Every generation comes to love its grandparents’ taste, and the architecture and planning of the mid-20th century is far enough behind us to warrant a new look. Yet while modernism is back in vogue for buildings and furniture, the broad-strokes development that reshaped Western cities remains harder to love. Too often, the urban dreams of the ’60s survive as barren oceans of pavement.

And as the title of this collection of essays and visuals from the Canadian Centre for Architecture suggests, no city dreamed bigger than Montreal. As the centennial approached, Canada’s Metropolis revitalized itself on a remarkable scale. Expo 67, the Metro and the underground city, expressways, huge commercial developments, arts complexes, public housing projects: it’s a list to make today’s mayors weep.

But postwar Quebec was riven by powerful forces, from the Quiet Revolution’s social and cultural upheavals to federal infrastructure programs and the ambitions of international modernism. Editor André Lortie does a fine job of explaining these contexts while making a case for Montreal as the “archetypal” city of the modern era.

To a certain extent, this is a story of a pragmatic art – city planning – at its most fanciful. A new, cosmopolitan group of planners and architects took charge under mayor Jean Drapeau, reshaping the city for a grand future: they projected that Montreal’s population would continue to grow dramatically, reaching 7 million people by the end of the century.

It was a gigantic bet on the future that didn’t quite pan out. But from downtown to the suburbs, it got things built. As critic Michael Sorkin explains, “every single standard-issue piece of … modernist strategizing happened here.” The book’s fascinating illustrations help make the point: from Moshe Safdie’s Habitat to I.M. Pei’s luminous Place Ville-Marie, the city is filled with monuments from a forward-looking era.

Some of these were misguided; it’s not an entirely positive legacy. Still, The 60s is valuable reading for all those who care about Montreal, or urban form in general. Such a vibrant civic culture – one that dreamed of great things and built them – deserves a long and attentive look.