The OWHC’s New Urban Project is a set of proposals to member cities for designing and implementing local programs to “Regenerate the habitability in historic city centers”. Member cities’ commitment to the New Urban Project will involve:

• a cultural shift to understanding heritage as a resource
• structural change to be more efficient and responsive in a context of profound urban change
• a broader perspective on the city
• and a decompartmentalization of approaches to unleash potential.

The New Urban Project will provide a method, tools and a set of resources from the OWHC network offering, in particular:

• sharing knowledge and experience
• a permanent forum for dialogue between learning cities
• participative collaboration, creating original synergies and mechanisms capable of offering cities greater guarantees of success in realizing their vision of the future.

The concept of Habitability is the foundation of the New Urban Project. It places people at the heart of urban concerns and dynamics, recognizing the social value of our heritage and the communities that bring it to life. This concept binds together, in a shared determination to act, the four strategic axes from which emerge the long-term political visions and citizen mobilizations that must converge and reinforce each other to transform the city in response to climate and societal issues.

The New Urban Project will be developed through two programs: the Quebec Roadmap and the Cordoba Path.