This Vancouver Walking Tour is Reframing Public Design Through Boulevard Gardens

After several years of leading people through the streets of Mount Pleasant, Saba Farmand, landscape architect and the creator of Earth Day Boulevard Garden Walking Tours, is introducing a new route as part of Jane’s Walk on May 2. This time, he focuses on a different part of East Vancouver, moving through new streets lined with boulevard gardens.

It’s all about how small design choices can reshape the feel of a place. “Boulevard gardens” replace standard grass strips with planted spaces that add variation, texture and colour to the street. For Farmand, they also introduce something less visible but just as important. 

“One of the reasons why I really like boulevard gardens is because it’s one of those rare examples of personal expression through the medium of gardening in the public realm,” he says.

Even small design choices can change how people move through a street: a few well-placed rocks or stepping stones can turn an ordinary sidewalk into something fun. Children climb and hop between them, while others slow down, linger and take a closer look. 

“Anything that breaks the monotony of just lawn on the boulevard everywhere is an opportunity for people to notice and appreciate and slow down and just have a moment of pause,” he says. Details that might otherwise go unnoticed begin to stand out, shifting attention back to the street itself.

The tours, happening since 2021, have quietly built a following, growing from 23 attendees at the first walk to more than 200 in recent years. 

They tap into a broader shift in how people spend time in the city. Farmand says he’s seen a shift in how Vancouverites interact with their own city, with more people walking through their neighbourhoods and seeking out experiences that don’t involve spending money in restaurants or heading into the mountains.

These boulevard gardens encourage people to linger, to interact and to see their surroundings differently, shaping the overall feel of a street. They also contribute to a broader sense of place. 

As Farmand explains, they “help to beautify our streets” and “add character and identity to certain neighbourhoods.”

For Farmand, the goal is simple: to get people to appreciate the local beauty their neighbourhood already has to offer. 

“[It’s] just outside of our doorsteps, if we take the time to slow down and notice and appreciate it.”