{"id":2013,"date":"2007-06-28T11:26:23","date_gmt":"2007-06-28T15:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=2013"},"modified":"2013-01-21T12:55:06","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T17:55:06","slug":"montreal-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in May, Spacing<\/em> publisher Matt Blackett and myself drove up to Montreal for a few days to work on a Spacing<\/em> project (details to come). While we were there, we looked at some of the city’s street furniture and interesting public space initiatives.<\/p>\n

\"Leading\"Leading<\/p>\n


One of the most interesting programs for me was the advanced pedestrian signals. At a lot of intersections in Montreal now, when the traffic light turns green, it starts for a few seconds with just a forward arrow along with the walking man (meaning cars can drive forwards but not turn). Since cars can’t turn right on reds in Quebec, what this means is that pedestrians have time to start crossing the street without worrying about a car trying to make a quick right or left turn ahead of them and almost running over their feet — something that I often experience in Toronto. Depending on the one-way configuration of the streets, you can also simply get a pedestrian signal for a few seconds while the traffic light stays red.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We also noticed a lack of bike racks, and bikes locked to all kinds of things (including, sadly, trees). We found this surprising until Montrealers explained to us that all of the bike racks on sidewalks, along with some other street furniture, are removed every winter to allow for snowplowing the sidewalks. The city had not yet finished re-installing this furniture for the summer at the time we were there.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In light of the new street furniture program in Toronto, which will include new “information pillars” that will carry ads on two sides and maps on one side, it was interesting to see the long-established ones in Montreal. While I don’t like info pillars on principle, at least those in Montreal have location-specific maps — they are customized according to the placement of a particular pillar (e.g. if you are looking eastwards when you look at a particular map, that map is oriented towards the east, and your location is always centred). We can at least hope that an equal degree of customization will be used for the Toronto ones (unlike the ones that were put up in our parks a couple of years ago, which mostly use generic maps).<\/p>\n

\"Tree<\/p>\n

Finally, on Bernard Avenue<\/a>, which has recently been upgraded to create a better pedestrian environment, we really admired the metal grating covers on the tree pits — not only were they extremely functional, allowing rainwater in while keeping people from stepping on the roots, but they were also attractively designed. One thing we really need to get in Toronto is a standard that specifies that tree pit covers should be metal grating rather than concrete, to allow rainwater in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in May, Spacing publisher Matt Blackett and myself drove up to Montreal for a few days to work on a Spacing project (details to come). While we were there, we looked at some of the city’s street furniture and interesting public space initiatives. One of the most interesting programs for me was the advancedContinue reading “Montreal notes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4006,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21759,32,6],"tags":[11,6059,498,6060,6061,38,21,819,19],"class_list":["post-2013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-streetscape","category-walking","tag-ad-creep","tag-car-trying","tag-matt-blackett","tag-metal-grating","tag-metal-grating-covers","tag-montreal","tag-other-cities","tag-quebec","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMontreal notes - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Montreal notes - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Back in May, Spacing publisher Matt Blackett and myself drove up to Montreal for a few days to work on a Spacing project (details to come). While we were there, we looked at some of the city’s street furniture and interesting public space initiatives. One of the most interesting programs for me was the advancedContinue reading "Montreal notes"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-28T15:26:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T17:55:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/montreal\/leadingpedsignal.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dylan Reid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dylan Reid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/\",\"name\":\"Montreal notes - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/montreal\/leadingpedsignal.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-06-28T15:26:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T17:55:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/5db677dc17e5329d01b88dfb319d259b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/montreal\/leadingpedsignal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/montreal\/leadingpedsignal.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Montreal notes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/5db677dc17e5329d01b88dfb319d259b\",\"name\":\"Dylan Reid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/196165a3da8aa047d1d3816d24de1d3a?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/196165a3da8aa047d1d3816d24de1d3a?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dylan Reid\"},\"description\":\"Dylan Reid is a senior editor at Spacing Magazine. He has also written articles for NOW magazine and the uTOpia books. He was co-chair of the Toronto Pedestrian Committee 2007-2010, was one of the founders of the Toronto Coalition (now Centre) for Active Transportation, and is a co-founder of Walk Toronto. Dylan is also a Fellow at the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/dylan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Montreal notes - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Montreal notes - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Back in May, Spacing publisher Matt Blackett and myself drove up to Montreal for a few days to work on a Spacing project (details to come). While we were there, we looked at some of the city’s street furniture and interesting public space initiatives. One of the most interesting programs for me was the advancedContinue reading \"Montreal notes\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2007-06-28T15:26:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T17:55:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/montreal\/leadingpedsignal.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dylan Reid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dylan Reid","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/","name":"Montreal notes - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/montreal\/leadingpedsignal.jpg","datePublished":"2007-06-28T15:26:23+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T17:55:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/5db677dc17e5329d01b88dfb319d259b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/montreal\/leadingpedsignal.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/montreal\/leadingpedsignal.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/06\/28\/montreal-notes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Montreal notes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/5db677dc17e5329d01b88dfb319d259b","name":"Dylan Reid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/196165a3da8aa047d1d3816d24de1d3a?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/196165a3da8aa047d1d3816d24de1d3a?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Dylan Reid"},"description":"Dylan Reid is a senior editor at Spacing Magazine. He has also written articles for NOW magazine and the uTOpia books. He was co-chair of the Toronto Pedestrian Committee 2007-2010, was one of the founders of the Toronto Coalition (now Centre) for Active Transportation, and is a co-founder of Walk Toronto. Dylan is also a Fellow at the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/dylan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35923,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013\/revisions\/35923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}