Montréal does a lot of stupid shit (but not as much stupid shit as Toronto!). So I was excited when I learned last year that they were planning on redeveloping the riverfront. It strikes me as a bit ridiculous that Montréal is an island, and the downtown was formed due to its proximity to a major river, yet you can live here permanently with basically no indication that you’re anywhere near water. 

Unfortunately, the video of this plan sort of indicates that this project is still pretty stupid. Rather than just convert all of the abandoned industrial buildings and wasted space into grass and public space, they’re erecting MORE buildings to further obstruct the river, and also making a fake beach. I have no problem with the design of the beach itself, but it’s such a ridiculously small space that there’s really no purpose for it (not to mention the parking lot built for all the suburbanites to access the beach is bigger than the actual beach).