As a Montreal borough council looked for more data and BSE students sought to apply their education beyond the classroom, a group of fourth-year Environment 401 students gathered data to help analyze street pedestrianization.
BSE students Rebecca Todd and Joey Hull, along with their research group, spent the semester observing and comparing the pedestrianization of award winning Rue Wellington with nearby traffic heavy Verdun Street.
“It was interesting to see how the street changed,” Hull said. During the pedestrian-only period, Rue Wellington “became something more than just a street of economic value and rather more of a place of social interaction.”
The Environment 401 course partners students with Montreal community organizations to examine real-world environmental questions. In Verdun, the group tracked how many people used the streets, who used them, and how they spent their time.
The differences were stark. “There was a sharp decline in the number of people using the rue Wellington just a week after it reopened to cars,” Hull said. By contrast, Verdun street saw only a modest seasonal decline. For Hull, the comparison “showed how much pedestrianization can change street usage.”
Todd said the real impact lay in what the space enabled. Pedestrianization made room for patios, street furniture, swings, and places to linger, features that “make that space more of a destination in itself, rather than just a way to get from point A to point B.”
The group also observed a diverse crowd. “We saw more children and adults we assumed were over 60 on pedestrianized Wellington in the summer,” Todd noted. That intergenerational presence fed into the idea of “third spaces,” or public places outside home and work that foster community. “Pedestrian streets help create off screen ways we can connect and keep building community,” she said.
Even transportation habits shifted. Analysis of open source BIXI data showed cycling trips to Wellington increased steadily from June onward, suggesting the street’s growing appeal as a destination.
While some businesses remain concerned about reduced car access, the students hope their findings highlight the broader social benefits. As Rue Wellington prepares to close again for the summer, the research suggests that prioritizing people over vehicles can transform a street into a vibrant, shared community space.