The Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Montréal (CIRM) is interested in research on Montréal and urban life.
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CIRM’s digital notebooks are knowledge transfer tools intended for the general public as well as researchers and practitioners. They aim to ensure the continuity of the events organized by CIRM through short articles, photos and videos, in addition to offering a summary of the featured activity and a presentation of its participating panellists.
More than a simple report, each notebook is designed to highlight ideas, questions, avenues for reflection, and potential solutions that were discussed during these meetings. The publications are written in the language(s) of the event.
06.03. Montréalais·es et insulaires : “Hit the Waters, ѴDzԳٰé” and “Green Cargos: The Challenges of Maritime Transport in the St. Lawrence River”
Events held in summer 2021
In this issue, we invite you to revisit the conference-experiences Hit the Waters, ѴDzԳٰé and Green Cargos: The Challenges of Maritime Transport in the St. Lawrence River held on June 12th and 19th, 2021, in collaboration with , , the , and the as part of our ѴDzԳٰé and Islanders series, also available as a . In this Notebook, Nathalie Boucher (CRIEM/R.Es.P.I.R.E), Pierre Moro-Lin (/UQAM), Linda Collette (Université Laval/), Jean-Pierre Des Rosiers (Geological engineer), Jacynthe Tremblay (Senior Emiritus Member, ), and Manon Lanthier () discussed issues of accessibility, urban planning, and sustainable development in the St. Lawrence.
Published in June 2023, 36 pages [in French].
06.02. Montréalais·es et insulaires : Saint Laurent : lieu de rencontresconference-experience
Event held in summer 2021
In this issue, we invite you to revisit the conference-experience Le Saint-Laurent: lieu de rencontres, an event that took place on June 5, 2021, in collaboration with the as part of our ѴDzԳٰé and Islanders series, also available as a .This Notebook will immerse you in interviews conducted with (Concordia University), Marc Pelletier (), Guillaume Campion (/Trames), and Guillaume Côté (/Trames). You will also find texts by Natalie Doonan (CIRM/Université de Montréal), Jason Di Fiore (), and (Concordia University), as well as a collaborative article by Tina Laphengphrateng (Université du Québec à Rimouski), Anne-Marie Asselin (), and Viridiana Jimenez-Moratalla ().
Published in March 2023, 56 pages [in English and in French].
06.01.Montréalais·es et insulaires: nordicité fluviale montréalaise conference-experience
Event held in spring2022
In this issue, the first of a series of four, we present the follow-up to the conference-experience Nordicité fluviale montréalaiseheld in collaboration with . Researchers, authors, and practitioners Nathalie Boucher (CIRM / R.Es.P.I.R.E), (RESPIRE-ALIGNE), (Hiver en nous), , (U. Laval,) and (Corporation des Pilotes du Saint-Laurent Central) discussed the characteristics of the St.LawrenceRiver in winter, as well as the challenges and opportunities of its seasonality.
Published in December2022, 42pages [in French].
05. Les Promenades de Jane: quand les citoyen·ne·s racontent laville
Special issue
This issue in partnership with the revisits, a series of events honouring the ideas and legacy of the great urbanist Jane Jacobs. Each author invites you to take a walk outside and rediscover a facet of the city. You will get to dive into interviews conducted with Marzia Pellissier (), Nathalie Boucher(CIRM / R.Es.P.I.R.E), and Sarah-Maude Cossette (UQAM). You will also find three original itineraries conceived by Mary Anne Poutanen (CIRM / ƻԺU.), Marie Leconte (CIRM / ;ƻԺU.), and Juan Torres (CIRM / U.Montréal) and Ipek Epikmen (U.Montréal).
Published in October2021, 56pages [in English and in French].
04.05. ÉdzܱǾconference-experience
Shaping Neighbourhoodsseries – event held in summer2019
This final issue of the Shaping Neighbourhoods: Experience and Innovation series features reflections from artists and urban architecture scholars. Aliki Economides (CIRM / McEwen School of Architecture) presents a poem that she recited in June 2019 which “exposes urban beauty as a concept that has the power to touch emotionally.” Artist and architect engages in an etymological exploration of the beautiful and the moving, a reflection on the complex emotion that gives beauty its value. Guillaume Éthier (CIRM / UQAM) discusses the place given to art in the urban imagination and in planning strategies, emphasizing the fact that the production of the city starts “from below.” Finally, artist describes his work Dendrites, composed of two staircase sculptures north of the Bonaventure project.
Published in July2021, 48pages [in French].
