Montreal Street Furniture Project

I’ve been posting my impressions of public space in some cities I’ve visited recently, and the last of the current bunch is Montreal.

Montreal is experimenting with a variety of interesting public space projects, and one of them is a localized street furniture project in an area designated as the “Quartier Internationale de Montréal”, that is, the Montreal International Quarter (which is a fairly small area of a few square blocks).

They’ve had some attractive and thoughful integrated street furniture designed for this district. Note how all of the lamp posts have an integrated pedestrian light over the sidewalk. The lamps are energy-efficient and focused downward, to reduce energy use and light pollution. Garbage bins and benches are also integrated into the post design, reducing the amount of clutter on the sidewalk.

It’s a very attractive design concept. However, they have encountered some problems. Because many of the components of this furniture are non-standard, it has proved inconvenient and expensive to replace parts when they are damaged or wear out, which has become a bit of a headache.

As Toronto embarks on its own street furniture project, it is interesting to look to this kind of project for ideas and lessons:

— There are certainly some aesthetic and practical benefits to street furniture design that integrates different furniture elements.
— If the entire city had this integrated design, though, it might be a little monotonous.
— So the idea of having distinctive street furniture in particular districts also has its appeal — diversity encourages design and innovation.
— On the other hand, variety can be more expensive. It’s also important to keep practical issues in mind when designing street furniture.

Below is a close-up of the pedestrian lamp.