This year again, local leaders gathered their neighbours, built connections, and restored nature in projects big and small. The movement continues to expand, and we're pleased to share just some of these impacts in our 2025 Impact Report.
Ready to rally your crew and make a visible difference in your local park? This guide walks you through everything you need to host a successful community clean-up in Toronto
Creative ways to connect people to nature, community, and care for ravines in Toronto.
Parc Jarry in Montreal, Toronto’s waterfront, CRAB Park in Vancouver… People are coming together to protect the places they love.
What could Toronto’s parks look like in the years ahead? Our 2026 Parks Platform brings together ideas from Torontonians and four priorities for a more resilient, joyful and connected city.
Host free, community-led park activities in Toronto with the No-Fee Community Activations Booking. This hour-long virtual session will walk you through the booking: what's eligible, and how to apply step by step.
Hosted by Park People and World Urban Parks, this global gathering will bring together 450+ park leaders from Canada and around the world to share and explore practical and creative park and public space ideas, and seed new relationships, collaborations, and ways of working.
By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
TIME, DATE
May 30, 2027, - Jun 2, 2026,
Location
Greater Montreal Montreal, Quebec
📅 Sunday, May 30 to Wednesday, June 2, 2027
📍Hotel Bonaventure, Montreal,
This event will be held in English and French.
Stay in the loop: Join our newsletter for the latest updates, including program details, speakers, and registration.
Play a role in the conference: For sponsorship, exhibitor table, speaking, and registration inquiries, contact CJ Blye at cjblye@parkpeople.ca.
Join 450+ park leaders from Canada and around the world in Montreal at the Park People & World Urban Parks Congress 2027. Discover new ideas, attend field trips, and make connections that will change how you work.
Presented by Park People and World Urban Parks, this global gathering will explore practical and creative park and public space solutions, from around the world and right down the street. The first World Urban Parks congress to be held in Canada, this event brings together a unique group of people who are reimagining their work in parks to meet the biggest challenges of our time. You’ll leave with inspiration you can put into practice and new relationships to help make it happen.
Municipal employees, park professionals, researchers, nonprofit organizations, designers, public health practitioners, and industry partners.
Inspiring keynotes, panels, interactive workshops, field trips, exhibitor booths and networking opportunities.
Cities are getting hotter, denser, and more socially divided. As climate change impacts accelerate and more and more people move to cities, urban parks are increasingly being recognized as critical social, health, and environmental infrastructure. But unlocking their full potential in a changing world requires innovation, transformative collaboration, and new approaches to funding and governance.
Across the world, people are finding new ways to make parks and public spaces more welcoming, resilient, joyful, and responsive to the needs of our cities. The Park People and World Urban Parks Congress will bring these ideas and perspectives together in Montreal.
There is no better place for us to gather than Montreal, a meeting place between languages, worldviews, and ideas. Globally renowned and locally beloved, Montreal has an established reputation for public space innovation. It hosts several of Canada’s most ambitious blue-green infrastructure initiatives, including sponge parks and Quebec’s first sponge street, Canada’s largest planned municipal park, le Grand Parc de L’Ouest, and collaborative governance models, including the Quartier des Spectacles and le Mont Royal. Montreal is a four-season city, full of inspiring ideas for managing parks in rain, snow or sun, as we adapt to changing climate conditions. Visionary laneway greening, river access and pedestrianization initiatives are expanding the public realm, while ambitious public art programs and excellent landscape architecture and urban design ensure new public spaces are attractive and beloved by locals and tourists alike.
Park People is Canada’s only national, bilingual organization dedicated to championing city parks. Since 2011, Park People has collaborated with thousands of community leaders, municipal staff, park professionals, and non-profits to make park systems more resilient and responsive to the people who use them.
World Urban Parks is the international organization dedicated to advancing urban parks, open spaces, and healthy cities around the world, representing park professionals, municipalities, researchers, and organizations across more than 70 countries.
The Park People & World Urban Parks Congress is a unique opportunity to bring these two networks together and share knowledge, experiences, and approaches across different cities and contexts.