04.04. Communiquerconference-experience
éԲ series – event held in spring2019
This fourth issue of the series Shaping Neighbourhoods: Experience and Innovation explores the use of public space as a springboard for exchange between citizens and artists. Geneviève Massé opens this issue as a representative of , a multidisciplinary art centre in Montréal. This organization displays the work of more than thirty artists per year and uses public space as a material medium to reach “non-publics,” i.e., people who were not initially targeted by a specific project. Similarly, poet Nicholas Dawson offers a reflection on urban innovation as seen from the socio-economic margins, as well as on his own poetic contribution to the DARE-DARE project. In “Les murs qui parlent,” Imen Ben Jemia (CIRM / U.Montréal) explores the value of art murals beyond aesthetics as “discursive elements of the construction of a semantically-charged territory.”
Published in June2021, 30pages [in French].
04.03.Appartenirconference-experience
Shaping Neighbourhoodsseries – event held in summer2018
This third issue in the Shaping Neighbourhoods: Experience and Innovation series includes Frédéric Morin-Bordeleau’s () thoughts on the commemoration of cultural, material, immaterial, or industrial heritage in the era of technological innovation and social inclusion. Namely, he addresses the project aiming to reassert the value of former Montréal metro cars by transforming them into a central building in the Sud-Ouest borough. In a similar vein, Jonathan Rouleau (ƻԺU.) mobilizes his research-engagement experience at the Salon 1861 to illustrate the possibilities and limits of the mechanisms put into place by stakeholders to develop cultural programming in a restored and converted church in Little Burgundy.
Published in June2021, 23pages [in English and in French].
04.02. Habiterconference-experience
Shaping Neighbourhoodsseries – event held in summer2018
The retrospective of the Shaping Neighbourhoods: Experience and Innovation series continues with a second issue introduced by Nik Luka (CIRM / ƻԺU.), which addresses urban densification as a topic for public debate and a phenomenon of multifaceted changes. Erwan Poënces (MUP, U.Rennes2) draws on the Montreal example of Griffintown to outline the possibilities and possible improvements of community housing as a “generator of diversity.” Michel St-Cyr (), for his part, shares his experience in conceptualizing urban housing and accommodation projects adapted to the ageing population. Laurence Vincent () concludes with a reflection on the responsibility of real estate developers and the importance of sharing it with stakeholders.
Published in April2021, 35pages [in English and French].
04.01. Construireconference-experience
éԲ series– event held in spring 2018
This notebook is the first of five focusing on the Shaping Neighbourhoods: Experience and Innovation series with participating researchers and practitioners. Richard Shearmur (CIRM / ƻԺU.) pens the foreword entitled “Pourquoi est-il devenu nécessaire de construire les lieux partagés?” and an article on the importance for citizens to reclaim non-places. Pauline Butiaux () discusses public space as a field for reflection and action, outlining the history of a redevelopment project of the former Wellington Control Tower. Finally, (Agirre Lehendakaria Center) reflects on the cultural dimension—the narratives—of the innovation process, while Jonathan Cha () presents a panorama of Montréal’s “alternative territories.”
Published in December2020, 31pages [in English and French].
03. Vivre et analyser la crise sanitaire à Montréal
Special issue
This third notebook presents a reading of the different “markings” of the COVID-19 health crisis on the urban landscape. Edited by Laurent Vernet (CIRM / UQAM), (INRS), and (INRS), it gives shape to the thoughts initiated in two seminars given in the spring of 2020 as past of the Urban Studies program offered jointly by INRS and UQAM. The experiences and analyses of professors, students, and practitioners provide avenues to reflect on the elements of change and continuity brought by the crisis in Montreal, as well as to analyze the spaces of marginalization or resistance that it reveals.
Published in September2020, 69pages [in English and French].
02. À nous la ville! Traité de municipalismeseminar
Event held in spring 2018
This second digital notebook allows readers to reflect on the eponymous essay by Jonathan Durand Folco (CIRM / SaintPaulU.). In his text entitled “Promesses et défis du municipalisme,” the author looks at both the founding principles and the concrete applications of this political project. He highlights the possibilities and limits of municipalism in order to better identify the strategic perspectives to be adopted. This digital notebook also presents a commentary by Caroline Patsias (CIRM / UQAM) on issues of equality and human relationships in the creation of local commons.
Published in June2020, 17pages [in French].
01.DIY Urbanismconference-experience
Event held in fall 2018
CIRM is pleased to launch this publication series by looking back on the conference-experience DIYUrbanism, with (SanJoséStateU.). In his text entitled “The Vitality of Participatory Urbanisms, and Some Cautions,” the visiting researcher offers an interdisciplinary perspective on urban agriculture issues and the inequality that inhabits initiatives of “do-it-yourself” urbanism. This digital notebook further includes an analysis of urban agriculture by Athanasios Tommy Mihou (), and a foreword by Jan Doering (CIRM /ƻԺU.).
Published in May2020, 21pages.