Conservation and Regeneration As Leading Factors in Sustainable Urban Planning in North

CONSERVATION AND REGENERATION AS LEADING FACTORS IN SUSTAINABLE URBAN PLANNING IN NORTH AMERICA: THE EXPERIENCES OF MONTREAL (CANADA), PUEBLA (MEXICO) AND SAN FRANCISCO (UNITED STATES)

TELLEZ MORALES, Blanca Rosa

B. Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México

LESSARD, Marie

Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Canda

Marie.lessard@umontreal.c

SIEMBIEDA, William

California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo, United States

Attempts to attain and to establish a process for urban sustainability are increasing worldwide. This is a result of decades of international movement to conserve local resources and to lower the negative impacts of urbanization and consumption of scare nonrenewable resources. Besides being of environmental interest, sustainability is viewed by the urban governance sector as a process that can lower costs of urban services, improve maintenance of existing buildings and roads, and also as a guidance tool for future physical development and regeneration of deteriorated or underused urban areas.

Less well understood are the factors needed to establish effective urban sustainability practices. This research focuses on the dimensions of conservation of collective consciousness and the communications networks between the stakeholders that make the advances in urban sustainability at the local level. We examine local sustainable plans and policies, legal-institutional frameworks, programs and selected projects in three North American cities (linked nationally through the NAFTA): Montreal, Puebla and San Francisco.

We use conservation (of buildings, land, transport, energy, water and air) and regeneration (restoration, reestablishing of buildings, land, transport, water and air quality and local ecosystems) as domains of activity that require various levels of consciousness and stakeholder networks over time to produce sustainable practices. For each city we examine different scales of effort (block, neighborhood, district, city wide, and metropolitan area) and we make an attempt to score the quality and effectiveness of projects analyzed on the basis of their relation to the level of collective consciousness and communications existing in the city.

Cases that represent each scale and that involve different actors (public agencies the private sector and community groups) are presented for the three cities. Cases include in Montreal, restoration of a river district; rehabilitation of a large waste site into cultural and environmental uses; and regeneration of railroad yards into a neighborhood. In Puebla, restoration of natural systems; recycling of unused fabrics and urban renovation; complex urban development of a territorial reserve; environmental regeneration of a low income sector. In San Francisco, conservation and regeneration of a federal fort area into a public urban trust area; regeneration of public convention center area; regeneration of bay industrial zone; and city car share.

We will present the hypothesis and method, as well as one case in each city, focusing on the development of the collective consciousness and the creation of communication networks by the stakeholders in formal and information ways (local laws and regulations, public meetings, and professional societies).

References:

Curwell, S., M. Deakin and M. Symes, M. (2005). Sustainable urban Development: The framework and Protocols for Environmental Assesment. London: Routledge.

Lessard, M. y G. Milián Ávila (2005). “A contribution to urban sustainability: Analco, a historic neighborhood in Puebla, Mexico”, Urban Design International, vol 10, no. 1, April:39-50.

Wheeler, S. (2004). Planning for Sustainability: Creating livable, equitable and ecological communities. London; Routledge.