You can now read A Metropole Among the Vineyards, the result of 11 students' work in the 2012 Critical Planning Workshop. The 100-page report looks at Montpellier, in the south of France, and considers what lessons can be learned when it comes to better planning Toronto's suburbs.

As Ute Lehrer writes in her introduction:

"With its geographic location in the South of France and with a strong and coherent political agenda of growth over the past 30 years, Montpellier brings together some of the key elements of urban planning: transportation, housing (private and public), new suburban forms, ecology, urban design, public space, and multiculturalism. The planning and urban development agenda in Montpellier is based on a regional perspective, which can be interpreted as an exemplary case of urban and regional planning ...
After their preparation in Toronto, the eleven students spent their two weeks in Montpellier exploring the city by foot, by streetcar, by bicycles and by bus. We met with planners, academics, politicians, community activists, reporters, and policy-makers with the purpose of learning about the specifics of planning practices in Montpellier. We reviewed many planning documents, reports and some newspaper articles with the intention of understanding the specificities of the French planning system and to be in a better position to make a comparison to the planning system in Ontario."