In Québec, a number of cities launched waterfront revitalization initiatives during the 1980’s and 1990’s. These large projects were carried out through a series of implementation mechanisms that were to some extend participatory in nature. Debates around the planning and design process raised the broader issue of the formation of urban and environmental landscapes and of sense of place. For that reason, the discussion focuses on the implications of the development of the City of Chicoutimi’s so-called “Old-Port”. How and for whom was this revitalization process implemented? What are the ways in which users of the site define sense of place? More than 17 years after the redevelopment of this area began, survey results show strong support for the site, as much from a strictly material point of view as from a symbolic and political one.