Event

Conference-experience "Shaping Neighborhoods // Move"

Tuesday, June 4, 2019 17:15to19:30
Sculpture Dendrites, 830-846 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Montréal, QC, CA

The beauty of a city - whether it comes from architecture, public art, urban design or ambience - has long been a second-rate topic behind  "serious" urban development issues (sucha as transport, infrastructure, housing, etc.). One could of course wish it by evoking, for example, the requirement of an "architecture of quality", but it wouldn't in any way deflect the evolution of a neighborhood. Since the turn of the millennium, however, aesthetics has become more and more important in the political and expert discourse on the city, in particular since the attractiveness of urban places, which includes their beauty, has become a great factor of economic development in the post-industrial city. We welcome this strong comeback of aesthetic issues, but it would obviously be reductive to think urban beauty only from the developmental point of view. To move citizens is not an easy task!

Beauty is a fundamental dimension of the public space and raises several questions: how do citizens feel and express it? Are these equal to beauty? What's the role of artists, municipalities, organizations, technicians and architects in creating and raising awareness of this beauty? Should it always be preceded by a clear intention, or is urban poetry born more authentically in spontaneity, when the patina of time arises, for example, on a heritage building and turns it into ruin? Is there a link, finally, between innovation and beauty?

The visit will be hosted by M. Michel De Broin, artist and creator of Dendrites, located north of Projet Bonaventure.

Academic Supervisor: Guillaume Ethier (Professor, Department of Urban Studies and Tourism - UQAM)

Panelists:

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Shaping Neighborhoods Series

Shaping Neighborhoods: Experience and Innovation is a series of “conference-experiences” intended to entice communities of a neighbourhood to rediscover urban planning projects that exist there and to engage in conversation about community projects, university research, and the municipal initiatives currently happening.

This series offers a chance to reflect, develop, and construct a neighbourhood that is resilient and tuned in to its citizens. At each meeting, the participants will have the opportunity to visit a noteworthy place in the neighbourhood and converse with local organizations that are working toward rethinking their living environment. University researchers will also be a part of the discussion, relating and comparing their own research to actions taking place locally.

 

 

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