Posted yesterday at 10:00 a.m.
To be able to do everything on foot, to go to the butcher’s, to stop to chat with the fishmonger, to cling to one’s feet on a small terrace, to meet your neighbor on the way back, to be greeted by children from the corner of the street . It is this atmosphere that exists in our lively and tightly knit neighborhoods: all these local shops, the dynamism of the busy streets, the impromptu encounters and the energy that emanates from them.
For nearly 20 years, I have been involved in the urban development of our great city and I have often sought how to bring this vitality and community spirit to life throughout the greater metropolitan area. One of the undeniable answers is densification.
Even yesterday, it was a word that interested very few people and which, for many, had a negative connotation. Little by little, a change is taking place and that’s good because density is everyone’s business.
The importance of densifying resonates more and more, both among environmentalists and economists. But as long as the population does not adhere to it, it will be difficult for it to become a reality.
We must collectively appropriate density because it is a way of life, a way of living in the city, a unique chance to feel part of a community. Density is breaking free from our enslavement to the car. Density is about people wanting to put down roots in a neighborhood and build their nest there. Density is the answer to this isolation, to this withdrawal into oneself which is watching us more than ever with teleworking.
What if, rather than thinking of density in terms of the number of floors, square feet or shapes, we think of it rather by talking about humans, people who want to live in neighborhoods and city centers? Everyone talks about buildings and towers, but nobody talks about planning and anticipating demand. Nobody talks about people!
With this in mind, the City of Seattle has had an inspiring approach that has led many citizens to change their perspective on the construction of new homes. She decided to humanize the densification by making a general public campaign through which were put forward people, citizens who affirmed: ” I’d like to be your neighbour! “. I would like to live in your neighborhood. I would like to be your neighbor. Be part of your world. Contribute to your community. I would like to have a place to live and feel good.
In a way, densifying is also democratizing. It is leaving room for the other. It’s sharing the neighborhood that we live in and that we love.
It means maximizing the use of existing public services and justifying other public investments that will enhance the quality of life.
Montréal’s appeal, as much for its economy, its culture as for its joie de vivre, rests largely, and will increasingly rest, on its ability to provide housing. And this for everyone.
Densification is an important way to achieve this, because it is inseparable from supply. As long as there is an imbalance between demand and supply, prices will continue to rise. Without claiming that prices will decrease the day there is sufficient supply, do not imagine that we can counter this inflation if we limit the ability to live in our central neighborhoods to a privileged few.
In recent weeks, credible organizations such as the Association of Construction and Housing Professionals of Quebec and Vivre en ville have unveiled important statistics, including the fact that Montreal has a deficit of 100,000 housing units and that ‘it will need an additional 25,000 units per year. Who thinks about the organization of our urban spaces according to this important demand? Shouldn’t we ride the tide rather than suffer it?
The Quebec government has just taken a first step by tabling its National Policy on Architecture and Land Use Planning. Bravo for positioning yourself clearly in favor of the densification that we are still taming collectively! Let us realize to what extent this commitment in favor of density constitutes a remarkable evolution compared to the perception that we had of it a few years, even a few months ago. Could this be the beginning of strong leadership in favor of the development of viable, sustainable, resilient communities for the greater metropolitan area? There is still a lot of work to do and yes, we will have to make it all more concrete. But let’s welcome this first step.
As North Americans, living in densified neighborhoods is a major paradigm shift. What if we looked for the positive sides of density? If we imagined the pleasure of strolling on our little shopping street? The warmth of the baker’s smile? The joy of the children of the alley? The energy of improvised encounters? Life quality. And this, on a daily basis.