Initiative/Project:
Collaborative planning process and charrettes to repurpose alley Bishop/Mackay

Researcher:
Dr. Silvano De la Llata, Assistant Professor, Geography Planning and Environment (Concordia University)

Description:
This is project is associated with the City of Montreal’s initiative to revitalize urban alleyways and other public spaces in Downtown Montreal (Ville-Marie). Alleyway Bishop/Mackay is one of the two pilot projects in which the city will test the revitalization of these spaces across the city. In this project, we tested the methodologies of planning-in-situ and open planning to engage different stakeholders in the planning of these space. The City of Montreal, Concordia community, the Saint-Jacques parish and other stakeholders participated in different visioning sessions, community planning charrettes and design workshops to repurpose this space. The project is registered as Creative Commons and is in its second iteration. It initially adopted fractals as its main topic and has evolved into learning, community engagement and public art hub. There are different projects for this site from many different actors, including the city government, students and firms. Alleyway Bishop/Mackay has taught us that urban space is always a work in progress and that design is a process of synthesis consciously or unconsciously incorporates different voices and ideas.

Keywords:
interstitial spaces – collaborative planning – planning-in-situ – urban alleyways – open planning process.