Green, vibrant, and distinctive neighborhoods
In the coming years Québec City plans to develop green neighborhoods in the Pointe-aux-Lièvres and Pointe-D’Estimauville sectors. A third green neighborhood project called La Cité Verte is also underway, led by SSQ Financial Group.
What is a green neighborhood?
A green neighborhood is built according to sustainable development principles in order to reduce its ecological footprint.
Features of a green neighborhood:
- Innovative and sustainable architecture
- Favor high-quality, modern architecture because
esthetics have a direct influence on residents’ quality
of life, provide an identity, and elicit feelings of safety,
well-being, and pride
- Use ecological materials (e.g., renewable materials
like wood or those made of recycled fibers), improve
insulation and weatherproofing, orient windows to
maximize sunlight
- Construct energy-efficient buildings (e.g., with
recognized certifications, such as LEED)
- Water
- Reduce consumption of drinking water by buildings and
improve rainwater management
- Energy
- Promote energy self-sufficiency and efficiency by
using new technologies such as geothermal to heat or
cool buildings and renewable energies such as urban
district heating and solar energy
- Green spaces and waterways
- Develop green spaces and plant trees to reduce the
heat generated by buildings and pavement
- Take a recreational, esthetic, and ecological approach to
water use in landscaping
- Network green spaces, points of interest, and the river
in order to promote an active, four-season lifestyle that
combines urban living and outdoor activity
- Infrastructures
- Upgrade public utilities, notably urban lighting
- Bury utility lines
- Install green roofs
- Waste management
- Foster integrated waste, recycling, and compost
management to limit truck traffic on neighborhood
streets
- Mixed-use neighborhoods
- Foster multiple uses of space through a mix of
housing, local goods and services, offices, institutions,
recreational tourism facilities, and community services
to create a complete, autonomous neighborhood
- Construct mixed buildings with shops and services on
the ground floor to maximize the benefits of proximity
and minimize distances between homes, shops, and
workplaces
- Soil rehabilitation
- Revitalize urban industrial and commercial sites that
are already serviced (sewers, waterworks) and located
along existing road infrastructures
- Parking
- Build underground parking facilities to maximize space
and reduce heat islands
- Limit the number of parking spaces
- Set aside reserved parking
- Transportation
- Limit car use by offering alternate, more ecological
modes of transportation
- Develop pedestrian and bicycle paths to facilitate urban
transportation and provide residents with a living space
where cars are not necessary
- Promote use of public transit in order to reduce
automobile use, air pollution, energy consumption,
and greenhouse gas emissions
- Link pedestrian and bicycle paths to promote active
transportation
These new neighborhoods will offer residents genuine community environments where cars aren’t needed to get to work or run errands.