Community Livability

Issues and Approaches to Sustaining the Well-Being of People and Communities

Fritz Wagner, Roger Caves

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351619639
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Arquitectura
• Subtopic: Planificación urbana y paisajismo

What is a livable community? How do you design and develop one? What does government at all levels need to do to support and nurture the cause of livable communities?

Using a blend of theory and practice, the second edition of Community Livability addresses evidence from international, state and local perspectives to explore what is meant by the term "livable communities." The second edition contains new chapters from leading academics and practitioners that examine the various factors that constitute a livable community (e.g., the influence and importance of transportation options/alternatives to the elderly, the importance of walkability as a factor in developing a livable and healthy community, the importance of good open space providing for human activity and health, restorative benefits, etc., the importance of coordinated land use and transportation planning), and the relationship between livability and quality of life. A number of chapters focus on livable communities with case studies from an international perspective in the USA, Canada, Australia, Peru, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, and Austria.

PART I

UNDERSTANDING OF LIVABILITY

Chapter 1

MONTREALISM OR MONTRÉALITÉ? UNDERSTANDING MONTREAL’S UNIQUE BRAND OF LIVABILITY

Anne-Marie Broudehoux

As one of the oldest cities in North America, which celebrated its 375th anniversary in 2017, Montreal emerged in the 1960s as a modern, dynamic metropolis that now ranks among the world’s most livable. In spite of having lost the status of Canada’s economic center to Toronto in the late 1970s, Montreal remains the nation’s cultural capital and Quebec’s principal city, home to half of the province’s 7 million residents. In recent years, Montreal has invariably figured within the top 25 of Most Convivial Cities rankings published by magazines such as the Economist, Forbes, and Monocle (Bloom, 2017; EIU, 2017; Monocle, 2016).

What is the recipe for this high livability index? This chapter attempts to identify some of the key ingredients that make Montreal such a convivial place to live. It argues that livability in the Montreal sense is not so much the work of planners, managers, and decision-makers, or an urban model (like Vancouverism) that can be branded and exported, but it is much more the product of a unique urban culture, sometimes referred to as Montrealness (or Montréalité) that is deeply rooted in local reality and history (Olazabal, 2006; Charney, 1980).

This chapter is the fruit of a collective effort. Nine graduate students at the University of Quebec at Montreal’s School of Design¹ have helped document various aspects of what we have called the convivial city. From quality of life issues such as social climate, crime, mobility, economic development, to access to culture, housing, health education, public spaces, and employment, they have sought to define Montreal’s unique recipe for a convivial city. Since the term livability has no equivalent in French, Quebec’s official idiom and the language used at our university, we have chosen the term convivial to best translate Montreal’s reality. Etymologically, convivial comes from the Latin con and vivo, which means to live together. The term does not carry the same festive connotations in French as it does in English, but rather suggests amiability, tolerance, and openness. It also carries easy-going, user-friendly, and welcoming undertones, which are all equally suited to characterize Montreal. We thus adopted the term for our study, using it widely when approaching informants, commentators, and participants. The main sources used in this investigation were newspaper and periodical articles, official websites, and blogs, as well as interviews with local elected officials, NGO activists, specialists such as planners, architects, environmentalists, creative industry workers, and members of the general public. The several debates that occurred throughout our semester-long seminar also inform the chapter.

A Deeply Rooted Social Democratic Culture

Our investigations revealed that many contributing factors to Montreal’s great livability stem from a deep-seated social democratic culture and innovative response to harsh living conditions. With a long tradition of unionism and cooperatism, this political culture has given rise to a strong sharing economy, modes of collaborative consumption, and well-developed solidarity networks (Dumont, 1993). It is also behind the social, political, and economic innovation for which both the city of Montreal and the province of Quebec are known. This particular culture can be traced to the city’s historical and multicultural heritage and difficult beginnings as a pioneer colony faced with harsh climatic conditions, which made solidarity an essential survival strategy. The domination of a rich and powerful minority ruling class after the 1759 British conquest may also explain the importance of unionism, cooperation, and the social-democrat leaning of the majority population, as well as its highly protectionist stance towards French language and culture (Dumont, 1993).

Montreal’s cultural makeup is central to the city’s uniquely convivial character. Because of its particular history, Montreal is one of the rare North American metropoles with a largely bilingual population, who can live and work in both English and French. Often described as the most European of North American cities, Montreal is the fourth largest francophone city in the world, after Kinshasa, Paris, and Abidjan (Demographia, 2017). As a major port city, Montreal has always been a city of immigrants, welcoming newcomers from all parts of the world. This openness and multiculturalism may be behind the culture of tolerance that has contributed to the city’s very low crime rate,² relative social peace, and welcoming attitude.

Arts and Culture as Factors of Livability

The arts are known to contribute to the quality of life of communities and to their social and economic vitality, and creative people are said to prefer living where “diversity, tolerance and openness to new ideas” prevail (Stolarick, Florida, & Musante, 2005). One of Montreal’s greatest assets in terms of livability is undoubtedly its rich cultural landscape, made up of a well-developed cultural industry, a vibrant artist community, plentiful cultural institutions, and an affordable access to culture, thanks to generous government subsidies (Stolarick et al., 2005).

