Aménagement de la Promenade des saveurs

Discipline : Landscape & Territories

Categories : Urban Design / Community initiative & tactical urbanism : Silver certification

The Promenade of Flavors is a development project completed in the summer of 2025 on Dufresne Street, between de Rouen and Larivière streets, in the Sainte-Marie neighborhood. It is part of the sustainability and evolution of a temporary development initiated in 2020 by the Carrefour alimentaire Centre-Sud, whose ambitious goal was to create the largest edible pedestrian street in Canada.

Located on a street with a highly trafficked multipurpose path and in the immediate vicinity of Walter-Stewart Park, Jean-Baptiste-Meilleur Elementary School, Emily-De Witt Community Greenhouse, and the Saint-Eusèbe Church—whose structural condition is very precarious—the Promenade of Flavors is set in a complex and heavily constrained urban context.

Collaboration

To plan the permanent development, a process of consultation and close collaboration was conducted with the neighborhood, as well as with several partners, including the elementary school, Sentier Urbain, Carrefour alimentaire Centre-Sud, and the Montreal Fire Department. In parallel, a sustained and cross-disciplinary collaboration mobilized the divisions of Roads, Parks and Horticulture, Sports and Leisure, Mobility and Planning, as well as Communications and Community Relations. This concerted mobilization highlighted the complementary expertise of each team and directly contributed to the quality and success of the project.

Objectives

The main goal of the permanent development was to consolidate and sustain urban agriculture activities—the true vocation of the Promenade of Flavors—while ensuring 24/7 emergency service access, offering a flexible and removable layout, integrating sustainable surface water management, and guaranteeing universal accessibility of the developments.

Concept

The concept includes planting pits, raised beds, inclusive street furniture, a drinking fountain, a ping-pong table, and a service container. Five tubular steel arches, true signature elements of the site, echo the structures of the greenhouses used during the temporary development. They allow for the installation of climbing plants, creating a green roof between the arches. The lettering of the Promenade of Flavors marks the two entrances to the site, strengthening its identity.

The beds and container are decorated with colors that are part of the visual identity of Carrefour alimentaire Centre-Sud, strengthening the project's community roots.

Positive Impacts

The project directly benefits the neighborhood by promoting access to healthy food, while relying on the animation and activities offered on the site.

In summary, this development is a source of collective pride: it showcased internal expertise, strengthened collaboration, and demonstrated the potential of creative and inclusive urban development anchored in its environment.

The project in images