Reinventing our rivers / Revons nos rivières

Summary
At the metropolitan scale, this project extends the city center around the Saint Charles river corridor, linking the suburban neighborhoods to the historic core. By concentrating around this river, the city may revitalize its civic and ecological fabrics, refocus its housing and transit development, and establish a coherent metropolitan identity. At the district scale, the proposed ‘Headwater-lots’ reclaim the space of redundant roads in order to create local connections to each river, improve water quality, and make space for collective activities.

Headwater-lot
This project adapts surplus public rights-of-way (roads) for the creation of ‘Headwater-lots’. By reclaiming the space of the street, the Headwater-lots create physical connections between existing neighborhoods and parks, newly densified areas, and the rivers. Each headwater-lot enables active mobility, infiltration, stormwater retention, civic uses, gardening, commerce, recreation, cultivation, etc. and permeates through the city. Segments along each headwater-lot vary in use and length, adapting to conditions along the urban transect. Each headwater-lot culminates in a metropolitan-scale program alongside the river, taking advantage of the enhanced urban continuity and improved water quality conditions.

Identity
Quebec’s historic core is the heart of the city, yet much of the urban territory is disengaged from the heritage narrative and the Saint Lawrence. Suburban neighborhoods are linked functionally to the center, via an extensive road network, but they do not count as places of civic importance. This project takes the Saint Charles River corridor as the focused extension of the city’s heart. The proposed streetcar, mixed-use redevelopment, and riparian parks reinforce the urban-suburban corridor and consolidate growth.

Connectivity
Historically, river access was priority in Quebec’s development. Every property owner held a strip of land, known as a long-lot, that interfaced with the river. Twentieth century urbanization, however, offered few interfaces with the water. Today, access to the rivers is dependent on automobile and the few entry points are inconspicuous. This project recreates the long-lot, retrofitting the city with a network of prominent spaces even within the context of close-packed private lots.

Infiltration Streets
Quebec has more roads per capita than any city in Canada. Redundant roads fragment riparian corridors. The city’s impervious character is a leading cause of poor water quality and river bank deterioration. While recent upgrades to the stormwater system offer relief, this project proposes reconsidering the city’s roads as urban and ecological spaces that can contribute to, rather than undermine, water quality.

Ecology
The length of each river is assigned an urban-ecological priority: conservation, regeneration, recreation, or concentration. The strategy proposes that the heads of Beauport and Montmorency, like Saint Charles today, are dedicated to hydrological and habitat conservation. Similarly, the agricultural lands of Cap Rouge are alleviated with a forest buffer along the river. Further downstream, areas currently having water quality issues are prioritized for riparian restoration and wetlands. Segments with higher population density are outfitted with abundant outdoor offerings, as well as prominent public spaces along the river. The mouths of each river are developed as urban places having close contact with the tidal zone.