It is well known: urban sprawl is harmful to the environment and costs society dearly. But not everyone wants to live on top of one of the residential towers sprouting up downtown Montreal. However, it is by increasing the density of the city that the war against urban sprawl will be fought in the coming years, believe urban planners and promoters, who are thinking about new models to attract residents tempted by the greener grass of suburbs.
During the last municipal election campaign in Montreal, mayoral candidate Denis Coderre suggested that the City consider authorizing the construction of buildings that extend beyond Mount Royal. The idea, perceived as a quasi-sacrilege, made heritage defenders jump. Denis Coderre finally gave up his suggestion, advocating instead a “gentle and intelligent” densification, insisting on the need for a healthy debate on the subject.
The dust has settled. Valérie Plante was returned to power, but the stakes remain. How to envisage densification while maintaining the attraction of urban life? The latest data on interregional migration speak for themselves. Many Montrealers are leaving the city. The latest report published by the Quebec Institute of Statistics (ISQ) reports a loss of more than 48,000 inhabitants to other regions of Quebec, a peak in nearly twenty years. The phenomenon is amplified by the endless pandemic, but teleworking, even in a hybrid formula, could have medium-term effects for the metropolis.
Always higher ?
However, the pandemic has not slowed the pace of new construction and tall towers in the city center much, with, in particular, 1 Phillips Square, from the Brivia Group, or the Maestria towers, from the real estate giant Devimco.
But the construction of skyscrapers is frightening, recognizes Laurence Vincent, president of Prével, who participated last Wednesday in a panel during a virtual meeting organized by Heritage Montreal and the McCord museum on the theme of densification. “Not so long ago, whether in private or in public, there weren’t that many people who were willing to say that [la densification], it is positive nor to use the word “density”. I feel like times are changing and we’re starting to have more nuance,” she said. “If there were 300,000 new households in the next ten years in the greater metropolitan area, where do we want to put these people? How do we want to plan our development? »
According to her, strategies exist to make it possible to densify the city center without transforming it into a wind corridor, in particular by favoring constructions set back from the upper floors. High towers free up floor space for attractive layouts, she argued. “What I want is for us to develop complete, mixed, dense, lively living environments. […] You have to make people want to choose urbanity. »
“Unfortunate achievements” have emerged in the past, she admitted, citing UQAM, Place Bonaventure and the La Cité complex on Parc Avenue, but other projects have been notable, such as Place Ville Marie and Square Victoria, she added. “The biggest issue facing our desire for density is an issue of social acceptability. »
Citizens are right to be wary of developers’ ambitions for grandeur, believes Marie-Odile Trépanier, honorary professor at the Institute of Urban Planning at the University of Montreal and member of Friends of the Mountain. “When you want to advocate densification, you also have to offer green spaces and a welcoming landscape. But sometimes, there are promoters who forget that. They want to make their land profitable so much that they forget that the more we build, the more green space is needed. »
For her, the protection of Mount Royal remains a central issue for the downtown area. Over the years, some views from the mountain have become obstructed, and those that remain remain under threat.
Densify differently
Director of the School of Urban Planning at McGill University, Richard G. Shearmur, who also took part in the discussion, believes that density can take on various faces that need to be explored. Density brings city centers to life, but it can be applied in another way in the surrounding districts. “At equal density, we can have multiple urban forms. You can have a big tower surrounded by lots of parking lots. You can have a series of three- or four-storey buildings with small parks, or townhouses or Plateau-type duplexes. »
According to him, however, the issue of densification must be considered on a regional scale to counter urban sprawl. Land east of Montreal also offers promising development opportunities with the arrival of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM).
Other models also deserve attention. Areas like Outremont, Westmount or Mont-Royal could become denser by subdividing large houses into small apartments, he suggests. This type of change may never happen in these wealthy neighborhoods, but it is still possible, he says.
And why not consider adding a floor to buildings throughout Montreal? asked an audience member. Richard G. Shearmur recognizes that a slight increase in heights in central and peripheral neighborhoods could allow “soft” densification. In reality, however, adding a floor to existing buildings could be problematic, he adds. “You have to see it as an image rather than something really achievable,” he said in an interview with the Duty. “But behind this evocative image, there is this idea of densifying a little, but everywhere. More and more urban planners are trying to do that. […] But it wouldn’t happen overnight. »
Jean-Marc Fournier, CEO of the Urban Development Institute of Quebec, which brings together real estate developers, evokes the concept of “happy densification” to counter urban sprawl. A happy densification is a planning of new living environments, which include in particular public transport, green spaces, shops, a social mix, all in a perspective of ecological transition, he explains to the Duty by evoking the work of Carlos Moreno, associate professor at the Institute of Business Administration in Paris, who developed the concept of the “quarter-hour city”.
But the cities cannot be alone in taking on all these responsibilities and they lack the financial means, locked into a model that is too dependent on property income, he recalls. This is why he advocates a vast tax reform in order to give cities access to new sources of revenue. A long-term job, but essential according to him. “I say this with a lot of humility because I was Minister of Municipal Affairs and I didn’t do it,” he admits.