1961-2012

Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM105-SYSS1D341-20

Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM98-Y2-P053

The evolution of Montreal's "metropolitan census area" as defined by the Federal government. From Collin et al. (2003), From City to City-Region: Historical Perspective on the Contentious Definitions of the Montreal Metropolitan Area

I realize now this could (and should probably) have been my very first post under this heading, as I have more or less taken for granted in previous posts that the definition of the "urban region" (or the "metropolitan region") was self-evident. Clearly, it isn't so - no geographical scale or territorial subdivision is. I do not, therefore, claim that the idea of a region should naturally make sense. Rather, I start from the premise that the concept of the urban region is necessary, whether or not it reflects our perception of reality, our everyday experience of place or our sense of belonging (see this post for a brief exposé of the importance of regional planning and the concept of region).

More importantly, I also believe that the way we act collectively, and in particular the way we subdivide the land and break down the territory socially and politically, can either promote or hinder our "sense of a region". And nowhere is this more obvious than in Montreal, both historically and in the current period.

I know it is bad form to cite academic articles in a blog, but the works of Jean-Pierre Collin (and more specifically this article, which unfortunately is not available for free), really help shed light on this issue. His main argument is basically the following: there never was a regional sense of belonging in Montreal to start with, and the fragmentation of the region into numerous parishes, villages and towns (which has partly do this with the fact that Montreal had an important English-speaking population that sought to control its local institutions) has entrenched numerous sub-regional identities, many of which were created in opposition (or contrast) to Montreal. In short, the idea of a "Montreal metropolitan region" was contentious from the start - and remains so today.

Sherry Olson and Patricia Thornton, in a recent book, report that several families established in Montreal in the mid-19th century moved to the adjacent countryside only to return to the city 10, 20 or 30 years later. This could have contributed to solidifying a regional identity in and around Montreal; yet, as Prof. Olson told me herself, there is no evidence of that.

Another interesting fact: when the Liberals created the administrative regions (then called "districts") in 1966 to better coordinate policy-making among local governments and across levels of government, they deliberately did not create a "Montreal metropolitan administrative region"; instead, they divided up Montreal's suburbs and exurbs among four different regions, namely Montérégie, Laval, Laurentides and Lanaudière - and this in spite of the fact that Longueuil was part of Montreal's census metropolitan area starting in 1951, and Laval of much of the South Shore starting in 1961 (see map above). I am not a historian, but it does strike me as a "divide and conquer" strategy, one that has obviously worked quite well: the metropolitan region of Montreal, as defined by the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) has now no fewer than seven different Conférences régionales des élus (CRÉ), i.e., seven groups of elected representatives trying to coordinate among themselves in their little sub-regions, focused on their belonging not to a larger regional entity, but to a smaller one. No wonder suburban mayors resisted the Plan métropolitan d'aménagement et de développement (PMAD) so fiercely.

Personally, I think the Statscan definition of a metropolitan region as "an urban core surrounded by urban and rural fringes with which there is a strong degree of social and economic integration" (as defined chiefly by daily commuting patterns) makes sense.

But having a technical definition of this sort does not contribute very much to advancing our understanding of the region as a contentious, emotionally-charged, historically-loaded, fuzzy, dynamic and evolving phenomenon, which is why a group of planning enthusiasts and I have proposed to walk across the region as a way to question the concept by engaging with it directly (see this post and this post to get a flavor of last year's expedition). What better way to engage with the idea of the region than to test it out concretely, on the ground, with one's own feet?

For those interested: this year's walk will take place between Kahnawake and Lachenaie on June 30th, July 1st and July 2nd and we are intently and insistently looking for participants who live in the region but outside of the island of Montreal. Please, if you know anyone who might be interested, forward me their names (walktheregion@gmail.com).

Also, if you would like to join us for part of the walk - whether or not you live in the suburbs - we would love to have you! Just send me an e-mail and I'll add you on the mailing list (which I use parsimoniously).

In any given city there prevails a typical architecture. Whether or not it is one of distinction, however, is what can make or break the unique character of a city - from cookie-cutters to triplexes, condos to shanties, yurts to mansions, one's recognition of a city's veritable thumbprint relies on a prevailing dwelling structure not-so-typical of other areas.

