CoLLaboratoire for Activating Multi-modal Mobility : One Public Space at a Time

With all of the available public transport and infrastructure developments in urban areas, why are more people not switching from car to multi-modal mobility? This switch would potentially improve the health of citizens and the city, yet remains a difficult challenge. Quebec is a case in point, where 42% of the province’s GHGs are transportation-related. This is higher than other advanced industrialized regions in North America, including Ontario (34%) and California (38%) (JCCTRP, 2018). Urban centers provide access to public transport and infrastructure for multi-modal mobility, yet there is a deep resistance for change. The goal of the CoLLaboratoire for Activating Multi-Modal Mobility (CAMMM) partnership – led by Concordia with Université de Montréal, the City of Montreal, Vélo Quebec, Jalon MTL, and Conseil régional de l’environnement de Montréal (CRE) – is to raise awareness and encourage behaviour shifts towards more sustainable urban mobility. How can we raise awareness and mobilize citizens towards more active mobility to better protect the environment? We adopt the premise that public spaces are places of dialogue and change. How can we draw upon the power of public spaces to activate multi-modal transport? The project will move the climate change conversation into our community (raising awareness) and to awaken environmental behaviour (engagement), so that citizens are empowered to change. After an initial study of cities in Europe and North America to help develop the analytic grids and civic engagement approaches, a series of workshops directly in the City of Montreal will take place. The CAMMM partnership will develop a platform that includes analytical methods, design tools, and civic engagement processes. It will allow academics and non-academics to develop design challenges through workshops to encourage multi-modal mobility. The design challenges will capture community values so that designers can understand the project’s scope. The CAMMM partnership will build upon the generic platform of the first phase of CoLLaboratoire, a collective urban living lab to heighten climate change awareness. The development of this partnership is specific to multi-modal mobility, and will help partners create a series of civic engagement events (design, ideation, consultation), collect community ideas, and analyze them for future implementation. To ensure maximum citizen involvement, the ideas will be exhibited online and will invite feedback. Public exhibitions will be organized to stimulate further dialogue directly in the community. The platform will benefit the academic and non-academic partners directly by enabling them to conduct similar civic engagement events for encouraging active mobility. It will benefit the general public through the increased awareness of mobility alternatives and the potential increased active mobility, improving the health of citizens and the city. Our partnership comprises six partners. The research and the development of the platform will lead to academic contributions related to a better understanding of how public spaces, even the most abandoned, can be used to encourage multi-modal mobility. Case-study surveys will contribute to literature on public space planning, collaborative design methods, and civic engagement. Concordia will lead the partnership and be responsible with Jalon and UdeM for the development of the platform. CRE, Vélo, and the Ville de Montréal will use the platform to undertake civic engagement events related to their mandated research interests. In this capacity they will offer advice on its operation, influence the form of the platform, and contribute to its development.