PORTFOLIO > CO-CREATION

Consulting on Montreal’s Vacant Storefronts

What if, together, we identified pathways for local solutions that would rejuvenate the health, vitality and identity of your borough’s commercial arteries?

Project Context

Montreal faces a growing challenge; the city is booming yet there is an increased rate of empty storefronts. Knowing the challenges vary across districts, the city of Montreal and Percolab engaged the public to ask;

What if, together, we identified pathways for local solutions that would rejuvenate the health, vitality and identity of your borough’s commercial arteries?

Surfacing the needs and desires of citizens better prepares city officials to plan and implement programs to aid struggling boroughs and develop initiatives that will enliven areas of the city in ways that align with the vision of the people who live there.

CLIENT: City of Montreal
Location: Montreal
Delivery: Consultation Recommendations
Year: 2020

Systems Initiatives

PUBLIC CONSULTATION
#LivedEnvironment | #UrbanPlanning

The consultation process included 21 sessions in 19 boroughs across the city in the span of 3 weeks. 458 participants mobilized to make their voices heard during the consultations and final co-creation session.

 

Percolab’s role

  • Design participatory activities with customized interactive tools to engage citizens, and collect their ideas, insight and perspectives.
  • Facilitate 19 sessions which shared information on the initiative, promoted dialogue between citizens and guided them to contribute to identifying potential solutions.
  • Design and host a co-creation session in which merchants and property owners shared their insights and perspectives on the findings.
  • Produce a detailed report of the findings with suggested next steps based on the collected data and thematic research analysis.

OUTCOMES

Discovery of concrete and tangible elements contributing to each borough’s;

    • Identity and issues: appreciations for the local business identity, and significant issues likely to increase the rate of vacant premises.
    • Evolution of the local situation: events that have positively and negatively impacted commercial streets, and the wishes of citizens for the future of those commercial streets.
    • Potential solution pathways: possible solutions adapted to the reality of the borough to reduce the phenomenon of vacant premises.

Citizens and city officials learned how consultations can be a space where;

    • People with different perspectives can engage in inclusive, open and generative collective discussions.
    • Citizens can reflect on the situation, leading to an evolution and refinement of ideas and contributions.
    • Community actors can strongly commit and contribute to the animation and vitality of the commercial arteries of the City of Montreal.