The Role of Language in the Use of Public Spaces in Montréal

In order for Montreal to position itself as Canada’s hub for international activities, the city needs to create public spaces that are welcoming to people of diverse languages. But, the author notes, despite the presence of a significant population of speakers of non-dominant and non-official languages, linguistic diversity is not included as a priority in Montreal’s planning policy. The purpose of the author's research is to understand the relationship between language and the use of public spaces in Montreal. His research addresses three questions: What are the main welcoming and unwelcoming public spaces in Montreal for a linguistically diverse public? What are the social and spatial elements that account for welcoming and unwelcoming public spaces? And what lessons can be learned to best design public spaces for a linguistically diverse public? Multiple methods were used by the author, including a survey that was conducted with twenty French-language students, site visits, and literature review on linguistic landscape, behavior setting and multilingual urban planning. His results show that language is not the only factor that affects how people use public spaces. He found that there are a variety of spatial and social features such as accessibility, maintenance, safety, inclusion and tolerance, which determine if a space is perceived as welcoming. His results also show that people in welcoming places are more prone to use their native languages for casual social interactions with strangers and acquaintances, while this does not occur in unwelcoming places. By identifying the location and characteristics of welcoming and unwelcoming places, the author contends that it is possible to pinpoint the congruence between layout and recurrent actions in public spaces, particularly in those frequented by linguistically diverse people. He contends that these findings will help both researchers and practitioners better understand the relationship between language and the use of public space in a multicultural city.

Master's Thesis

McGill University

Montreal

2015

viii-120p.

en