Montreal, a sweltering day. The sun beats down, the air is stifling, the discomfort borders on sickness. The concrete streets absorb heat that won't be released until late in the evening. Many flock to the parks, seeking shade and coolness, refuge from this general dizziness. Proximity is a luxury: braving the city's dramatic landscapes in 40-degree humidex to reach one of its large parks is no accident. In a city shaped by decades of uneven development, access to coolness is no accident.
By 2026, green spaces will constitute genuine climate infrastructure. Park canopies reduce urban heat islands, improve air quality, absorb rainwater, and contribute to the health [1] of city dwellers. Their use for public health purposes, however, is not a recent phenomenon.
In the United States, towards the end of the 19th century, the park movement introduced a set of moral qualities attributed to urban parks, and it was also linked to an appreciation of their health benefits . Figures like Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect behind some of North America's largest urban parks, such as Mount Royal Park in Montreal and Central Park in New York, sought to offer city dwellers a solution to the health risks of the industrial city. This democratized access to green spaces echoed the social aims of the large parks emerging at the same time on the other side of the Atlantic. In 1867, the Buttes-Chaumont Park was inaugurated in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, intended to promote social pacification by offering the same access to nature to residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods as to those of the affluent districts. Parks became a matter of public health and the well-being of the working class . [2] Nearly a century later, the threats have changed, but the beneficial virtues of green spaces remain. Factory fumes have given way to heat waves, episodes of air pollution, and floods. As rising temperatures make cities increasingly hostile, a question arises: who benefits from parks and their adaptive qualities in the face of climate change?
Not all shelters are created equal. In Montreal, coolness follows the same trajectories as wealth. In the affluent neighborhoods of Outremont and Westmount, where the tree canopy covers more than 30% of the territory , [3] the shade of trees and large green spaces mitigate the effects of heat waves. Conversely, in several working-class neighborhoods in the east and north of the island, such as Montreal North, Saint-Léonard, or parts of Saint-Michel, the tree canopy is sometimes half as extensive . [4] These neighborhoods have some of the highest concentrations of immigrant populations in Montreal. These populations, historically neglected by urban planning policies, are also those with the fewest resources to cope with the effects of the climate crisis.
The difference may seem trivial from the air: a few fewer trees, a few more streets. At ground level, however, it is measured in degrees Celsius. Research conducted at Concordia University [5] shows that an increase of just 10% in vegetation cover can lower surface temperature by more than one degree. This geography of coolness is no accident: it is the product of a heavy legacy of unequal urban planning, structural underinvestment, and political choices that have organized the city according to discriminatory principles. The climate is changing for everyone, but the tools to cope with it remain profoundly unequal.
The organization of cities remains based on class. In Montreal, as elsewhere, climate policies protect some while neglecting many. The climate crisis is a social crisis.
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- Footnotes
1. Thomas Fisher, “Frederick Law Olmsted and the Campaign for Public Health.”, Places , no. 2010 (November 15, 2010). https://doi.org/10.22269/101115 .
2. Antoine Picon, “Nature and Engineering: The Buttes-Chaumont Park.”, Romantisme n°150, no. 4 (December 1, 2010): 35–49. https://doi.org/10.3917/rom.150.0035 .
3. “ The urban forest in Outremont,” City of Montreal , May 22, 2026, https://montreal.ca/articles/la-foret-urbaine-outremont-18909
4. “Proportion of territory covered by canopy”, Montreal Metropolitan Community , 2023, https://entreprises-vitaux.cmm.qc.ca/environnement-et-milieux-naturels/proportion-du-territoire-couvert-par-la-canopee/
5. Li, Lingshan, et al., “Analyzing Spatial Patterns of Urban Green Infrastructure for Urban Cooling and Social Equity.”, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 112 (July 30, 2025): 128983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2025.128983 .
Bibliography
Montreal Metropolitan Community. “Proportion of territory covered by canopy,” 2023. https://entreprises-vitaux.cmm.qc.ca/environnement-et-milieux-naturels/proportion-du-territoire-couvert-par-la-canopee/
Fisher, Thomas. “Frederick Law Olmsted and the Campaign for Public Health.” Places , no. 2010 (November 15, 2010). https://doi.org/10.22269/101115 .
Li, Lingshan, Angela Kross, Carly D. Ziter, and Ursula Eicker. “Analyzing Spatial Patterns of Urban Green Infrastructure for Urban Cooling and Social Equity.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 112 (July 30, 2025): 128983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2025.128983 .
Picon, Antoine. “Nature and Engineering: The Buttes-Chaumont Park.” Romanticism no. 150, no. 4 (December 1, 2010): 35–49. https://doi.org/10.3917/rom.150.0035 .
City of Montreal. “The urban forest in Outremont” May 22, 2026. https://montreal.ca/articles/la-foret-urbaine-outremont-18909
Cover Image:
TAWNA Collective, El Río de Los Espíritus (video still), 2025. ©️and courtesy of the artists
