Earth Day is a time when the call for mobilization takes on a planetary scale and when the plural issues force in-depth reflection, which the pandemic has accelerated.
Posted at 1:00 p.m.
Issues such as biodiversity, social justice, urban agriculture, sustainable mobility and climate change have been amplified by the health crisis, which has revealed their full importance. As we mark Earth Day today, we must reflect collectively on these questions and act in favor of the ecological transition of cities, where two thirds of the world’s population will live by 2050.
Of course, the environmental impacts are increasingly documented, and it is becoming urgent to multiply actions, both small and large: the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to which our professors and professors have also contributed, underlines the necessary collaborations at the local, national and international levels.
In this regard, the Pôle sur la ville resiliente, created by UQAM in 2021, recalls the challenges experienced and encountered in urban areas. Think, for example, of public spaces, in particular parks, which in times of confinement have become precious antidotes to the isolation of city dwellers. They have even served as classrooms on various occasions, allowing universities to continue their education in complete safety.
The city of tomorrow
But what do urban populations aspire to? To live in a greener, more humane, healthier and more inclusive city. This is what the research teams of the Cluster on the resilient city are looking for. Bringing together the transdisciplinary expertise of some fifty professors and ten research units of the University, including the Institute of Environmental Sciences, this group imagines and shapes the city of tomorrow.
The concrete solutions it develops concern five main areas: the urban forest, housing and living environments, mobility, urban water and the food city. Our students in environmental design and urban and tourism studies, among others, build and redefine our relationship to the natural and always urban city.
UQAM has for many years already mobilized its vital forces, namely the entire teaching body, students and employees, to deal with these environmental issues and make this university a pioneer in terms of eco-responsibility.
How can urban trees counter heat islands? How to take advantage of the organic waste collected by the city in the brown bins? How can we increase the inclusiveness of public spaces? How to preserve and protect sources of drinking water in urban areas? What transitional vocation should be given to disused buildings and vacant lots in the city centre?
Concrete projects
All of these questions, and many more, are being examined by UQAM research teams, in collaboration with several partners. Some have already given rise to concrete projects: an open-air vegetable garden on the roof of the Palais des Congrès, in order to experiment with various agricultural production techniques in an urban environment; collection of precipitation samples, thanks to the participation of Montrealers, in order to understand the impact of the urban environment on water resources; creation of the Réseau Ville Autre, dedicated to temporary occupations of vacant buildings and land, including those in the Quartier des spectacles.
These are just a few examples of projects serving the city of 21and century, which will now benefit from the synergy of the Sector. They are not conducted in a vacuum, quite the contrary. Some twenty partners and collaborating organizations are already working together with UQAM within MixCité, a hub for exchanges attached to the cluster.
These are municipalities and ministries, companies in the energy, philanthropy or real estate sectors, citizens’ groups, non-profit organizations in the fields of transport, the environment, culture, food, social entrepreneurship, housing or civic education as well as associations and professional orders.
This is how we go further. Thanks to the bringing together of partners from diverse backgrounds, to the anchoring in the milieus, to the plural points of view and to the pooling of knowledge, new solutions can be born. This is the bet we took when setting up the Resilient City Cluster. It is also what we have held at UQAM for more than 50 years: to conduct inspiring, participatory and collaborative research, for the benefit of all citizens, and at the service of the city of the 21st century.and century !