While a few neighborhoods in the United States, like San Francisco’s Chinatown, have begun to touch up their alleys, Montreal’s wide-ranging embrace of the spaces stands out. The city incorporates its back routes into events, from Restaurant Weeks that include alleyway pop-ups to “white alleys” with winter sledding and ice rinks.

Montreal’s several thousand alleyways started as country routes along old agricultural tracts. By the early 20th century they’d developed into social centers where children played and merchants delivered ice and coal. Informal alley use continued through the decades. Danny Pavlopoulos, 29, a Spade & Palacio co-founder, recalled playing hockey behind his neighborhood’s row houses growing up. Now he’s among the Montrealers formalizing their communal spaces by seeking a Ruelle Verte designation, his in the immigrant-heavy Parc-Extension area.