Les midi-séminaires: Adolescentes et espace public

During the lunchtime seminars, Amélie Boudot, an urban planning graduate from the Faculté d’Aménagement of the Université de Montréal, will present her research entitled "L'Expérience des adolescentes dans l'espace public à Zapopan (Mexique) : Une analyse de genre et perspectives urbanistiques". 

Faced with an urban context that is unfavourable to the realization of their right to the city, this research questions the experience of adolescent girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in the public space, particularly when they are on the move. The research focuses on the experiences of young women living in the peripheral and marginalized Miramar neighbourhood of Zapopan, a municipality in the Guadalajara metropolitan area of Jalisco, Mexico. It was conducted using a feminist methodological framework, with a qualitative and participatory approach, including action research-based data collection methods and popular education processes.

This methodology has helped deepen the understanding of the situation of adolescent girls - a double exclusion in the public space - and led young women to formulate and present concrete recommendations to the municipality. Finally, this research has shown that participatory processes in urban planning are useful both for the production of knowledge and for the realization of the right to the city. During the lunchtime seminars, emphasis will be placed on the methodology used and the data collection methods used.  

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Thursday, October 31, at room 3073 of the Faculty of Planning of the Université de Montréal.

Arrive early, places are limited!

For more information follow the link to the event on our Facebook page.

Les midi-séminaires: El Ordenamiento Territorial

During the lunchtime seminars, Chantelle L'Heureux, an urban planning graduate from the Faculté d’Aménagement of the Université de Montréal and project manager of the GRT Rive-Sud, will present her research "El Ordenamiento Territorial: le processus de planification territoriale dans les zones minières au Ancash, Pérou".

In collaboration with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, this research project analyses the territorial planning tool of small municipalities in Ancash that are affected by the presence of mines. The negative impacts of mines on the territory are numerous. Local actors perceive the implementation of territorial planning as a solution to improve living conditions since it strengthens the capacity of local governments to make better decisions. First, the presentation will focus on the main tool, the Ordenamiento Territorial. Then, it will identify the main limits to its implementation and conclude with concrete recommendations aimed at improving the effectiveness of this tool. 

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Thursday, October 17, at room 3073 of the Faculté d’Aménagement of the Université de Montréal.

Arrive early places are limited!

Les midi-séminaires: Adapting to Climate Change in Cities of Developing Countries

For the first midi-séminaire this fall, Camila Florez Bossio, Ph.D student at McGill’ s university in the Geography department will present: « Adapting to Climate Change in Cities of Developing Countries: An Urban Dwellers’ Perspective ».

Climate change places worldwide populations of urban areas at high risk. In cities of the developing world, the situation is critical as economic, social, and institutional challenges exacerbate local sensitivities and decrease urban populations’ capacities to adapt. Nonetheless, much of the empirical research is strongly oriented towards policy and governance questions at the city scale. This talk will critically examine current literature on urban adaptation to climate change in developing countries, and then present preliminary findings of a case study that assesses how residents of Lima, Peru adapt to climate-related risks to their water security.

Please note that this conference will be in english.

Bring your lunch and join the discussion next Thursday, 26th of septembre, in room 3073 of the Faculté de l’aménagement de l’Université de Montréal.

Arrive early, places are limited!

In the media - Vietnam's New Urban Areas 20 Years on

Danielle Labbé just published on op-ed in the online magazine Zing.vn assessing the achievements and pitfalls of the new urban area model of urban development twenty years after its adoption in Vietnam. Available here (in Vietnamese)

New publication -- Bridging the Gap

The Chair has a new edited volume out which presents the results of the “Bridging the Gap” research project on the problematic encounter of new urban areas and urbanizing villages on the edges of Hanoi.

In the media

Danielle Labbé is interviewed by Le Monde Diplomatique on the question of urbanization and land conflicts in Vietnam - Available here (in French)

TRYHANOI New Documentary

Here is the final version of the video-documentary "Outside in Hanoi" produced as part of TRYHANOI case-study on youth labor migrants in the capital city. Thanks for the Vietnamese Women Museum for their support !

