Participer sans se crisper

Urban planning can be a source of injustice and is subject of much critism. The City of Montreal’s Integrated Urban Revitalization (RUI in french) program is no exception, since it has caused upheavals in the living environments of the Montreal neighbourhoods where it is implemented. Its arrival in the Hochelaga district in 2012 is synonymous with the transformation of the urban landscape in order to meet the district’s challenges. But in the course of the revitalization operations, several partners in the revitalization process realize how much it can act as an accelerator of the gentrification of the neighbourhood. Faced with the difficulty of making themselves heard, the latter have no other means than to initiate actions aimed at producing transformations within the RUI Hochelaga’s consultation mechanism, despite the constraints and injunctions to participate politely, without offending the other participants or provoking debate. In this context, indignation becomes one of the last bulwarks to stimulate awareness among the other participants.