For 75 years in 2024, November 8 has been celebrated as World Town Planning Day, following a proposal by Professor Carlos Maria Della Paolera of the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
In Montreal, as elsewhere, the planning and regulation of cities and neighborhoods - the habitat of human societies - are long-standing subjects that have a link with heritage. This is evidenced by the history of Old Montreal and its surroundings, the layout of its public thoroughfares, the choices made to locate community functions there, the rules governing the built environment or the development of the right-of-way cleared by the demolition of the fortifications - the Commissioners' Plan (1801) - or pioneering exercises such as the 1985-1986 public consultation that led to the Old Port we know today. Other examples include the original Griffintown plan (1805), the Cité de Maisonneuve, the model towns of Ville-Mont-Royal and Hampstead, the Cité-jardin du Tricentenaire, McGill College Avenue, the Norvik district of Saint-Laurent, the Expo 67 site and the Angus complex in Rosemont.
Since the 1970s, we've come to realize that safeguarding and promoting heritage in a Montreal and metropolitan context requires visions, instruments and urban planning regulations that don't treat heritage as an accessory of marginal interest. In Montreal, despite a collective awareness following demolitions such as that of the Van Horne house in 1973, it wasn't until the arrival of Mayor Jean Doré's administration that we had our first Urban Plan in 1992, and 2012 (20 years later!) that we had a Metropolitan Land Use and Development Plan (PMAD).
Urban planning is often perceived in terms of regulations and their constraints, or in terms of developments and the embellishment they bring. However, urban planning is first and foremost about creating a coherent vision for the future of a territory, without forgetting to take into account, maintain or requalify what already exists and, in particular, our heritage. In this respect, the year 2024 is marked by two major exercises, namely the consultation of Ville de Montréal on the long-awaited draft Urban and Mobility Plan (PUM ) and that of the Communauté métropolitaine on the draft revision of the PMAD.
À lire : Ce guide pédagogique produit par l'OCPM se veut un outil de vulgarisation afin d'aider les citoyens à mieux comprendre le Plan d'urbanisme et à faciliter leur participation aux démarches d'aménagement qui le modifient. En plus d'expliquer le Plan et ce qu’on y retrouve, ce document clarifie la relation entre le Plan d’urbanisme et les autres plans, programmes et politiques de la Ville de Montréal. For Héritage Montréal, coherent urban planning informed by the city's history is key to the future of its built, urban, and landscape heritage, both in terms of its protection and its enhancement and redevelopment. But there remains a risk that heritage will be perceived as incidental, underestimating its contribution to the identity and quality of the living environment, as well as to the economy and ecological transition of the cultural metropolis. And this is despite good intentions. The question is whether urban planning understands heritage.
Héritage Montréal to ensure that urban planning takes full account of heritage and landscapes, including their evolution and current challenges, and that it proposes a vision and concrete measures other than regulations, such as a transitional strategy or tax incentives.
Happy 75 ᵉ World Town Planning Day!
Cover: Plan of the Town and Fortifications of Montreal or Ville Marie in Canada, 1758. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal. CA M001 BM005-3-D03-P005.
