It is well known that mineralized surfaces in urban areas contribute to the creation of heat islands and prevent the soil from absorbing rainwater, with sometimes disastrous consequences. Across Quebec, citizens have undertaken to tear up, one square metre at a time, the asphalt and concrete on sites chosen as part of a program of the Centre d’écologie urbaine called “Sous les pavés”.
Inspired by the program Depave, Born in Portland, USA, and a similar program set up in Peterborough, Ontario, Sous les pavés was launched in 2017. It consists of concluding collaborative agreements with municipalities and local organizations to designate mineralized sites for regreening, whether they are publicly owned or community-based.
In many cases, these are parking spaces that are converted into green spaces, such as in Baie-Saint-Paul, where the parking lot of the Le Village shopping center was greened in 2022. Elsewhere, such as in Coaticook, part of the courtyard of the Sacré-Coeur elementary school was demineralized to provide an island of coolness for the school’s students.
“We pay particular attention to environments that are most vulnerable to heat islands, but we also want to improve rainwater management through green developments,” says Raphaëlle Dufresne, Project and Development Coordinator – Adaptation to Climate Change and Resilience at the Urban Ecology Center.
Civic involvement
The crux of the matter, however, is citizen participation throughout the process, Mr.me Dufresne. They are invited not only to suggest sites to green, but also to contribute to the dismantling of asphalt and the planting of plants. The valiant citizen volunteers are therefore called upon to roll up their sleeves to tear up the asphalt themselves, but it is broken up beforehand with the appropriate machinery, Raphaëlle Dufresne is keen to point out.
This citizen participation is important, she emphasizes. “It is the citizens who suffer the effects of heat islands. They are the ones who will use these new green developments in their community. So, by bringing together citizen knowledge with more professional knowledge, we think we will achieve development solutions that are better adapted and more resilient.”
Raphaëlle Dufresne acknowledges that it would certainly be simpler and faster to carry out these greening operations by awarding a contract to a contractor without such sustained involvement of citizens, but that would sabotage the very principle of the program, which consists of enlisting citizens in the participatory urban planning process and encouraging them to take ownership of their small green space. “We want to put people at the heart of the decisions that will shape their daily lives, their territory and their way of living,” she says.
It is the citizens who suffer the effects of heat islands. They are the ones who will use these new green developments in their community.
Since its creation in 2017, the Sous les pavés program has enabled 35 participatory projects to be carried out in 12 regions of Quebec with the collaboration of 23 local partners. Some 5,700 m2 asphalt were removed and more than 1,600 trees and shrubs as well as 6,400 perennials were planted. The area of the greened spaces ranges from 100 m2 at 300 m2The developments are carried out according to the wishes of citizens to create food gardens, rain gardens, urban forests or even simple relaxation areas.
Change of mentality
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, in Montérégie, is one of three municipalities—along with Boisbriand and Sherbrooke—that, in 2021, partnered with the Centre d’écologie urbaine to carry out greening projects as part of the second phase of the program. A pilot project will transform part of the René-Lévesque Park parking lot to remove asphalt from 7 of the 79 parking spaces on the site. This is a heat island in an area where a vulnerable population lives, near three schools and a daycare, explains Marie Chochoy, Division Head, Environment and Sustainable Development Division at the City of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
Since 2022, the municipality has consulted with citizens in the area who have requested the planting of trees to create shade with the addition of street furniture. The asphalt removal operation and planting will take place in September.
Like many other municipalities, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu regularly experiences flooding and heat waves. Marie Chochoy believes that decision-makers are now aware of the importance of making the territory more resilient to climate change. “All cities in Quebec, at different levels, have inherited the land use planning method of the last few decades, which led us to gradually push aside nature in favor of mineralized spaces. Today, we know that nature provides us with many services. It has benefits for the entire community.”
And like other municipalities, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu has adopted a sustainable development strategy to improve its development practices as well as a tree policy and has undertaken to review its urban plan to integrate more demanding greening measures.
All cities in Quebec, at different levels, have inherited the land use planning methods of recent decades, which have led us to gradually push aside nature in favor of mineralized spaces.
In this regard, Raphaëlle Dufresne has observed a change in mentalities across Quebec since 2017. “These are issues that are much more well-known. In 2017, when we talked about demineralization in the smallest municipalities, they told us that they didn’t need it. Now, people are more aware of the issues of water management and adaptation to climate change and heat islands,” she says.
Under the Paving Stones has spawned offspring. The Montreal borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension has created its own program called “Bye bye concrete,” inspired by that of the Urban Ecology Center. Three sites have been targeted for a citizen deasphalting operation. The Urban Ecology Center has been given the mandate to carry out these projects. The asphalt has been removed from the first site, a small neglected plot at the corner of Jean-Talon East and Marquette streets, and will be planted in the fall.
The Urban Ecology Centre has set its sights on the third phase of its program. To this end, the organization received a grant of nearly $1.4 million from Quebec last June through the Action-Climat Québec program to continue its mission. In the coming months, the Centre plans to launch a call for interest to recruit new partners, not only from cities and organizations, but also from businesses and institutions.