In New Orleans there exists the shotgun home -  lengthy and destitute of alternative passageway, it consists of a front room connected by a doorway to the next room, connected by a doorway to the next room, &c. These serial rooms number from two to four or five until the kitchen, connected by a doorway to a back room where, since initial construction, there has been built a washroom facility of some variety.

Very difficult in terms of  mid-night bathroom trips and seductions if you have roommates, but beautiful buildings and fascinating folklore value - the facile passage through these houses generated many ideas about the entry of spirits. The construction of shotgun homes steeply declined after World War II to make way for the endowment of the industrial age, considering driveways and better design for the flow of air-conditioning.

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.

• Did you ride your bike to school as a kid? According to this piece on NPR, back in 1969 nearly half of children got to school on foot or by bike. Today, that figure is closer to 13%. Reporter David Darlington talks about what has changed - from concerns about liability to sprawling neighbourhood design to a changing understanding of bikes as recreation rather than transportation.

• From the makers of Walk Score and just in time for "Bike to Work Week" comes Bike Score - the online tool for assessing neighbourhood bikeability. The tool uses data including the locations of bicycle infrastructure, amenities and hills. And Canadian cities are featured too!

• It's been in international headlines throughout the past few weeks over false reports that it will be changing its name, but this tiny Austrian hamlet has been "Fucking" (or close to it) since the Dark Ages.

Nestled right near the Austrian-German border, Fucking is home to just over 100 residents. It's credited as being named after  a Bavarian noble named Focko who lived in the area during the 6th century (-ing being an old Germanic suffix meaning "people of"). The first documentation of the settlement was in 1070, when it was called Vucchingen. The next mention, two decades later, was of the local lord, Adalpertus de Fucingin. The name evolved to Fukching in 1303, then Fugkhing in 1532, with the current spelling taking over in the 18th century.

The community got its first international attention during World War II as British and American soldiers had their pictures taken beside the four traffic signs, which simply read "Fucking." British tourists have become very popular in last half century and are notorius for taking lewd photographs and even stealing the signs. The community recently replaced the signs with welded steel and concrete ones to deter theft. While the taxpayers weren't happy with constantly replacing the old (costing €300 each), it did make for some unintentionally funny quotes from local officials:

"We will not stand for the Fucking signs being removed. It may be very amusing for you British, but Fucking is simply Fucking to us. What is this big Fucking joke? It is puerile."

However, it seems the community does also embrace its English meaning. Starting in 2008, Fucking has been home to the Festival of the Fuck Bands, a gathering of similarly-named bands from all over the world.

• If you've dreamed of living in LEGO paradise since you were a child, Dwell has the home for you. In partnership with Pacific Standard Time, the magazine launched a challenge to architects and lego-tects alike to construct a model of an original home inspired by Californian mid-century modern architecture using only using LEGO bricks. The results are well worth checking out.

• Booooooom.com has a great collection of unique and colourful Japanese manhole covers.

Image from sfbike

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 to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca

Le bassin fut recouvert d'un toit en 1957.

Source : Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-Z26

L'église presbytérienne américaine fut construite en 1865 à l'intersection des rues Drummond 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, cartes postales

Le site tel qu'il était avant la construction de l'hôtel Laurentien et de l'élargissement du boulevard.

Source : Archives de la ville de Montréal, VM94-Z184-14

Source : BANQ

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, recouvertes de briques rouges. 

Le bungalow à long pan, l'un des sept modèles de bungalow construit dans la coopérative.  Source : Guillaume St-Jean

50 ans plus tard, l’homogénéité paysagère et volumétrique qui caractérisait autrefois l’ensemble n’est plus.  Des 654 bungalows construits, seuls 278 d’entre eux subsistent encore sous leur première forme (en date d’une étude terrain effectuée en novembre 2011).  52 résidences ont subi une réfection partielle ou totale du revêtement extérieur, 83 ont été agrandies à l’aide d’une aile au rez-de-chaussée ou d’un second étage, un bungalow à été converti en lieu de culte et 21 autres ont été agrémenté d’un garage ou d’un abri d’auto. À ces différents types de modifications  s’ajoute une menace de taille pour ce quartier : la démolition.  En effet, depuis 1989, 121 bungalows ont été démolis. 120 ont été remplacés par de nouvelles constructions tandis que le terrain d’une de ces résidences a été vendu au voisin qui y a aménagé une piscine creusée.  Alors qu’il n’y eut que 2 démolitions/reconstructions au cours des années 1980, il y en a eu 32 au cours des années 1990 et 60 au cours des années 2000.  Ce nombre fut le plus élevé en 2011 avec un total de 23 démolitions/reconstruction.

