{"id":7549,"date":"2010-07-13T22:30:19","date_gmt":"2010-07-14T03:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=7549"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:48:11","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:48:11","slug":"mixite-extreme-mixing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>
Un club \u00e9changiste (\u00e9difice beige) dans un quartier r\u00e9sidentiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So I finally decided to write a post in both official languages. Not to be politically correct, but because (I think) the subject of urban mixing in Montreal lends itself particularly well to a mixing of languages.<\/p>\n

J’\u00e9crivais, il y a quelques semaines de cela<\/a>, que la cohabitation serr\u00e9e et inusit\u00e9e de choses oppos\u00e9e sur le plan symbolique \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al est en grande partie le r\u00e9sultat d’une politique de laissez-faire qui a permis aux commer\u00e7ants, aux industriels et aux promoteurs de construire la ville \u00e0 leur mani\u00e8re.<\/p>\n

That being said, I’m not one to believe that a given structure \u2013 be it regulatory or economic \u2013 can determine alone the way the city develops. Structures themselves often develop around existing cultural practices and, in turn, contribute to changing these practices and so on and so forth. Interest groups ask for certain rules to be put in place, which make buildings look a certain way. The dominance of a certain built form eventually \u00ab\u00a0normalizes\u00a0\u00bb certain morphological features \u2013 such as the outdoor staircase in Montreal, which we find perfectly normal even though it is completely at odds with our climatic reality. But then people eventually adapt the built form they inherited to their own needs, which might bring about new sets of rules, as when people in central neighbourhoods started paving their backyards to be able to park their cars \u201coff-street\u201d. This caused drainage problems in certain areas and eventually brought about news rules \u2013 which will no doubt be challenged by new cultural practices.<\/p>\n

One might conclude, about zoning in Montreal, that chaos begets chaos \u2013 and that the lack of coherent zoning in many areas of this city is somehow \u201centrenched\u201d and unchangeable. But could it not be that our own cohabitation with a strangely mixed built form has made us more tolerant of \u201cmisplacedness\u201d, and therefore less likely to challenge it? One could argue, of course, that a diverse urban environment is likely to \u201cselect for\u201d traits of tolerance or indifference, which might act as a kind of natural selection. But\u00a0isn’t it\u00a0possible that exposure to mixing might make one more tolerant or indifferent (and in certain cases, less tolerant)?<\/p>\n

Je pr\u00e9tends donc que la mixit\u00e9 omnipr\u00e9sente des formes et des usages \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al a g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement pour effet soit de nous faire appr\u00e9cier le m\u00e9lange des genres, soit de nous immuniser contre l’indignation de voir c\u00f4te-\u00e0-c\u00f4te des objets ou des personnes qui ne vont pas \u00ab\u00a0normalement\u00a0\u00bb ensemble. J’irais m\u00eame plus loin en affirmant que Montr\u00e9al nous habitue \u00e0 la \u00ab\u00a0mixit\u00e9 extr\u00eame\u00a0\u00bb – c’est-\u00e0-dire l’extr\u00eame incongruit\u00e9. Le meilleur ensemble (que je connaisse) est certainement celui du Sauna 3333<\/a>, situ\u00e9 au 3333 B\u00e9langer juste \u00e0 l’est du boulevard St-Michel, qui selon ses propri\u00e9taires est le \u00ab\u00a0plus gros club \u00e9changiste au Canada\u00a0\u00bb avec ses 16 500 pi.ca. (!!!!).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Le Sauna 3333 se trouve au premier \u00e9tage et au sous-sol de ce bloc appartement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Several questions come to mind when walking past the rather conspicuous neon sign in front of the Sauna 3333, which is located on the first floor and basement of an appartment building: what is a hetero-bi-gay\u00a0swingers’ club doing in a predominantly residential area where there are no bars nor even restaurants opened at night? How does residential zoning allow for such uses? More importantly, what did the nearby residents have to say when the 3333 opened up in 2003?<\/p>\n

The fact of the matter is that the current zoning <\/a>(Category C.1(1) A) allows for medium-density housing as well as for \u201ccomplementary\u201d commercial uses (which includes such things as grocery stores, drug stores, art galleries that bookstores that have a floor area of less than 100 m2) \u2013 but does not allow bars, restaurants, let alone dance clubs or sex clubs. What is more, the zoning bylaw specifically states that businesses having to do with eroticism (\u201c\u00e9tablissements exploitant l’\u00e9rotisme\u201d) cannot have a floor area exceeding 250 m2 (or about 2 691 square feet). So what’s the catch?<\/p>\n

