2019-2020 Cohort of the Civic Incubator

Supporting the enhancement, development and protection of attractive and healthy urban spaces for the well-being of Montrealers through the creation of a quality labelling process for urban oases: this is the mission launched by the Oasis Urbain label. The project aims to change ways of living and making the city by co-creating a labelling system that will take into account noise levels and atmospheric pollution, while integrating popular science, awareness and citizen engagement activities.

A young citizen movement, Laval en Transition raises awareness, and mobilizes and equips Laval residents to develop eco-friendly, supportive and friendly local initiatives aimed at ecological, economic and energy transitions to make the community more resilient. Responding to Laval residents’ interest and enthusiasm, this movement wants to structure itself to foster the deployment of concrete projects emerging at the neighbourhood level and encourage their synergy, efficiency and complementarity to promote a profound transformation of the Laval territory.

Le Campus is a series of narrative podcasts about the arrival of Université de Montréal’s new high-technology MIL campus, which borders Parc-Extension, one of the poorest, densest and most multicultural communities in Canada. Taking the form of a journalistic investigation and using a narrative approach, the podcast aims to create a meaningful and structured space for dialogue around the issues of gentrification, between the long-standing community of Parc-Extension and the emerging A.I. community.

Le Villageois is working on a project to develop a co-housing space that is accessible to all, sustainable and human, in an urban environment. Like the temporary co-housing becoming available for nomadic digital workers, Le Villageois wants to offer permanent living spaces where more people of different ages can cohabit harmoniously under the same roof and enjoy shared services and amenities. The goal is to democratize this way of living to meet the major challenges of urbanization, such as access to housing and social isolation. 

The monloyer.quebec website is a citizen tool for sharing information about affordable housing available in Québec. The goal is to enable tenants and policy makers to make informed choices and advance knowledge about housing for the benefit of all by collecting, analyzing and disseminating open data on rental housing.

Le Café Autonome (the independent café) is a living collective space that allows residents of and visitors to the Plateau Est district to meet up in a pleasant and friendly atmosphere. Built around a community of members, this original venue aims to be open and participatory in order to strengthen the social fabric and make it a real collective that is accessible to all. It will offer goods and services such as catering, various workshops, thematic discussions or evening get-togethers between neighbours, with the ambition of eventually replicating this model in other neighbourhoods, towns and cities.

By sensitizing and equipping the population of the Saint-Michel neighbourhood to use bicycles in their daily lives, the Vélorution project aims to develop a local culture of active transportation in a multi-impact perspective that includes the fight against GHGs, the empowerment of marginalized populations and the reduction of the financial burden of mobility. The objective is to increase the democratization of bicycle use and thus contribute to the development of enabling infrastructure.

The obsolescence of certain regulations sometimes hinders citizen mobilization in environmental initiatives. The dismantling of a vegetable garden in front of a house, restrictions on tree planting, the obligation to pave a driveway, are all examples of inconsistencies that create a sense of helplessness in the face of administrative structures. This project aims to promote the adaptation of the regulatory frameworks of several boroughs and municipalities in the West Island of Montréal to limit the major discrepancies between regulations and cities’ commitment to sustainable development.