Enable Montreal

Enable Montreal is a non­competitive design challenge that seeks innovative solutions to make Montréal more accessible and inclusive for people living with physical disabilities.

Enable Montreal was developed in partnership with Concordia University’s Office of Community Engagement and its partners, in collaboration with the MIS.

Identifying accessibility issues

From March to June 2018, more than 45 engaged citizens, including activists, students, engineers and design professionals, participated in Enable Montreal. They worked in teams to develop concrete solutions to accessibility barriers that have been previously identified through consultation with community organizations and people living with disabilities.

Proposals were submitted to address specific disability-related mandates, such as:

  • sensitizing municipal authorities about the importance of accessibility;
  • inspiring tomorrow’s leaders to build an accessible city;
  • making restaurants and cafes more accessible for people with reduced mobility;
  • ensuring that people living with physical disabilities can safely and quickly evacuate a building in case of emergency;
  • improving the experience of people visiting the city who have a disability, including hearing loss;
  • facilitating travel between Concordia University campuses for people with physical disabilities;
  • making the labour market more accessible and inclusive;
  • facilitating the visibility of Montréal businesses that are fully accessible.

Co-creation at the heart of each stage

Participants first attended a series of workshops and outreach activities on broad themes, including accessibility, disability rights, inclusion, social justice, design thinking, and group dynamics. Next, teams carried out research to then initiate the design and prototyping of possible solutions.

Finally, each team presented their solutions during a launch event. Projects with the greatest potential for positive impact received support from the MIS for their realization in the months that followed.

Enable Montreal: designing an accessible city

The creation of the Inclusive Innovation Guide

When Enable Montreal ended in June 2018, the organizers knew they needed to find a way to share the valuable lessons learned from the project. Organized at Concordia University, the initiative challenged designers to find solutions to make the city more accessible and inclusive.

Hence the creation of the Inclusive Innovation Guide, an open event-planning resource developed to help members of the university and those in the innovation sector make their activities barrier-free.

Our other projects

Discover the other projects lead by our team in Strategic advisory and Social R&D.