Montreal is a North American city with European charm! (and toasty warm metro stations)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Montreal Unboxed! This video was produced in collaboration with EIT Urban Mobility Academy. urbanmobilityc...
Video: Montreal's Medium-Density Multiplex Neighbourhoods • Montreal is a North Am...
Video: The Magic of Cross-Platform Transfers • Video
French Subtitles: Julien Desaulniers
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Music from Epidemic Sound:
epidemicsound.com/referral/rjq03x
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Host: George Liu
Producer/Editor: Jedwin Mok
EIT Team: Malaurie Chokoualé Datou
Gautam Rao
Antoine Berwart
Outro: Carrie Jia
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#cityunboxed #urbanmobility #montreal #urbanism
*** major asterisks here for the line "Quebec is the only French speaking place in North America" *** It's practically true, but not literally true. Only province with MAJORITY French speakers is more accurate. French language politics very sensitive topic in Canada, so jumping on this disclaimer before the comments stream in!
... and in my book St. Pierre & Miquelon falls under north america too.
If you want to avoid language politics then please do. What was said in the video is correct: Québec is a francophone province.
France still has a few colonies in North America and of course there is Haïti.
Not to mention New Brunswick
You should explore Lille, France. It's smaller than Montréal but it's home to one of the first autonomous metro systems in the world.
As a Montrealer originally from Asia with family in Europe, it's always funny when North Americans say how "European" they feel Montreal is. I came to Montreal knowing what Europe was like and knowing North America only from movies and I immediately picked up how North American Montreal felt like.
You're right that Montreal is more North American than European. Though, while it definitely feels like North America to European, the opposite is also true : it kinda feels a little bit European from a North American perspective. There is something that feels resolutely foreign : different language, different culture, different building culture (lot of middle housing and public spaces), a traditionaly european Old Town, etc. What I believe people are missing is that there are actually two really different types of North American cities : the older historical ones (Montréal, Québec, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, Lancaster, etc.) and newer ones (Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Portland, Las Vegas, etc.) that are often actually quite old, but that only knew massive growth in later decades, often between turn to mid of the 20th century. To me, there is a fondamental difference in cities that were already cities before the industrial revolution, and those that became because of it, with it or after it.
@@Jean-Poule_II I agree. Old Montreal definitely feels European, though that is just a small part of the city. It's the reverse in Europe. Take Paris, most of the city is identifiably "European" with the newer looking district of La Défence tucked away in the suburbs. Same story to a slightly lesser extent with London and Canary Wharf. Montreal would feel more European if Old Montreal extended far beyond its current boundaries since the rest of the city has a much more North American feel, for me at least. The older residential areas in the city from the Victorian age can also be found in New England and other older parts of the continent, while street layouts and zoning laws are unquestionably North American.
Montreal is not just the french speaking plateau. Neither is it the only the downtown with it skyscrapers...
New York is not only Manhattan it does include Brooklyn Queens staten island places that feel completely different.
The editing quality on this video is completely insane. I am so proud of you all who made it. Well done.
Like Doug DeMuro reviews cities
Ayo someone got the memo
Unfortunately, only two subway stations have this cross-platform setup: Lionel-Groulx and Snowdon. In the context of all other 66 stations, you do have to climb stairs to go to your connection or to change directions.
@@pawsindmeinlieblingsfach3518 When you go the wrong way by accident. All stations could have been set up with the platforms on either side instead of being on the middle.
@@pawsindmeinlieblingsfach3518 It really could have been the exact same tunnel, that splits down the middle once it reaches the stations.
Cool. I loved it.❤️Montreal❤️
God damn, their metro looks way better than the Paris metro!
Great explanation of design options for an appealing pedestrian realm.
Good intro and sound throughout too; however, I suspect it could be improved with longer transition times so people can enjoy the visuals/audio - though that would increase the length of the video considerably.
Epic George. This series just gets better and better. Excellent concept and execution.