The catch is quite simple: the 3333 has a \u201chostel\u201d permit, and hostels are allowed in areas falling into the C.1(1) category. That, however, does not explain how the borough of Villeray \u2013 Saint-Michel \u2013 Parc-Extension let a swingers’ club get away with a hostel permit. It is possible that the person who processed the application at the borough did not realize that the word \u201csauna\u201d (which forms part of the name of the establishment) generally refers to something other than a \u201chostel\u201d. In other words, it could have been a mistake.<\/p>\n

More likely, though, the people at the borough suspected that nearby residents in Villeray \u2013 Saint-Michel \u2013 Parc-Extension (many of whom are immigrants<\/a>) would not complain. As for residents of Rosemont \u2013 Petite-Patrie living on the other side of the street, their complaints (if there were any) would probably not reach them. And my guess is, there were probably right. If anyone was offended, no one bothered to fill-in a formal complaint or to show up at the borough council meeting (which is held at the borough offices\u00a0in Parc-Ex, several kilometers west of there) \u2013 or else there would have been a story written about it.<\/p>\n

Ce n’est donc pas l\u00e0 un cas de laissez-faire r\u00e9glementaire mais plut\u00f4t un cas de vivre et laissez-vivre. Or perhaps a manifestation of citizen disenfranchisement. Quoiqu’il en soit, il semble \u00e9vident qu’on ne fait pas toujours la ville \u00e0 notre image; elle aussi, parfois, nous fait lui ressembler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 So I finally decided to write a post in both official languages. Not to be politically correct, but because (I think) the subject of urban mixing in Montreal lends itself particularly well to a mixing of languages. J’\u00e9crivais, il y a quelques semaines de cela, que la cohabitation serr\u00e9e et inusit\u00e9e de choses oppos\u00e9eContinue reading “Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5046,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[125,28,55],"class_list":["post-7549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spacing","tag-montreal","tag-spacing-montreal","tag-villeray"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 So I finally decided to write a post in both official languages. Not to be politically correct, but because (I think) the subject of urban mixing in Montreal lends itself particularly well to a mixing of languages. J’\u00e9crivais, il y a quelques semaines de cela, que la cohabitation serr\u00e9e et inusit\u00e9e de choses oppos\u00e9eContinue reading "Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-14T03:30:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T16:48:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2010\/07\/Sauna-3333-1024x516.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joel Thibert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joel Thibert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/\",\"name\":\"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing - Spacing Montreal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2010\/07\/Sauna-3333-1024x516.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-14T03:30:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T16:48:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/5e450354a264b3d4926efca2d8cb3856\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2010\/07\/Sauna-3333-1024x516.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2010\/07\/Sauna-3333-1024x516.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Montreal\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Montreal Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/5e450354a264b3d4926efca2d8cb3856\",\"name\":\"Joel Thibert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17420fbbd68989fc5ddf974f87ed84cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17420fbbd68989fc5ddf974f87ed84cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joel Thibert\"},\"description\":\"Joel is an urban planner by profession, specialized in project management and environmental planning, who was most recently working on the Quartier des spectacles project in downtown Montreal. He is particularly interested in ecological governance and the role of cities in sustainable development. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.walktheregion.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/author\/joel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing - Spacing Montreal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing - Spacing Montreal","og_description":"\u00a0 So I finally decided to write a post in both official languages. Not to be politically correct, but because (I think) the subject of urban mixing in Montreal lends itself particularly well to a mixing of languages. J’\u00e9crivais, il y a quelques semaines de cela, que la cohabitation serr\u00e9e et inusit\u00e9e de choses oppos\u00e9eContinue reading \"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Montreal","article_published_time":"2010-07-14T03:30:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T16:48:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2010\/07\/Sauna-3333-1024x516.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Joel Thibert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joel Thibert","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/","name":"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing - Spacing Montreal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2010\/07\/Sauna-3333-1024x516.jpg","datePublished":"2010-07-14T03:30:19+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T16:48:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/5e450354a264b3d4926efca2d8cb3856"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2010\/07\/Sauna-3333-1024x516.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2010\/07\/Sauna-3333-1024x516.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/07\/13\/mixite-extreme-mixing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mixit\u00e9 EXTREME Mixing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/","name":"Spacing Montreal","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Montreal Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/5e450354a264b3d4926efca2d8cb3856","name":"Joel Thibert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17420fbbd68989fc5ddf974f87ed84cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17420fbbd68989fc5ddf974f87ed84cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joel Thibert"},"description":"Joel is an urban planner by profession, specialized in project management and environmental planning, who was most recently working on the Quartier des spectacles project in downtown Montreal. He is particularly interested in ecological governance and the role of cities in sustainable development. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.walktheregion.com"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/author\/joel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5046"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7549"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7568,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549\/revisions\/7568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}