Waterfront Development Opportunities Past, Present and Future

[lrt's friend]

Ottawa's urban fabric developed around the Rideau Canal because that is what founded the city. It was its reason for being. Necessarily, that created problems because the nearby Ottawa riverfront was all cliffs. The city had to face away from it. Why did the canal corridor not become more urban? It had restricted land use since the days of Colonel By. It was built as a military canal, so restrictions existed all along. It could have turned out much worse, because we could have had rail lines on both sides of the canal or the canal abandoned and filled in. The other pocket of urban fabric developed around Chaudiere Falls but water power made it industrial.

Many cities have had problems making their waterfronts people places. It is still a work in progress in Toronto.

The picture of Chicago and we should consider also Millennium Park are the result of a lot of work and money and they succeed with nearby density. Look at those high rises. Remember Chicago is almost 10 times the size of Ottawa as well. Ottawa lacks density next to our waterways and it will take a long time to correct that.

As others have pointed out, Zibi is our biggest hope and then Lebreton, if we can get it off the ground. But if we build our density 500m from the water, as we are often doing in Westboro and Hintonburg, that is too far to create a lively pedestrian waterfront. Even a block or two of nothing interesting, is a barrier for pedestrians.

We have a lot of work to create an interesting riverfront that is beyond walking and biking trails and roads.