Wow the editing and cinematography of this video are fantastic. A little overly dramatic music every now and then though haha.
There's nothing European about MTL, but it is different from North America, Quebec is the only french speaker province in North America.
Not true. New Brunswick is a third francophone and officially bilingual french-english. There are also multiple large francophone communities outside those two provinces, like in Northern and Eastern Ontario, in Alberta around Edmonton, in Manitoba, in Nova Scotia...
@@thatcherdonovan7305 that's true, I forgot about those regions
I really do think e bikes (for rent) can be a great alternative to e scooters
"The only French-speaking place in all of North America" --Louisiana triggered
Less than 4% of people in Louisiana speak French, so big deal.
My partner lived in Baton Rouge for a year, she mentioned she came across exactly 3 people who spoke French while being there. I would not consider Louisiana to be a French-speaking state in the US
I think the whole language thing is a bit confusing here in Canada. I believe the point the host is trying to make is that Québec is where the majority of French speaking people live for sure. To make things even more confusing, New Brunswick is the only officially bi-lingual province in Canada, go figure!
Louisiana isn't French speaking. Even in Acadiana you can't expect to walk into a random store and converse entirely in French. French is not the language of business, government or education. Street signs are not in French. The language survives through revitalization efforts but will only ever be a tourist attraction. French is lost as a living language in the state.
Hi
Old port neigborhood shouldn't be talked about for urban design, there is no citizen there, and montrealer rarely evet go there, it is a tourist attraction, restaurant, hotel and airbnb spot.
I mean, it s worth yalking about it if you want to talk about toursit destination, but not if you are to talk about urban planing, and no point ever as there everbeen a neigborhood discussion about zoning a district like old port.
Only North American people feels that they are in Europe when they are in Montreal. because they don’t get out from the old port.
NO NO NO MONTREAL LOST IT'S CHARM OF THE 70'S AND 80'S.... we got GANGS now since the late 90's which we DIDN'T HAVE back then, for instance you could walk on St-Michel blvd or Henri Bourassa st 3 AM 2 girls that is... without being bothered by anyone. And downtown... PFFFF it's a joke... where are all the beautiful stores and fashion and high tech, latest music gigs, WHERE are they?? Eaton is not what is use to be, There is no more people at 2 am or 4 am on St-Catherine driving down the street in the summer with PACK OF PEOPLE walking around going club to clubs or dining at a restaurants ... nope... all the MAGIC IS GONE!
This is a great study of how SOME Canadian cities are so very different. However it really is just Montreal, Quebec City, and a few others. Many Canadian cities and towns are the same form of vast Car-topia as US cities are, with a decayed and lost old centre, huge car parks with Walmart, McDonalds and Tim Horton taking the lost sense of “community” for the city.
As a Hamiltonian: ouch
(The entire intro was in Hamilton)
((It's not that bad actually here, I love living downtown Hamilton))
I gotta say, the editing of this video in particular really impressed me. Well done!
Little correction: the subway/Metro is not heated. It just stays warm
Hey! What about giving each city a score for wheelchair friendliness? I saw all those shops with the stairs leading to the entrance and I was thinking to myself that must be a pain in the ass for wheelchair users, people with strollers, mobility scooters, etc.
Great Idea! Thanks for the suggestion.
"The only French-speaking place in all of North America." Perhaps you meant the only French majority province of Canada. There are French-speaking communities in most provinces. Perhaps you should also look into Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, a collectivité of France, off the coast of Newfoundland.
well for Canada it is not true either as New Brunswick is also French speaking
@@TheTroyc1982 Correct, but which is what I said.
St. Boniface was more French but it changed as new comers come. But in some smaller Manitoba towns you hear a lot more French used. St. Pierre Jolie, and St Jean Baptiste, and some in Lorette, and St Agatha. All the Saint named towns it seems.
Great video! Beautifully presented!
