Pedestrian Streets: Should MacKay be pedestrian only?

This is the beginning of a series of articles concerning pedestrian and shared streets in Montreal. Each article will either focus on an existing pedestrian only or shared street or propose that a street be turned into one.

Anybody who has spent some time on Concordia’s downtown campus will agree that it has very little accessible student space. Take a visit to the sprawling lawns of McGill or Université de Montréal and you’ll see people studying on the grass or socialising on grand stairways into even grander old buildings. This is not the case on Concordia’s Sir George William’s decidedly urban campus which is spread out amongst a few mid-rise buildings and in other seemingly random buildings around the west-end of downtown. These buildings holding classrooms, offices, and libraries look like they could be any other nondescript office building or stores in downtown Montreal. As a result, they have just as much public space as those types of buildings would. External student space is limited to the sidewalks and streets surrounding the buildings and not much else other than a barren terrace behind the Hall Building and staircases on some annex buildings on MacKay and Bishop. Having classes at Concordia is much like working in a typical office building in any downtown area of a city; if you want to socialise, use the facilities inside the building and if you want to do some work while on a break, go to a nearby cafe.

This is where MacKay Street comes in. For those who don’t know the street, it is a relatively narrow one-way stretch with parking on both sides that starts at Sherbrooke and ends a block below René Lévesque. Between Sherbrooke and de Maisonneuve (pictured above), MacKay runs along the west side of the Hall Building (the Main building of the university) and a row of old houses now used as offices and classrooms with a scattering of shops at their bottom levels. Further south, between de Maisonneuve and Ste-Catherine, the street separates the main library building from the Engineering and visual arts building across the street.

The section of the street I want to focus on is the first block between Sherbrooke and de Maisonneuve. This section is probably the most important outdoor space on campus. It has an entrance to the Hall Building, gives access to the terrace, and is lined with the annex buildings which house student clubs, faculty offices, classrooms, and student oriented businesses such as a photocopy shop, Le Frigo Vert, a couple cafes and restaurants, and access to Reggie’s (Concordia’s student bar). The sidewalk along the Hall Building is extra wide and has a few flower planters and benches that are always in use-even through the winter. On the west side of the street, the staircases of the annex buildings are often difficult to climb as they are usually blocked by students sitting on them. There are also a couple benches and picnic tables on the sidewalk which usually receive heavy use by students. Amongst all of this, the sidewalks are well used by people milling about getting to class or walking to other downtown destinations. These people often have to make their way through students standing around talking to each other or booths providing information about student groups or various causes.

I am proposing that the activity on the sidewalks be moved out into the street. However, to do this, the cars of course need to go. This section of the street needs desperately to be closed to traffic and parking and be opened up to Concordia students who are so deprived of public space. Every once and awhile, the street is indeed closed to cars for a concert or festival of some sort to be held. When the cars are gone, the street is instantly taken over by students. Even if there are no benches or seating in place, throngs of students put this new found space to use, even if it is just to stand around and talk to friends or sit on the curb to study. Imagine the street with benches and tables, where students could sit and study, relax, or socialise as students do on their lawns at other schools. Sidewalk terraces could be built for cafes and the Hall Building’s terrace could be integrated with the rest of the street. This new pedestrian street could be beautified with stone paving and fountains and/or public monuments could be erected. Trees would be planted and green areas with grass, shrubs, and flowers could be created. Most of all, Concordia students would have a small piece of permanent public space they could call their own!

There seem to be no future plans for such a conversion to happen to the street, however, there is no reason this could not be implemented as part of the ambitious Quartier Concordia plan that is slated to begin soon to reshape the campus. Hopefully the university and the city will be able to see what an excellent addition this could be to the school and recognise that more student space will ultimately make the school considerably more attractive and accessible to both its students and the general populace of the city.