouges.
