City tests water square
The city recently tested the water square it installed in the place des Fleurs-de-Macadam on Mont‑Royal to see if it really would absorb the quantity of water we’d get during a massive downpour – and it did the job.
It’s not really rocket science to realize that if the city is solidly paved, runoff has nowhere to go except the sewers and people’s basements, but if you punch a few holes here and there, water will have somewhere better to go. The city’s acting on this idea now.
shawn 11:11 on 2022-11-08 Permalink
It’s a cool little square. The odd name – to my ears – is of course from a song by Jean-Pierre Ferland, whose family owned the gas station in this site. I had thought it had something to do with macadamia nuts having flowers but no, a “macadam” was an old type of road. All news to me.
shawn 11:26 on 2022-11-08 Permalink
Oh and fwiw, here’s a 1969 NFB animated musical vignette with that song: https://www.onf.ca/film/fleurs_de_macadam_en/
DeWolf 11:35 on 2022-11-08 Permalink
It’s one of the best new public spaces in the city. Not only because of its environmental benefit but because it was prototyped with a temporary installation, so the designers were able to observe how people use the space. And people were already in the habit of hanging out there so they instantly reappropriated it when construction was done.
shawn 11:56 on 2022-11-08 Permalink
I didn’t know that. What sorts of things did they change, would you know?
walkerp 12:56 on 2022-11-08 Permalink
Dang, I wish I had know about this test. Would have been cool to see. Anybody find any video of the test in action?