March 9, 2010 News

Greening the Plateau

Green roofs and streets in Project Montreal’s urban lab

by Tom Llewellin

“Public spaces should really be for the public and not for cars,” said Car Free Mile-End founder Mathieu Vick at Greening the Plateau, an event organized by the Mennonite Friendship Centre on March 3. “There must be more green spaces.”

Residents packed the centre on Duluth Street to hear how the Plateau-Mont Royal borough, led by Project Montreal, could become safer, greener and more sustainable. The Car Free group, assisted by students from McGill’s school of urban planning, laid out its plan for a car-free St-Viateur Street West.

“The most important thing in all of this is consent from the public,” said Vick, who envisions a multi-use living street with organic markets.

Greening Duluth, a group formed by the Friendship Centre, also intends to make the cobblestone Duluth Street a showcase for environmentally-conscious and pedestrian-friendly urban planning. The people behind Mural Norte-Sur, a $6 million park built in a former parking lot, were commissioned to help with the project.

“There are a lot of greenish spaces and not enough natural spaces,” said Marke Ampe of the Mile End Citizens’ Committee, who asserted that the amount of green space was underestimated.

Santropol Roulant, a meals-on-bike-wheels non-profit, showed the crowd a rendering of their new facility on Roy Street East, which will incorporate a rooftop garden and organic waste composting.

The provincially-funded Montreal Centre for Urban Ecology’s Patrice Godin spoke of his group’s efforts to expand their green roof program and create more “îlots de fraîcheur” in dead spaces.

Project Montreal local association head and mayoral spokesperson Pierre Dodin stressed his party’s commitment to a “green network” of streets, including a plan to expand the number of designated green alleys to 25. The alleys are unexpected havens of foliage, incorporating wildflowers and gardens.

“They are a social link for families and a way to educate children about nature,” said Dodin.
He acknowledged that raising citizen support for the project—especially in a borough where many residents are quasi-nomadic—nonetheless has its challenges.

Citizens rallied around Project Montreal’s plan to begin clawing back parking in the borough.
Two-thirds of Montreal Island residents travel to work by bus or metro and seven per cent use a bicycle, according to a recent Agence métropolitaine de transport study. Car Free Mile-End argued that car usage in the borough needed to be limited for both environmental and safety reasons.

“The majority of public space is reserved for cars,” Vick said. “Children can’t be expected to just play on the sidewalk.”

St-Viateur Street will be closed this summer to cars from Parc Avenue to St-Urbain Street.