Street view of the ambient ecosystems and housing.10. Ambient Ecosystems CommonsWe demand ambient ecosystems commons. Canadian cities lack the ecological, social, and technical systems required to support and nurture dense urban housing. This problem is exacerbated in poorer neighbourhoods, which are typically untouched by urban design and civic beautification projects. We demand a vision and participatory process that strengthen ambient urban ecosystemsfor such things as walkability, transit, ecosystem services, and green spaceas an accessible commons necessary for all housing and especially social housing.Several factors contribute to healthy urban ecosystems including mobility for residents as well as complex systems of biodiversity and greenspace.Climate change and the need for ecological and social justice require us to think more comprehensively about housings relationship to its larger context. What we are calling ambient ecosystems includes public spaces, mobility networks, biodiversity, density, metabolic flows, and the complexity of services. These ambient ecosystems commons, utilizing strong forms of democratic and participatory governance, can overcome scarcity and achieve the ambition for shared equity and equitable housing for all.Diverse utility and transportation systems play an essential role in understanding the efficiency and health of urban ecosystems.All too often our ambient ecosystems are in poor shape. This can be because the elements of a healthy urban ecosystem are poorly maintained or entirely absent, as when a neighborhood is underserved by transit and blighted with pollution. It is also the result of the steady privatization and commodification of beautiful common public space that are only accessible to those who can pay. We see this when investment in green infrastructure is concentrated in the richest areas and social housing is placed on sites with a weak ambient ecosystem. This environmental injustice traps residents in insecurity and damages their health.The team studied the relationship between the presence of public spaces and services as a function of population density and vulnerability to natural flooding.To overcome housing alienation, we demand an Ambient Ecosystem Commons to surround and support all urban housing. This robust, accessible, and decommodified commons must be designed through a participatory process and managed in its holistic complexity to create thriving communities that are responsive to changing needs.As a first step in realizing strengthened ambient ecosystems across c\a\n\a\d\a, we demand that the City of Montreal enact a charter that upholds ambient ecosystems commons as continuously accessible, participative, and necessary to housing. The charter calls for all-stakeholder partnerships to explore scenario-based paths towards better services for social housing. The charter must identify specific policy changes that ensure the continuity of the ambient realms, a financial strategy that calls for dedicated governmental support, the obligation to collaborate between levels of government, and the adoption of realistic, long-term and climate-centered green infrastructure financing.The team assessed how different housing typologies at three case study sites in Pointe-Saint-Charles performed as holistic ecosystems, satisfying a diverse range of public needs.To demonstrate the methodology and implications of establishing a strong Ambient Ecosystems Commons, we developed a case study project in the Point St. Charles neighbourhood in Montreal. This area, which has a rich history of labour activism and immigration, has a very high concentration of social housing, and has also generated new forms of public service which have served as examples for the province. It is nevertheless isolated from the rest of the city by canals, rail lines, and industrial uses, and despite the value locals give to the green spaces in the neighbourhood, improvements in the quality of public and private services are sorely needed.The project begins by mapping the existing services and deficiencies in the neighbourhood and proposes a process of ecosystem co-management built upon this research. To further understand how this would potentially impact individual housing typologies, we assessed three urban housing sites to understand how different building forms could be adjusted to respond holistically to a diverse range of public needs. Looking at low-rise individual owned building, and low and high-rise multi-unit buildings, we are proposing to enhance local ambient systems, and created examples of occupation and modification to demonstrate the interconnectedness and transformative potential of this approach.Ambient Ecosystems Contributors:Region: MontralActivis: Maya Gauvreau, Olivier Leclerc, Mikael St-Pierre, Centre dcologie urbaine de Montral (CEUM) Advocate: Charles Guindon, Btir son quartier Architect: Daniel Pearl (University of Montreal), Sudhir Suri, Caroline Corbex, lOEUF ArchitecteThe post Architects Against Housing Alienation Not for Sale!: 10. Ambient Ecosystems Commons appeared first on Canadian Architect.