An eco-district is the fusion between sustainable development, social equity and environmental preservation, for the benefit of the development of prosperous and resilient neighborhoods. Eco-neighborhoods therefore implement practices aimed at reducing their environmental footprint, promoting social diversity, encouraging sustainable mobility, promoting a healthy and dynamic living environment for businesses and workers, promoting the energy efficiency of buildings, integrating green spaces and promoting lifestyles that respect ecosystems.
The success of this approach no longer needs to be demonstrated, with the ÉcoQuartier programs in France and Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities in California having managed to effectively lead the construction of neighborhoods that respect the limits of ecosystems.
Given the obvious advantages of eco-neighborhoods, how can we explain that so few are being built in Quebec? The reason is simple: while traditional urban development generates short-term financial benefits, the social, environmental and economic benefits of eco-districts appear more in the long term. Due to a lack of incentives, municipalities and developers lack the means to change their practices. This observation reveals a cruel reality: our decision-makers need new compasses to orient themselves.
Indeed, for almost a century, governments have based their decisions on their impact on an indicator: gross domestic product (GDP). Developed to measure the value produced by work and capital, GDP does not, however, reflect the well-being of individuals in society. The limits of this indicator are documented. Indeed, even if Quebec’s GDP is growing and the employment figures are positive, the well-being of the population is stagnating, or even deteriorating in certain aspects, as evidenced by the housing crisis, the increase in homelessness and precariousness, the underfunding of public transport, as well as the multiplication and intensification of natural disasters.
Search for well-being
In this context, the G15+, a collective bringing together leaders from the economic, environmental, trade union and cultural sectors, invites governments to adopt a new approach centered on the search for well-being. Simple slogan? Not at all. Rather, it is an approach aimed at promoting policies that have a positive effect on the constituent elements of a society’s well-being.
In this regard, the G15+ proposal, which invites the government of Quebec to offer direct support to avant-garde municipalities wishing to carry out development projects adapted to the climate, perfectly illustrates the philosophy of placing well-being at the heart of public policies.
Indeed, the development of eco-neighborhoods, combined with the implementation of urban requalification projects (e.g.: decontamination of industrial sites) and consolidation of already existing living environments, appears to be an effective way to act positively on a multitude of levers of collective and individual well-being. Among the well-being indicators concerned, let us think of the growth in the supply of affordable housing, the improvement of air quality, the increase in the circularity index of the economy, the reduction of journey to work, the growth in the public transport offer or access to a green space close to home.
The Green Economy Plan (PEV) also describes territorial planning as a “powerful intervention tool that has a direct effect on resilience to climate change”. However, the recent update of the EPI still does not provide for any financing measures for the development of eco-neighborhoods. However, the announcement of investments from the three levels of government to finally launch the Namur-Hippodrome eco-district project, where 20,000 new housing units will be built, of which 10,000 will be affordable, aroused enormous enthusiasm this spring. Good news like this should be announced several times a year, and in all regions of Quebec!
In doing so, the G15+ joins its voice to the municipal sector, which spoke through the company of around forty mayors, to invite the government of Quebec to set up a support program for the realization of projects urban development adapted to the climate. The multiple crises we face force us to learn how to build much more housing to meet varied needs while respecting our ecosystems. Let us not lose sight of the extent of the effects that the design of our living environment can have on our individual and collective well-being.
* Co-signed this letter: Béatrice Alain, Executive Director of the Chantier de l’économie sociale; Karl Blackburn, President and CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec; Denis Bolduc, Secretary General of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ); Andréanne Brazeau, Senior Policy Analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation; Nancy Croussette, Interim Executive Director of the Association des groupes de ressources techniques du Québec (AGRTQ); Isabelle Dubé-Côté, President and CEO of Écotech Québec; Christian Savard, Executive Director of Vivre en Ville.