Situations of Intimacy in Fluvial Public Spaces
A field study of fluvial public spaces in Montréal, along the St. Lawrence River
Contemporary cities increasingly design public spaces to be functional, often at the expense of their relational dimension. Urban riverfronts, currently undergoing transformation, offer strong potential as spaces for social interaction, yet their design still relies on a limited understanding of the actual practices that take place within them. In a context where cities are heavily investing in the redevelopment of their waterfronts, a better understanding of everyday interactions becomes essential for designing environments that genuinely foster relationships rather than merely staging them. Existing research has established theoretical frameworks on social interactions in public spaces, but still offers limited insight on how intimacy is concretely produced in everyday situations. Moreover, studies on waterfront spaces have documented recreational uses and the sensory qualities of water, without fully considering the river as an active participant in human interactions.
This research aims to understand how situations of intimacy are manifested in fluvial public spaces, through interactions between individuals, spatial configurations, and the active presence of the river. It is based on a qualitative approach combining non-participant direct observations, sensory reading of spaces, and behavioral mappings across several riverfront sites in Montréal. This approach allows for the capture of interactions at the scale of bodies, practices, and perceptions.
The results of the study show that situations of intimacy are shaped through action and emerge from the combination of social, spatial, and sensory factors that locally articulate to produce diverse configurations. The river acts as an actor in its own right by orienting bodies and gazes, generating sensory effects, and mediating relationships between individuals. Thresholds appear as dynamic transition processes that accompany movement and enable gradual adjustments toward micro-spaces of intimacy. This relational and sensory reading of fluvial public spaces provides urban designers and decision-makers with a tool to identify and map forms of intimacy, hence supporting the design of spaces that are more adaptable, inclusive, and grounded in actual lived experience.
Keywords: intimacy; fluvial public spaces; river; thresholds; social interactions.
