In August we travelled to Quebec, staying for a week in Montreal, in a flat in Le Plateau, a district just to the north of the Montreal CBD. It's simply a delightful place to be, especially in the middle of a Canadian summer. The area demonstrates that medium-density housing can be the basis of high quality urban living - the population density supports a wide range of services, with corner stores, restaurants, cafes and every other sort of retail goody just everywhere, a range of good public transport options and dedicated bicycle  lanes in every street.  

The housing is interesting - almost all of it is double storey buildings, each having multiple flats or apartments, but with no internal stairs. Each flat has only one level - if you live on the top floor you have external stairs straight down to the street.

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There is a lot of good street art, and, refreshingly, hardly any of it has been defaced by moronic  tagging. 

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There are always people on the street, in and out of the corner shops and cafes, so the area has a safe, friendly feel. When we were there there one of the main streets boasted an extensive outdoor exhibition of photographs by Montreal photographer Jean-Francois LeBlanc. 

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