New publication: Planning and regional governance in Vietnam

Examining the governance of emerging urban regions in Vietnam: the case of the Red River Delta," International Planning Studies. By Danielle Labbé

New publication: Ghost urban areas of Hanoi

Les zones urbaines « fantômes » de Hanoï (Vietnam). Éclairage sur le (dys) fonctionnement d’un marché immobilier émergent

Danielle Labbé et Clément Musil

Au début des années 1990, dans le prolongement des réformes ayant placé le Vietnam sur la voie de l’« économie de marché à orientation socialiste », un marché immobilier est réapparu dans les grandes villes du pays. Ce marché immobilier est, depuis sa réémergence, particulièrement volatil et est marqué par une succession de cycles de surchauffe-récession. C’est dans ce contexte qu’ont émergées à la fin des années 2000 des zones urbaines dites « fantômes ». A partir d’une approche empruntée à l'économie politique, l’analyse de l'apparition de ces zones « fantômes » met en lumière le « virage immobilier » pris par l'État Parti Vietnamien. Ce travail révèle comment ces singularités de l’environnement politico-économique vietnamien ont façonné les pratiques.

Version téléchargeable disponible ici

New Publication: Ghost Urban Areas in Hanoi

JACQUES, O, D. LABBÉ, and C. MUSIL (2017) "Shortcomings of an Idealized Urbanity : Ghost Urban Areas and the Asynchronous Territorial Development of Hanoi," Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies. 32 (1–2): 81–108. Available here

In the media

Danielle Labbé, Chairholder, interviewed by Bennett Murray for a CNN piece on architectural heritage in Hanoi

New publication

MORIN-GAGNON, Frédéric (2018) Opportunités émergentes et relations socio-spatiales entre communautés villageoises préétablies et nouvelle zone urbaine : le cas de Van Quan, Hanoi. Travail dirigé. Université de Montréal. Available here (in French)

Frédéric Morin-Gagnon is awarded at the Symposium Perspective 360

Frédéric Morin-Gagnon, master’s student in urban planning and member of the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Urbanization in the Global South, is the recipient of the Jury Prize and the Public Prize for his presentation at the Symposium Perspective 360 rganized by the Association of Advanced Cycles in Planning of the University of Montreal. Frédéric works in the Chair on the research project ‘’New Towns and Village Urbanization in Hanoi, Vietnam’’. She is interested in the spatial, economic and social relationships between a new urban area on the outskirts of the Vietnamese capital and its adjacent villages. During the symposium held from March 19 to 22, she presented her research work in a short six-minute lecture, a task requiring a good analytical mind and effective communication skills.

Congratulations Frédéric!

Les midis-séminaires: Espaces de refuge, espaces d’exception ou lieux de vie identitaires?

For the fourth lunchtime seminar of the semester, Faten Kikano presents ‘’Espaces de refuge, espaces d’exception ou lieux de vie identitaires? ‘’.

Following the Syrian conflict that erupted in 2011, Lebanon, a small country bordering Syria, hosts more than one million Syrian refugees, a number that represents about 30% of its original population. For number of reasons, the Lebanese government has adopted a non-camp policy. As a result, Syrian refugees are informally housed in several types of shelter and housing. The Lebanese government gives the management of the crisis to municipalities and humanitarian organizations. Each municipality has adopted a hospitality policy of complete exclusion to hospitality and socio-economic inclusion, as well as disparities in the living conditions of refugees on many levels. These disparities affect the relationship of refugees with the occupants and the degree of power and control they have over these spaces. This translates into visible differences in the transformations that refugees undertake to adapt their shelters and homes to their needs and aspirations.

Through multiple case studies, this presentation proceeds with a taxonomy of shelters and dwellings of Syrian refugees in Lebanon based on their structural characteristics. Through the lens of spatial appropriation, it explores the process of transforming these spaces into socio-cultural and identity-based places of life, according to the opportunities and constraints imposed by the different reception policies; the intersection of multiple layers of governance formed by political and humanitarian actors and by the refugees themselves; structural and physical aspects; and the institutional, socio-political and economic context.

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Thursday, April 5th, 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: Foodways of the gentrified, North and South

For the third lunchtime seminar of the session, Aaron Vansintjan presents " Foodways of the gentrified, North and South ".

