Forty-three years after the adoption of the Act respecting land use planning and development, the Caquiste government is providing Quebec with a National Policy on Architecture and Land Use Planning, a resolutely modern, ambitious and paved with good intentions. These are therefore major orientations which, in order to materialize, must be followed by an implementation plan whose requirements can only be tough given the climate challenges.
The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Andrée Laforest, unveiled this policy on Monday with the Minister of Culture and Communications, Nathalie Roy. The Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Transport were conspicuous by their absence, although they were directly concerned with land use planning.
The presence of the Minister of Culture alongside her colleague is explained by the theme of architectural quality, a new concern. Without fear of euphemism, the policy recognizes that “Quebec is lagging behind other states that have integrated architectural quality guidelines into their management of territory and architecture for decades”. Looking at the ungrateful buildings and ugly houses that are multiplying in Quebec, the result of the dynamism of promoters and contractors who are content to poorly copy American plans, we can only see that there is indeed a long way to go. to do and above all a profession to be valued, that of the architect. Taste is not something easy to inculcate, nor is the imagination.
Promised over a year ago, the policy reflects extensive consultation in all regions of Quebec. In this sense, the approach was intended to be consensual. Filled with noble objectives, the document is also a little apple pie. An entire section paints an idyllic portrait of what awaits us in 20 years: so-called “complete” living environments offering “a diversity of uses that allows the population easy access to local services”, enabling Quebecers to “to work, to do their shopping and to have fun near their residence, either by walking, by using their bike or by taking the bus, or by having access to charging stations for their electric car”, and being equipped with “many green and blue spaces accessible to all”.
In this territory to be invented, “urban growth is oriented in such a way as to limit the artificialization of the soil, to reduce energy consumption as well as GHG emissions, to optimize the use of existing infrastructures […] “. This new land development “contributes to the preservation and enhancement of the territory and agricultural activities as well as the maintenance of accessible natural environments, biodiversity and ecological connectivity, in addition to making use of the services ecological that they return”. Of course, these utopian outbursts come as a surprise coming from a government that boasts of its irreducible pragmatism. But since Quebec must thoroughly review the planning of its territory and its urban development, this idealism, fueled by imperatives linked to respect for the environment and climate challenges, is in good order if it can lead to a transformation real.
In the current context where changes in our way of life are necessary, whether for the climate or for biodiversity, land use planning is a central issue. Last month, the Advisory Committee on Climate Change, an independent body that provides advice to the Minister of the Environment, made several recommendations to curb urban sprawl and stop “the artificialization of southern Quebec”. The committee recommended that no new freeway projects be permitted in the six metropolitan areas. Obviously, this is not part of the plans of the Legault government, which has a few highway projects in its pocket and whose new recruits must make embarrassing professions of faith in the third link.
There is therefore a long way from the cut to the lips. In her policy, Minister Laforest affirms that “territorial development is first and foremost a political act”. It is obvious that it is good to remember. With the election of new mayors in cities like Quebec, Longueuil, Laval and Gatineau, and many other municipalities, an ecological vision of urban development is emerging. If it is serious about the implementation of this policy, the next government will be able to rely on this new guard, but also on an increasingly manifest popular will, to carry out an essential transformation of our relationship with the territory.