Une vue de la rue les Prévoyants en 2009 et en 2011.  Source : Google maps, Guillaume St-Jean

Rupture d’échelle et de style, Place des Fondateurs.  Source : Guillaume St-Jean

Sur les édifices reconstruits, seuls 14 sont des bungalows. Les 106 autres sont des cottages, soit des édifices de deux étages offrant une  aire habitable plus vaste.  Si la transition entre les bungalows reconstruits et les édifices originels se fait en douceur, la situation est tout autre avec les cottages.  En plus d’être d’un gabarit totalement différent, ce qui contribue à rompre l’homogénéité volumétrique, ces nouvelles constructions sont généralement d’un style architectural contrastant. Une forte proportion d’entre eux sont des néo-manoirs où tourelles, pignons et éléments décoratifs y sont utilisés en abondance.  Leur coefficient d’emprise au sol est beaucoup plus élevé, les marges de recul latéral sont moins généreuses et dans certains cas, la superficie de la cour avant est entièrement pavée.  D’allure beaucoup plus imposante, ces cottages contribuent à faire paraître vétuste les bungalows des années 1950 et 1960 qui les voisinent.

Cottage situé au 8630 rue Aéterna.  Source : Guillaume St-Jean

Un cottage situé au milieu de bungalows sur la rue Paul Sauvé.  Source : Guillaume St-Jean

Si les principales caractéristiques de cet ensemble résidentiel ont été fortement altérées, elles n’ont pas pour autant complètement disparu.  Ainsi, la trame de rue est restée la même, la dimension des lots, la marge de recul face à la rue et la fonction résidentielle persistent, chaque résidence ne comporte toujours qu’un seul logement, les espaces verts situés dans les croissants sont toujours végétalisés et il existe encore des bungalows de chacun des sept modèles de propriété n’ayant pas été modifiés.

Bien que l’arrondissement règlemente l’implantation de ces nouvelles constructions; la marge de recul par rapport à la rue devant être similaire à celle des édifices voisins, celui-ci ne semble pas se soucier de la disparition imminente de la présence de la coopérative d’habitation.  St-Léonard ne dispose pas d’un comité de démolition, comme il est par exemple le cas dans les arrondissements du Sud-Ouest et du Plateau Mont-Royal ni d’un plan d’implantation et d’intégration architecturale (PIIA) qui pourrait permettre d’encadrer les modifications sur le territoire de la coopérative.

À titre d’exemple un PIIA destiné à un quartier de bungalow est actuellement en vigueur dans l’arrondissement d’Anjou et un autre dans l’arrondissement de Mercier, Hochelaga, Maisonneuve.  On y retrouve notamment des critères destinés aux nouvelles constructions et aux agrandissements quant à l’implantation de l’édifice, son gabarit, la forme et la pente de sa toiture, les ouvertures, les matériaux de revêtement et leur couleur ou encore l’aménagement de la cour avant et de l’aire de stationnement.

Considérant qu’il ne subsiste aujourd’hui que de rares témoins immobiliers témoignant du passé de Saint-Léonard, ne serait-il pas temps de considérer le patrimoine autrement et de puiser dans un passé plus récent afin de préserver la mémoire de cette ancienne ville aujourd’hui devenue un arrondissement montréalais ?  Après tout, la coopérative d’habitation n’a-t-elle pas été le tout premier développement résidentiel d’envergure de Saint-Léonard qui a permis de transformer le paysage rural des lieux en celui d’une banlieue ?

