Campaigning for a different Quebec

      

I came across this website by chance. The people behind this website are trying to promote a new way to look at urbanism in Quebec, or, really, New Urbanism. This urban planning approach is getting more and more popular in Europe, which luckily still possesses lots of areas that have remained authentic and livable.

The campaign is called "Imaginer le Quebec autrement" or Imagine Quebec differently.

While we are very lucky that people here do not get all offended and all chauvinistic when references are made to Europe in terms of benchmarks, they are still quite skeptical about the feasibility of implementing such novel urban approaches in here. Of course we do have certain neighbourhoods that are very open to innovation but are we ready for a major global and fast change in the way we understand and experience urbanism, transportation and housing? 

Well, can either decide to go for it now and thus have a chance at surviving the energy roller coaster ahead, or play ostriches and pretend it's not there.

The people behind this initiative are, of course "energy dependence reduction" folks, a.k.a. peak oil peeps as well as a bunch of government agencies from the Quebec City area.

There is no getting around this: if any of us wants to get anywhere, we need to gang up, "us" referring to pedestrian rights groups, livable city folks, cyclists, peak oil peeps, etc. as already covered here and here.

Here are a few images from the campaign. All pictures belong to them. Random images that pleased my eyes. Pictures of Vauban and Rieselfeld (Fribourg, Germany), Hammarby (Stockholm, Sweden) and Bo01 (Malmö, Sweden).

(Addition 20-11-2011)

The urban design principles being promoted here are:

- Urban density to allow more residents per square meter
- Mixed residential/commercial areas in order to diminish useless transportation
- Sustainable mobility, i.e. less cars, more public transit based on renwable energy and of course, active transportation
- Share streets and roads, i.e. reclaiming the streets for users other than cars
- Recycling, composting, getting the maximum out of our garbage
- Renewable energies; solar, geothermal etc. and energy savings
- Green and sustainable buildings


And of course, let's not forget this video already presented in here but as relevant as ever (ok, it's in French but you can watch the images):

300 Years of fossil fuels in 300 Seconds

 
 
Ahem... Well another video on... well... It does not mention it explicitly but basically it's about Peak Oil. Again. Well, let's say, Peak Everything!
This one was put out by the Post Carbon Institute. Note the little bikey at 3:54.

Enjoy!

How to survive Peak Oil: the power of community

Last part of the Peak Oil serie. This one is a pretty long one: one hour!
If you can, it would be very educational to watch from beginning to end. It builds up on the little introduction video "How will you ride the slide?", as well as on the documentary "The End of suburbia".

Basically, the problems evoked in "The End of suburbia" have already been experienced by Cuba but on a smaller scale and for different reasons. Yet, that experience is absolutely relevant in regards to what is coming our way. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba, who used to receive oil directly from there, found itself stranded for energy and had to make do from one day to another with almost no oil.

I strongly advise watching the entire documentary, yet if only transportation issues interest you, they start at 37:17 and ends at 40:00.






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Watch part one of the serie - "Peak Oil: How will you ride the slide?"
Watch part two of the serie - "What Peak Oil means: the End of Suburbia"

What Peak Oil means: the End of Suburbia

Now, we can choose not to look at the bigger picture. After all we are all free to think that, hey, cycling is just a fun activity, a sport we practice, it has no context, it is not political, bla bla bla...
Why not after all? I am not worried about the cycling ostriches pushing these theories. They already cycle anyways! The day shit hits the fan, they'll know what to do.

It is the others that I am worried about. This next video continues on the issue of Peak Oil and what it will mean for North American societies. I think it is well worth watching the whole thing.

Whoever is already at ease with the idea of calve-juice fueled vehicles is well damn ahead of the pack. Now this will definitely reconcile the many cycling gangs once for all.

And I say: bring it on! Just cannot wait for the show to begin!


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Watch part one of the serie - "Peak Oil: How will you ride the slide?"
Watch part three of the serie - "How to survive Peak Oil: the power of community"

Peak Oil: How will you ride the slide?

Peak Oil is round the corner... How will we ride the slide?

On our bicycles of course!! And in style at that!
Bring it on baby, we're ready.


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Watch part two of the serie - "What Peak Oil means: the End of Suburbia"
Watch part three of the serie - "How to survive Peak Oil: the power of community"