7 October 2024
In the 1950s, streetcars were phased out and freeways were built, developing car-centric cities. The social thinking of the time was that public transport equated with people who couldn’t afford a car. “We need to swing the pendulum back,” says Francis Marleau Donais, professor of Urban Engineering in the Construction Engineering Department at ÉTS.
A Dedicated Urban Engineer
With a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Francis pursued his master’s and PhD studies in land-use planning. He could have become an urban planner. But he decided to become an engineer, more specifically an urban engineer. While civil engineering deals with infrastructure, urban planning shapes the spatial organization of a city. Urban engineering also takes into account environmental aspects, transport networks and social aspects. “We act on the overall living environment of human beings,” emphasizes Francis Marleau Donais.
Cycling Takes Him to the City of Québec
Originally from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Francis gets around by bike. His long rides, sometimes covering more than hundred kilometres, allow him to observe the layout of urban spaces. Why do traffic lights work the way they do? Why was a bike path installed here instead of there? He’d like to see better planning. Transportation always fascinated young Francis. And while he chose to study land-use planning as part of his graduate education, he was still able to specialize in his field of interest.
During his university studies, Francis completed several internships in civil engineering, including one at the Turcot Interchange project office in 2011. During his master’s and PhD studies, he worked on an urban planning project with the City of Québec. This project changed his perception on the role of engineers. The team applied multi-criteria analysis methods, prioritizing the creation of complete streets. The City of Montréal subsequently called on Francis’s expertise to develop a similar tool.
Multi-Criteria Analysis, A Decision-Aiding Tool
ÉTS Professor Francis Marleau Donais
The City of Québec has 21,000 street sections; Montréal has 47,000. Bringing together several specialists and prioritizing a few streets among thousands requires flexibility and a willingness to compromise. “The objective is not only to build a model that will determine the basic criteria of a specific layout, but above all to help the experts develop a common vision,” explains Francis Marleau Donais.
But why is it so expensive to build in Québec? A twenty-nine-kilometre streetcar network costs two billion in the suburbs of Copenhagen, but eleven billion in the City of Québec1. When costs soar, politicians are reluctant to invest in such projects. Yet the ecological transition is essential.
We could build kilometres of subways, streetcars and bike paths, but without a profound transformation in behaviour, adaptation will be difficult. Electric cars won’t reduce traffic congestion. Francis Marleau Donais proposes several solutions for financing public transport, including a kilometre tax.
“As urban engineers, we have to ask ourselves how we can encourage a change in habits through infrastructure development.” Francis intends to incorporate this issue into his courses. Encouraging engineers to leave their ivory tower will make their projects more innovative.
Teaching Came Naturally
Francis Marleau Donais has loved teaching since a very early age. A tutor and teaching assistant during his undergraduate studies, then lecturer at Laval University and Montréal University, he accepted a teaching position in urban engineering at ÉTS in 2024. He wants his students to remember the importance of integrating the daily realities of citizens into their practice.
“When we intervene in urban settings, we’re playing in people’s living environments. So we have to include them in our project developments. It’s part of the engineer’s social responsibility,” concludes Professor Francis Marleau Donais.
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1. Pelletier, Émilie. « Scandaleux » de payer plus cher les tramways qu’en Europe. Le Soleil. March 27, 2023.
