On Monday, November 13th, the ‘Night-time for/with marginalized communities’ research group organized a night walk to explore the area surrounding the Berri-UQAM metro station from 9 PM to 12 AM. Dr. Julius-Cezar Macarie, an expert in night-time research and more specifically in night workers, was leading this excursion into the night. Among the 15 participants, there were members of the research group, partners at ‘Architecture Sans Frontière Québec,’ and various friends interested in night-time research. Interests from the participants ranged from migrant/night workers, unhoused populations, law enforcement, safety, and queer populations.
The main interest for the walk was to observe and interact with people who frequent the night. Although we didn’t cover much distance, it did not stop our group from making many valuable observations. What surprised me the most was discovering the different rhythms that existed in parallel. In the streets, you could notice different users/groups that were experiencing the night at different speeds.
Passers-by would go through space very quickly, as if to remain distant from the environment, like in a separate bubble. Having a destination in mind, the city street is a space of transition. The environment they cross on the way blurs altogether. They are usually people of the day. At night, you can sense passers-by becoming more distant. Is this distance taken subconsciously or on purpose? In the context of this walk, we were also passers-by. We would distinguish ourselves by confronting the usual distance taken by passers-by, trying to break from it, and interacting with the surrounding environment.
There were also workers going to or leaving work. Some seemed more hurried than others, but they distinguished from passers-by in how they appeared to interact with the environment. Even though they also go through space, they are part of that environment. They frequent it often and have a familiarity with their route, the people they cross, and the vitrines they pass. They themselves are also familiar with the environment in reciprocity. Contrary to the passers-by, they noticed the presence of our group. We, the unfamiliar, stood out from their usual experience of the night.
The people who inhabit the night are the ones who linger and experience the night at much lower speeds. From the perspective of a passer-by myself, especially during the day, they are the people who are ignored, who are discarded, and who become an invisible part of the city landscape. At night, it seems like the city becomes more theirs. Coming into their space/time, you feel like an intruder. Even though we were trying to break our distant position by interacting with people who frequent the night, we did not interact directly with this group. Having done this walk and reflecting on it, I now understand that it was simply out of place, like coming into someone’s privacy.
The beauty of this exercise appears in its simplicity. Although we only walked around 2-3 city blocks, the simple act of mindfully doing so allowed us to uncover precious observations. I will carry this lesson with me in future work.