Following public consultation and job posting, two postdoctoral researchers have been recruited to assist the SSHRC Quality in the Built Environment (QBE) partnership coordination team.

Maria Patricia Farfan Sopo, a new doctor from McGill University, is funded by the partnership’s SSHRC budget, while Morteza Hazbei, a new doctor from Concordia University, is funded by the complementary budget granted by Université de Montréal to the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence.

The biographical summaries below will help you appreciate their remarkable personal and academic careers. Welcome to Maria Patricia and Morteza!

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Dr. Maria Patricia Farfan Sopo

My personal, academic and professional background – or how I have come to view and approach the field of the built environment – started with my undergraduate studies in my native Colombia, getting closed to sustainability issues in Latin American regions, and post-graduate experience acquired during my Master (Minimum Cost Housing McGill University) – and Ph.D. in History and Theory (McGill University) completed on February 2023.

In my doctoral work I examine the spatial transformations carried out by Indigenous communities from the Colombian Pacific region who create a pacifist movement through culture recognition in the midst of violence, with special focus on the Women and political force who created the ephemeral built environment as territory-great house. I have held a wide range of academic administrative and leadership positions, while working in conjunction with diverse communities and associations. This has given me a broad perspective of academia and has prepared me to efficiently collaborate with experts from different disciplines and cultures.

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Dr. Morteza Hazbei

I earned my PhD from Concordia University in September 2023, focusing on enhancing the sustainability of our built environment through the integration of livability, energy efficiency, and contextual design. This interdisciplinary exploration allowed me to investigate the factors that contribute to the quality of our built environment from both architectural and engineering perspectives.

Concurrently, I served as a lead student researcher in Concordia’s SSHRC partnership project, delving into the interconnectedness of livability, decarbonization, and biodiversity to foster an inclusive and equitable built environment, especially for marginalized demographics like the elderly people. Additionally, my role as Vice President on the SSHRC partnership graduate student committee provided valuable collaborative opportunities with students across diverse disciplines, offering me a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted nature of built environment quality—perfectly aligning with my research focus.

 

Source : https://livingatlasofquality.ca/home

Nathalie Roy, Minister of Culture and Communications and Minister Responsible for the French Language, and Andrée Laforest, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Announce the Beginning of the Work to Provide Québec with a Strategy Quebecois architecture. To this end, the Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC) has invited the Ordre des architectes du Québec (OAQ) and a committee of experts to collaborate in the development of this first strategy.

The Québec Architecture Strategy will place citizens at the heart of the debate and will aim at adopting best practices in state-led projects and introducing incentives in the projects it subsidizes. It will meet the needs of Quebeckers through a contribution of architecture to Quebec identity, making culture a fundamental element of the quality of our living environments and the vitality of our communities. This strategy will ensure greater quality and sustainability of the projects, consistent with the principles of sustainable development. In addition, it will contribute to people’s sense of belonging, the international attractiveness of the territory and the prospects for economic growth and tourism promotion.

The participatory process established will involve the community as a stakeholder and benefit from the reflections of the process that the OAQ had previously carried out leading to the tabling of the White Paper for a Québec architecture policy. In addition, the MCC and the OAQ have set up an advisory committee involving all those challenged by this approach. These experts, organizations and partners will be consulted in the coming months (see list in appendix). The municipal community is invited to participate in this project. The government wishes to hear from it for its unique expertise in order to feed the Québec Strategy for Architecture. The cities of Quebec and Montreal will be particularly challenged in particular by virtue of their respective status as capital and metropolis.

The development of the Québec Architecture Strategy corresponds to Measure 19 of the Government Action Plan for Culture 2018-2023. (Excerpt from press release)

Read the full press release of the Ministry of Culture and Communications.