At the
closing ceremony of the ninth Ecocity World Summit, held for the
first time in Canada and organized
by the Montréal Urban Ecology Centre (MUEC), Jayne Engle-Warnick,
vice-president of the MUEC, said: “The Ecocity Summit brought
together 1,500 delegates from 280 cities and 70
countries.

Based on what
we heard from experts during the conference, cities in class=”xn-location”>Canada and all over the world are facing
enormous challenges with limited resources. But we also heard that
cities are the key to solving global issues such as climate change,
the fight against poverty, and social exclusion.”

Luc Rabouin,
executive director of the MUEC, added: “During the Ecocity Summit,
we learned about hundreds of inspiring solutions and ideas from all
over the world, including Quebec
and Montréal.

Montréal has
inspiration to offer for other cities, especially with its
Charter of Rights and Responsibilities, public
consultation practices, and numerous initiatives led by different
civil society organizations in different neighbourhoods.

But we have a
lot to do before we catch up to the most advanced cities in the
world. We need to refuse absurd and incomprehensible projects like
the Turcot interchange. We have some interesting plans, but it is
time to put them into action.”

Six
Future Challenges



Before becoming an ecocity, Montréal and its greater metropolitan
area will meet many challenges: ending urban sprawl and increasing
density in existing urban areas, investing more in public
transportation, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and greening,
and creating more space for citizens in decision-making
processes.



Revising the Act Respecting Land Use Planning and Urban
Development, currently underway at the National Assembly of
Quebec, and developing a new
Metropolitan Land Use Planning and Development
Plan, an initiative taken on by the Montréal Metropolitan
Community, are two excellent opportunities for ending urban sprawl
and increasing the density of existing areas around efficient
public transportation hubs.

Investing in Public Transportation



To overcome the current transportation crisis in class=”xn-location”>Quebec, the Government of class=”xn-location”>Quebec will need to immediately invest
great sums of money in permanent highly efficient public
transportation infrastructures and services.

Densification and Greening



Dense urban areas concentrate local services and reduce travel
distances. To prevent urban heat islands and create quality public
spaces, densification also needs to include greening measures and
urban agriculture, both of which are often low-cost, high-impact
solutions.

Favour Active Transportation



The Montréal Transportation Plan, adopted in 2008,
stresses the importance of “restoring the appropriate quality of
life to Montréal’s residential neighbourhoods” and promises the
creation of green neighbourhoods to favour walking and biking.
Eventually, the City of Montréal will have to support the
implementation of a network of interconnected green
neighbourhoods.

“Here, it’s also time to move from planning to action.”
Luc Rabouin, executive director of the Montréal Urban Ecology
Centre.

Citizen Participation



The Montréal Development Plan and the revision of the
Master Plan are ideal opportunities to involve the city’s
entire community, especially citizens, in developing a major
collective project for Montréal.

Taxation and Good Governance



Despite the clear intentions of certain cities in class=”xn-location”>Quebec, such as Montréal, one thing is
clear: cities are part of the solution, but they have very few
resources and little power to realize their ambitions. The true
fiscal imbalance in Canada is the
disadvantage cities have in relation to other levels of government.
Cities should have access to a bigger part of the tax
base.

Cities also
need to change their methods of governance to re-establish a
transparent relationship with citizens and ensure optimal use of
limited public resources.

Montréal
needs to join the movement of more than 1,400 cities around the
world, of which more than 300 are in class=”xn-location”>Europe (class=”xn-location”>Paris, Rome, class=”xn-location”>Seville, class=”xn-location”>Berlin), and implement a Participatory
Budget that is appropriate for its context. Participatory budgeting
is a solution that has been approved and recommended by major
international agencies, such as UN-Habitat.

Principal Partners The Ecocity
World Summit 2011 could not have taken place without the support of
its principal partners: Bombardier, TD Group, the City of Montréal,
and the Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de
l’Occupation du territoire (Government of class=”xn-location”>Quebec).