Clément Musil to Participate in Roundtable on SEA Cities in transition

Les midis-séminaires: Ici, ce n'est pas comme chez nous

On the occasion of the fourth lunchtime seminar of the semester, Marco Chitti presents ‘Ici, ce n’est pas comme chez nous ‘’.

This presentation illustrates preliminary reflections on the professional and cultural issues of technical assistance in urban planning, as evidenced by the strong voice of urban planners cooperating in action. Focusing on the project of cooperation "Jericho Master Plan" (2012-2014) in Palestine, the words of the local and foreign experts reveal a split practice between will of adaptation and cultural aprioris, between contingent constraints and aspirations towards an ideal

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Thursday, November 16, at room 3073 of the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Montreal, starting at noon. Arrive early, places are limited!

Clément Musil gives conference on Urban and Transit Development at VGU Binh Duong

As part of its Monthly Research Seminar Series, the Faculty of Engineering at the Vietnamese-German University hosted Clément Musil, geographer and urban planning researcher affiliated with the Chair. On Oct. 31st 2017, Dr. Musil gave a talk at the VGU Binh Duong Campus titled "Integrating Urban and Transit Developments in Emerging Cities - Lessons learnt from Asian Experience."

Documentary projection

In 2016, the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Urbanization in Global South joined the Third World Studies Center (TWSC) of the University of the Philippines Diliman and the Department of Political Science of the University of Montreal to support the production of student documentaries on the struggles of people living on the margins of Southeast Asian societies in contexts of rapid development. 

Wednesday, November 8 at 16:30, we invite you to the amphitheater 3110 of the Faculty of environmental design for the projection of two documentaries produced this summer by students of UdeM and UP Diliman: 

"Leaving Bodeng" documents the last days of the evicted occupants of the iconic "White Building" in downtown Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 

"Pag-baylo: Losing the Land to Solar Farms" sheds light on the skillful maneuvers of large Filipino landowners to convert large tracts of agricultural land into solar farms that should have been redistributed to the farmers. 

Please note that both documentaries are subtitled in English.

An open forum with the filmmakers of the two films presented will follow the screening. The screening is free and open to the public. 

Les midis-séminaires: Grandir dans une ville au Mexique

On the occasion of the third lunchtime seminar of the semester, Mélissa Raymond, Dave Sylvestre and Florence Vuille present ‘’Grandir dans une ville au Mexique: Trois études autour d’une initiative municipale en faveur des enfants ‘’.

In the wake of the international movement for children and the recognition of their rights, various levels of the Mexican government have passed laws in recent years that lead municipalities to put in place strategies of action targeting people under 17 years of age. In this regard, the City of Zapopan's strategic projects office has set up a program in 2016 to mobilize its diverse services in order to improve the living conditions of young people, in particular by interventions on the public domain in neighborhoods the most disadvantaged.

Last winter, three students conducted research in partnership with the municipality of Zapopan and in the itinerant seminar ‘’Regards Croisés’’ between the University of Montreal and the Universidad de Guadalajara. They will present their study on a municipal initiative for children. The same theme, that of growing up in a city in Mexico, three angles of approach:

Dave Sylvestre carried out a territorial analysis focused on the condition of the children of the municipality from the existing databases.

Florence Vuille analyzed the system of local actors and identified obstacles and opportunities for more concerted action on behalf of children.

Mélissa Raymond has led a participatory pilot approach to environmental diagnosis and intervention design with children in a disadvantaged neighborhood (Lomas del Centinela).

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Friday, October 13, at room 3073 of the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Montreal, starting at noon. Arrive early, places are limited!

Les midis-séminaires: La terre est à nous!

On the occasion of the second lunchtime seminar of the semester, Claire Simmoneau, postdoctoral student at the Faculty of Architectural Engineering, Architecture and Urban Planning at the Catholic University of Louvain, presents ''La terre est à nous! La tenure foncière collective contemporaine pour l'habitat. Un éclairage Sud-Nord?''.

