Indoor pedestrian pathways are increasingly common in cities worldwide. Montréal's Indoor City is one of the most expansive indoor pedestrian networks in the world, extending for more than 32 kilometers (19.88 miles) and covering an area of twelve square kilometers (4.6 square miles) in the city's downtown. e bene ts associated with the growth of Montréal's indoor network are numerous, including: improved access throughout the downtown; shorter pedestrian walking distances; year-round climate protection; and increased amounts of public spaces. e research described in this paper examines the historical growth of Montréal's Indoor City, with the aim of exploring the factors that caused its rapid growth. Speci cally, changes in pedestrian access to retail space over time are modeled in a geographic information system to highlight major phases in the growth of the network. is research develops a theoretical framework, constructs a comprehensive time sequence describing the growth of the Indoor City's pedestrian network, and interprets the results to convey the lessons learned from Montréal's planning policies towards the Indoor City.e results of this research suggest that a series of plans and administrative policies adopted by the City of Montréal over the past 45 years have had a signi cant impact on the growth of the Indoor City. At the same time, it is also clear that access to retail and public transit (especially the underground metro lines), as well as a loophole in the Montréal legislative system, have had signi cant effects on the growth of the Indoor City.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.