Launch of the Mapping of Montréal's Green Corridors

Yesterday at La Gare, Concertation Montréal, CMTL,Soverdi, Printemps numérique,Anagraph and a teamof volunteer professionals launched the mapping of Montréal’s green corridors: an interactive and evolving digital tool aimed at helping the community create a network of green corridors. The goal of this new digital tool is to foster biodiversity in the metropolis. The project is the result of a process marked by multiple collaborations, experimentation, innovation and creativity. At the launch, PierreBélec, ambassador for Soverdi, recalled the usefulness of green corridors in urban environments. It is difficult to add large green spaces in a developed city such as Montréal, he said. Corridors become an attractive and less costly solution to increase biodiversity and the canopy. They are compatible with the existing built environment, contribute to neighbourhood dynamism and reinstall biodiversity at the heart of human habitat. Creating a network of green corridors is one of the strategies for implementing the Urban Forest Action Plan, which aims to plant 300,000 trees in Montréal by 2025, including 180,000 on private and institutional sites. This component is coordinated by Soverdi with the support of CMTL and

more than forty partnersgathered in the Alliance forêt urbaine. Nadine Gelly, administrator of Concertation Montréal, then presented the collaborative and multisectoral aspects of creating the tool. This mapping testifies to CMTL’s strength in bringing together and connecting multisectoral actors, she said. It also shows the innovative potential that can emerge when different sectors decide to combine their strengths to reach a shared objective. We are proud to have helped ensure that the Montréal community can now benefit from a mapping tool

that facilitatesthe development of green corridors for the benefit of biodiversity. Mehdi Benboubakeur, head of Printemps numérique, stated that the values carried by digital culture encourage the sharing and networking of knowledge and expertise in renewed forms. Montréal stands out through digital creativity and through increasing intersections between artists, companies and research communities from here and abroad. To strengthen this position, Printemps numérique works to increase collaboration between the digital ecosystem and actors in other sectors. Such networkinginitiatives can only be beneficial, anddevelopment possibilities are exponential. Nicolas Delffon, president of Anagraph, presented the possibilities offered by the mapping tool to the community. It makes it possible to visualize corridor projects and access information such as the names of project leaders and partners, objectives and types of plants. Organizations and citizens can also learn how to contribute to creating a corridor. For those tempted to develop new projects, the mapping tool presents data that guide decision-making. So far, it is possible to visualize the canopy and heat islands, and new datasets may be added overtime.  The creation process began a little over a year earlier, when Soverdi and CMTL identified, with about thirty actors, the challenges involved in establishing a network of green corridors in Montréal. CMTL, Soverdi, Printemps numérique, MTL Newtech, Anagraph, Osmos Academy and MTLDATA then held Hackcité, the green data challenge, where digital and environmental experts created the first mapping prototypes from available open data. Based on that event, a digital worksite was launched with a mapping tool that could facilitate the development of a corridor network on the island of Montréal. The partners also acknowledged the major contribution of the creative team:

Annie Thongphanith, Iris Godbout, Andre John Mas, Thomas Ragot, Adel Bel-Abbas, MaevaMarion-Fischer and conductorNicolas Delffon. Tovisit the Montréalgreen-corridor mapping site,click here. Forfull details, consult the related page,event page, exhibition page and partner links provided here. Full details are available through this link.