Exploring Everyday Streets
Chapter 16:
An inventory of the street: case studies from Montréal
Carole Lévesque and Thomas-Bernard Kenniff
In this chapter, the inventory is presented as a pedagogical, research by- design process that engages with the street as both a multitude and a public space. An inventory is a situated exploratory practice of documentation and representation consisting of the exhaustive observation and recording of urban phenomena in ways that resonate with the subject. An inventory is also a practice of design that serves to register that which is and project that which could be. Through a series of student projects, this chapter discusses street inventories in Montréal, Québec. Through direct and indirect observations as well as methodological inquiries, these street inventories produce new ways of looking at and understanding cities and their streets. The novel methodology of the inventory emphasises the agency of documentation and representation with respect to streets, going beyond preconceived notions of design and disciplinary boundaries.
About Carole Lévesque
Carole Lévesque's work explores the representation and practices of urban space and architecture. Through drawing and various modes of representation, her research investigates the processes of abandonment and renewal. Co-founder of the Bureau d’étude de pratiques indisciplinées (BéPI), she is a full-professor and director of the École de design, UQAM, where she teaches studio, theory and criticism as well as research by design methods.
About Thomas-Bernard Kenniff
Thomas-Bernard Kenniff is Professor at the École de design, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), where he teaches design studio, theory and criticism, and research by design. His work addresses the relationship between the built environment, design processes and society with a specific interest in public space and municipal architecture. He is the cofounder of the Bureau d’étude de pratiques indisciplinées (BéPI).