Quebec’s recognition of the importance of culture as a social, political, and economic asset goes back to the 1950s, as part of the province’s nation-building endeavors and self-definition as a distinct society within the Canadian confederacy. Cultural vitality and artistic production have always played both a social and political role in Quebec society. Quebec set up its Ministry of Cultural Affairs in 1961, long before many nations, including Canada, created such an institution (Handler, 1985). This ministry not only sought to assert the province’s cultural identity, it also aimed to boost economic activity by fostering the production of cultural goods and services. The ministry was also responsible for setting up diverse institutions to support artistic production and democratize access to culture (Handler, 1985).

The city of Montreal has long made culture accessible to its citizens, notably through initiatives such as the Maisons de la culture (Houses of Culture), a neighborhood-based, freely accessible facility for the diffusion of culture. Since 1981, 12 such community centers were created throughout the city, hosting art shows, theater, and music performances. Throughout the year, the city holds over 120 various cultural festivals, including the Journées de la culture (Days of Culture), a weekend-long event that gives free access to all cultural institutions.

Since the 1990s, Montreal’s economy has gradually shifted towards creativity and knowledge. In 1996, the city’s tourism bureau, Tourisme Montréal, acknowledged the central role of culture in the city’s economic development by proposing to rebrand Montreal as a City of Festivals. More recently, Montreal has embraced cultural production as an engine of development and economic activity and a strategy of prosperity and influence. Montreal was among the first world cities to recognize culture as one of the pillars of sustainable development, as part of its Agenda 21 action plan in 2011.

In recent years, Montreal implemented a host of actions to secure its global position among a growing network of creative cities, investing massively in cultural production, cultural tourism, and the knowledge-based economy. Apart from granting generous tax breaks, Montreal also supports various funding and scholarship programs in the arts and culture. The city’s artists population is one and a half times the average for Canadian cities, and up to 44% of Quebec’s listed artists live in Montreal. A great majority of those are concentrated in the Plateau borough, recognized as Canada’s most creative neighborhood, with a concentration ten times the Canadian average (VdM, 2017a). Between 1998 and 2008, the cultural industry sector grew three times faster in terms of employment compared with all other industries, and is still dominant today. Half of creative industry employment are concentrated in four areas: film and video (14%), specialized design services (12%), advertising (12%), and independent artists, writers, and performers (12%). In 2016, the total economic windfalls in the cultural sector were estimated at C$12 billion, about 6% of Montreal’s GDP (VdM, 2017a).

Montreal is also thriving in the design arena. In 2005, the world headquarters of the International Design Alliance was established in Montreal, to promote the role of design on the international scene. The following year, UNESCO granted Montreal a City of Design designation, and the city remains the only Canadian urban entity to have integrated the organization’s network of 116 creative cities around the world. This designation recognizes “the potential for designers to contribute to the future of Montréal, and the commitment and determination of the city, governments and civil society to build on this strength to improving the quality of life of Montrealers” (Design Montréal, 2015).

Quality of Life and Living Standards

Montrealers in general are not wealthy, but they enjoy a relatively high standard of living. In 2015, the average Montrealer had an annual disposable income of about C$27,000 (VdM, 2015a). However, thanks in part to the province’s universal health care, and high-quality, free public education system, with a large network of subsidized daycare centers and universities, Montreal’s cost of living remains comparatively low. A 2014 Mercer study of 211 cities worldwide ranked Montreal 128th in terms of cost of living (Mercer, 2014), while a Union of Swiss Banks 2012 analysis of 72 urban centers found Montrealers to enjoy the 28th highest purchasing power. Another factor explaining this inverse relationship between disposable income and high purchasing power is the city’s relatively stable inflation rate. Rents, goods, and services, as well as food, are much more affordable in Montreal compared in relative terms with other cities. While the average net hourly wage is 22% lower in Montreal than in New York City, residents of both cities enjoy a similar purchasing power. Goods and services are 24% cheaper in Montreal, rents are a sixth of New York’s and food costs 16% less than in New York (VdM, 2015b). These conditions all contribute to the attractiveness of the city and to its perceived quality of life, especially for students. A 2017 Best Student City ranking placed Montreal as the number one city to study in the world (Quacquarelli Symonds, 2017)

The Role of Climate and Its Influence on Livability

The way the city has adapted to its unique climatic conditions over the centuries also contributes to Montreal’s livability. Over its four distinct seasons, the city experiences vast temperature variations, from hot muggy summers to cold, snowy winters. This seasonality has greatly shaped the city’s infrastructure, architecture, modes of transportation, and lifestyles. Flexibility is deeply ingrained within the city’s urban culture, as both city administrators and residents have learned to adapt to fast-changing conditions to allow urban life to go on unimpeded.

This means that urban spaces, mobility solutions, and public services are planned with seasonality in mind. For example, the city has developed various forms of indoor public spaces, including its so-called underground city, built along with the subway system in the 1960s. This network of underground pedestrian passages runs over 33 kilometers and connects office buildings, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, colleges, theaters, and apartment buildings. With more than 120 access points, it is linked to 12 major metro stations and is used by an average of 500,000 people a day (MUC, 2017).

Public infrastructure is also seasonally transformed to respond to climatic conditions. Parklets built over street parking are dismantled every fall and put away for winter. The city’s bike-sharing stations were designed to be entirely removable and stored during the cold season. Montreal’s public spaces also undergo seasonal transformations, as ice rinks and snowshoe trails replace sports fields and picnic areas. By giving all-year-round access to the city’s public spaces, this adaptation contributes to resi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Foreword
• PART I: UNDERSTANDING OF LIVABILITY
• PART II: URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING ISSUES
• PART III: ISSUES OF POVERTY, EQUITY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
• Index