Interesting.. Thanks for the good image you give of Montreal.... but.... still somewhat strange that you allow yourself to give a 'score' to a city after having spent, what, just a couple days in a town? Feels mostly taken out of a hat. As you miss some basic facts (ex: the Montreal metro is not heated, the warmth you felt is only the heat generated by the trains), we wonder what else have you taken for granted.
Also, the Old Montréal, a touristic place, isn't a very good example of what makes Montréal is a very walkable town. The channel 'Oh the Urbanity' (from which you gave a good reference video) is doing a good job of explaining why Montreal is indeed a very walkable city, but for this you need to live there and really understand how people live and work in a place (the channel does this very well over the extent of several videos). In any case, seems you haven't visited much downtown Montreal where people work (or used to at least), or the Plateau, or many of the other neighborhoods where the population actually lives and work - outside of old Montreal. So again, giving a score based on your very limited 'dataset' makes me feel your channel isn't very rigorous? (unlike 'Not just Bikes' of 'Oh the Urbanity' at least). Or minimally, give a proper disclaimer saying that you give a score based on your very limited experience in a town.
Now, the fact you gave a bad score because Bixi uses anchor points and requires an application is really weird as well. You suggest that Montreal should provide other solutions - we assume you must mean those bike and scooter sharing systems where you can drop the bikes and scooters wherever you want. Well, Montreal has done test periods for scooters such as lime - and by the way those work only with apps! - was a failure, it has proven that people drop them anywhere and drove them without care. Montreal has decided to back away and ban them, which is a good thing. And it wouldn't make sense to allow for other non-docked bike sharing systems, as this would simply make Bixi less profitable but also it make sidewalks less walkable with all the dropped bikes and scooters. Outside a small portion of the younger crowd that liked the lime scooters, I think that the people were pretty happy with Montreal's decision to ban them.
Anyway. One final note, if you want to get the feel of an European city, you should also go walk in Old Québec, its a lot more extensive and pretty But then, just as a reminder that an 'old part of town' doesn't allow to make a good picture, the rest Quebec City is much less walkable than Montréal, as it is a giant suburb with little downtown but rather long streets with very few active transportation options.
Understandably, I think there is a misunderstanding with the purpose of the video. Oh the Urbanity's videos are fantastic because they cover a lot of the Urban Planning aspects of what makes Montreal's neighborhoods so great. This includes mixed use zoning, mid rise buildings, and medium density housing, all of which are economic and social policy decisions that lead to more walkable and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. From a planning perspective, your points are all correct and we do mention this in the video - Old Montreal is certainly not representative of the city as a whole, and Montreal is certainly much more North American than its European counterparts. However, George's background is specifically in Urban Design and UX, a completely different aspect of city building, involving technical design decisions - which is what this video is focused on. In that respect, Old Montreal contains some absolutely fantastic urban design covered in the video(including traffic calming, pedestrian enclosure, etc.), that results in a pleasant streetscape and makes it a very special destination on its own, regardless of how touristy it is. This type of urban design is world-class, and makes Montreal (and Quebec City!) standout examples in North America.
In the video, we've also picked out some of the fantastic urban design elements in downtown (RESO network), the plateau (filtered permeability, VELO bike network), and Cote-des-Neiges (pedestrian streets). These examples show that Montreal isn't just relying on the fact that it is a well planned and laid out city (which is what I presume you are talking about), but that it is also actively taking initiative to improve its urban design to deprioritize cars, something VERY rare in North America. The Cote-des-Neiges example is especially demonstrative of this, as it shows a cheap and fast way to re-allocate space for pedestrians. All these design elements make me very confident that Montreal deserves a full score for walking.
If we were to cover all the elements and all the caveats of all the neighborhoods, the video would certainly be much too long. That is why we were very selective in picking elements that demonstrate why the urban design of Montreal is special, and should be replicated by other North American cities.
Lastly, I don't think it is a problem that the Bixi system is app-based, or has docks. However, it does make me wonder why all this physical infrastructure is built to store the bikes, yet the constraint of using an app still applies! The specific advantage of dock-based bike share is that other modes of unlocking can be supported without adding extra devices or weight to the bikes themselves. This greatly increases access to people without a phone, phone out of battery, etc. In general though, the Bixi system is great.
