Montreal Island, the core of Greater Montreal, used to be mostly covered by agricultural areas (including some of Quebec’s best farmland), but as the city expanded and its population grew further, agriculture got ever more marginalized. According to “Metropolitan Natures: Environmental Histories of Montreal,” by Stéphane Castonguay and Michèle Dagenais, agriculture was still present in [...]

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Trees form an essential part of the landscape of any city, and Montreal is no exception. Their functions include the following: ●     Providing shade; ●     Purifying the air; ●     Beautifying neighbourhoods and providing ornamental value; ●     Improving curb appeal and adding to property values; ●     Saving on home heating and air conditioning costs. In fact, [...]

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The Turcot Interchange is a major highway junction in Montreal, connecting the north-south Autoroute 15 and the east-west Autoroute 20/720.  The elevated interchange accommodates about 280,000 vehicles a day.  It is located near several working-class neighbourhoods, and is next to a rail-yard as well as the Saint-Jacques Escarpment.  Hastily constructed in 1966-67 in time for [...]

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For almost fifty years, there has been a missing link in Montreal’s road network between two segments of Cavendish Boulevard; one ending in Cote Saint-Luc (an independent municipality), the other in an industrial park in Saint-Laurent (a Montreal borough) to the north.  Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railyards separate these areas, and the two sections [...]

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According to a study, Montreal has one of the lowest percentages of greenspace of any major North American city.  One of the largest pieces of undeveloped greenspace is Montreal’s West End is Meadowbrook Golf Course.  Meadowbrook has been repeatedly threatened with residential development by Groupe Pacific, for over 20 years.  A local environmental non-profit group, [...]

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A big Global Site Plans welcome to our newest blogger, Yosef Robinson in Montreal, Canada. Yosef Robinson, born and raised in Montreal, holds a B.A. in Geography with a Minor in Urban Studies from Rutgers University, as well as a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from the Ohio State University.  At present, he is [...]

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Global Site Plans is happy to introduce the newest Environmental Design Blogging interns for October 2011. Each of these individuals will be with Global Site Plans team until May 2012, with a few who have committed to one-year. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for their featured biographies on the www.GlobalSitePlans.com homepage. Welcome to The GRID! Benjamin Ha: Los [...]

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THE GRID began in 2010 with Renée van Staveren, the Founder of Global Site Plans, blogging about branding, social media, content, and more – all related to environmental designers. Since its inception, the blog has grown to run weekly. Every weekday of the month The Grid is your destination for blogs related to architecture, engineering, environmental [...]

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While branding is a vital aspect to any architecture practice or firm, keeping abreast of changes within the industry are essential to developing distinction.  Below is a list of architecture conferences to be held between January 2011 and November 2012. This list includes both architecture and related fields of study. If you are interested in [...]

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