This 275-metre section of Boulevard Gouin Ouest between Rue Paiement and Rue Chauret lies in the former village centre of Sainte-Geneviève. As a founding and unifying feature on the island of Montréal, Boulevard Gouin holds historical and symbolic importance and thus deserves to be preserved and enhanced.

This project, the centrepiece of a revitalization effort thanks to its strong attraction potential, is aimed at improving the pedestrian experience by adding appealing and attractive installations, while promoting safe and active mobility.

Objectives

• Create a safer and more comfortable traffic corridor for everyone, but also a space where people will want to stop and sit for a while.
• Improve safety for the most vulnerable users and for pedestrians and cyclists by offering traffic easing measures and reducing the size of the space available for cars and on-street parking.
• Make the public space greener in an effort to mitigate heat islands.
• Highlight the history of Sainte-Geneviève village core.

Installations

• People-friendly small squares in part inspired by the Place Shamrock project in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and the De Castelnau project in Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension. These green spaces will allow residents and visitors to sit and unwind, socialize and have fun.
• Street furniture adapted to the country-like character of the village centre and the needs of local users.
• Plant-rich landscaping, green canopy and reflective covering.

To discover: 1908, the final voyage of the raftsmen on the Rivière des Prairies

• A riverside landscape
• A wooded topography
• Historical anecdotes

A series of wood slices from local trees, assembled to form a movement towards the site, which becomes a place of wonderment with street furniture and functional signage. Historical anecdotes are shared through raw pixelizations featuring given names and important dates. The story of a village, yesterday and today, steeped in the stories of the past, and weaving together new intergenerational encounters.