“Night is reflected in night”

You have been exploring nocturnal questions for more than thirty years. How do humans relate to this time of day?

There has always been a desire among men to conquer the night, to go beyond biological rhythms. So it’s true that this desire to colonize the night is there; I was going to say since the dawn of time.

How does this desire evolve in our time?

I’ve always thought that the night is a kind of last frontier for the city. But today, under the pressure of light, of the continuity of information, of the market which is bringing about enormous changes in the way of life, we are seeing more and more conflicts between the city which is trying to sleep and the city ​​that tries to have fun at a time of night that becomes a central time in terms of culture or meeting.

These are two realities that do not always coexist well and which can cause harm to cultural organizations, such as performance halls, right?

There is something in the night which is in the domain of ambiguity, of paradox. We want to settle in the center of Montreal when we are 30 years old because it is lively. Afterwards, we have children and we want to sleep at night in the same neighborhood. And, also, the local authorities want students from all over the world… But if they didn’t make noise at night, that would be good.

You have worked with large and less large cities to take stock of nightlife. What approach do you recommend?

I think night is reflected in night. You have to be enveloped by night to understand what night is. So, alongside all the diagnoses that I can make with studies, research, books, I cross these cities with elected officials, with technicians, with artists, with students. Because there, we listen to what it really means, to cross the periphery when it is really dark. What it means when it’s 2 a.m. and you’re wondering where to find a public restroom—and there isn’t one. When you want to take a bus, but there is no more. In short, it is very important for elected officials to work together with others.

In general, our elected officials tend to live by day. What do they gain by ruling the night?

Working on the night is not entering the margins, on the contrary. It’s being able to feed the politicians for the day. Because first of all, the night is a caricature of the day. If you want to understand the night, you fly over illuminated Montreal to fully understand its organization. We see the territories that are integrated, those that are less so. Also, the solutions that we find, they are interesting because they are in the field of mediation.

You say that very often, the information found in the city is only useful during the day. In which way ?

What we see when we walk down the street is daytime information: which store is open or which public service is available. So many things that are closed at night. It’s a bit like the Wild West: we haven’t drawn the map of the night yet. In a spatial strategy, if you want people to come and circulate, you have to make this night legible, you have to make maps of the Tourist Office, you need signage in the public space, you have to space is hospitable. Here is another thing that the night can bring to the day.

You spoke earlier about light. This is a key to the development of spaces at night, especially for security. But it’s not all good, according to you.

In the city, we go where there is light. We are like butterflies. In fact, we end up all ending up in the same place, and that’s where it can create problems with those who sleep. Also, if you light up the night like a prison space, it will die, tonight it will no longer be possible. We need shade, you see

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