Montréal's Ruelles Vertes — Resident-Led Green Alleys, With Uneven Reach and Variable Ecological Returns

Montréal's ruelles vertes (green alleys) are back lanes whose paving is reduced and replaced by vegetation, led by residents who apply to their borough, design and maintain them.
Scale: research from the VRM network counts 341 officially recognised green alleys in May 2020, with about 500 overseen by the city in 2021. Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie has 92; Lachine and Saint-Léonard have one each. 88% feature shrubs and climbing plants, while water-management features required by the programme are surprisingly under-implemented.
Evidence: a peer-reviewed 2026 study (Richmond et al., Ecosystems & People) comparing green and grey alleys in two Québec cities found green alleys supported more biodiversity than grey alleys, with higher vegetative complexity and native-tree proportion, but did not consistently raise ecosystem-service capacity. Daytime cooling was seen on average but results varied between cities and times of day.
Caveats: spatial analyses find fewer green alleys where recent immigrants, visible minorities and families live, even controlling for density, and warn of possible green gentrification (researchers say it is too early to know). The model is transferable and cheap, but depends on civic capital.

Read the full analysis: https://www.vrm.ca/en/les-ruelles-vertes-de-montreal-disparites-spatiales-et-variations-2/