Collective land tenure in urban areas (for housing) is once again at the forefront of international advocacy in favor of urban inclusion, but also in the militant circle of the "urban commons" movement.

The seminar will present an ongoing postdoctoral research project addressing both the circulation of these ideas and the forms and effects of contemporary collective tenure. It will show that this phenomenon is part of an ancient critical analysis of individual private property, transcending North-South divisions and emphasizing the primacy of the social function of property. Community Land Trust (United States, Belgium, Kenya) and housing cooperatives (Uruguay, Burkina Faso) will then be exposed.

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Friday, October 13, at room 3073 of the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Montreal, starting at noon. Arrive early, places are limited!

Danielle Labbé receives the 2017 Teaching Excellence Award

Danielle Labbé, chairholder and associate professor in urban planning at the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Montreal, receives the 2017 Teaching Excellence Award for post-graduate supervision. The Global South urban planning specialist is one of the recipients of the 2017 “Cuvée des Étoiles de l'enseignement” at the Université de Montréal for his exemplary supervision of his students, harmonizing innovative practices, clear communication and regular feedback. Her proactive approach and the excellence of her coaching earned her this recognition from the academic institution where she has been working since 2012. Congratulations Danielle!

Les midis-séminaires: Les archives ouagalaises de Coen Beeker

On the occasion of the first lunchtime seminar of the semester, Philippe Genois-Lefrançois presents ''Les archives de Coen Beeker: récit d'une résidence de recherche au Centre Canadien d'Architecture''.

Coen Beeker is a Dutch urban planner who worked in Africa during the second half of the 21st century as a part of bilateral cooperation projects. He is particularly known for having developed a method of restructuring spontaneous housing neighborhoods: the ''Méthode d'Aménagement Progressif''.

For a period of two months, Philippe Genois-Lefrançois had the chance to look in the personal archives of the urban planner. It will be discussed during te seminar the process of archival research as well as the implications of Coen Beeker in Ouagadougou from the late 1970s.

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Thursday, September 21, at room 3073, starting at noon. Arrive early, places are limited!

Francis Labelle-Giroux receives Rosedev Award

Francis Labelle-Giroux, Masters' student in aménagement affiliated with the Chair was recently awarded the Rosedev Excellence Award for his master's project on periurbanization and flooding adaptations in Hanoi. Congratulations Francis!

Chair to participate in next JTD Summer School

The Chair is organizing 5-days workshop on planning for Southeast Asian rivers and delta regions as part of the next JTD's Summer School in social sciences methodologies to be held at the University of Can Tho (Mekong Delta) July 7-15.

Mathieu Émond awarded JA Bombardier Scholarship

Mathieu Émond, Masters' student in aménagement affiliated with the Chair was recently awarded the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for his master's project on tactical urbanism in Montréal. Congratulations Mathieu!

Participatory town planning charrette in Zapopan, Mexico

The municipality of Zapopan, Mexico, produced a video showing the urban planning student team from the University of Montreal, led by Juan Torres, working on a participatory town planning charrette on the theme of city and children.

Jules Laurent-Allard to present work on Think Playgrounds at AAG 2017

Chair member Jules Laurent-Allard, student in the master's in urban planning program at Université de Montréal, will present the results of his supervised research project at the annual conference organized by the Association of American Geographers.

His work entitled "Think Playgrounds : do-it-yourself urbanism shaping urban politics in Vietnam" will be presented in the Human Geography Poster Session II on April 7th 2017, from 8 to 11:40am in Hall C at The Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

Perspective 360° : chair members present their projects

The intra-university conference Perspective 360° calls on planning and design students to present their projects in 360 seconds or less. It will take place March 20-23 at noon, at the Faculté de l'Aménagement, at the University of Montreal. 

