Innovating Urban Living: Montréal's Smart City

Funding provided through the Smart Cities Challenge

In the City of Montréal, innovation is the driving force behind transformative solutions for urban challenges. A collaborative effort to enhance the quality of life of and meet the fundamental needs of residents has united local project owners and partners to set sights on two pivotal areas: mobility and food accessibility.

How the City of Montréal's partners are empowering the community with real solutions

Revolutionizing shared mobility: In envisioning a future with fewer cars and more active and shared transportation options, LocoMotion has a solution! Through a collaborative effort between Montréal in Common and Solon, LocoMotion offers a web-based application to enhance accessibility to shared transportation options. Beyond its environmental benefits of reducing individual car trips and thereby curbing pollution, they are reshaping urban living by fostering deeper neighbourly connections. This cutting-edge platform is even garnering international attention with France looking to adapt the application to suit their needs!

Promoting resilience and food security: Farms in Montréal face challenges in effectively producing and marketing their goods. Public institutions and community organizations also encounter difficulties in accessing organic fruits and vegetables. L'aube Food Hub addresses these issues by uniting four market gardens to offer fresh, organic produce to Montréal-based institutions and community organizations. Through streamlined services, they are improving producer efficiency and embodying sustainable agriculture practices that promote resilience and food security.

Contributing to a more inclusive and equitable food future: Many households are facing food insecurity and struggling to access locally-sourced and nutritious food. In response, Tomat, a versatile web platform, was introduced in May 2023. It revolutionizes food coupon programs by streamlining operations and resource management. By ensuring greater access to locally-sourced, nutritious food, it addresses a pressing need for households facing food insecurity.

With support from the City of Montréal, through the Government of Canada's Smart Cities Challenge, positive transformations are happening that will shape the future of urban living across Montréal.

For more information, visit:

• $50 Million Prize Category Winner: City of Montréal, Québec
• Montréal in Common: The city as a laboratory
• LocoMotion (available in French only)
• L'aube Food Hub
• Tomat - Collectif Récolte (available in French only)

What is the Smart Cities Challenge?

The Smart Cities Challenge (SCC) is a Government of Canada initiative that urged communities to adopt a smart cities approach to improve residents' lives through innovation, data, and connected technology. SCC has helped enable innovative and transformative change across Canadian communities. The Town of Bridgewater is one of four winners.

Quick facts about the Smart Cities Challenge

• The Smart Cities Challenge was launched in 2017, encouraging communities of all sizes from across the country to take bold action to improve outcomes for their residents by applying a smart cities approach that leverages connected technologies and data.
• The first round of the Smart Cities Challenge is closed. The Government of Canada announced the four winners (City of Montréal, Québec; Nunavut Communities, Nunavut; City of Guelph and County of Wellington, Ontario; and Town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia) on May 14, 2019.
• The City of Montréal won the $50M Smart Cities Challenge grand prize.