20 — 27 October 2007
The City of Montréal, in partnership with the Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine, is organizing an urban design workshop from October 20 to 27, 2007, in preparation for the redevelopment of Place d'Armes, a project included in the three-year capital plan and to be carried out as part of the 2005-2008 Agreement on the Cultural Development of Montréal.
A design workshop is an ideation and design process most often used upstream of the commission to explore new ideas that will serve to enrich the reflection and will subsequently be integrated into the realization programs. Through its participatory nature, the workshop is also a concrete means of applying open and transparent urban planning. As both a planning and consultation tool, this process is therefore particularly appropriate for urban projects of a public nature and constitutes a communication exercise conducive to the development of shared visions.
The design workshop (often called "Charrettes" in France) is a user-friendly and dynamic process that takes place in a limited time (more or less a week), during which teams of designers from different disciplines are invited to develop strategies and design proposals for a given site. During the course of the workshop, various activities can be organized to foster interaction and communication between elected officials, government officials, developers, designers, invited experts and the public.
As examples from here and elsewhere demonstrate, the urban design workshop is a thought accelerator whose repeated use helps to forge a culture of creativity and develop a pedagogy of quality.
Moreover, by proposing a form of public action that introduces the idea of foresight and encourages public participation and commitment, the urban design workshop is a process that is directly in line with a sustainable development perspective.
More specifically, the creation of the urban design workshop "Imagining the Place d'Armes" aims to encourage :
Interdisciplinary teams of designers are made up of professionals in the field of planning (architecture, design, urban design, landscape, town planning), plus at least one designer from the field of communication or the arts (examples: visual artist, photographer, videographer, etc.).
Each team is completed by a designer from Berlin and a designer from Buenos Aires. In addition to each team is an intern, a young Montréal professional in planning or design, selected by Design Montréal.