You're right about the e-scooters intruding into pedestrian space when they are dropped everywhere, but perhaps there is a solution for this! The city of Hamilton is a great example of dockless bike share that also doesn't pollute the street space, because they have to be locked to a bike rack!
Hope this clears some things up!
@@jedwinmok3184 thanks for the reply. I agree with you, the purpose of the video isn't too clear. Visiting a city and providing a few quick examples of good and bad urban planning is more than ok, it's really the final 'scoring' based those rather quick observations that I find makes the concept a bit doubtful. I think the video possibly is trying to cram too much information in a short presentation and it hurts the overall effect. As another example, you claim that Montreal is being surpassed by many other north-american cities in terms of cycling infrastructure and design, but it's not supported by any examples (I'm not saying this ain't true). This would make a video topic in itself. in short, the people who love video about urban design such as those from the aforementioned channels have maybe been too spoiled by very detailed and crafted videos, we're maybe expecting more and the topic can't be rushed. Maybe better make several more focused videos. PS: I still appreciate the effort, I hope my comments can still be considered as constructive. :-)
Sur ce, bonne continuité!
@Markus Rogers well, just try to do a search on newspaper articles, they all claim that there is no heating in the Montreal metro system. In fact, you will see so many stories talking about the fact that one problem of Montreal's metro is that it's too hot, in summer, but in winter as well, because the heat generated from the trains, people, equipment has a hard time escaping the tunnels. Despite efforts to improve ventilation over the past few years, it is still a problem, and in particular you will see quotes from STM officials saying that the metro cannot be climatized for that reason, as the cooling units would only generate even more heat. In the 60s, the Montreal metro hasn't been design with climatization in mind. Of course, that's not to say there aren't small heating units near ticket booths near the entrances, especially for the employees, but generally speaking, the heat people feel coming from the venting of the metro is not from heating units. So basically, I am not making any claim, I am only commenting based on the many stories that have been published on the topic over the years. A simple google search will easily demonstrate what I mean.
journalmetro.com/actualites/montreal/959450/curiocite-pourquoi-fait-il-aussi-chaud-en-ete-quen-hiver-dans-le-metro/
I wish we had more correspondance stations like Lionel-Groulx. You took the best one in the city. Snowdon has a similar design but it has more walls so you don't realize that plateforms are so accessible. The worst counter example is Jean-Talon station that is a real maze. I almost wonder if it was made like that on purpous do avoid overcrowding other plateforms...
This is by far one the best videos about MTL . Well done.
When will you bring the human mobility score to some subpar cities? I live in Atlanta, GA USA. I’d love to see you make a video about Atlanta, and give it a 5/20.
At least Atlanta has single family homes not garbage apartment buildings everywhere like the ones we can see in these “walkable cities”.
@@urbanistgod wow. Troll much?
Edit: I actually looked at your channel. Or the sad excuse for a channel that you attempted to make. I even read your “beliefs” on your info page. You have zero data or facts to back up your little hypothesis that EVERYONE should live in a single family home and own their own vehicle. Actual data shows that to not be sustainable, healthy, or even a viable option for everyone in this world. Ironic that your tagline at the end was the think outside of the box. Single family detached homes are the most inside the box idea you could possibly have.
@@JBthePAdashC It seems like you missed the part “Innovation will solve many of the world’s problems” and “population needs to be more evenly redistributed”. If you’d understand what that means you’d understand that your “not sustainable” argument is wrong.
@@urbanistgod your little disclaimer sentence holds absolutely no weight whatsoever. Name one innovation that actually makes single family housing and suburban sprawl sustainable with some data to back it up. And also, what is the purpose of redistributing the population? Go ahead… I’m listening.
@@urbanistgod Tick Tock Clarice
You mentioned that other North American cities have been doing a great job of overtaking Montreal in cycling. Which ones in particular do you mean? Do you have an opinion on which is the top cycling North American city?
