By mid-July in Park-Extension, you do not need a thermometer to know it is hot. The sidewalks radiate heat well into the evening, the air barely moves between tightly packed buildings, and shade is something you look for, not something you expect. This is exactly the reality the City of Montreal is trying to change with a program that has an unusually direct invitation to residents: pick a patch of concrete and help turn it green.
The initiative is called Bye Bye Béton!, and it is run by the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension. The idea is simple but ambitious. Instead of waiting years for large infrastructure projects, the city is asking residents and community groups to identify paved areas that could be de-asphalted and transformed into living green spaces. Applications are open until January 25, 2026, and selected projects will be carried out in 2026 with direct support from the borough.
This is not a symbolic gesture. The program involves physically removing asphalt or concrete, planting trees, shrubs or ground cover, and committing to care for the space afterward. Borough teams provide technical guidance and follow-up, but the transformation itself is driven by the people who live there. In neighbourhoods like Park-Extension, where green space is scarce and pavement dominates, that distinction matters.
Urban planners have long pointed out that neighbourhoods with less vegetation experience stronger heat-island effects. In practical terms, that means hotter summers, heavier reliance on air conditioning, and streets that become uncomfortable or even unsafe during heat waves. Park-Extension, one of Montreal’s most densely populated areas, is particularly exposed to this problem. Bye Bye Béton! targets those exact conditions by replacing heat-absorbing surfaces with plants that cool the air, absorb rainwater, and soften the neighbourhood’s climate block by block.
What makes the program stand out is how local it is. Projects must be located within the borough, and they must have community backing. The city is not looking for decorative landscaping. It is looking for places where greenery will genuinely improve daily life, whether that is a former asphalt strip beside a building, a paved courtyard, or a neglected corner that has become little more than stored heat. Selection is based on need, impact and equitable distribution across neighbourhoods, not on who submits the slickest proposal.
There is also a social dimension that city officials openly emphasize. Bye Bye Béton! is designed to bring neighbours together around a shared project. Past editions of the program have shown that when residents work side by side to transform a space, the result is not just more plants but stronger community ties. In a neighbourhood as culturally diverse as Park-Extension, where people often live close together but do not always connect, that outcome may be just as important as the environmental benefits.
According to the City of Montreal, the first editions of Bye Bye Béton! reclaimed hundreds of square metres of paved ground across the borough. Those spaces are now planted, cooler, and actively used by residents. The city considers the results strong enough to continue expanding the program, especially in areas with limited access to green infrastructure.
If a project is selected, planning takes place in the spring, followed by on-site work between April and September. The city supports the design and implementation, but long-term care remains a shared responsibility with the community. In other words, this is not a one-day beautification effort. It is a commitment to reshaping a small piece of the neighbourhood for the long term.
For Park-Extension residents, the question is not whether the neighbourhood needs more greenery. That answer is already obvious every summer. The real question is whether residents want to take part in deciding where that greenery goes and what it looks like. Bye Bye Béton! offers that chance, not through a distant consultation process, but through shovels, soil and collective effort.
In a city where climate change often feels like an abstract policy discussion, this program brings it down to street level. One patch of concrete at a time, Park-Extension is being invited to cool itself down, literally.
