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The work of CIRM and its members is related to one or more of the following six axes:
- Digital culture, art, literature, and performance;
- Language, belonging, and plurilingualism;
- Economy, social innovation, and social transformation;
- Mobility, urban planning, and environment;
- Governance, institutions, and citizen participation;
- Immigration, every day life, and religion.
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Axis director: Anouk BĂ©langer
The role of culture in MontrĂ©al is determined by at least three factors: the longstanding reputation of MontrĂ©al as a city distinguished by its commitment to leisure and cultural expression; current innovation agendas which emphasizeĚýthe interaction between technological invention and artistic experimentation (gaming, lighting, circus arts, etc.); and socio-political doctrines that emphasize the role of culture in the sustaining of languages and the expression of cultural diversity.ĚýWork in this axis will trace the interaction between traditional cultural forms (music, literature, visual arts, performance, etc.) and the digital platforms or networks within which they are increasingly implicated.ĚýĚýWe will study the role of cultural forms, events, and institutions in solidifying or eroding the boundaries between linguistic and ethno-racial communities. We will examine, as well, the ways in which cultural expression in MontrĂ©al offers particular “maps” of the city and interweaves the different voices, perspectives, and stories of its populations.
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Axis director: Julie Auger
Language has long been a major social and political issue in MontrĂ©al,Ěýparticularly since theĚýQuiet Revolution. Sometimes described as a divided city made up of many solitudes, Montreal has also been represented as the battleground on which the future of the French language will be won or lost. Indeed, MontrĂ©al isĚýhome to most of Quebec’s immigrant and Anglophone populations.ĚýĚýThis axis examines how language plays out and shapes life in the city, today as well as in the past, in politics and issues of citizenship and belonging, in cultural expression, in economics, in the workplace, and in everyday interactions and collective initiatives.ĚýĚýNew ways of conceptualizing language permit new ways of studying language demographically, politically, and ideologically, as well as the growing bilingualism and plurilingualism of MontrĂ©alers.Ěý​
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Axis director: Richard Shearmur
The economy – meaning not only the system put in place by society for production and distribution of goods and services, but also the status given to those participating in the system as well as to the distribution of value generated – is changing. For about fifteen years, technological (mobile phones, automatization) as well as political (globalization, austerity) choices have threatened employment by creating precarious work conditions through small contracts and gigs and have made it a realityĚýto work fromĚýmultiple places. As a city that relies on heavy industries (transportation, manufacturing) and thus on an economy structurally dependent on technical and material production, MontrĂ©al is undergoing economical transformations. It is, at the same time, a city with a strong tradition of social cooperation and mutual aid: a multitude of organizations – communal, municipal, rooted in neighbourhoods and in businesses – come together and act to harness those transformations in order to obtain what is best for MontrĂ©alers. In this research-action axis, we will examine social, personal, and communal repercussions of these changes in MontrĂ©al. We will also workĚýhand in hand with organizations and social innovatorsĚýso we can better understand how to enact economical transformations for the greater good of all MontrĂ©alers.Ěý
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Axis director: Guillaume Éthier
MontrĂ©al is a city where diversity shows itself through different forms of mobility. For example, one can observe complex residential trajectories, like those of families with children or of new immigrants, that connect central neighbourhoods with peripheral zones. As for everyday mobility, MontrĂ©al is also the setting of a great diversity of behaviours dependent on mutating accommodations in transportation but also, on a deeper level, on significant spatial transformations: the revitalization of central neighbourhoods, the redevelopment of public spaces, the repair of major infrastructures, etc.ĚýThis axis is an opportunity to think about and study contemporary processes that shape the urban space on various scales, while focusing on the relationships between these processes and the residents’, including the youth's, practices of mobility.​
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Axis director: Hoi Kong
This axis of research focuses on the legal and administrative structures that enable a city to govern itself and that facilitate citizen and stakeholder participation in governance processes. Research projects conducted under this axis focus on Montréal’s formal and informal governance mechanisms, draw comparisons to other cities, and involve collaborations among academic institutions, governments, and civil society actors.​
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Axis co-directors: Mary Anne Poutanen and Paul-Étienne Rainville
The Montréal community has been shaped since its beginnings by the cohabitation of people of diverse origins, beliefs and ways of life. Long before the arrival of the first Europeans, Montréal was a place of residence, meeting, and exchange for a number of First Nations, who ensured a continuous presence on this unceded territory. Colonial occupations and the arrival of immigrants, refugees, displaced persons, and non-status migrants have profoundly transformed the city, contributing to an ever more complex understanding of it. How do these people, by integrating into their host society, contribute to its transformation? What challenges do they face in their daily lives? How do mechanisms of inclusion work in Montréal? How can we innovate in terms of reception and hospitality, in a global context marked by an increase in population displacements? These questions touch on multiple dimensions of the Montréal experience and require consideration of both the strategies of newcomers and the power dynamics they face. They invite us to bring to light the knowledge, stories and experiences of Montréalers of all origins who have helped shape their city, its history and community.
