Alley Atlas: from non-place to place in six maps

Activators and the general public view commercial alleyways as “non-places”—they seem to lack a sense of history, relationality, and identity, and therefore a sense of place (Augé, 1995). In this study, I use a phenomenological understanding of place to explore the potential place-ness of the Bishop/Mackay alleyway, a commercial backstreet in downtown Montreal. I use the same concept to map personal stories associated with this alleyway and to better understand the deeper sense of place this particular alley holds. Using a research-creation process, ethnographic methods, inductive visualisation, and deep mapping lead me to my Alley Atlas. Through it, I argue that the alley’s meaning consists of its ability to house shadow-like expressions of the human condition, and connect people and places. Because of its non-judgemental quality, this alley creates a safe haven for a myriad of taboo behaviours, like crying, having a mental breakdown, smoking, using drugs, drinking alcohol, and spray-painting. Secondly, I argue that inductive visualisation and deep mapping are compelling and complementary approaches to the visualisation of meaning in an alleyway; while the former functions as a method of extracting meaning and visualising it, the latter creates a container within which to move from superficial to deeper representations and understandings of place, housing both place and non-place qualities. Finally, I arrive at the conclusion that, while the alley’s identity depends on who is looking at it and how, viewers of my Alley Atlas might see that it is inherently a place

Placemaking from Interstitial Spaces: Participatory planning and collaborative community design as strategies to revitalize a service alleyway in Montreal (Bishop/Mackay)

This project explores participatory planning and community design methodologies (i.e. pattern language design, placemaking, community planning charrettes, planning-in-situ, open planning and peer to peer urbanism) to revitalize a service alleyway in downtown Montreal. The objective of this project is to democratize planning and urban design practices and to engage ordinary citizens in the planning of their own spaces. After a series of visioning workshops, brainstorming sessions and a community planning charrette, this project incorporates inputs from stakeholders, students and ordinary citizens into a collaborative urban design project. The project proposes interventions such as a woonerf, a planning committee, a cubic/fractal scaffolding structure, art murals and wall projections (among others). With the objective of encouraging future adaptations and transformations, this project is published under a Creative Commons license. Adopt and adapt these ideas (but cite and acknowledge accordingly)