There likely are other cities in North America which have some new cycling infrastructure which is better than anything found in Montréal, but what makes Montréal such a pleasant city to ride a bike in is the urban scale, not the cycling infrastructure. All kinds of people ride bikes here because it is an easy and comfortable way to get around. No need to be a 'cyclist' to appreciate the practicality of cycling here. Every time people from other North American cycling cities come to Montréal they are shocked to see how many people (and the types of people) ride bikes. In fact, I would say that most Canadian cities are better for cycling than their perhaps better known American counterparts. Here is a recent video from StreetFilms about our 'dazzling cycling infrastructure' th-cam.com/video/GSl0doR9lD4/w-d-xo.html
Like Zivi said, I think there is a distinction between the cycling infrastructure itself, and the practicality of cycling and cycling culture. SF, Ottawa, Seattle, NY, Vancouver are the examples that George brings up, my personal favorites are Ottawa and Boston, because of their aggressive expansion of protected intersections!
I’m really loving this series! And now you’ve made me want to move to Montreal 😂
Congratulation, on a most professional quality of your AV presentation, one of the beast i have see. Most is dead on how it was presented. Beautiful city, Yes, Cold Yes etc. now the bad part that was not mentioned. I am a Montrealer true and true. Language for foreigners is a major problem, construction, is never ending challenge, to visit amazing, to live ahhhh. I have lived in many places in the world. Montreal is over hyped,. Bonjour et Salut.
Wonderful video! It was done well! So true regarding how most of Montreal is a better design than most North American cities. There are few catching up but still have a long way to go.
Place Jaques Cartier is closed of to car like half of the year
While I appreciate the intention here, this video is grossly misleading. It gives the impression that all of Montreal is like that which is absolutely not the case. In face all the positive points brought up here are found in less than 10% of the city. He's only talking about the Old Montreal and a small part of downtown, which is a pretty touristy small areas compare to the rest of Montreal. The rest of the city is pretty much like the rest of USA, parking lots and strip malls.
This caveat was mentioned in the start of the video! The city of Montreal and its old suburbs are what we should be aiming to create for the rest of North America!
Great idea, please visit Poland and Varsovia ;)
Just so you know, there's no heating in the Montreal metro. It's all heat generated by the Metro.
Fun fact: the metro system isn't actually heated. It generates enough heat in operation that no heating is needed, even in the middle of winter
What a great video! Happy to see Montreal get some love, it's not perfect but we have a great mayor who's doing a good job deprioritizing cars. A few little notes. Place Jacques Cartier is entirely pedestrian in the summer and the metro isn't heated. It stays warm by body heat and the heat from the metros
Having lived in Montreal, this brought back many great memories! As a student, I definitely could not afford a vehicle, and got around primarily by walking or taking the metro. It's an even nicer place in the summer with all the festivals closing down even more major streets to turn them into pedestrian friendly walkways!
talk about it ! the freaking tour de l'ile FORBIDDEN ME to go to my house 200 feet from the corner cause MY STREET IS CLOSE which is 4 streets AWAY from the dam circuit. talk about being enrage after 12 hours of work yeah... and I'M A PROFESSIONNAL TRUCKER why don't they move it to ILE STE HELENE ON THE JACQUES VILLENEUVE CIRCUIT AND LEAVE THE CITY STREETS ALOOOONNNE AND OPEN
Wrong! There are French speaking communities in several areas of Canada. St. Boniface in Winnipeg, Manitoba is the largest French speaking community outside of Quebec, Also Manitoba has several small towns that are predominantly French speaking. The Maritime provinces especially New Brunswick also speak French. Bear in mind all these different regions have very distinct and different accents also. Québécois French sounds very different from Manitoba French. The same for the Maritimes which is an Acadian French.
Other North American cities that should be mentioned are Boston, New York, and San Francisco.
