Published on May 16, 2025
Cities are the frontline in our fight against the climate crisis. From extreme heat to flash floods, paved-over urban landscapes leave us vulnerable — but local action can make a difference.
Evergreen is inviting guest writers to share their perspectives on the role of community spaces in shaping healthier, more resilient cities.
The series continues with René Fan, a Toronto-based gardener and landscape architect.
She previously managed a multi-year pilot project for the City of Toronto’s Green Streets program to maintain approximately 80% of the city’s green infrastructure assets. She also volunteers with Lost Rivers, a grassroots organization that explores the above ground and buried waterways of Toronto, bringing people together through walks that restore connections to land and water.
René Fan, second from right, managed a depave project in Toronto’s east side.
If you have sweated through a season of sweltering city heat, turned back from the beach because of poor water quality, or witnessed a flash flood, you have felt the impact of an environment with too much pavement.
Cities have become so dominated by paved surfaces that there are few places for rain to infiltrate into the ground. In Toronto, as in many other cities, nearly 25% of the land area is roads and impervious land cover is increasing with development. Without natural ground to absorb it, stormwater runs over pavement, picking up road salt, pet waste, motor oils and all manner of debris, before draining into creeks, lakes or sewers.
This runoff can cause sewage treatment plants to become overwhelmed during heavy rainstorms. In older neighbourhoods with combined pipes for stormwater and sewage, heavy rain can exceed the capacity of the system and send untreated runoff — mixed with raw sewage — into lakes and rivers. That release, known as a combined sewer overflow, is why beaches can be closed after summer rainstorms, typically due to elevated E. coli levels.
In the face of urgent environmental crises, many people feel compelled to take action; but it can be hard to know where to start. I’ve been inspired by small-scale initiatives to better manage stormwater through rain barrels, rain gardens, bioswales and other types of green infrastructure. These initiatives offer economic and social benefits too. While we wait for large-scale water infrastructure to be built and operational, we can’t discount the cumulative impact of community-based initiatives.
If you live in a city, one of the most powerful actions you can take is to remove pavement and let rain soak back into the ground. Here’s a simple way to make your home and neighbourhood a little more “spongy.”
The concept of a “sponge city” is an urban environment that has the capacity to absorb and manage stormwater. Green infrastructure on a sponge-city scale includes parks, wetlands and reservoirs to mitigate flooding, as well as improve air quality, add recreation space, and increase bird and wildlife habitat among other environmental, financial and human health benefits. A sponge city is more resilient to a changing climate, especially from extreme storms caused by rising temperatures, warmer oceans and melting glaciers.
Removing pavement — or “depaving” — is an easy first step.
Uncovering the soil allows the ground to absorb rainwater and recharge groundwater, allowing it to be filtered and cleaned as it flows towards lakes and creeks. Areas with vegetation are more absorbent sponges for rain and snow and have greater capacity for holding precipitation. Evaporation from waterbodies and transpiration from vegetation returns moisture to the air, where it eventually falls back down as precipitation. This movement of water through the ground, water and air are processes of a healthy water cycle.
Throughout my walks around the city, I can see that every bit of green space and infiltration adds up. In 2022, I managed a project that transformed a space at Old’s Cool General Store, a corner store and community hub on Toronto’s east side. The store had a side yard which had been paved with asphalt. It was a dream of the owners to turn that space into a gathering garden and green space.
The project was administered through Depave Paradise, a program of Green Communities Canada (GCC), a national organization that works in partnership with local environmental organizations to support community-led climate action. The local organization for this project was the Toronto Green Community (TGC) and their social enterprise RAINscapeTO (where I was working at the time).
On a weekend morning in the summer, friends and neighbours of Old’s Cool General Store came together to remove the pavement by hand. The asphalt was sawcut earlier and volunteers pried up the pavement with pickaxes and crowbars. The gravel underneath was removed by shovels and wheelbarrows.
By removing 70 square metres (750 square feet) of pavement, that area as a garden now absorbs 68,000 litres of rain and snow each year — that’s enough to fill a typical backyard swimming pool.
Even without completely depaving an area, there are powerful techniques — like permeable paving — that help water soak into the ground. Last year, I was inspired by another community group that took direct action to improve their neighbourhood. Members of a Toronto residents’ association came together to save an old growth oak tree choked by concrete driveways in a laneway. Members canvassed homeowners and fundraised to replace the impermeable pavement over the tree’s root system with permeable paving to let in water and air.
Permeable paving allows for water infiltration — either through the material itself or through gaps in the paving units. An easy and low-tech option is to use a few inches of crushed gravel or river rock for paths and seating areas, with an edging to keep the material from drifting.
What drew me to the depave project at Old’s Cool General Store was the potential of creating a garden full of native plants that were suitable for the site’s full sun and sandy soil.
Once the site had been cleared of pavement and gravel, bringing in soil and plants was the next step to restoring the site ecologically. Planting native trees, shrubs and wildflowers for wildlife habitat and re-stablishing natural processes is a form of rewilding.
Plants are a more absorbent sponge than bare soil and increase retention capacity, store carbon and help mitigate the urban heat island effect. Native plants offer greater benefits and support the ecosystem by providing shelter and food for native insects and pollinators that make up the web of life that has co-evolved for thousands of years. In addition, native plants are easier to maintain, requiring less water once established and have little need for chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
Over half of Toronto’s tree canopy grows on private property, and property owners play a major role in maximizing the health and “sponginess” of cities.
There are many resources for creating a native plant garden, including webinars, community garden groups, and environmental organizations. In Toronto, the city manages a grant program, PollinateTO, for the creation of pollinator and rain gardens, and local author and activist Lorraine Johnson’s latest garden book, A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators, is a very useful resource.
In Toronto, there is a community initiative to rewild yards with oak saplings grown from acorns of local old growth oak trees. Native plants grown from local seed are adapted to our region’s climate and will leaf out and flower in sync with native insect life cycles. Plants grown from local seed preserve genetic diversity since many nursery plants, especially nativars, are clones with the exact same DNA. Genetic diversity, one type of biodiversity, is important for plants’ resistance to disease and climate change.
I’ve felt so many benefits from community stewardship events. Beyond the reward of teamwork, they’re an opportunity for meeting neighbours, friends of friends, spending time being active and outdoors and learning from others while sharing what you know. A monumental task becomes fun and easy with a group.
Depave projects by Green Communities Canada emphasize manual labour because the physical effort by community members often translates to support, a sense of ownership and long-term stewardship, which is vital for the longevity and success of any green space.
Inspired to get involved? There are things you can do to take care of the urban environment and protect our water resources.
Start stewarding on your own by learning about the native plants and insects of your region and why they are important. Put in a rain barrel for your house, plant native grasses and wildflowers, or join a nature walk in your community. Know the names of the creeks and waterways that once flowed in your region, and identify which watershed you are in. Start at Evergreen Brick Works, where nature walks occur every Saturday, and learn about Mud Creek, which flowed through the site before joining with the Don River.