Source : Vixie Robinson

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

Vers 1900-2012

Source : BANQ

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 New York Times reports, the designers made some serious errors: "On the West Side of Manhattan, beginning near Lincoln Center and extending toward the campus of Columbia University, Broadway is seemingly misplaced. It is west of Amsterdam Avenue at West 66th Street when it should be east. It drifts toward West End Avenue near 72nd Street, where it should intersect with Amsterdam. It overtakes West End Avenue north of the avenue’s actual endpoint near West 107th Street, creating several blocks of fictitious Upper West Side real estate." Designers John Tauranac and Michael Hertz are still fighting over authorship of the design, and its errors.

• What's tall and full and leafy all over? Vancouver's parking garages. Valcent Products recently signed an agreement with several garage owners to build the 6,000-square-foot vertical farm. The "VertiCrop" farming structure will feature 12-foot-high stacks of growing trays that will move around to catch water and sunlight. (Designing Healthy Communities)

• Is a neighbourhood defined by geographical borders or by the set of people that flow in and out of it? This is the hypothesis being tested by researchers at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Their platform, Livehoods, uses foursquare check in data to map out who is visiting what venues where and when. This information is grouped into patterns which are then used to map neighbourhoods. (Flowing Data)

• Listen to the sweet sounds of the Copenhagen Philharmonic serenading Danish commuters. (Huffington Post)

Image from Vertical Theory

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 to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca

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.

The neighborhood shown above is thriving. The area consistently reinventing itself, changing it's buildings, and doubling it's density. The neighborhood shares the same amount of transit and zoning (high density for the most part) as the previous neighborhood but has a healthy growth thriving workforce.

So give us your thoughts, taken from examples or not: How do we reinvent and begin growth in our semi-slum?

Spacington: Want to see previous posts about Spacington? Click on the "Sim City: Spacington" link in the "RELATED" box just below.

Keep up on the action and follow Spacington on Twitter.

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....)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOW TO ENTER: You must register to enter. Send us an email and we will provide you with uploading details. EMAIL: creativemapping@spacing.ca

How many maps can I submit?
As many as you like.

When will the winners know that their map is being published?
Spacing will email all winners in the summer to make sure we have the optimal file for printing, as well as make sure your name is spelled correctly. Nothing will be published in Spacing without your permission.

Are there prizes?
Yes (but no cash). Besides all the fame you will receive for being published in Spacing (!?!), there will be a variety of prizes from sponsors and Spacing advertisers. We will announce the prizes available as we get closer to the deadline.  Spacing is assembling a team or jurors from across Canada, including a few Spacing editors. We are trying to get a mix of jurors from different professions (cartographers, architects, graphic designers, illustrators, and Spacing readers). We will publish the jurors' names after the final submission deadline of April 30th.

What if my map is not selected — what happens to it once the contest is over?
Spacing plans to publish the winners' maps as well as a number of honourable mention entries on our web site (we will keep the online versions low-resolution and embed the files into an app so that your work cannot be extracted and distributed without your consent).

On your entry form, you can indicate whether you wish to allow Spacing to hold onto your map(s) so that we can consider using it in future issues.

What if I don't live in Canada?
We won't hold that against you. We just want the maps that you create to be inspired by Canadian cities (since our audience and distribution is exclusively in Canada).

TECHNICAL STUFF

Is there a preferred size to the maps?
There is no limit to the physical size of your map. But please consider Spacing's page dimensions (landscape format) when submitting your maps. Your map doesn't have to be the exact same size as our pages, but you should keep in mind readability of text and other design elements in relation to our dimensions. PAGE SIZE: 10.5-inches in width / 8.125-inches in height; add .25-inch to either side if you wish to see the map "bleed" off the edge of the page.

What type of file can I submit?
Photoshop: If you submit a Photoshop file, please make sure it's saved as an uncompressed JPG, in CMYK, and has a minimum resolution of 300dpi. Make sure the file is "flattened" so that any fonts or effects are not lost when opened on Spacing's computers. Please submit a low-res JPG so that we can compare/contrast with your high-res entry.

