1. Building sustainable cities through
citizen participation
ocpm.qc.ca

2. • Are citizens sustainable-city builders?
• How do we foster issue-conscious
contribution?
ocpm.qc.ca

3. • A neutral, independent third party
– A President and 28 commissioners appointed by a 2/3 majority of votes cast
by city council
– Subject to a public code of ethics
• A public consultation producer
– On major urban projects, revitalization plans and public policies
– Conciliation, arbitration identification, pursuit of optimum results and the
common good, help with elected officials’ decision-making
• Public report, submitted to city council
• The Office has been in existence for almost 10 years
ocpm.qc.ca

4. • Cities are vulnerable to development problems owing to
population density
– The city is broken up into multiple communities
– No common agreement on vision implementation methods;
multiplicity of points of view
– Generating common approaches, fostering community spirit
– Democracy should be a SD factor. Is it?
• Urbanism consisting of planning and negotiation
– The development processes become as important as the norms
– Can the processes generate SD?
ocpm.qc.ca

5. • Agreement on the objectives
– Making the urban environment more resource thrifty
– More conductive to social integration and economic development
– More equitable in terms of housing, mobility and access to public
services
• Very hands-on experience in public-right-of-action
arbitration and hierarchization
ocpm.qc.ca

6. • An interactive process
– To share and further develop a diagnosis, knowledge, and integrate
common knowledge
– To identify common values
– To generate development guidelines
– To discuss community choices
– To give meaning and direction to SD through reflection and
discussion
• Revitalization of industrial land; redevelopment of
destructured neighbourhoods; development planning of
urban areas
ocpm.qc.ca

7. –
ocpm.qc.ca

8. Representatives of:
– Community groups
– Economic groups (CEDC)
– The health community (DSP)
– The school community (School Board and École des Nations)
– The borough
ocpm.qc.ca

9. • A follow-up committee interacts, validates, goes beyond
– Outlining the development context of the area
– Discussions on development problems and opportunities
– Discussions on development biases
• 5 forums with target publics
– Presentation and discussion of preliminary orientations by the borough
• With residents of the Namur – Jean-Talon ouest site
• With all the members of the CDN Community Council
• With the residents of the Victoria area
• With store and office building owners doing business on the site
ocpm.qc.ca

10. • Convergences/divergences – Follow-up committee
– Review of discussions with target publics
– Identification of convergences and divergences
– Problems and opportunities
• Open house and public forum
• Hearing of briefs
• OCPM report
ocpm.qc.ca

11. • Identity and densification of the area
• The place of social housing
• The place of families
• The place of the automobile
• Access to the site and parking for stores and office buildings
• Interaction and interdependence of uses
• Quality of the urban environment and safety
• The special case of Mountain Sights Avenue
ocpm.qc.ca

12. • Inclusive processes with the contribution of the general public
– Targeting collective interest
– Taking into account all individual interests
• Complete transparency
• Citizens have an influence on
– Development orientations
– Local issues and the configuration of concrete projects
• A detailed report serving as a memorandum to all
– On the vision and future of the site and development orientations
– On the participants’ suggestions
ocpm.qc.ca

13. • The Montreal Master Plan is biaised in favour of sustainable
development
– A balanced approach in terms of:
• Economic vitality
• Social equity
• Environmental preservation
• And respect for the needs of future generations
• How do debates held by the OCPM contribute to giving shape to
Montrealers’ values in the city?
– Solidarity
– Coherence
– Conviviality
ocpm.qc.ca

14. Inclusion of affordable housing
• Increasingly pressing demand for the
inclusion of affordable and social housing
units in residential complexes
– Battle against gentrification; social mix
• Openness of developers, resulting exclusively
from the existence of formal public debate
– Upstream
– Adjustment and sometimes increase in %
– Amounts in reserve to build off site
– Qualitative aspects of inclusion
• The public debate: a spokesperson; a
monitor
– For the application of the municipal strategy
Ateliers Rosemont
(Quartier 54)
ocpm.qc.ca

15. Local hiring
• An emerging issue, benefiting local communities
• Public debate has contributed to
– The visibility of issues
– The identification of commitment possibilities by the developers
• Discussion/joint action with local follow-up committees
• Collaboration in the drawing up of a local hiring strategy
• A place for social economy organizations
ocpm.qc.ca

16. • Strong demand for an area-wide
development vision
• Densification of the territory
– Building heights and envelopes are views as
blots on the urban landscape
– Desire for complexes that provide
continuity with the area rather than
fracturing it
1475 boul. René-Lévesque
ocpm.qc.ca

17. • Public debate has served to improve
integration into the neighbourhood
to preserve its identity
– Softening of fractures; transition elements;
design adjustments
– Taking into account of the spirit of the area
– Control of negative impacts: sunlighting,
traffic, etc.
– Protection of views
– Reconciliation: making public transit
infrastructures profitable while consolidating
neighbourhood identities
ocpm.qc.ca

18. The place accorded to pedestrians
• Concerns regarding parking space reductions
– Increased public transit offering
– Fear of automobiles spilling over onto neighbourhood streets
– Access problems for stores
• Every area has its own distinctive transportation dynamics – there is no
universal solution
• Public debate does not seen to have a substantial effect on the reduction
of parking spaces
– 3/8 of recommendations have led to partial reductions
ocpm.qc.ca

19. ravelling conditions
• Through-traffic is viewed as a menace to tranquility
and safety
• Public debate improves travelling conditions in the
area
– Vehicle access and safe passenger drop-off areas
– Indoor parking garages
– Better bus service
– Car-sharing and bicycle-rental spaces
– Financing of part of the monthly public transit card for
new residents
ocpm.qc.ca

20. The development of green spaces
• Strong demand for everything green
• Many developers would like their projects to better correspond with the
citizens’ idea of a welcoming place
– LEED certification approaches, Quartiers verts, Villes et villages en santé
– Fighting heat islands, white/green roofs
– Community gardens
• Public debate has allowed us to:
– Increase public access to green spaces with the establishment of pedestrian
and bicycle paths
– To reflect on the role of green spaces in day-to-day life
ocpm.qc.ca

21. ocpm.qc.ca