Depave Paradise is a project of Green Communities Canada and Green Venture that engages volunteers and neighbourhoods in Canadian communities to remove pavement (by hand!) and plant gardens filled with native species or install permeable surfaces in its place. Hard surfaces, such as driveways, parking lots and buildings, interrupt the natural water cycle by preventing rain water from soaking into the ground. This in turn leads to flooding, poor water quality, and creates urban heat islands that are warming up our cities. By removing pavement and replacing it with green space, we are increasing the infiltration rate of rainwater, cooling our neighbourhoods, keeping our water clean by filtering polluted runoff, increasing natural habitat for birds, bees, and butterflies, and providing us and our children with greater connections to the natural world.
Through partnerships with local schools, organizations and community groups, Green Venture removes asphalt and concrete to renew and beautify community spaces by adding natural playgrounds, community vegetable gardens, trees, rain gardens, permeable pavers and other permeable surfaces. In addition to building a strong sense of community, this program also increases usable public space and frequently improves a community’s water quality.
Since 2012 Green Venture has Depaved:
1435 m² of Asphalt at 13 Sites, absorbing approximately 1,583,770L of stormwater annually. See our projects below and on the DepaveParadise.ca site here.
Beyond community building, the benefits of depaving are numerous and include:
- Decreasing the runoff of stormwater to lower its impacts on our sewers and help improve our community’s water quality and restore natural hydrologic cycle
- Increasing urban green space and ecosystems present in our cities and reversing the proliferation of hard surfaces
- Educating residents about the effects of stormwater runoff and benefits of permeable surfaces, green space and reconnecting the urban landscape to nature
- Fostering behavioural change and community engagement
- Decrease the heat island effect and help cool urban areas
Seeing too much pavement in your community? Tell us where! We depave everything from city property, school playgrounds, old parking lots, to business fronts & more! As long as it’s pavement where people will appreciate more greenspace. We want to make your wishful thinking a reality! So get excited and be sure to send us an email at depave@greenventure.ca with any and all potential sites! Check out this blog post to learn more about Depave and what makes an ideal site.
Area Depaved: 93 m2
Storm Water Diverted: 82 770 L annually
Plants added: 7 trees, 20 shrubs, 500+ perennials
Location: Good Shepherd Venture Centre (155 Cannon St E, Hamilton ON)
In the spring of 2022, a long awaited initiative to add more green and shade along Cannon St E was completed! After depaving two long beds at the Good Shepherd Venture Centre, right beside the sidewalk in September of 2021, volunteers added hundreds of plants and 7 native trees to the Beasley Neighbourhood. The site has a combination of native species and hardy nativars that have been specifically chosen to provide year-round beauty, stormwater infiltration, shade/cooling and pollinator habitat. A partnership between the Beasley Neighbourhood Association, Friendly Streets Hamilton—an initiative of Environment Hamilton and Cycle Hamilton, Good Shepherd Venture Centre and Green Venture led the project with funding from PlanLocal Ward 2 Beautiful Streets and Spaces, and the Green Communities Canada Depave Paradise program.
Thank you to our community donors on this project:
Area Depaved: 197 m2
Storm Water Diverted: 257 500 L annually
Plants added: 12 trees, 33 shrubs, 268 perennials
Locations: 578-581 Barton St E. & 539 Barton St E.
In the spring of 2021, amidst pandemic restrictions, we depaved 2 city-owned boulevards in partnership with the Barton Village BIA and Amaprop Canada Inc. We made the difficult decision to carry out the projects as planned because we didn’t want to delay the benefits of urban greenspaces in Hamilton. Building up community-based climate resilience simply could not wait until the pandemic allowed. Engagement took place in other ways, including a street clean-up and education at street events later in the summer. Green Venture’s coordination of this Depave Paradise is made possible by funds from the Ontario Trillium Foundation through Green Communities Canada. Project support from the Barton Village BIA was via the TD Green Space Grant program—a grant made available through a partnership between TD Bank and the Arbor Day Foundation.
Thank you to our community donors on this project:
Area Depaved: 89m2
Storm Water Diverted: 364 000 L annually
Native Plants: 1 tree, 10 shrubs, 120 plants!
Volunteers: 20
Hardworking community volunteers came together on October 19th and 21st, to remove asphalt and replace it with gardens at EduDeo Ministries. The downspout draining the roof of this building was re-directed into a rain garden, and a pollinator garden and permeable seating area were also added. A huge thanks goes out to our many community partners and sponsors, and to the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Green Communities Canada, and the Hamilton Community Foundation for making this possible.
Thank you to our community donors on this project:
Area Depaved: 172m2
Storm Water Diverted: 143 620 L annually
Native Plants: 542 + 12 trees!
Volunteers: 204
Students, staff, administration and community volunteers created an environmental learning space at Yorkview Elementary School. Three rain gardens, hundreds of native trees, shrubs and plants and 10 garden boxes, one for each class, we’re created by volunteers. See our graphic for sponsors and partners. Thanks to Conservers Society and District for charitable sponsorship for the Yorkview Depave Paradise project.
Check out the project in our blog post!
Area Depaved: 202m2
Storm Water Diverted: 160 694 L annually
Native Plants: 219 + 3 trees!
Volunteers: 105
Over 100 parents, students, teachers and administrative staff helped to Depave this area to create a natural green space for students including a permeable pathway through a rain garden, butterfly garden, native grass garden, sensory garden and the “Lake Adelaide” garden.
Area Depaved: 50m2
Storm Water Diverted: 59 000 L annually
Native Plants: 30
Volunteers: 42
Welcome Inn Community Centre and New Horizons Thrift Shop partnered with Green Venture to install 2100 square feet of EcoRaster permeable pavers at the James St. parking lot. Seeded with microgreens with parking lot with absorb and filter stormwater!
Area Depaved: 113m2
Stormwater Diverted: 126 660 L annually
Native Plants: 174 + 5 trees!
Volunteers: 74
The Crown Point Garden Club, Homeside Hub Community Planning Team, Crown Point Planning Committee, and Green Venture partnered to change four parking spots in the lot into a vibrant garden for all to enjoy!
Area Depaved: 185m2
Storm Water Diverted: 205 000 L annually
Native Plants: 2 trees!
Volunteers: 69
Students and staff from Monseigneur de Laval depaved a portion of their schoolyard to create an outdoor classroom!
Area Depaved: 53m2
Storm Water Diverted: 47 496 L annually
Native Plants: 104 + 1 tree!
Volunteers: 53
St. Brigid school transformed a section of their asphalt yard into a green space. Each student participated by drawing their vision for the area, then helped to make it a reality by planting, mulched, raking, depaving and watering!
