Pourquoi les places publiques de Montréal sont-elles vides?

Walk through Place Émilie-Gamelin, Cabot Square, or Viger Square, and you'll notice the common features of poured concrete underfoot, benches bolted in neat rows, maybe a few islands of trees. There will also be almost no one using the space as intended by city planners. These deserted squares are not accidents of geography or decline, but the predictable result of design that prioritizes static aesthetics over vitality—an approach at odds with Montreal's reputation as "the Paris of North America."

Cabot Square in 2016. | Photograph: Thomas Miau

Urban designers have understood this for over 40 years. William H. Whyte's Street Life Project (1969-1980), a landmark study of New York’s plazas, found that people almost always move a chair before sitting in it. Mobility, not just seating, invites lingering.

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