Press release

Montréal, in Partnership with the Government of Québec, Launches the Design Montréal Quality Toolkit

Montréal, March 24, 2023 – The Ville de Montréal is launching the Design Montréal Quality Toolkit, a platform that provides digital awareness and planning tools to managers, promoters and design and architecture community professionals, with the goal of enhancing the quality and benefits of urban projects in Montréal.

Available online at designmontreal.com/en/toolkit, the Toolkit provides a better understanding of how quality in design and architecture can be a lever for achieving green transition, inclusivity, public participation and innovation objectives. Structured around 12 concepts that define quality in design or architecture projects, it offers insights on how to state quality objectives and identify strategies to implement during the planning, conceptualization and execution phases of a project, to ensure those objectives are attained. 

The decision-support tools in the Toolkit allow stakeholders to identify how their projects can contribute to enhancing the quality of Montrealers’ living environments. They include the Compass, a unifying tool that takes the form of a collaborative exercise, which project teams can use to define a common vision of quality and determine what measures to implement to achieve that quality. The Toolkit also comprises themed backgrounders, videos, publications and various resources.

“Design is truly at the heart of our lives,” says Mathieu Lacombe, Québec Minister of Culture and Communications, Minister Responsible for Youth, and Minister Responsible for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue Region and the Outaouais Region. “Design brings to life the countless objects, buildings and developments that shape our day-to-day. And it is through excellence in design that we are giving great cities like Montréal a signature, a lifestyle expression, and a human environment.” He continues: “This is why it is essential to lead the way on initiatives like the Design Montréal Quality Toolkit, which was developed thanks to the Agreement on the Cultural Development of Montréal between the City and the Government of Québec.” 

Adds Luc Rabouin, Montréal Executive Committee Member Responsible for Economic and Commercial Development, Knowledge, Innovation and Design: “When it comes to transforming the built environment in our city, every action counts if we are to achieve our objectives of quality and exemplarity in design and architecture. We invite design and spatial-planning professionals as well as municipal decision-makers to use these tools to determine where and how we can enhance the quality of our living environment, to the benefit of our communities.”

Collaborators 

An initial call for proposals titled Developing a Stronger Design Culture, Together 2021-2022 brought together organizations and firms in a collective effort to design tools and resources, which formed the basis of the Quality Toolkit: 

Mandated firms: 

Subsidized NPOs:

  • The Association des architectes en pratique privée du Québec, for the video project Architectes en série, Season 2
  • Architecture sans frontières Québec, for the project Design et architecture au service de la lutte à l’itinérance à Montréal (“Design and architecture to help combat homelessness”)
  • The Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec, for the project Design, savoirs et savoir-faire / valorisation de quinze intérieurs patrimoniaux (“Design, knowledge and know-how / Fifteen heritage interiors showcased”)
  • Jeux Wasa, for the project Quartier Durable x Design Montréal
  • The Université de Montréal UNESCO Chair in Urban Landscape, for the project nPlex projets locaux exemplaires (“nPlex: Exemplary local projects”)

About the Quality Toolkit

The Quality Toolkit is an initiative stemming from the Montréal 2030 Agenda for Quality and Exemplarity in Design and Architecture, which aims among other things at raising awareness among industry players of the need for quality in design and architecture. Its content was developed in collaboration with organizations and firms that proved their worth in the first edition of the call for proposals Developing a Stronger Design Culture, Together issued in March 2021 by the City of Montréal’s Bureau de design. The project was carried out with financial support from the Government of Québec and City of Montréal as part of the Agreement on the Cultural Development of Montréal, and is in keeping with Québec’s National Policy on Architecture and Land-Use Planning, adopted in 2022.

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