Interesting and well presented video. Montréal is a very nice city and I think your assessment was accurate and fair. Well done !
You were very generous in your notes! Montreal may look good compared to north american cities, but it's not close to most European cities yet.
The Lionel-Groulx metro station is the only one where you can switch line on the same dock. Jean-Talon is more like a labyrinth. Also, there are a lot of blind spots in the network as it hasn't expanded much in the last 30 years.
I also don't think the city should get a 5/5 for walking. There are many streets with a lot of traffic that are not very comfortable to walk on if you step outside the center of the city.
As a Montrealer following your MOOCs, I was very happy to see you post this video. Keep up the good work!
European cities were build thousands of years ago, when no cars existed, and are in general a lot smaller in sizes, Montreal the old part was built a 150 years ago, because it was completely destroyed by the Anglos when Queen Victoria decided to give some human rights to the French communities, so comparing apple to Oranges is not in any way being Honest, I for one will never go in most neighbourhoods like Plateau Mont-Royal, because it is completely closed to the rest of Montrealers, we have been told for more than 3 decades now that we were not welcome as Montrealers, in our own city, the present mayor is ANTI CITY and is against ANY mobility from other parts of the city, she is destroying our once great city, her last attempt was to make sure no one from outside the city center was ever able to go Downtown, residents form the city center can hardly have their own family come for a visit, now 2 years later they have to spent millions of dollars to incite people to go downtown after they have been chastised for going, so like hundreds of thousands of Montrealers, we are no longer going downtown and the stores and restaurants are all dying, just like what happened on the plateau, mile ends and all other places where we have been told we were not welcome if we did not live in the area.
St-denis is dying, Laurier, St-laurent, Mont-royal, Bernard, st-Viateyur and even the Marcher Jean-Talon is no longer viable for many merchant as there are not enough people around for them to survive, the city reacted by doubling the rents and the merchants leaf even faster, I no longer go there as there is way better selections elsewhere now.
you also have a cross-platform transfer at Snowdon! but you're right, Jean-Talon is a bit more complex
@@acarriere8534 I have no clue what you’re on about, I think Plante’s work has done a lot for the city, and not wanting every street to be a thoroughfare is hardly “closing off from the rest of the city”
@@acarriere8534 lol what a troll....
Past decades of mayors where all corrupt and only did the bare minimum in order to keep they offices (and their salaries)! In my memory of Montréal politics, I've seen Tremblay and his replacement forced to resign over scandals. Following that bullshit, we got Coderre and his many (many) promises for change... So compared with the last decades of mediocre and down-right corrupt mayors, we finally have someone in city hall who is working for the people of Montréal rather then exclusively for CEOs and lobbyist, and that's Plante.
Also, no neighbourhood is "dying" because of greater and cheaper mobility possibilities; go get your head washed from the all the nonsense that you have been forced fed.
you sicken me / tu me dégoutes
Snowdon offers cross platform crossing, but it is more cavernous going through the center and each line being in own tunnel. It still has the same easier criss crossing.
Taipei Score🤔
Transit 3
Cycling 1
Walking 1
Bike-share 4
Total 9
😰😡😮💨🤧🥺😭
To be fair, Mexico is North America, and it many places there feel very European.
Great video! Can i ask whats the song that starts at 10:20 ?
The Montréal Métro is not heated.
Fun fact, even stop sign's in France say stop but not in Quebec.
Excellente et stimulante présentation de George Liu sur la mobilité à Montréal! Merci à UCI. That's point de vue makes a change with the habitual Québec bashing from Canada. By the way, total population of Québec is around 8.5 millions with 80% of french speaking whose it's the Official Language. Out of Montréal french speaking people easily reach 97%. Thanks again.
That intro man, very nice 😄.
Un peu quebecois
Montreal: has one the best cycle infrastructure in North America
Europeans: best I can give you is 2/5
I'm sorry but I find that your disjointed and abrupt editing style makes the video unwatchable for me which is a shame because the subject matter looks very interesting
You haven't explored Montreal's suburbs. They're totally car dependant (I'd even say more than Toronto's suburbs) and there are barely any sidewalk for pedestrians (even on some major commercial/arterial stroads).
