UNESCO has announced that the UNESCO Chair in Landscape and Environmental Design at Université de Montréal (CUPEUM) has been renewed for a period of four years.  It was founded in 2003 under an agreement between Université de Montréal and UNESCO. Since then, Chair-holder Professor Philippe Poullaouec-Gonidec has completed numerous international cooperation projects, collaborating with a network of academic institutions established in six world regions: South and North America, Asia, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. As an important facilitator of knowledge transfer in landscape and urban design, CUPEUM has established itself on the international scene through the development of WAT_UNESCO (Workshop / Atelier_terrain), its flagship city development cooperation activity that focusses on the conception of visions for strategic urban development.

In 2013, UNESCO referred to CUPEUM as a “real centre of excellence, as it fully plays its role of think tank and of bridge builder between academia and civil society”.

“We are proud of the confidence expressed by UNESCO. This mandate renewal is shared with CUPEUM's members and its international scientific cooperation network. It confirms their commitments towards the establishment of a true intercultural and transdisciplinary dialogue to assist the future of cities, in terms of quality of life and sustainable development”, Poullaouec-Gonidec said.

“CUPEUM's renewal by UNESCO demonstrates the quality of research being done at Université de Montréal and especially at the Chair”, added Guy Lefebvre, the university's Vice-rector for International Affairs, Francophonie, Philanthropy and Alumni Relations. “Through its dynamic endeavors and its expertise, CUPEUM's team helps our university to shine on the international scene, and I congratulate them for it.”

The renewal also constitutes a development opportunity for CUPEUM as it coincides with an affiliation to UNESCO's Man and Biosphere programme (MAB). This new affiliation will be integrated in a complementarily way with the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Management of Social Transformations (MOST) programmes that the chair has been supporting over the past few years.

CUPEUM is the only Université de Montréal UNESCO Chair. It is associated with the university's own Chair in Landscape and Environmental Design, at the Faculty of Environmental Design, and is a scientific center that provides research and higher education opportunities focussing on urban and landscape development. Through the annual Workshop_Atelier/Terrain (WAT_UNESCO) and in collaboration with an international network of over 20 academic institutions, the chair is able to meet the diverse challenges of preservation, enhancement and development of urban landscapes in different parts of the world. It's about effectively helping cities resolve problems of urban development, such as identity, heritage, ecology, and environment, through the conception of visions for development that are facilitated by cooperation with local communities.

For information:
Communications Office – Université de Montréal
Julie Gazaille, press officer
514-343-6796
j.cordeau-gazaille@umontreal.ca