Reducing the place given for decades to the solo car in the urban landscape would allow us to substantially improve the greening of our cities, to better adapt to the repercussions of global warming and to improve our collective health. What are we waiting for to act?
Fewer cars for more greenery
Whatever those who believe that the reduction of the place of the car in our cities constitutes a “war” against this essentially individual mode of transport, the decline in the growing space granted to the solo car is essential for We can considerably increase the greening of urban environments.
“It is the car that has waged war on the city, with highways, grand boulevards and widened streets,” says the general director of the Vivre en ville organization, Christian Savard.
“We have taken it for granted that it is normal to have a parking space on the street. However, it is a space which has value and which is not infinite. But unfortunately, all our street edges are devoted to parking, and therefore to car storage, while our needs are great, particularly in terms of greening. It costs us dearly in terms of overall quality of life,” explains the man who considers it “essential” to green our urban environments, particularly in Montreal.
According to Mr. Savard, there is no doubt that we must review the development choices of recent decades, and therefore remove space reserved for the sole benefit of motorists. “If we want more greenery, we must not only preserve natural environments and create more parks. We must reconquer mineralized places and redistribute urban space. »
Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at UQAM, Christian Messier agrees. “We could start with parking lots, but there are also, often, streets that are too wide in town,” he says, believing that it would thus be possible to improve the tree planting objectives already put forward by the City of Montreal.
It has been taken for granted that it is normal to have a parking space on the street. However, it is a space which has value and which is not infinite.
“We have great potential,” adds Christian Savard, inviting decision-makers to do things differently. “We can’t do everything at once. We must therefore take advantage of every opportunity to do things well, including reducing the space taken up by the car. We will gain a lot. »
At the same time, he calls for creativity, but while clearly explaining the “benefits” of such projects. “Streets can become linear parks that become useful for getting around the city by active transportation and that have recreational functions. The pandemic has also shown us the importance of this type of green infrastructure, if only to take a health walk,” he emphasizes.
The City of Montreal, for its part, ensures that it takes seriously the question of improving the city’s green network, but without making any commitment to concretely reducing the space given to the car. By 2030, we want to plant, maintain and protect 500,000 trees, but also increase the area of protected green spaces.
Various street redevelopment projects have also made it possible, in recent years, to make more room for the development of the canopy. According to the objective set by the City, the canopy index (measure of plant cover three meters or more high) for its territory must reach 26% by 2025.
“Fortunately, there are changes, as we see with the sidewalk projections,” recognizes Christian Savard. But we also see outcry when we propose greening or street calming projects. The questioning of the place of the car is not yet quite there, even if we say that greening is important. »
Reduce asphalt to adapt to global warming
Global warming is increasing from year to year, and everything indicates that the repercussions of this crisis will seriously worsen over the coming decades. This is also the case for major problems linked to heat in urban areas.
However, in this area, the preponderant place given to the automobile only fuels the phenomenon. “Heat islands are caused by the very large presence of asphalt, which is put in place mainly for cars,” summarizes Andréanne Brazeau, climate policy analyst at Équiterre. In Montreal alone, according to data provided by the City, in 2023, the surface area of heat islands and risk zones (higher than average temperature) was around 176 km2 (37% of the territory).
And the consequences of this “increasingly recurring problem in our cities” are not trivial, underlines Mme Brazeau. “In a city like Montreal, there are already dozens of deaths linked to heat waves. » For example, in 2020, 149 people died as a result of heat waves, and researchers from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec noted excess mortality of 16% to 42% for three of these waves, in Montreal and Laval.
Since the worsening climate crisis caused by our dependence on fossil fuels (including the oil that powers our cars) will increase the number of heat waves, their duration and their intensity, it is urgent to adapt to them. And to achieve this, it is essential to reduce the place of asphalt in favor of greening.
“Greening is a fairly simple solution to combat heat islands. It is therefore an excellent measure of adaptation, but also of mitigation, with the capture of our greenhouse gas emissions,” argues Andréanne Brazeau. These findings are also included in the most recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a global scientific reference in the fight against the climate crisis.
The “benefits” in terms of adapting the greening of urban environments are numerous, also underlines Nathalie Bleau, scientific programming coordinator at the Ouranos scientific consortium. The canopy thus plays the role of a natural air conditioner in the summer, in addition to reducing the energy demand for air conditioning in our buildings. In this sense, she recalls that it is also important to extend greening projects to vertical surfaces and roofs.
“Plants must be considered as assets,” adds M.me Bleau, emphasizing the need to go beyond just quantifying the number of trees planted. We must also take into account the need to opt for species that can be easily maintained and which will be well adapted to the climate in the years to come.
The reduction of mineralized space in our cities is also urgent given the episodes of extreme precipitation which are likely to increase in the coming decades.
At the City of Montreal, we say we are banking on “the establishment of sponge parks and sponge sidewalks” to increase resilience to these phenomena. These infrastructures make it possible to “capture and redirect water” during periods of heavy rain. There are currently 800 sponge sidewalks and 7 sponge parks built on the territory of the City of Montreal. The Water Service plans to establish 400 sponge streets and 30 sponge parks by the end of 2025.
A green city, healthy in body and mind
Rolling back the asphalt in favor of an expansion of the canopy and the creation of green spaces within our streets and the many parking spaces would be beneficial for the physical and mental health of urban populations in need of nature.
Professor Christian Messier summarizes the minimum objective to be achieved by the so-called “3-30-300” rule: each citizen should see 3 trees from their home or workplace, their neighborhood should contain 30% canopy, and each should reside a maximum of 300 meters from a park or green space.
Respecting this formula would have “very beneficial effects for health”, he emphasizes. The positive effects linked to a significantly greater presence of nature in the city are also felt both physically and in terms of mental health, recalls Nathalie Bleau.
According to data emerging from available scientific studies, including one published by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec, green spaces provide opportunities for physical activity and thus lead to an associated reduction in obesity, overweight and morbidity.
For the elderly, “this greenery allows a better disposition for walking and reduces the risk of chronic health problems”, while in children, “the plant cover acts positively by reducing the body mass index and increasing the practice of physical activity outdoors”, also underlines the study by the National Institute of Public Health.
Researchers add that green spaces have mental health benefits, such as reducing symptoms of depression and reducing stress. “They would positively affect mental well-being, the feeling of recovery, good mood and vitality. »
“If the presence of large green spaces is recognized as having health benefits, the same is true of trees in the streets and small parks, which densify the vegetation of neighborhoods and offer shaded paths,” also specifies the study.