The off-island suburbs are very car dependent.
@Markus Rogers Amsterdam and Tokyo suburbs aren't car dependant. Those are not the only cities. Suburbs are an extension of the city and it's where most people usually live.
Only the OFF island suburbs are car dependent. The boroughs on the island are exceptionally pedestrian & bike friendly:)
not true, i live on the south shore of Montreal . We have public transport every 10 minutes to downtown Montreal. We hace civilized cities with sidewalks and biking lanes from the south shore to Montreal islands. Toronto has a worst public transport and Toronto as a car culture like in USA ,
@@jeanbolduc5818 Have you ever tried walking on Taschereau or residential streets outside of "Old Longueuil"? I just typed a random trip (on a Sunday) from La Prairie to Sainte-Julie by transit and it would take less time to get to Toronto from La Prairie by bus.
I livening Montreal very happy to see your Montreal city video 👍👍👍👍
The only issue is that it is even colder in Montreal then in western or Central Europe.
Really love how they maintaine the old overhangs and small roofs in front of the shops.
Still it does feel like a mall it is more to it.
When you already watched all the recommendations.
Please come to Dublin.
you mean human grill tabernak
Montreal looks beautiful! How come I've never seen any other historical looking city center in a North American city except for New York?
Old Québec City will give you a field day.
As NJB would say, it is bulldozered for the car.
México City!! Mexico is also North America!
Well, Montreal is much older than the vast majority of North American cities. The city was founded in 1642, which predates the American revolution, the creation of Canada as a country or the abolition of slavery.
Boston, has older areas, Winnipeg saved a large 1910-30's area. Chicago was bured down but has great older architecture left. Montreal and New York are old, and larger then most for a certain early highrise time. Some places have lost there older centers due to fires and massive earthquakes. Really New York has done great keeping building being used, and that saves them. And in Canada we have heritage laws due to lose of a historical house in downtown Montreal. The Van Horne Mansion was owned by the late billionaire David Azrieli who had the house demolished over night. He had enough of the nonsense holding up progress and made a poor decisions in 1973.
There now stands the neo art deco designed Sofitel hotel.
10:21 they used korean song❤
Ok? Are you really comparing the typical North American town/suburb with the ‘inside’ of a big city?
yes. With the exception of certain cities (NYC, Toronto, Vancouver), most NA cities are basically suburbs, with the same swaths of surface parking and big box development, just with some towers here and there. Yes, there are some historic districts, but those are usually watered down and only exist for a block or two. Montreal is unique in NA for its human scaled spaces, and mid rise development. In fact, the old suburbs of Montreal (in the video was Cote de Neiges and the plateau) are really what we should be aiming for all suburbs to become in North America!
@@jedwinmok3184 That’s your opinion. The ideal suburbs for me are detached homes not apartments or duplexes
Buddy Montreal used to be beautiful like you say but itis horrible to live in now over populated and ruled by large investors and the people are not considered just money making structured and majority bashing of the minorities
Bixi was partly funded by the government. no chance for any other.
As an avid cyclist and expert in bike related issues a score of 2 is a bit harsh. Unless pothole and puddles are in play.
Overall I can say compared to Winnipeg, Manitoba Montreal is better. Even though Winnipeg has been adding more paths, active ways, and dedicated bike lanes. Montreal still comes out ahead. One reason is because of bixi, and another is because of attitudes toward cyclist are better in Montreal.
Winnipeg like many North American cities have improved cycling infrastructures but slower to adapt attitudes towards bike use. Most guys own another motorized recreation vehicle -- not a bicycle. Or they own a bike and it is a Harley Davidson!
So I have to say, even with all the potholes and small oceans that form in the middle of the streets. Montreal is a better cycling city and should be only compared to other North America cities like Vancouver or Houston.