On December 1, l’Observatoire de la ville intrieure at Universit de Montral will launch its international lecture series on the Future of the Indoor City, focusing on its development from a simple protected pedestrian network. This lecture series on the indoor cities of Toronto, Yokohama, Singapore and Paris will take place in the Hydro-Quebec Amphitheatre at the Faculty of Environmental Design located at 2940 Cote-Ste-Catherine in Montreal. These lectures are intended for students and professionals in the fields of architecture, urban and environmental design, real estate management, and for the general public interested or involved with urban planning organizations.
Downtown Montreal offers to its visitors a wide range of public and private space accessible by underground parking facilities and, more importantly, by subway stations. The latter was made possible the emergence of a pedestrian network linking 60 office towers, hundreds of stores and restaurants, universities and museums. Toronto’s underground shopping complex is even larger and more expansive. Yokohama and Singapore also possess important underground pedestrian systems developed around transit and retail functions. In Paris, efforts are currently being made to redevelop the Forum des Halles in order to better integrate the underground spaces with the surrounding area and to provide enhanced security to its users. The four lectures are as follows:
Toronto’s PATH: the Largest Underground Shopping Complex in the World
December 1, 2004 at 5pm: Ken Jones, Ph.D., Geographer and Head of the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity (CSCA), Ryerson Polytechnic University
Singapore: Adding Groundscrapers to Skyscrapers
February 14, 2005 at 5pm: Paul Katz, Architect, Kohn Pedersen Fox in New York, Managing Principal for One Raffles Link in Singapore
Paris: Le Ramnagement du Quartier des Halles, Un Projet D’Avenir
February 23, 2005 at 5pm: Alain le Garrec, Conseiller, Premier Arrondissement, Ville de Paris, Prsident SEM Paris Centre
Yokohama: Identity and Amenity in the Downtown Pedestrian Network
April 06, 2005 at 5pm: Hiroshi Kishida, Architect and Urban Planner, Director of Urban Planning Bureau, City of Yokohama
These lectures will be held at the Amphithtre Hydro-Qubec in Room 1120 of the Pavillon de l’amnagement, Universit de Montral located at 2940 Chemin de la Cte-Sainte-Catherine. Admission is free and no reservations are required. For more information, please contact Claudette Chapdelaine at (514) 343-6111 or claudette.chapdelaine@umontreal.ca
L’Observatoire de la ville intrieure was created by the Institut d’urbanisme at the Universit de Montral with the main goal of providing information and conducting research activities with respect to the numerous issues surrounding the development of underground space in the urban context.