The city is the new State
In a splendid room filled with some of the province's most creative minds (participants now come from afar!), welcoming notably the four mayoral candidates, was held the Fourth edition of Creative Mornings Montréal. The day's theme, much in line with those of the inhabitants of our city following the ongoing confidence crisis: urbanism.
Gathered at the Canadian Center for Architecture to celebrate its subtle convergence of heritage and promise, the participants were in for a ride with Montreal Living Lab's President, Louise Guay.
A Ph.D. in communications yet an urban influencer in numerous disciplines, Louise Guay's conference, whose title "Net and the City" left no doubt as to its objective, consisted of argumenting that in the city of the future, connectivity will be the central economic, social and political asset.
From narratives to streets, and from places and spaces, Guay schematized numerous interpenetrating local initiatives that create and reinforce the urban network of creation. "More collaboration, less territoriality", for Louise Guay, the major contemporary challenge we are faced with is to bring down the borders, so that "the countryside comes to the city, and the city out to the countryside" and the arbitrary delimitations of city, suburb and country can be abolished. In this new "rurbanity", politicians are busy with the construction of their city, together and collaboratively.
This is notably why, beyond a gathering of briliant souls, Guay had also made sure to get her talented co-conspirators to join in. Amongst them, a few current or future f. & co accomplices, of which Louise-Marie Bouchard (CIBL), Louis-Philippe Maurice (Busbud), Caroline Gagnon (Univ. Laval), Pascal Beauchesne (MUTEK), Christine Renaud (e180) and Vincent Chapdelaine (Mur Mitoyen) are just a few.
Concluding on a question by "Citizen Coderre", yet ponctuated by engaged tweets from Mélanie Joly, and taking advantage of passionating conversations with Richard Bergeron and Marcel Côté, this is one Creative Morning we're not ready to forget. Its touch of political flavour, combined with the substantial reflection on the future of our city, undoubtedly carried enough impetus to inspire our future mayor, whoever he or she may be.
The live-sketching of the conference, by Cynthia Savard Saucier (our next conferencer!)