[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. ...

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 ...

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!

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 ...

[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 ...