(cliquez ici pour la version française)The Plateau, ranked among the top districts in North AmericaA New York organization in close communication with urban planning professionals recently published a list of the top 20 North American neighbourhoods and districts in which to live, work and spend time. Journalist Nicolas Bérubé published an article in the daily newspaper La Presse last November, explaining the ranking and specifically noting that it had been compiled in a highly subjective manner by the organization in question, Project for Public Spaces. The article is cited below. According to Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a New York-based organization that publishes electronic newsletters for over 20,000 urban planning professionals, Plateau Mont-Royal is one of the top 20 districts offering an exceptional quality of life in North America. PPS ranked the Plateau in 7th spot, behind districts such as New York City's East Village, San Francisco's North Beach and Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. The top-ranked district was Granville Island in Vancouver. According to PPS spokesperson Jay Walljasper, the districts were obviously selected in a highly subjective fashion. "The districts and neighbourhoods listed are literally those that struck a chord with managers in our organization. Each year, we visit hundreds of cities around the globe. This exercise served to highlight those cities that impacted us the most." The Plateau, Walljasper says, was chosen because of the openness of spirit it conveys. "It's a district where people run into one another, where no one has to set a time or date to see friends, simply because they know they'll run into them during the course of the week." "The manner in which businesses and residential buildings co-exist is impressive. One wants to set off on foot, to discover the neighbourhood. Each street corner houses a café or boutique that inspires us to spend more time on the Plateau," adds Mr. Walljasper, who had already heaped praised on Montreal while holding the position of Chief Editor of UTNE Reader magazine several years ago. Drawn up for a first time, the list confirms the growing important of districts and neighbourhoods in attracting visitors to North American cities. Urban planners have thus far mostly focused on elements such as architecture, monuments and road networks. The Granville peninsula, ranked number one by PPS experts, is a former industrial zone. The site of major shipbuilding activity during World War II, the area was subsequently abandoned, remaining vacant until 1970, when promoters began rebuilding the obsolete installations. Today, the site is a popular tourist attraction. (Nicolas Bérubé, La Presse) Here are the top 15 cities in the Project for Public Spaces list:
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