Projects related to sustainable urbanization in the global south will be presented by:

Francis Labelle-Giroux
"Stratégies d’adaptation aux inondations dans un contexte de métropolisation : Regard sur la nouvelle zone urbaine de Van Quand et les villages adjacents"
Wednesday, March 22, 12pm, room 3083

Dave Sylvestre, Florence Vuille, Georgia Johnson and Melissa Raymond 
"Grandir dans une ville du Mexique : Quatre études autour d’une initiative municipale en faveur des enfants"
Thursday, March 23, 4pm, room 1150

Students to present at Interuniversity Urban Conference

4 student-members of the Chair will present their work at the first Interuniversity Urban Conference, organized from March 15 to 17 by student associations in the fields of urban planning and urban studies from Montreal universities.

Thursday March 16th, 10:15 am, INRS (room 2109)
Claudia Atomei - The Sidewalk Diet: Street markets and fresh food access in central Hanoi

Thursday March 16th, 3 pm, INRS (room 2105)
Valérie Fortin - La gestion coopérative d'habitations à Hanoi : une approche citoyenne à l'appropriation de l'espace

Friday March 17th, 10:15 am, 2940 Chemin de la Côte-Ste-Catherin (room 1120)
Jules Laurent-Allard - Les enjeux politiques et les questions du droit à la ville soulevés par une initiative d'urbanisme Do It Yourself à Hanoi, Vietnam

Friday March 17th, 1:15 pm, 2940 Chemin de la Côte-Ste-Catherine (room 3110)
Steffen Lajoie - Gouverner l'adaptation ou adapter la gouvernance? Le plan national d'adaptation au changement climatique et la vulnérabilité des bidonvilles de Bogota, Colombie

CETASE organizes the "Asia(s): Challenges, Tensions, and Mobilities" conference

The international conference Asia(s): Challenges, Tensions, and Mobilities: Interdisciplinary Approaches. will be held at the Carrefour des arts et des sciences at the University of Montreal on March 9 and 10, 2017, as part of CÉRIUM's annual conference organized in collaboration with the Centre d’Études de l’Asie de l’Est (CETASE) and the Research Pole on India and South Asia (PRIAS).

This free event, open to all, will examine a wide range of political, economic and sociocultural issues faced by these regions, including labour and law, urbanization, migrations and diasporas, minorities and women rights, new threats (from environmental challenges to security issues) and global health. 

Danielle Labbé to be presenting HYPS at Cornell University

This March, as part of the SEAP Gatty Lecture Series at Cornell University, Danielle Labbé will be talking about the Youth and Public Space in Hanoi project. 

More information about the project can be found here and here.

Launching the Chair's Lunch and Learn seminar series

The Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Urbanization in the Global South launches its Lunch and Learn seminar series!

From February 16 to April 20, 2017, this weekly casual event will allow students, researchers and professors to discover the work of the members of the Chair and to discuss the challenges of conducting research in the global South for design and planning disciplines.

The seminars will take place on the premises of the Faculté de l'Aménagement at the Université de Montréal.

We start next week - we will be waiting for you next Thursday, February 16th in room 3073 starting at 12:10 pm. Arrive early, seats are limited!

Stay tuned for details and upcoming Chair events via our Facebook page.

Gabriel Larue to participate in the mini-conference "Urban Identities" at UQAM

Gabriel Larue - master's student in urban planning at the University of Montreal - will present a project entitled "Vietnam in the midst of change: identity impregnation in Hanoi", focusing on one of the first "new urban areas" projects in Hanoi. This project is the result of a seminar in urban studies held at UQAM in the fall of 2016.

The mini-conference is organized by the Canada Research Chair in Urban Heritage and the Groupe interuniversitaire de recherche sur les paysages de la patrimonialisation, la ville et les identités urbaines (PARVI) and will take place on January 30, 2017 at UQAM.

Publication: Street markets and fresh food access in Hanoi, Vietnam

Claudia Atomei - master's student in urban planning at the University of Montreal - publishes the results of a study carried out as part of her supervised research project, in partnership with NGO HealthBridge. The project focuses on the access to fresh food in the central districts of Hanoi and the impacts of a modernization of the food system currently supported by the local government.