How does gentrification affect people differently around the world, and how do they respond? Food is material and cultural, global and local, and can be a useful lens to compare how gentrification affects the lives of urban poor across North/South divisions. Using a 'foodways of the urban poor' framework, this research project investigated the ways by which people's access to food, daily strategies, and use of environmental resources were affected by and mobilized against the gentrification process. Through participatory observation and photography, we compared the foodways of residents in two gentrifying neighborhoods in Hanoi, Vietnam and Montreal, Canada. Food was a key way by which residents created social connections, value, and meaning—which were then eroded, commodified, and made inaccessible through the gentrification process. As the study of gentrification globalizes, and as researchers see the need to break down North/South theoretical hierarchies and engage in comparative urban research, food can be a useful way to compare the effects of urban developments and ground urban theory in the everyday lives of urban residents.

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Thursday, March 29th, at room 3073 of the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Montreal, starting at noon. Arrive early, places are limited!

The seminar will be given in English.

Les midis-séminaires: L'agglomération de Port-au-Prince, entre modes d'appropriation foncière et création des quartiers

For the second lunchtime seminar of the session, Pierre Martial Placide presents "L’agglomération de Port-au-Prince, entre modes d’appropriation foncière et création des quartiers".

For almost 30 years, Haiti has been marked by an incessant political crisis. This crisis, which began with the departure of the Duvalier in 1986, marks a radical turning point in the country's political order. It caused the collapse of the state and the breakup of the country's cities, especially Port-au-Prince. The change in the organizational order and management of space in Port-au-Prince is taken in a context of political crisis but also in a period when the cities of countries have become the object of concern because of the land dynamics. The urban population must be increased without the help of a supplier of equipment and facilities necessary to ensure a better living environment for the inhabitants (Michel et al, 2011). The number of inhabitants of the city of Port-au-Prince has increased disproportionately not only by the growth of the population but also by the rural exodus and the migration of other cities to Port-au-Prince. The Haitian state does not have a housing policy. Since the state is unable to implement a management plan through a policy that considers the different layers of the population, the inhabitants, although poorly appropriate space to their hands to make themselves a place to stay. In this perspective, on the one hand, those who have means, large or small will buy plots, purchase, lease or occupation to build a home. On the other hand, those who are not able to cope with the costs of plots enjoy the least opportunity, political unrest, natural disasters, etc. to squat or appropriate parcels. For these forms of land appropriation and many others such as inheritance, sometimes the games of professionals or those involved in land management intertwine. The expansion of the opposite city by building blocks that are close to each other to weld it to the main city.

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Thursday, March 22 at room 3073 of the University of Montreal's Faculty of Environmental Design, starting at noon. Arrive early, places are limited!

Les midis-séminaires: Les irréductibles villageois de Hanoi?

On the occasion of the first lunchtime seminar of the session, Francis Labelle-Giroux presents "les irréductibles villageois d'Hanoi?".

Since the beginning of the Doi Moi economic and institutional reforms in the mid-1980s, Vietnam has begun a rapid urban transition. The capital of the country, Hanoi, is at the heart of this process, which is manifested by urbanization of the suburban spaces of the city. The research behind this presentation, which is part of the Chair's project entitled "New Towns and Village Urbanization in Hanoi, Vietnam", describes the impacts of the peri-urbanization of Hanoi on the vulnerability to floods in Haiti. traditional villages. The outlying areas of Hanoi are the scene of two distinct but interconnected urbanization processes: the development of new planned developments (called "new urban areas" in Vietnamese) and the in situ urbanization of traditional peri-urban villages. Through a case study of a new urban area named "Van Quan" and villages adjacent to it, this presentation contrasts the roles that these two urbanization processes play in the emergence of different levels of vulnerability to floods in the surrounding areas. villages.

Bring your lunch and join the discussion on Thursday, January 18, at room 3073 of the University of Montreal's Faculty of Environmental Design, starting at noon. Arrive early, places are limited!

New publication

Youth participation for Urban Vitality with Christel House Mexico Alumni in Mexico City -- Masters supervised research project by Georgia Johnson, student at the master's program in urban planning at the University of Montreal, in partnership with Christel House Mexico (CHMX) school, available here. 

New publication

Les « nouvelles zones urbaines » de Hanoi (Vietnam) : dynamiques spatiales et enjeux territoriaux -- online publication available here.

Mathieu Émond awarded Hydro-Québec scholarship

Mathieu Émond, M.Sc student in Aménagement affliliated with the Chair (3rd on the image from the left) was honored on Dec. 5th 2017 as awardee of the Hydro-Québec Excellence Scholarship. Congrats Mathieu!