Illustrator: If you submit an Illustrator file, please make sure it's saved as a PDF or EPS, and in CMYK. All fonts need to be converted to outlines (mandatory!). It is always safest to "save down" the file to the lowest possible Illustrator version (ie. CS1) in order to make sure there is no corruption of the files once Spacing receives it. With Illustrator files it is always smart to submit a low-res JPG so that Spacing can make sure it has received the file as it is intended to be seen.

Please note that any photo files that are embedded in your Illustrator file must be in CMYK and have a resolution of 300dpi.

InDesign: Spacing prefers not to receive any InDesign files. If you must submit your entry in this format please save it as a PDF and also submit a low-res JPG.

Mixed-Media: Some entrants may choose to create a map with mixed-media that cannot be properly displayed as a scanned image. We ask that you submit it by mail or in person. It must be post-marked or dropped off at Spacing's office no later than April 30, 2012. Please note that we will not return your submission unless you specify your desire to see it returned. Spacing will contact you to make arrangements.

Send it to:
Spacing
720 Bathurst St. #309
Toronto ON, M5S 2R4, Canada

What if my file is huge — can I upload it as Stuffit or Zip?
Yes, if your file size is over 20MB we ask that you place your files into a folder and either Stuff or Zip your files.

How should I name my files?
Please title your files with your name (ie. "matthew-blackett-map.pdf"). It will make us very happy.

Where do I upload my files?
Once you've sent an email to Spacing [ creativemapping@spacing.ca ] to notify us of your interest to enter the contest, Spacing will provide you with FTP details.

CREATIVE MAPPING EXAMPLES: Still not sure what we're looking for? The maps below are good examples:

• MASH-UP MAPS (two separate subjects combined) like this one that was just published in the Winter 2012 issue of Spacing. It imagines if the actual highways of Ontario were subway lines instead.

• NEIGHBOURHOOD MAP, such as this example by Marlena Zuber

• FANTASY TRANSIT MAPS: You can find a wide range of these for any city that already has/wishes they had a subway system. This example of an imagined Ottawa subway system is by Adam Bentley of Spacing Ottawa.

• UNCATEGORIZED MAPS: Below are examples of mapping that are we are seeking for this competition.

by Olly Moss

by Ork posters

Matthew Cusick creates paintings of people using maps.

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 that's got a bonafide patch of woods. It may only be the size of a city block, but something very important has happened here: someone has built a fortress.

Why is this of such tantamount important? Take a look at what the experts have to say.

Louise Chawla is a professor of planning and urban design, and coordinated Growing up in Cities, a UNESCO program that seeks to involve children in evaluating and improving urban environments in over 50 countries worldwide. Chawla argues that a responsive environment can help prepare young people to participate as citizens:

"For ball play, rollerblading, or cycling, nothing is better than hard, flat surfaces. For most other actions, children need a more malleable world. Natural elements are particularly rich in the effects they offer, and what  is more, although they are predictable to a point, they also offer intriguing surprises.  Water flows and splashes in fluid forms. Soft earth can be dug and moulded in infinite iterations. Every rock has a different heft and shape for building. Every rotting  log reveals a different universe of insect life inside. Convivial city streets and public spaces offer similarly responsive settings for social interactions, which – like natural elements – never do exactly the same thing twice...

"Adults’ accounts of special childhood places show that they tend to be on the margins of the adult world, where children can find freedom to take risks and prove themselves, get dirty, make and unmake play worlds with abandon and interact intensively both with the physical world and with friends (Cooper Marcus 1978; Goodenough 2003). These sites include tree houses, play forts, creek banks, and overgrown lots, colonised by children on the edge of the adult world in both cities and rural areas. They also include public spaces where children feel welcomed by adults..." (Chawla, 2008).

...

"This reciprocity between self-produced action and environmental events lies at the heart of the development of a sense of competence (Bandura 1997). For this reason, Fuglesang and Chandler (1997) argue that responsive early childhood programmes and parent training to increase interactive experiences of this kind are important precursors to children’s readiness for more formal types of participation. In research with adolescents and adults, this experience of self-efficacy promotes learned optimism (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000) and life satisfaction (Ryan and Deci 2001). As Bandura (1997) has noted, to inspire people to continue working towards goals, nothing is as motivating as ‘mastery experiences’ of their own capability." (Chawla, 2008, emphasis added).

