I’m looking through the windows of the Chalet du Mont-Royal, and I can still feel my dad tightening the laces of my skates.
In a city that has undergone so much development and change, the ideals of Frederick Law Olmsted remain. For those unfamiliar with Olmsted, he co-designed New York’s Central Park in 1858 and was commissioned to design Montréal’s Mount Royal Park in 1874.
There’s currently a lovely, free outdoor exhibition by the McCord Stewart Museum, exploring 150 years of Mount Royal Park through archival photographs. What resonates with me most is Olmsted’s understanding of the enduring value of spaces that nurture people’s physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
150 years ago, Olmsted was articulating a public-health rationale for investment in green spaces, a vision in which development and conservation work hand in hand. Beyond the direct benefits to individuals, he believed that people adapt their behaviour to their surroundings. Regular use of public spaces by families, school groups, women and children would foster mutual respect and care for shared spaces while discouraging vandalism and other unwanted behaviours.
This is a philosophy of prevention rather than remediation. Canada needs more of this reasoning and economic logic.
Critical dimensions of value creation still fall outside dominant economic models, yet could be integrated to benefit society and productivity as a whole. I’ll share a bit more about this is a subsequent post.
In the meantime, Mount Royal stands as a brilliant example of legacy thinking: a collective investment that continues to benefit generations, 150 years later.