This text is part of the special Greater Montreal booklet
For its fifth edition, the Metropolitan Agora will focus on the ten years of the Greater Montreal Metropolitan Land Use and Development Plan (PMAD). This exercise, which will be based on data from the Plan’s 2023 report — like this notebook — will bring together elected officials and civil society, while the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) is revising the Plan to better meet the challenges of the future.
This year, the meeting will be different from previous ones, explains Marie Plourde, president of the MWC. Thus, the event to be held on May 23 will take stock of the targets and objectives achieved or to be achieved in terms of transportation, protection of natural environments and land use planning. “We have this meeting with civil society, citizens, who can participate, and elected officials,” she summarizes.
This fifth edition of the Metropolitan Agora takes place while the CMM is working on the overhaul of its PMAD. “This year, we are asking civil society to contribute to the development of the revised version of the plan,” says the one who is also a municipal councilor for the City of Montreal in the borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal.
“Today and now, what are the new challenges to which we must adapt? What are the objectives that should be amplified? These are the questions that we will have to answer,” summarizes Florence Junca-Adenot, associate professor in the Department of Urban Studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and co-president of the Metropolitan Agora.
Densifying Greater Montreal
“Dreaming” of better urban densification, this is what the Metropolitan Agora will allow in particular, believes Mme Plunder. She feels that many still have a poor definition of the concept. “All over the planet, people have images of Stalinist buildings in seas of asphalt. It’s really seen as hostile environments, ”she illustrates.
On the contrary, the elected municipal official wants to demonstrate that such densification requires more complete living environments. “For example, it’s being able to get around easily, whether by public or active transportation,” she explains.
This question will be at the heart of the discussions, believes for his part Mme Junca-Adenot. An approach that will have to be adapted according to the different cities and RCMs of the metropolitan territory. Accessory apartments, layout of courtyards… “We can’t think of operating in the same way across the metropolitan community, but we can still think about solutions to densify everywhere and make better use of our territory”, summarizes She.
The preservation of heritage, agricultural and protected environments, the requalification of spaces such as shopping centres, golf courses and contaminated land will also be on the agenda. “We will have to find how to redevelop all this taking into account the fact that our metropolis extends over a very large territory”, indicates Mme Junca-Adenot.
“And through that, it is the quality of life of the population, equity, economic growth, the question of the workforce, and that of the people who need to be housed” that will make the subject of discussion, she continues.
To look forward
The elected officials of the 82 municipalities of the CMM adopted a first version of the PMAD in 2011 to guide them in their planning decisions.
“When we leave the Agora, there will be a certain number of recommendations. They will be transmitted to the special commission which was set up for the revision of the PMAD, in the chapter of the CMM”, explains Mr.me Junca-Adenot.
This group, formed last September, has 16 members, including elected officials from Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, and municipalities on the northern and southern shores of the city, as well as professionals. “There are also presidents and vice-presidents of the various commissions such as the Commission for Housing, the Environment, Land Use Planning, Economic Development, etc. Everyone is around this table,” explains Mr.me Plourde, who herself chairs this special commission.
For her, there is something “very exciting” in bringing together around the same table elected officials who have various demands and challenges from their citizens. “Mirabel’s vision is not the same as that of Longueuil, nor Mercier, nor Laval. How do we manage through our different realities? That’s the beauty of it. It’s to work on the same objective even if we have different backgrounds, ”adds the Montreal elected official.
The commission wishes to submit a first version of the revised Plan to the Government of Quebec in September 2023, with a view to holding a public consultation next year. “We hope to have the revised PMAD before July 2025”, announces Mme Plunder.
More than four million inhabitants!
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.