Each year, at its annual meeting, the Board of Directors Héritage Montréal adopts resolutions on issues that are dear to its heart and considered priorities. This year, the organization adopted four resolutions, including one on the future of the Old Port. Today, in the current context, I have chosen to present our resolution on heritage and post-pandemic planning(2020-02).
On September 21, Dr. Arruda gravely announced what we had already been dreading since the last days of summer: " we're in the second wave ". Only a week later, the greater metropolitan area was in the " red zone ", bringing us back, in the space of a few days, to a health emergency similar to that experienced last spring, when gouvernement du Québec closed restaurants, shops, schools, cultural venues and so on.
Current situation and impact on the city
The Montreal region, like most major metropolitan areas in the world, is once again hard hit by this pandemic. After more than six months, we have to admit that the virus has shaken up our daily practices, our consumer habits, our way of perceiving and being in the city. In particular, our mobility has been greatly altered. It is even said that the pandemic would encourage a new exodus to the outskirts. From home, to the street, to the neighbourhood, to public space, to the city centre, our relationship with the land has been completely overturned.
At the same time, one can imagine that the territory itself will gradually transform itself. The great crises of all times have changed cities, their atmosphere and their shape. This is often an opportunity to rethink a city's identity, to build new, modernise and innovate, but also to preserve and enhance the achievements of the past. In Montréal, these economic, health and social crises have, over time, led to the construction and enhancement of buildings and public spaces that now constitute our heritage.
Today, the public space seems to be mostly adapted in a fast, interchangeable and temporary way. Every effort is being made to restore a semblance of normality while waiting for the end of the pandemic. But shouldn't we think in the longer term and take advantage of this pivotal moment to think about the city of tomorrow? How do we want to build this city? Do we want to make major changes? And, in this post-pandemic revival, what will be the place of heritage? Unfortunately, this is a question that we ask too little...
Post-pandemic planning: thinking about the city in the short and long term
Since the beginning of the summer, several temporary facilities have been put in place in Montreal. Think for example of the summer plan proposed by the Plante administration, with its kilometres of shared streets with active mobility for pedestrians and cyclists. During our last Urban Exchange on " Montréal Streets in Transition " on June 17, Marianne Giguère, city councillor and associate councillor for active transportation on the city's executive committee, pointed out that the current situation had made it possible to test these shared street developments on a large scale. The pandemic had thus become an opportunity to experiment in terms of urban planning.
Gérard Beaudet, urban planner emeritus and professor at the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the Université de Montréal, however, warned us about these makeshift developments. While he believes it is entirely appropriate to take advantage of the pandemic to test certain things, we must remember that the situation is extraordinary and that our current habits are also extraordinary. Also, it should not be assumed that because a project works during a pandemic, it will still work when Covid-19 is under control.
Indeed, let's not be fooled, a few playful and ephemeral developments will not solve all the problems we are currently facing. Certainly, winter facilities would make our daily lives and leisure activities easier if they were confined to our neighbourhoods. But the current health crisis is coupled with an economic crisis, and it is clear that the repercussions will be felt for a long time to come. The challenges are also numerous and complex. Winter is fast approaching and money is flowing fast. What will happen to the growinghomelessness that has worried us since late summer? With a vacancy rate that is likely to be exacerbated, what will happen to our commercial arteries? How can we counter the decline of Downtown and rethink it in innovative ways? These are questions that will be on the minds of urban planners, architects, elected officials, civil servants and citizens in the coming months and years.
It's often said that it only takes a few months to change a habit. However, the more time passes, the more people become familiar with telecommuting, e-commerce and physical distance. In fact, it's quite possible that some of the new urban practices thought to be temporary will endure. It would therefore probably be just as risky to implement sustainable developments today without taking into account the current situation and the profound changes that are taking place. Some issues, such as that of theville de Montréal center, may require two-tiered action plans: a temporary plan and a long-term plan.
In any case, the city and its districts will need to develop a strong vision, a coherent regulatory framework and developments worthy of the 21st century.
In this context, it also seems to us essential that heritage be at the forefront, that we remember that it is the heart of Montréal's identity and that we consider it to be one of the driving forces behind the recovery.
Heritage at the heart of the economic recovery
Heritage, as I have already said in a previous article, is much more than a matter of conserving beautiful or old buildings, it is a tool of collective memory and a privileged witness of the extraordinary relationship that has been built up over time between buildings and those who live in them. Consisting of places, landscapes and practices that have survived beyond crises, heritage is thus a thread that is continuously woven between the past and the future of the city. Yet heritage is often seen as the poor relation of government action. In May 2020, the Auditor General published a damning report on the preservation and enhancement of Quebec's real estate heritage, highlighting once again the government's lack of exemplary behaviour and the few resources devoted to its conservation. And the current health situation only accentuates this reality.
While many businesses and restaurants have had to close their doors and cultural venues are being sacrificed, most of the proposed measures are directed at owners, tenants and project leaders, while very few interventions are aimed at the built environment: workplaces, shops, production and distribution facilities. It is a safe bet that a good number of buildings of heritage interest will be vacant in the coming year. This real estate asset could be used to manage the crisis, as we saw during the first wave with the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal and the Royal Victoria Hospital. But given the way heritage is currently treated, if the issue of its preservation, maintenance and development is not specifically included in economic stimulus projects (such as Bill 66, for example), it is quite possible that the stimulus actions will lead to the demolition of heritage buildings.
Heritage can nevertheless be a rallying and attractive driving force in the current context and it would be advantageous to focus on its maintenance, restoration, requalification and enhancement in a context of economic recovery. Several countries, including France, have taken this position by making heritage a pillar of economic recovery.
What we ask Héritage Montréal
In adopting this resolution on post-pandemic heritage, Héritage Montréal hopes that health regulations and building adaptation measures adopted by the authorities will take into account the qualities, characteristics and integrity of the heritage they target. Building heritage must be recognized as one of the main focuses of investment and economic recovery plans and programs. However, these must be accompanied by clear criteria and benefit from expertise to maximize heritage conservation in the broadest sense. Indeed, it's not enough to take advantage of the crisis to test new practices and new uses; we need to go further and monitor the processes we've begun, to ensure that opportunities don't turn into new risks.
Héritage Montréal also recommends that Ville de Montréal, its boroughs and other municipalities in the metropolitan region implement specific strategies and convince governments to support them to this end. These measures include financial assistance, tax measures and transitional uses of vacant premises, to ensure the survival and recovery of commercial arteries as well as community and cultural venues, in a supportive and sensitive manner. In this context, it would also be desirable for cities, boroughs and other public owners to work together to build up a real estate reserve of buildings and spaces in the event of a crisis.
Finally, Héritage Montréal hopes that Ville de Montréal will integrate these considerations into the long-awaited update of its urban plan, in terms of the vision of coherence as well as concrete orientations and measures. As we note in our resolution 2018-01 on the future urban plan, the current urban plan, adopted in 2004, no longer reflects the territory, Ville de Montréal 's new responsibilities or current challenges. We believe that the current situation is ideal for an update worthy of the 21st century, taking into account the realities and evolution of Montreal society.
Header photo: Place d'Armes, Montreal. Photo: Héritage Montréal.
