trois-rivieres, quebec
Adopt Green Land Use and Building Design
"Nouvelle Conscience" Project
The City of Trois-Rivières has partnered with 'Nouvelle Conscience des Forges' to highlight a part of its territory hardly developable.
The 'Nouvelle Conscience des Forges' Project (NCF) is the first integrated real estate development of ecological type in the province of Quebec that provides LEED certification for all its buildings.
Resolutely turned towards sustainable development, environmental protection, quality of life and healthy and sustainable housing, the NCF project is intending to be a vector of behavioral changes, and to support the establishment of strong and concrete indicators in all sectors.
From the construction of healthy and functional homes to the development of a cooperative and collective way of living, from the reduction of the buildings footprint to the water and residual materials management, from the sharing of common space to the generational balance, the project will provide step by step basis on which each of us can rely on and emancipate.
This real estate project is part of the new policy of sustainable development of the City. By its characteristics, it is:
a) Project focusing on the conservation of the environment: 55% of the natural environment preserved and accessible for residents and the public.
b) Project respecting the LEED certification for the construction of all buildings both residential and commercial.
c) Affordable housing development with a social dimension suitable for all generations even to people with reduced mobility.
d) COOP Solidarity NCF.
e) Unconventional infrastructures and integration of an aero-underground electricity grid.
f) Different management of residual materials and intelligent management of stormwater.
g) Establishment of a tree nursery.
h) Community gardens, greenhouses, parks, shared facilities and open spaces.
i) Services and shops of proximity.
Sustainable Development Policy
Guided by the fact that the urban development expansion in recent years has reached a saturation point regarding spaces available for development near natural areas, the City of Trois-Rivières launched in May 2009 a sustainable development policy that provides an approach of coexistence between urban development and natural areas protection throughout the City's territory, taking into account three interrelated poles: economy, environment and social.
To support the elaboration of this policy, consultations involving thirty organizations from all sectors have been conducted to find out their concerns. From these recommendations, the drafting of the policy and its tools was guided by four guiding principles:
? support economic development and urban development;
? protect the natural heritage, environment and biodiversity;
? ensure quality of life for citizens;
? encourage social involvement in environmental matters.
Six themes have also been identified; climate change, water management, urban forestry, residual materials, nuisance, and coexistence between urban development and natural environments. Regarding this last point, note that this cohabitation challenge translates itself into a strong and mobilizing message: "The protection of one hectare of natural habitat for each acre of real estate development". By 20 to 25 years and through various initiatives, the City also hopes to reach a protection coverage rate of 15% [2700 ha).
While asking for an active engagement from citizens and developers, the City of Trois-Rivières Sustainable Development Policy also provides that the City will have to lead by example. In this regard, actions of conservation and protection of public sites of high ecological and social value public sites, creation of a foundation for sustainable development, utilization of new energies such as hydrogen and biodiesel [from non-food source] and a better knowledge of the land and natural heritage are examples of initiatives contained in the Action Plan of the City, which targets 19 priority objectives based on one fundamental principle: the one of "durability" .
Thus, in order to preserve an environment and a quality of life for future generations, the City of Trois-Rivières Sustainable Development Policy has been designed so that its scope suits the real and evolving needs of the community ... and the nature.
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Encourage Green Economic Development
"Trois-Rivières sur Saint-Laurent" (Trois-Rivières on St. Lawrence)
Trois-Rivières sur Saint-Laurent » is a large urban renewal project. Situated at the confluence of the St. Lawrence River and the Saint-Maurice River, a site of some 340,000 square meters, this vast land, formerly of industrial use, is now dedicated to technology, residential and commercial development, and to land development of big open spaces and public facilities. This major project, comprehensive and structuring, aims to create a dynamic and lively environment generator of jobs, and it will be, without doubting, an important legacy for Trois-Rivières and its entire region.
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