Which is all a rather academic way of saying that surely, this is the way children were meant to play?

-----

Source: Chawla, L. (2008). Participation and the Ecology of Environmental Awareness and Action. In: Participation and Learning. Eds: Reid, A, Jensen, B. B. Nikel, J. et Simovska, V. Springer. (PDF)

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 nights in April, in a green alley between Fairmount and Laurier, Jeanne-Mance and Parc Avenues.

The Museum of Fine Arts is currently hosting a retrospective on the paintings of German Bauhaus artist Lyonel Feininger. To bring these works closer to the community and make use of the already completed green alley, the Museum organized a festive alley party and projected images of the Feininger’s paintings onto the surrounding brick walls.

I had the chance to talk to residents and event organizers as I roamed the alley and studied Feininger’s artwork. Residents told me how much they enjoyed this evening of art, music and culture as they met other residents, learned about Feininger’s work, and watched their children dance to circus music.

They also expressed support for green alley projects that created a space community events like Rue Jaune (named after one of Feininger's canvases). The resident featured in video below told me that greening efforts help “humaniser les ruelles,” (“humanize the alleys”) by softening hard brick and asphalt and by bringing residents – not cars – outside.

And was event difficult to put together? “It only took about a month and half to organize,” a spokesman  for Sun Life Financial told me. Impressive organization for an event that brought together an accordionist, three women on stilts, and dozens of Montrealers happy to spend an evening outside, in an alley.

#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 and their supporters marching by day and by night; in rain and shine; with raised voices and in silence; on bicycles and in their underwear. They have numbered in the hundreds of thousands and, whether or not one supports the strikers' demands, or approves of the Liberals' proposed deal, it is impossible to deny that movement's dedication, organization and visibility have made their plight impossible to ignore.

It has also been chilling, each night, to hear the sirens and the helicopters, to see the paddywagons and riot-shields. And it has been heartbreaking to read, each morning, the tally of arrests, injuries and vandalism suffered in our city streets. Before the student strike, we were not strangers to this kind of clash: we have had our hockey riots and our yearly police-brutality showdown; we have lived tear-gas like a right of passage at the G20 and the FTAA. But never has kind of conflict become so thoroughly integrated into our daily lives. This is how we live now.

Things get tumultuous

The freedoms of expression and of peaceful assembly are, of course, guaranteed by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, yet it seems that nearly every night, somewhere along the way, the protest gets declared illegal.

The protests have become so pervasive that last month the Montreal Police put out a communiqué and an FAQ about how to run a smooth demo. As soon as criminal acts are committed, the SPVM writes, a protest will be declared illegal. The police will give a verbal warning (and usually a tweet) and then riot police will move in wearing helmets and shields. They advise the public to leave the premises as soon as they either witness an illegal act, hear the warning, or see the riot police. (On a side note, the @SPVM twitter account is cordial, personable and informative - Benjamin Shingler delves into police's use of social media on OpenFile).

Why don't the police simply stop the individual lawbreakers? They respond that, since they must re-establish the peace, the priority becomes to put an end to the demonstration, meaning that everyone, including peaceful protestors, must leave the site.

Here's how it's laid out in the Criminal code:

So one minute you may be marching along chanting slogans lawfully; the next moment somebody a block away has smashed a window and you've become part of an unlawful assembly.

This instinctively seems strange to us because it implies that the group becomes responsible, to a certain extent, for the criminal act of one individual - a pretty rare situation in our legal system. Whether they are frustrated students, or undercover police, or just unaffiliated shit-disturbers, the "casseurs" can override charter rights and snatch away our access to public spaces with a flick of the wrist. Are they aware that, far from "sticking it to the man," acts of vandalism actually strip fellow citizens' right to the street?

Note that the SPVM site specifies that a protest is deemed illegal when a criminal act (such as vandalism) is committed, while according to the criminal code, simply frightening people in the neighbourhood would seem to be grounds to deem an assembly unlawful.

So at the end of the day, the right to express ourselves in public space only goes so far as the neighbours trust us. On private property, a protest will be declared illegal the moment the proprietor asks police to intervene, but the law thrusts a collective responsibility upon those who assemble and express themselves in public spaces.