Scholarly sources
- Sabourin, D. (2012, March 6, last edited 2015, April 16). Griffintown. The Canadian Encyclopedia Retrieved from: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/griffintown.
- This encyclopedia gives a brief insight on the history of Griffintown
- This source helped me understand the historical background of Griffintown and how hyper density came to be. In fact, this source explains how Industrialization affected Griffintown as well as its economic decline. Furthermore, this source explains the Urban revitalization projects and the controversy surrounding them explaining that, at first, the city of Montreal wanted to revitalize the neighbourhood by only building low-lying buildings but contractors decided to shift towards the hyper density route by building multiple towers housing a great number of condos.
- Ville de Montréal. (2014, June). Profil de quartier: Griffintown. Montréal en statistiques. Retrieved from http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/MTL_STATS_FR/MEDIA/DOCUMENTS/PQ_SUD-OUEST_GRIFFINTOWN_2011.PDF
- This website gives statistics on many different aspects of demography in Griffintown
- This source helped me a great amount understanding the demography of Griffintown by showing a lot of very interesting statistics. In fact, this source shows that around 40% of the people living in Griffintown are aged between 25 and 34 years old and are mostly people that have a university. These statistics help me get a better understanding of who lives in Griffintown which can help me write my essay because it will help me get a better understanding of my target audience as well as help me with certain points as I can relate findings found in other sources to the demography of Griffintown.
Non-scholarly sources
- Friede, E. (2015, July 27). Too little, too late? Urban plan for Griffintown came after the fact. Montreal Gazette. Retrieved from https://montrealgazette.com/business/too-little-too-late-urban-plan-for-griffintown-came-after-the-fact.
- This articles discusses how planning for the development of Griffintown should have been in place well in advance of the construction blitz now underway.
- This source taught me that the lack of imagination is due to the fact that developers are interested in putting down as many condos as possible that sell as well as possible. They are not so interested in innovation, although they benefit from the branding. In addition, this lack of creativity has left numerous people upset, people like Harvey Lev. Lev, a landowner and community activist who is being forced to sell his plots of land to developers, argues that “the best neighbourhoods are those with three and four-storey dwellings, like the Plateau, Rosemont, and N.D.G.,” places where townhouses and low rising buildings are prominent. These low-rising structures give characteristic to the area, allowing people to actually enjoy these neighbourhoods because, according to many people, no one would want to live in a place with only high rises and towers.
- Julien, R. (2018, January 11). Development plans dredge up thorny issues. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/condo-developments-in-montreals-lachine-canal-drawpushback/article37557004/
- This articles talks about how the Lachine Canal is one of Montreal’s busiest sites for residential construction and not everyone is happy.
- This source helps confirms what the other sources say as well as confirms my theories on Griffintown and hyper density in that neighbourhood. In fact, it mentions that the area near the Lachine canal is one of Montreal’s busiest sites for residential construction, and it has a lot people wanting change. Furthermore, this article also brings up the point that the project doesn’t address the neighbourhood’s affordable. It’s one of the last sites that’s available for social housing along the Lachine Canal and many low-income residents are being forced to move out because of gentrification
Cultural or artistic artifact
For the on-topic source, I used a picture of Tokyo because it shows how bland and unattractive, in my opinion, a skyline with just buildings is. In fact, if we eliminate Mount Fuji and the Tokyo Skytree from the skyline, the landscape looks quite bland and uninteresting, just a lot buildings in close proximity to each other. Now, if we add the Skytree to the mix, it gives a little bit diversity to photo and makes it seem more appealing because it makes the skyline more appealing to look at.
Example of experimental research
I decided to take a picture of these buildings because these are the only townhouses left in Griffintown. Even though I could not take of its surroundings, these small, 3-story houses are surrounded by condo buildings and towers on each side, it felt like you were in a forest of concrete trees. Having only about 10 townhouses shows how there is a lack of architectural design in this neighbourhood.
Librarian visit
I went to go visit the library found in the Elgar community centre on Nun’s Island. I did not have a good experience at that library because it took 20 minutes to find a librarian, and when one did show up, she had a hard time understanding my subject. I do not know it I was explaining it wrong or if the librarian had a hard time understanding English, but Lizette could not find any sources to help me. At one point, she left to go see if she could find someone else but after waiting around for another 30 minutes, I decided to leave as I had work in 30 minutes. I wish I had another oppurtunity to go to another library because I feel like a library could really help me write my essay.
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