Pointe-Saint-Charles – Montreal
“Take my neighborhood, Pointe-Saint-Charles, in Montreal. It has a dense built environment composed mostly of 2 to 4 storey row plexes, a mix of uses making daily life very practical, a metro station, several parks, public services (library, arena, indoor pool), and some heritage buildings. It has a fairly straight street pattern, but with occasional triangles and turning streets. It is very pleasant to walk and bike. Many large trees line the streets. The neighborhood also has many alleys, including dirt alleys and green alleys. I wish the architecture was less eclectic, as the shapes and claddings vary greatly, especially since unsightly buildings have replaced beautiful period buildings over the years. However, I like the diversity much better than the boring uniformity that we see in new neighborhoods where the houses are all the same. I’d also like to see a friendlier commercial street with less scattered businesses and wider sidewalks. I would like to see more greenery because this is a neighbourhood with a lot of heat islands. I would like to see some streets become pedestrianized, or shared. Nevertheless, it is pleasant to walk there because of its dense, variable, surprising shape, the two commercial streets that criss-cross it, the vegetation that is very present. At one point, there is a pedestrian walkway and a promontory that gives a view of the entire downtown. A few other special attractions dot the area, such as Building 7, which has a lot of vegetables and chickens, and the beautiful Lachine Canal. It’s also convenient to live in because of the good public transportation and the many local businesses, as well as being fairly close to downtown. My street itself is very busy, unfortunately it is dusty and noisy, but we have a very large grassy yard, with vegetable gardens and beautiful fruit trees, which we share with the other neighbors of our housing cooperative, also promoting meetings and cohesion. The children can play there in complete peace of mind.” (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2023, p.239).
My home : https://goo.gl/maps/T7M2w73hMJPzVyGd9
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