A StThe Shape of the System
The article examines how the design of a single street, Good Houses Street, reflects broader systemic patterns in urban planning, community dynamics, and the relationship between physical space and social outcomes, arguing that such streets reveal the underlying values and priorities of the systems that create them.
Background
- This essay is a review of *A Street of Good Houses*, a short documentary (dir. Nick Martini, 2025) about Van Houtte, a one-block street in Montreal's Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie district that was purpose-built in the 1990s to be affordable and community-oriented.
- The film profiles the street's founding residents, its design by architect Dan Hanganu, and the city's broader effort to use "social mixed-use" zoning to preserve working-class neighborhoods amid rapid gentrification.
- The piece explores Van Houtte as a case study in how small-scale, non-market housing policies can produce durable, inclusive urban fabric — a rare alternative to both luxury development and sterile projects — and what it reveals about Montreal's distinct planning traditions.