RGDST : Roundtable: Maison de la Nuit and Institutions for Night Cultures

Roundtable: Maison de la Nuit and Institutions for Night Cultures

In October 2024, the City of Montreal launched its first Nighttime Policy. The policy seeks to respond to the recent conflicts over noise management and calls for the creation of nightlife hubs. While “night mayors” have emerged in many cities in the past decade to help govern the night, an institution associated with the role is missing in Montreal. MTL 24/24, a Montreal organization that works to promote nightlife in the city, is advocating for an institution, tentatively called Maison de la Nuit. A precedent for such an institution, Amsterdam recently broke ground for its “Institute for Night Culture.” The instigators of this new institution have asked experts and protagonists “What is an Institute of Night Culture?” In Montreal, the work of Architecture sans frontières Québec (ASFQ) around homelessness highlights barriers to quality of life within the 24/7 cycle for marginalized communities, and deep inequities in urban living. A group of Master of Architecture students and faculty members at McGill University have been exploring similar questions: How can this new type of institution make space for the active participation and collaboration of the diverse inhabitants of the night regarding how the night is governed and experienced?

Room 101 in Macdonald Harrington Building