PAOLA YANNINE PEREZ PALACIOS

Coming from an urban planning background, I have particular interest in the public sphere, either in the form of plazas, parks or streets. These spaces have the ability to connect citizens and to allow them to evolve as a community. I believe urban design carries with it a great capability to effect these public spaces that we occupy on a daily basis. My past research has engaged in how to bring back vibrancy in underused places such as alleyways, which are spaces that allow for increased possibilities that cross multiple domains, reaching beyond urban design.

The design process of transforming public spaces depends on the collaboration between architects, urban, environmental and landscape designers, ecologists and of course, community stakeholders. Therefore, my responsibility as a planner in this project is to re-conceptualize unused alleys in Montreal downtown and implement interventions to transform them into vibrant public spaces that foster community engagement. My hope for this project is that the alley network displays enough structure to invite people in, but also enough freedom to foster creativity and the continued development of the space.