Ennis Davis, AICP of Modern Cities provides a review of Next City's 2017 Vanguard Conference in Montréal and suggests what it could mean for cities of the future.

Friday, June 2, 2017

(Cristina Garmendia)

Our last full day together in Montréal, kicked off with a tour of Montréal City Hall with City Councillor and 2015 Vanguard Guillaume Lavoie. If you’ve spent any time in the heart of Jacksonville, a city that consolidated with Duval County in 1968, topics involving the pros and cons of consolidation on the health of the central city are sure to come up. Of interesting note, on January 1, 2002, all 28 municipalities on the Island of Montréal were merged into the “megacity” of Montréal, with a goal of being a more efficient city. At the time, many residents were opposed for various reasons. With a central plank being if elected, they would allow merged municipalities to organize referendums in order to demerge, the Quebec Liberal Party defeated the Parti Québécois in the provincial elections of April 2003. As promised, on June 20, 2004, the referendums were held throughout Quebec. The result was a demerger taking place on January 1, 2006, creating 16 municipalities and a net decrease of 26.8% in land area and 12.64% in population for the City of Montréal. While there are several North American examples of mergers, it’s rare to find examples of demergers. Nevertheless, despite the demerger it appears the region is still moving in a positive economic direction.

(Ennis Davis)

The next event was held as Santropol Roulant, a community food hub that grows, prepares and delivers food, in addition to bringing citizens together through various programs, activities and services. After a tour of the food hub and creativity talk with Louis-Félix Binette of Montréal, a discussion centered around social justice, public space and community engagement with Mikael St-Pierre from Lande, Vanguard Alumni Sara Mokuria from UT Dallas Institute for Urban Policy Research and Dorothée De Collasson from Execo was held. I’ve always described Jacksonville as being a community that tends to be a few years behind its peers. When it comes to the topic of social justice and equity, this assessment is pretty accurate. However, as millennials and redevelopment start to creep into inner city neighborhoods on the fringe of Jacksonville’s central business district, now is as good as any to introduce and tackle this situation in Northeast Florida.

(Cristina Garmendia)

The next stop on our agenda was a tour of Olympic Park. Featuring the largest stadium by seating capacity in Canada, this district was home to many of the venues from the 1976 Summer Olympics. While the stadium has been without a main tenant since the Montréal Expos left in 2004, it did feature one of the largest food trucks events I’ve seen in my lifetime and offer me the chance to hop on one of North America’s busiest public transportation systems, the Montréal Metro. While Olympic Park is located miles from Concordia University, the underground rapid transit system made for a pretty quick trip back downtown in order to attend the 2017 Vanguard Big Idea Challenge and Reception. While previous Big Idea Challenges focused on developing and implementing new ideas from Vanguards, I found this year’s event to be more conducive to the community, due to Vanguards being used to assist with bringing existing initiatives to implementation.

(Cristina Garmendia)

The final event of the 2017 Vanguard Conference was town-hall style session designed to allow Vanguards to provide feedback and engage in a dialogue about Montréal, what they have learned and the opportunities they see for the city going forward. In addition, the role of Vanguards post-conference were discussed and a panel of alumni shared how the Vanguard experience has played in their careers and lives. While my schedule did not allow for me to attend this event, this article serves as a chance for me to express my views. In my opinion, I found Montréal to be a very impressive urban environment. Due to only being in town for a few days, it’s a place I’ll definitely be returning for a visit in order to explore more of what it has to offer its residents. Similar to Vanguard conferences I’ve attended in Cleveland, Chattanooga and Reno, it also offers a large list of applicable revitalization examples, strategies and concepts for issues concerning my own city in Florida, many of which I’ve briefly highlighted in this article. However, what Vanguard stresses the most to me is the continuing positive impact of building a network of allies and support groups for urban initiatives aimed at improving cities from the bottom-up globally.

(Cristina Garmendia)

Full Vanguard 2017 Montréal Photo Gallery Here

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com