Toward more resilient cities

Québec cities will (and already do) face the consequences of warming. In summer, longer and more frequent heat waves will be amplified by heat islands. In winter, more frequent freezing‑rain events will damage infrastructure and private property. And since increased precipitation is expected, flooding will be a growing concern, whether caused by overflowing rivers or runoff across large asphalted or concreted surfaces.

In recent years, many municipalities have turned to greening to counter these problems. For instance, Montréal and Québec City’s green alleys provide welcome summer cooling. The revegetation of formerly paved or mineralized surfaces plays a similar role, while also capturing precipitation and allowing it to infiltrate the soil.

These “green infrastructures” have the advantage of improving over time, notes Maxime Fortin Faubert, a David Suzuki Foundation research fellow who published three studies this year urging municipalities to take action on climate change adaptation: “The older a tree gets, the more water and CO₂ it captures, and the more significant its cooling effect becomes. In contrast, concrete cracks and becomes expensive to maintain.”

In the coastal regions of eastern Québec, where erosion is a growing problem, the trend is also to mimic nature by replenishing beaches with sand, sometimes using plants to prevent it from being washed away. Previously favoured concrete walls and rock armouring have shown their limits: they often simply displace, or even worsen, the issue.

Adaptation begins the moment we start thinking about it

Adapting means first and foremost reducing vulnerabilities, that is, limiting potential damage in the event of a climate‑related hazard. This involves considering the possibility of increasingly severe weather events when designing roads or residential neighbourhoods, and updating this knowledge for existing infrastructure.

Unfortunately, in Québec, this is not (yet) systematic, notes Pierre Valois, Director of the Québec Climate Change Adaptation Observatory (OQACC) at Université Laval: “In 2015, 26% of people living in flood‑risk zones were unaware of it… and by 2019 that number had risen to 35%!”

On a more positive note, many municipalities are already engaging in climate adaptation without realizing it, explains Johann Jacob, doctoral candidate in measurement and evaluation at OQACC. “If you are thinking about mapping flood‑risk areas or if you’ve sent municipal staff for training on sustainable land‑use planning, you are already engaging in an adaptation process.”

Climate change will also bring other challenges that may not initially seem to fall under municipal responsibility, notes Pierre Valois: “The pollen season that causes allergies now lasts nearly four months, compared to two in the past. Lyme disease didn’t exist here before, but ticks have migrated north…” OQACC recommends integrating these new realities into park design, for example, placing playgrounds away from wooded areas or removing vegetation along walking trails.

“Beyond streets, parks, and public buildings, municipalities can also regulate private space, notably by adopting urban planning bylaws that control what property owners can do,” adds Catherine Perras, urban planning advisor at Vivre en Ville. This can involve adopting greening standards for private lots or requiring specific construction materials such as white roofs, which help reduce heat islands.

Adaptation is a real imperative, since floods and heat waves threaten public safety—both physical and mental. Financially, the costs of climate‑related damage to poorly designed structures will eventually become prohibitive.

Quality of life is also at stake: when homes threatened by flooding in Beauce must be demolished, an entire neighbourhood’s social fabric disappears. “In Scott, there was a café and a corner store that no longer exist today and were never reopened elsewhere,” says Catherine Perras.

That said, adaptation is not always straightforward. “Some issues, like flooding, are regional, because watersheds do not stop at municipal boundaries,” she points out. As a result, acting alone can seem futile if neighbouring towns do not follow suit.

The rigidity of municipal structures is another challenge: urban planning, public works, and recreation departments often work in silos, each with its own budget, whereas “adaptation projects are multidisciplinary by definition,” reminds Catherine Perras. Although expertise is increasingly available—from the Ouranos research consortium and the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change—a small municipality may struggle to access climate data at a hyper‑local scale.

A more down‑to‑earth reality: a municipal council must constantly juggle urgent matters and often faces scepticism when investing large sums to address a threat with an unclear timeline. “Bringing these issues to the agenda can be a challenge, because even if people say they care about the environment, they don’t want it to cost them too much in taxes,” says Johann Jacob, before adding, “This may change as voter concern increases.” The current municipal election campaign is certainly an opportunity to demonstrate that.