The Living Cities Canada Fund by Green Communities Canada enables communities across Canada to use nature-based solutions to increase their climate resiliency.
With rising global temperatures and loss of biodiversity, Canadians may be wondering how they can take action to address these issues. An important part of the solution is to regreen our cities.
Activities like planting trees instead of lawns and installing pollinator gardens in neglected spaces will make our cities resilient and better places to live.
Urban areas with plentiful green spaces and canopy cover become living cities — places where plants provide beauty and deep connections to nature, while also improving air and water quality, reducing urban heat, and creating habitat for diverse species.
However, increasing the greenery within Canadian cities can be a challenging task. Across Canada, local organizations are working hard to address local environmental issues and may not have enough funding or capacity to execute and maintain these sites in strategic ways. This is where Green Communities Canada’s Living Cities Canada Fund plays an important role.
Creating Living Cities
Living Cities Canada Fund provides funding, coaching, and resources to local community organizations across the country to implement green infrastructure projects.
In 2023, the Fund supported the creation of new green spaces in 17 communities across seven provinces in Canada. These projects included planting mini forests, rain gardens and pollinator gardens, ‘depaving’ spaces, and re-naturalizing areas after wildfires. In total, the projects established nearly 5,000 m2 (equivalent to the size of 12 basketball courts) of new green spaces across Canada!
The Living Cities Canada Fund empowers people to work together, and actually do something about climate change, starting with the communities in which they live
Emily Amon, Green Infrastructure Director,
Green Communities Canada
“The Living Cities Canada Fund empowers people to work together, and actually do something about climate change, starting with the communities in which they live,” says Emily Amon, Director of Green Infrastructure at Green Communities Canada.
Building Community
The Fund promotes urban greening that is equitable, abundant, and thriving — that means, the green spaces are designed to be accessible to all.
Projects are executed in public spaces, including community centres, Indigenous communities and cultural sites, social housing complexes, faith buildings, schools, and more. All activities are carried out through fun and empowering volunteer planting events that engage community members of all ages and backgrounds.
In 2024, 11 Transform Stream projects will be implemented. These larger-scale initiatives will invite communities to get involved in the planning process on a deeper level. The projects are designed through intensive public consultation as well as community mapping to identify and support communities that currently lack access to green spaces.
How Can You Get Involved? While individual efforts like planting native species or pollinator gardens are great, working with a group of like-minded people can give you a sense of community and make you feel part of a larger solution. Such community-led planting events could be avenues for you to act on climate and make your neighbourhood a better place to live.
Sign up for the Green Communities Canada newsletter to learn about upcoming events.
