(CS3.4) The Old Port of Montreal, a catalyst for sustainable regeneration.

A place of exchange for millennia, Montreal's Old Port became one of the world's largest grain ports in the mid-20th century, linked to the colonization of Western Canada. Built as a machine system, including grain silos, warehouses, and conveyors, its identity, use and layout have been in flux since 1978, when port activities shifted eastward. Its current form reflects past redevelopment for the city's 350th anniversary, including the embankment of the Bonsecours Basin and its development as a park, yet it remains an unfinished project. More recently, these spaces have been reoriented as a tourist attraction, moving further away from highlighting the historical and cultural significance of the site. Like many North American cities, Montreal's climate is increasingly wet, hot and wild - conditions set to deteriorate further. The Old Port, with its predominantly impermeable surfaces, acts as a large urban heat island, acting on the adjacent historic district as well as contributing to the overheating of water in the river. Despite landscaping and the introduction of new recreational and tourism infrastructures, underlying issues remain, such as the contamination of encapsulated soils and the complexity of linking the river to the heart of the metropolis. This research explores the site's requalification potential as a catalyst for urban resilience and the enhancement of the banks of the St. Lawrence. By taking advantage of the synergistic effect of combining bioremediation and mycoremediation with the rehabilitation of structures of heritage interest, the research proposes to create a dialogue between heritage conservation and the natural decontamination cycle. Drawing on different layers of cultural landscapes, the site is transformed to contribute to climate resilience, heritage enhancement and the creation of opportunities to decolonize the site. The proposal rejects the status quo and aims to create a site that symbolizes sustainable leadership, biodiversity enhancement, reconciliation and the repositioning of heritage infrastructure. Based on a low-tech, low-cost, long-term approach the strategy nevertheless offers immediate and iterative results, enabling the rehabilitation and enhancement of heritage fragments while (re)generating the site through a decontamination process. This remediation strategy explores the potential of progressive (de)construction to create a new landscape form, re-establishing new links between people and place.