How to build happy cities?

It is by planning spaces that promote the meeting and the link that we create from cities where people feel good. Passing through Montreal, the Urban Planner and successful author Charles Montgomery explains to our columnist how to get there.

Charles Montgomery’s conference began with a game. “Get up, go to a person you don’t know, and act as if you found an old friend after the covid containment,” launched the urban planner in the audience who participated in the 9^es A viable community meeting, an annual event organized by the living in the city.

Montgomery wanted the participants to feel in their bodies the stimulating effect of oxytocin, which is also called the “bond hormone”. An effect he is looking for when he imagines, with his HAPPY Cities firm, spaces that promote interactions between the inhabitants of the same building or the same district.

In his book Happy City : Transforming Our Lives Through Urban DesignMontgomery recalls that confidence is at the lowest in major cities.

“Only a third of people surveyed believe that they would be told their wallets if they lost it,” he said to the audience gathered at the Bonecours market in early June. However, an experience led by his firm shows that in reality, more than 60 % of people report the lost wallet. Which makes Montgomery say that the bond of trust is broken. And that it must be repaired.

Create links

“The smaller the cities, the more the confidence reigns, the more its inhabitants are happy,” continues the urban planner, met on the sidelines of his conference. “We must build communities that promote confidence. And the solution often comes from people themselves. You just have to meet them and listen to them. »»

It is not the sidewalks or the streets that count for people, recalls Montgomery. What matters are their children, the feeling of security, keeping taxes low, interacting with their fellow men … “When people ask themselves the right questions,” he underlines, they themselves find the answers on the way the city must change to achieve these goals. »»

I expected Charles Montgomery to sing the praises of the public consultation. However, he poses a fairly severe observation on the process.

“With my team, when you work on engagement, you make sure that people we do not usually hear are heard. We can’t do it by asking them to come, they will not come, they work! Sometimes, they have to be paid for them to fill a survey. »»

Montgomery gives the example of a mandate that his firm made in Rotterdam, as part of which we invited young people to participate in a photography project around Instagram. “Until then, no one had ever asked them for their opinion on the use of public space!” »»

Consultations can also create distortions. The town planner cites as an example the city of Oakland, California, where we closed 10 % of the streets during the COVVI-19. “The comments were super positive,” he says. It was said: Oakland residents reclaimed their streets. Until the communities stressed that it was the whites who took advantage of the streets. “We [les personnes non-blanches]we have to go to work and have access to public transport. ” A little reminder that everyone must have their place at the table… ”

Promote group spirit

The link is built. Charles Montgomery believes that promoters can be encouraged – using a reward system – to reserve friendly spaces in their housing projects. “We can promise faster approval, or higher density to promoters who build common rooms, for example,” suggests the town planner.

I point out to him that we often find large salons and terraces at the top of condos towers. However, according to him, studies show that they are little or not used. Will we have to hire social life coordinators to organize activities, as I have already seen in Copenhagen?

There is an even simpler solution, breathes the urban planner: “Plan a large common space in the building lobby. It will be more accessible, more inviting. Then give people permission to take leadership to organize activities: collective cooking, gardening, creation of a mural … You will see, there will be results. »»

Densification (this concept that has become very busy) also makes it possible to promote links and fight isolation, recalls Charles Montgomery. Multi -generational houses are a good example.

However, he adds, in 70 % of Canadian cities, it is illegal to build something other than a house detached on land, just as it is impossible to add additional units.

Fortunately, some Quebec municipalities have seen or dream of reviewing their regulations on this subject. Between extreme densification and the suburban suburbs, there is a happy medium that can make everyone happy.

In the meantime, happiness may be closer than you think. Charles Montgomery tells me that he had felt a lot during his short stay in Montreal. “Walking on the avenue du Mont-Royal Pistononne, seeing people come together, children run without risking being overturned by a car … I found it enchanting. It’s a great lesson for the rest of Canada. »»

Like what, despite the orange cones, difficult circulation and strikes in public transport, happiness hangs on us. Let’s try to enjoy it this summer!

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