McGill University’s Edible Campus

"With regard to a positive experience of the built environment in Canada, in this short piece, I write about a project that I have been involved with the ‘Edible Campus.’ This undertaking started in 2007 and introduced a vegetable garden on the premises of McGill University’s downtown campus through community participation. It reimagined, transformed and ultimately revitalized underutilized spaces, actively tended to by diverse partakers with the resulting produce going to Santropol Roulant’s meals-on-wheels program. I believe this is a fitting example of an endeavor that has elicited a plethora of positive responses. It has provided inspiration for participants, students, and bystanders alike, who contributed to setting up, caring for, and harvesting, or simply watched this garden flourish seasonally. It has also offered meaning, both in inviting reflection on environmental and social sustainability, as well as on urban revitalization. Further, it fostered links between socially diverse communities, raising awareness among different participants, providing opportunities to learn about urban agriculture, and supplying produce to vulnerable citizens. It has achieved this by engaging participants to become active stakeholders, and by creating synergies and bonds between those involved. Ultimately, the ‘Edible Campus’ was more than the sum of its parts and it served as an inspiration for other campuses in Canada and beyond. For more information on the Edible Campus led by Professor Vikram Bhatt, please visit: Minimum Cost Housing Group, McGill University: https://www.mcgill.ca/mchg/projects/ediblecampus The project has been widely publisheded and received a number of recognitions including a Merit Award in 2017 from International Making Cities Livable and a 2008 National Urban Design Award in the category “Urban Fragments” by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), and Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA)." (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2023, p.61). Google map link: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Universit%C3%A9+McGill+-+Pavillon+Macdonald-Harrington/@45.505188,-73.5785002,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x4cc91a4797e0a55f:0xd90430ee3d44c4fb!8m2!3d45.505188!4d-73.5759253!16s%2Fg%2F11bzv449wd?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkxOC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D