Urban alleys certainly are an underused resource in Montreal; in many cases there also seems to be confusion (in terms of toponymy) as to whether one is dealing with a street or a lane, a fuzziness that probably clouds the consequences of these spaces in terms of urbanism, activity, and use.

As for Mount Royal Place, I’m pretty sure it’s private space, even though it’s got a Ville de Montreal-issue street sign; years ago I tried to lock my bike to one of the lampposts in the lane, and got hustled out by one of the security guards from the Cours Mont-Royal mall complex. Sometimes the best guide to whose space is whose seems to be just keeping your head down and looking at the lines in the concrete/pavers/asphalt, though one wishes there was a more welcoming way to tell what the space was about.

There was recently a Globe and Mail article about the sale of Toronto’s first laneway house; the comments section revolved almost entirely around ‘what is a laneway?’ and ‘why would being on a laneway make a house particular or special?’

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080523.re-laneway-0523/BNStory/RealEstate