Montreal, for its own residents first
Le Devoir has an op-ed riposte to a piece published earlier this month which, mostly, championed the car, and criticized Valérie Plante for leading an administration focused on the people who “sleep here”. The current writer points out, among other things, that most of the decline in retail being blamed on Projet began long before Projet was elected – suburban malls, the rise in commercial rents, online shopping, capped by the desertion of downtown due to Covid, none of these are the doing of Projet, and the creation of a few bike paths is being blamed for hardships that have nothing to do with it.
Also, who should Plante be running the city for? The people who live in it, first and foremost, surely.
Meezly 11:09 on 2020-09-26 Permalink
What a difference between an emotion-based, single-minded opinion and a well-reasoned one based on research, logic and observation.
Here is a Guardian opinion piece supporting the riposte from a well-travelled, big name architect, and at 85, even he can see that cars are not the future: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/24/pandemic-accelerate-evolution-cities-covid-19-norman-foster
The 15-minute city makes a lot of sense.
Kate 11:54 on 2020-09-26 Permalink
Excellent piece, Meezly – thank you! Norman Foster actually pretty much says here what I said in a post earlier today: “Major crises tend to effect permanent changes that only become clear in retrospect.” In 10, 20, 50 years people will be writing analyses of the pandemic’s impact and the socioeconomic changes it brought about.
Meezly 14:55 on 2020-09-26 Permalink
Glad to be of service. Some info on the 15-minute city: https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/article/How-to-build-back-better-with-a-15-minute-city?language=en_US
david25 16:22 on 2020-09-26 Permalink
By now, we all know how massively destructive ultra-restrictive zoning is to the collective well-being and to human flourishing more generally. It benefits the owners of property, causes displacement and gentrification, leads to a DECREASE in population density, and is basically inimical to the 15 minute city proposition (which I not only support, but have been living my entire adult life).
Hardcore conservatism manifested as not wanting anything in your neighborhood to change, to your benefit as long as you own your apartment, or haven’t been renovicted or owner move-ined out, it’s understandable.
But as public policy, it’s just very very bad.
Kate 18:53 on 2020-09-26 Permalink
david, you’re back to obsessing on zoning again.