Tapping global wisdom to solve urban issues
Vanguard experts come to Montreal to aid local community partners
Bâtiment 7 is a hulking, 90,000-square-foot former industrial building in Pointe-Saint-Charles. It is also an unlikely symbol of Montreal’s urban renewal and the challenges some communities are facing along the way.
Originally constructed by Canadian National Railway, the building has sat vacant since transport company Alstom shuttered its operations there in 2003.
Property owner Groupe Mach — which purchased the site for one dollar a decade ago — had plans to turn it into a casino. Local citizens were outraged, and rose up against the project.
“We took to the streets,” says Judith Cayer, a local activist in the Pointe.
In the years that followed, a coalition of neighbourhood anarchists, activists, artists and architects came together to fight for community ownership of Bâtiment 7. Their vision: an urban development project designed by and for the community to meet local demand for jobs and training, healthy food, social support, affordable housing and culture.
Their persistence paid off. In 2012, Groupe Mach agreed to decontaminate the grounds and hand the building over to the community, along with $1 million.
In April 2017, ownership was legally transferred to the neighbourhood collective.
The Quebec government, the City of Montreal and the southwest borough have agreed to invest a total of $1.7 million into the project.
The plan is to transform the space into a multi-purpose community hub. It will include a food co-operative, café, a microbrewery, artist studios, a hardware store, community gardens and a bike repair shop. Eventually, they will also incorporate a birthing centre, a daycare and co-working spaces. Doors are to open in January 2018.
Now the real work begins. Pointe-Saint-Charles — like many historically working class neighbourhoods — is grappling with gentrification. The big test for Bâtiment 7 is making sure the project remains both financially viable and true to the original vision of an accessible, useful community space.
Those involved in the project will soon be getting a bit of help in thinking through these challenges from 45 top young urbanists from around the world.
Bâtiment 7 is one of six community partners that will be working with delegates at this week’s Next City Vanguard Conference being hosted by Concordia University.
From May 31 to June 3, Concordia will welcome the 2017 Vanguard cohort to Montreal for this annual urban experiential conference. (Full disclosure: I was part of the group that helped bring the conference to Montreal.)
The theme for this year is accessibility. Delegates will be partnered with community organizations located around the city. Together, they will co-create targeted solutions around issues of food and housing security, transportation, and social and economic development. Along with Bâtiment 7, the other partner organizations are Brique par Brique, CIVITASx, Montreal Urban Aboriginal Health Centre, NDG Food Depot and Tyndale St-Georges.
The conference will officially close on June 2 with the Big Idea Challenge, a public event that will be hosted by Andy Nulman, co-founder of Just for Laughs and CEO of Play the Future.
Challenge teams — which will be made up of conference delegates and representatives of local community organizations — will present sevenminute pitches to a panel of judges who will then select the winning idea. Philadelphia-based Next City will provide a $7,000 grant and work with Concordia to advance the winning proposal.
Rotem Ayalon, a food and urban planning specialist at Québec en Forme and one of six Montrealers among the 45 Vanguard urbanists, believes this kind of interaction between international experts, institutions and community organizations in cities is valuable.
“Local development is what should drive development on a large scale,” she explained.
“We must listen to the needs of each community and see how institutions can support them. But I also believe that local communities can learn from each other and help one another to go further.”
The public is invited to attend the Big Idea Challenge June 2 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Concordia’s D.B. Clarke Theatre. The event is free, but registration is necessary.