Université Laval Faculté d’aménagement, d’architecture, d’art et de design
École supérieure d'aménagement du territoire
et de développement régional (ÉSAD)

MEGAPOLITAN Consortium

Canadian and European Cities in MegaRegions: Planning for the Global World

Summer 2011 symposium – Quebec City, Canada

The theme underlying the first MEGAPOLITAN seminar was “The Economic Dimension of the Megaregion.” It was held in Québec City from August 23 to 28, 2011.

Goals of the summer 2011 Megapolitan symposium:

  • To empirically verify the validity of the megaregion concept based on each of our respective regions;
  • To conduct this examination through the economic dimension, for example through influxes of companies or politico-institutional aspects from the standpoint of governance in the field of economics;
  • To identify the strengths and weaknesses of our respective megaregions under construction and mechanisms to implement to improve the efficiency of a megaregion in the field of economics.

During this symposium, all the participating student have attended a round of conferences. A professor from each university has also given 20 minutes conference. They have presented their city and its megaregion as its relations to the specific topic of the symposium. This 20-minute talk also introduced the work of the students that immediately followed.  Students have then made a 30 minutes presentation followed by a 25-minute period for questions and discussion. The students have also met Quebec City officials and discussed with them on the topic of the symposium. After the symposium, the professors got back to their home university as students left Quebec to attend a term-abroad in another university.

Results: