About Us
Gardening on city rooftops, terraces and balconies is an original and creative way to reclaim unused areas of the city and transform them into productive green spaces that help contribute to urban ecology. It is with this intention that the Rooftop Garden Project has been exploring new ways to interact with urban man-made environment and the food cycle, for a greener city and healthier communities.
Urban gardens produce fruit and vegetables ecologically, encourage healthy and productive physical activity and brighten up the city. In addition to this, they also help reduce heat islands (domes of warm, polluted air that hover over urban environments), make use of organic waste, increase biodiversity and improve air quality
The innovative method of soil-less cultivation, which Alternatives heartily supports, involves growing fruit and vegetables in self-watering containers. This simple adapted technique optimizes plant growth by providing a constant source of water and oxygen. Not only can the containers hold enough water to sustain the plants for 3-5 days, they are also able to collect rainwater. Containers are portable and adaptable and can thus be used to grow food in areas with contaminated soil.
The new green community spaces have been designed as collective gardens, making participation possible in both public and private areas. This is founded in a desire to offer some simple food production models that are affordable, environmentally-friendly and easy to adapt for use in both the South and the North, in a response to growing urbanization, pollution and growing urban poverty.
The Rooftop Garden Project is a combination of hydroponic cultivation, permaculture, organic agriculture and collective gardening. It has inspired numerous initiatives in Québec, Canada and elsewhere in the world.
The Rooftop Garden Project is funded by Alternatives, an international development organization in Montreal. Its partnership with Santropol Roulant, a food distribution organization, has helped the project take root in the community. The project is grounded in several progressive partnerships in an effort to increase and spread urban greening. Partnerships have been formed with McGill University and UQUAM, the City of Montréal, the ITHQ, Patro le Prévost, volunteers and the collective community gardens in Montréal and Québec, in addition to partners in Cuba, Mali, and South Africa.
In 2008, the Rooftop Garden Project earned the highest environmental distinction in Quebec, the Phénix de l’environnement, and received the 2008 National Urban Design Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) for its collaborative project with McGill University’s Minimum Cost Housing Groupe and Santropol Roulant.
The Rooftop Garden Project - growing our community
The Rooftop Gardening Project is an innovative partnership between Alternatives, an international cooperation network, and Santropol Roulant, a community organisation in Montreal. Together we are making widespread rooftop gardening a reality in Montreal and around the world. Our novel soil-less gardens empower urban residents to produce their own food, green their neighbourhoods and build healthy communities.
Building on Alternatives' international experience in the field of urban agriculture and Santropol Roulant's strong links within the Montreal community, The Rooftop Garden Project is a tangible link between local action and global thinking.
Find out how to get involved by volunteering in the demonstration garden.
We have combined hydroponics, permaculture and organic gardening principles to develop soil-less growing techniques that are ecologically sustainable, affordable and light-weight enough to be used on rooftops, balconies, walls and other small urban spaces.
From seed to the table, The Rooftop Garden Project has a unique perspective on what a community garden can yield. The food that we grow and harvest in the Montreal demonstration garden is cultivated entirely by volunteers and members of our community, and goes directly to nourishing seniors and others living with a loss of autonomy.
Rooftop Gardening Partners
and Santropol Roulant
Local Partners in Quebec: The Rooftop Garden Project is helping two community groups and over fifty individual gardeners to start their own independent gardens. We are also working with the Urban Ecology Centre to promote new options for green roofs.
International Partners: The Rooftop Garden International Project brings together partners from Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Sengal and Morocco to strengthen food security, mitigate climate change and green our inner-cities, addressing many challenges shared by people in both Northern and Southern countries.
Funding Partners and Supporters: Alternatives and Santropol Roulant would like to thank these organisations for their generous support for The Rooftop Garden Project .
- The Public Health Agency of Canada
- Le Fonds d'action québécois pour le développement durable (FAQDD)
- The Ecoaction Program of Environment Canada
- The City of Montreal
- The International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
- The EJLB Foundation
- The University of Quebec
- The Kauffmann Foundation
- Foundation of Greater Montreal