Justin Bur
Justin Bur has a dual background in urban studies (M.Urb., Université de Montréal 1994) and in computer science (M.Sc., Université de Montréal 1989). After working as a software developer for over twenty years, while in parallel devoting his attention to the railway history of Montreal and the historical evolution of the Mile End area, he entered the Ph.D. program in urban studies at UQAM in 2016 in order to focus on the historical development of Montreal neighborhoods.
His thesis project, with Dany Fougères as adviser, is titled La banlieue électrique de Montréal: vie, travail et transports dans un nouveau quartier, 1895–1935 (Montreal's electric suburbs: life, work and mobility in a new neighborhood). Between the beginning of electric streetcar service in Montreal in September 1892 and the Great Depression of the 1930s, the city's growth was rapid and sustained. During this time, the neighborhoods that are now considered typical of Montreal were built, with their two- and three-storey rowhouses containing superposed flats, usually with outdoor stairways. The first half of the period is the time when streetcars were the dominant form of urban transit; the second half is the time when the automobile started taking over. The project aims to understand the mechanisms of development on the urban fringe, the reasons for the choice of building types, and the relationship between development and streetcar routes.
Since 2008, he has been an active member of local history groups Mile End Memories and the Friends of Saint-Laurent Boulevard. He is also a Montreal tour guide.
Documents
Sessions in which Justin Bur attends
Wednesday 25 May, 2022
We propose a rich and colorful inaugural evening, in a mythical place: Dawson Hall, behind St James United Church (1887-1889, Alexander Francis Dunlop, arch.), known as the "Montreal Methodist Cathedral" - with 2000 seats, it was the largest Methodist church in Canada when it was built. Designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996, it escaped demolition in 1980 when it was classified as a historic monument, and then escaped extinction thanks to an ambitious restoration project, in...
Friday 27 May, 2022
Au cours de la dernière décennie, la population du Mile End a manifesté à répétition son attachement pour les vestiges industriels plus ou moins anciens des abords de la voie ferrée du C. P., située en marge de ce quartier emblématique montréalais, et a exprimé un fort intérêt à se les réapproprier et à leur insuffler une nouvelle vie. De cet élan est née une nouvelle appréciation pour des éléments a priori banals du paysage — une enseigne délavée, un pan de pavés inégaux, un entrepôt désa...
Major parks have been part of the urban identity of Canadian cities for more than 150 years. From Pleasure Grounds to reformist and recreational parks as well as exhibition parks, parks have assumed different built forms over time and have had a wide range of vocations and uses. In recent years, a number of international publications have reflected on parks from the point of view of history, cultural diversity, good practices in terms of design...
Walking tour of the working-class housing and churches of Saint-Pierre-Apôtre and Sainte-Brigide-de-Kildare (now the Sainte-Brigide Cultural and Community Centre) in the south-central district of Montreal.The tour will be guided by Luc Noppen.A departure (by foot) will be organized from the conference site; the tour itself will begin at 5:00 pm at the Beaudry metro station (a metro station of Berri-UQAM, site of the conference).