<p>Interest in environmentally friendly, biodiverse, and cost-effective alternatives to traditional short-mowed lawns has grown significantly in recent years. This study aimed to identify factors that influence the diversity and composition of plant communities in public lawns converted into urban meadows through differentiated management practices. We conducted vegetation surveys in 41 urban meadows in Montreal, southeastern Québec, Canada. We measured various local environmental conditions (e.g., topography, shading, area, age) as well as characteristics of the surrounding landscape (e.g., population density, impervious surfaces). We assessed the relationships between these variables and alpha diversity using multiple linear regressions and generalized linear models. To evaluate differences in beta diversity among meadows grouped by age and urbanization level (indicated by surrounding population density), we conducted tests for homogeneity of multivariate dispersion. We used redundancy analyses to determine which variables best explain species composition. Our findings revealed that local alpha diversity decreased with increased trampling, higher surrounding population density, and greater distance from rivers. Conversely, alpha diversity increased with the proportion of high impervious surfaces (buildings) near the meadows. Urbanization negatively affected beta diversity and was one of the main drivers of species composition. While the age of the meadows did not impact alpha diversity, it enhanced beta diversity and led to shifts in species composition. Overall, our results indicate that variables related to urbanization and time elapsed since the cessation of intensive management are crucial in shaping urban meadow plant communities. These findings highlight the importance of considering landscape context when designing urban greening projects. Further research is necessary to evaluate the impact of various management regimes (e.g., mowing frequencies) on urban meadows.</p>