Tonight, the future of Griffintown, and more!

WHAT? Alternative vision of Griffintown presented at Pecha Kucha night, along with other interesting topics
WHEN? Tonight, September 18th, at 8pm
WHERE? Society for Arts and Technology, 1195 St. Laurent, near René-Lévesque
HOW MUCH? Free!

In response to the news that the developer of Dix30, a suburban lifestyle centre in Brossard, is interested in building something similar in Griffintown, Little Burgundy resident and man-about-town A.J. Kandy, along with friend Stephanie Troeth, will present an alternative, New Urbanist vision of Griffintown’s redevelopment tonight at the SAT.

“A suburban mall at the foot of one of Montreal’s central boulevards, in the middle of Griffintown and adjacent to Old Montreal, ignores both the ‘retail DNA’ of Montreal and the history of a proud neighborhood,” writes Kandy on Urbanphoto. “Even if there is a residential tower attached, as the current proposal includes, it’s still likely going to be a lot of cheap sheds separated by acres of parking. It’s an odd decision in a neighborhood that is moving towards drastically increased residential density and good urban design.”

Kandy and Troeth’s presentation will take place tonight, at 8pm, as part of Montreal’s second Pecha Kucha night. It’s a sort of show-and-tell session, comprised of 20 slides lasting for 20 seconds each, for a total presentation time of no more than 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

Along with Griffintown, tonight’s event will address a number of other topics that might be of interest to Spacing Montreal readers. Gonzague Verdenal will share “everyday scenes” of bus routes in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. Carole Lévesque will talk about “clotheslines to hang our habits” on Mount Royal Avenue. Maroussia Lévesque will discuss her work on extraordinary renditions, asking, “What else do we lose when we let people disappear?”