This text is part of the special notebook 55 years of INRS
Social, cultural, political, economic and environmental phenomena are the major themes of the Urbanization Culture Society (UCS) Center at INRS, whose mission is to analyze the dynamics that shape our world. Thanks to a multidisciplinary approach, the Center can pride itself on providing avenues for reflection and solutions which are regularly transformed into concrete actions on the ground.
“We are truly the 100% social sciences center at INRS,” says Marie-Soleil Cloutier, full professor and director of the Urbanization Culture Society Center. With these themes, the Center produces research in essential spheres of the political life of citizens. “We train people who will then go to work in municipalities, in non-profit organizations or even in ministries to help build the cities of tomorrow, adapted to the humans who inhabit them,” explains M.me Cloutier.
In the urbanization component of the Center, researchers examine in particular the adaptation of cities to climate change. City governance, active transportation and urban infrastructure management are among the research subjects. “We have research on the arrival of cycle paths, their effects on safety, but also on small businesses on arteries, or even on all the players who must be in place to clear snow in our city, for example,” she describes.
At the moment, several researchers are interested in housing, looking for solutions to the unprecedented crisis that Canada is currently experiencing. They study “access to housing, particularly for students, but also the influence of housing on health and all urban planning on the fact of having enough housing or not”. Relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in urban areas are also part of the research, among other things to raise awareness of realities and combat persistent prejudices. On all these questions, citizen engagement is also analyzed. “We have an expert in municipal elections at the Center who is interested in citizens, their belonging to the city, their voting behavior,” she says.
Transforming research into concrete actions
Marie-Soleil Cloutier recalls that the strength of INRS is also partnership research. Research projects linked to ministries, cities and NPOs make it easier to translate the results into concrete actions, according to her. “We don’t do research in a vacuum. Many of our graduates then call us themselves to do research projects, which allows us to see where they are in the governmental and paragovernmental apparatus,” she points out.
On the cultural side, researchers devote themselves to questions in the spirit of the times, such as digital platforms and the place of French. “How do we introduce new content to young Quebecers, for example? » she asks. Experts in cultural mediation also work with museums to introduce art to younger generations.
The place of young people
Families occupy an important place in the Center’s research within the society component. Since 1993, the Familles en mouvance research partnership has been monitoring all family configurations and their developments over time. Blended, nuclear, same-sex families… Many new laws to promote greater inclusion and to take into account other family realities have emerged in Quebec thanks to the work of the Center. “The idea of a parental union that we are talking about now [Québec va modifier le Code civil pour mieux protéger les conjoints de fait avec enfants lors d’une séparation] is also based on the work of Hélène Belleau, professor at INRS”, recalls Mme Cloutier.
All of this work also and above all serves young people. “We are interested in the mental health of young people, in their exodus from regions to cities. We have developed expertise in the sociology of work,” says the director. Precarious employment among young people, social inequalities, integration into the labor market of immigrants are all themes addressed in the work of researchers. These allow us to better understand the construction of social inequalities. “One of our researchers works on social mobility, with a regional component. We notice that in an urban environment, like in Montreal or Quebec, it is potentially easier to change social class than in the regions,” she says. The idea, after these results, is to help draft public policies that will help counter the problems of inequality and prevent them from persisting. And also, of course, to train people driven by an ideal of social justice which will be embodied in their work.
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