Today’s show looks at the idea of making cities…. intelligently. We look at the case of Batiment 7 a self-organized community-run space in Point St. Charles. We learn about the context that made it 1) needed and 2) possible. We learn about how the University is learning to work with and in the community with their project.Â
You can subscribe to the show on all your favorite podcasting platforms (links available here), or download the show here — and while you are doing that please rate and share with your friends! As always, if you have an idea of a person or project we should feature, let us know by email.
We have a little bonus episode for you — this is the full interview with Pascal LeBrun, which was conducted in French. He gives quite a bit of background on the neighborhood and the Bâtiment 7 project.
If you liked this show, you might be interested in listening to one of our previous programs on a related topic — the social economy available here.
Our guests today
Alex Megelas is a Programs and Communications Coordinator for the Office of Community Engagement at Concordia University where he oversees the University of the Streets Café popular education program, and acts as the main liaison with B7. He’s also a PhD student in Educational Studies at McGill University, under the supervision of Profs. Henry Mintzberg and Naomi Nichols. His research considers the role of informal spaces in fostering social movements. Alex also works with the Centre for Community Organizations (COCo) as an associate facilitator, collaborates with Shane Watt on the Paper Places project, affiliate member of the Institute for Urban Futures and Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University, and a member of: the Alternative Education Resource Organization and l’Assocation francophone pour le savoir.
Pascal Lebrun has been a resident of the Pointe-Saint-Charles community for 18 years, anarchist activist for 20 years with groups such as La Pointe Libertaire, and current PhD student in Political Science at the University of Ottawa where his research focuses on the economic philosophy of anarchism. Pascal authored L’économie participaliste (2014), published by Lux Éditeur.
Shauna Janssen is a Montreal-based urban curator with a background in professional theatre practice and performance studies. Shauna works at the intersections of site-responsive, critical, spatial, interdisciplinary, and socially engaged art practices. As assistant professor in the Department of Theatre at Concordia University, Montreal, where she also holds a University Research Chair in Performative Urbanism (new scholar, 2018–2023), Shauna is the Director of the Institute for Urban Futures, a core member of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, and research associate with le Parc (Performing arts research cluster) based at Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology. I am also a core working group member and researcher with the international research platform for Performance and Design.Â
Referenced material Some background on Bâtiment 7 (B7)
Check out their webpage for more details on their mission, services, history and more
Some other media coverage of B7 in French: Le Devoir, Radio-Canada, La Presse, and CBC.
Mentioned by Alex Megelas
Simon Fraser University’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement
Station 20 West, a community enterprise based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
CityStudio Vancouver, a multi-stakeholder collaboration for urban change
Mentioned by Pascal Lebrun
“Place à l’audace : l’économie anarchiste d’hier à aujourd’huiâ€, an essay in POSSIBLES, a French-language digital magazine
“L’économie participaliste†(2014), Lux Éditeur
“The Autonomous City: A History of Urban Squatting†(2017) by Alexander VasudevanÂ
Mentioned by Shauna Janssen
“Performative Urbanism: Generating and Designing Urban Space†(2015), edited by Sophie Wolfrum and Nicolai Frhr v. Brandis, JOVIS Verlag GmbH
Sounding Griffintown: A Listening Guide of a Montreal Neighbourhood
Music and sounds featured in this episode
Intro music “R U Well†by Best Fern
Various Freesound elements: Space Love Attack (by UltraCat), Dying Planet Sends Christmas Message to Earth/ whose soul is electricity! and banks (by The Fucked Up Beat), Twosome (by Podington Bear), Piano, Bach Fantasia, A (H1).wav (by Inspector J), Lode Runner (by Podington Bear), Elephants on Parade (by Podington Bear), I Should Never Have Left El Paso (by The Fucked Up Beat), and record scratch, (thanks for making your sounds free for non-commercial projects like ours!).
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