Ideas/Visions for Ottawa, Canada's Capital

[Marshsparrow]

Tearing down and starting from scratch could be an option...

Too many public servant "Karen" types still... NIMBYism everywhere.

The central experimental farm, rivers and canal have so many possibilities and yet we do nothing.

The city has changed greatly but I think we need new leadership and energy to do anything "BIG".

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Ottawa will always have a quiet reputation regardless of what it does. It's part and parcel of being a created national capitol. This is why it will also be used as a swear word by Canadians...........saying Ottawa is de facto saying the government. It of course is also viewed as a fat cat city. How can Ottawa seem exciting when it's only 200 km from Montreal and sandwiched between Montreal & Toronto?

I agree that Ottawa has no inner city parks little alone downtown. It certainly has the beautiful Rideau Canal but no actual parks or gardens. It's a very odd omission for a national capitol.

I don't really buy this. Ottawa already has a different feel than either Montreal and Toronto in a positive sense. I think we need to build upon this. We can't be the 'big city', but that should not stop us from being more exciting. Winterlude is an example of something that is uniquely Ottawa that neither big city can offer.

I agree with acottawa that we need indoor attractions that are not museums and that could add to Ottawa as a destination in both summer and winter. An indoor waterpark would be an oasis in Ottawa's long winters (for locals and visitors) and would be an attraction to complement Winterlude, which is not always reliable.

[Aylmer]

We have an example just today of how Ottawa could be a lot more dynamic: Bank St is open to people and patios through all of Centretown. I went down earlier to check it out, and even in the rain, it was much livelier than usual. And this is with just a couple of cones and wooden barriers. Imagine what could be done if we actually invested in some street paint, some furniture, some weather protection, and some light animation.

What people remember most of any city is the street life. Places like Niagara Falls have all the gimmicks and indoor attractions you can shake a stick at, but no one ever stays there longer than the duration of a Falls selfie, yet people return again and again to Place Des Arts or Queen St East just to take in the atmosphere. Even without a single wax museum in sight, I ran into friends from all over the city and suburbs at Bank today who all came just to take it in. Attractions can be a supplement to great street life, but never a replacement for it.

[grooveduster]

I've been thinking about this for many, many years and have come up with a few ideas.

The first is to focus less on the Parliament buildings as a tourist "draw". It's a beautiful building for sure, but no one really goes to Paris or London solely to see the seat of government. Let's see what happens if we let go of Parliament as our city mascot.

A large common parkspace is essential, like Central park, Hyde Park, Mont Royal Park, etc. There are many parks in downtown Ottawa, but none really speaks "Let's spend a day walking around and get lost!" kinda thing. This proposed park needs an easy to remember name, a clear "entrance", and proper branding.
Gatineau park doesn't apply, since it's not walking distance from the downtown core, and well...it's not in Ottawa.

Rideau Canal needs a vibrant waterfront designated as a food destination. I'm soooooo embarrassed by "Mexi's" and "The Ritz". Why those destinations?? ...and why only two of them?? Yipes...such a waste. Ottawa's food scene is so hot right now (cue Mugatu voice), and if that scene existed on the canal, it might be in danger of becoming an international destination!

Ottawa must attract the arts community, since nothing makes a city cooler than a vibrant underground and overground artistic vibe. A working class city like Manchester created and cultivated a vibe where the arts thrived, along with the headaches associated with it, but they dealt with it, and no one would now label Manchester as "boring". Ottawa needs to become an arts destination, complete with any moral, cultural, and questionable challenges that come with it. Offer huge tax breaks to film productions and music festivals. As a working member of the entertainment industry, I can speak directly to the benefits of financial incentives to attract the arts.

Ottawa needs more objects of "awe" that can be seen from distant vantage points, ie CN Tower, Empire State, etc. I'm sorry, but a government building doesn't really represent this, nor does it inspire imagination and success. I can't imagine an impressionable youth ever thinking..."wow..look at that government building...one day I hope to legislate!..."

Lastly, if we go the DC route, all museums should be within walking distance from one another. Tell my why the (beautiful) Aviation Museum is where it is?? Why is the Science and Tech Museum next to Dooleys in an industrial park? Who makes these decisions?? Such wasted opportunities....

Don't get me wrong friends, I love Ottawa, buy man oh man, could it ever use a re-think...it could be great...and don't even get me started on the ratty utility poles everywhere....

[grooveduster]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

We have an example just today of how Ottawa could be a lot more dynamic: Bank St is open to people and patios through all of Centretown. I went down earlier to check it out, and even in the rain, it was much livelier than usual. And this is with just a couple of cones and wooden barriers. Imagine what could be done if we actually invested in some street paint, some furniture, some weather protection, and some light animation.

What people remember most of any city is the street life. Places like Niagara Falls have all the gimmicks and indoor attractions you can shake a stick at, but no one ever stays there longer than the duration of a Falls selfie, yet people return again and again to Place Des Arts or Queen St East just to take in the atmosphere. Even without a single wax museum in sight, I ran into friends from all over the city and suburbs at Bank today who all came just to take it in. Attractions can be a supplement to great street life, but never a replacement for it.

You're absolutely correct....

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Ottawa has been maligned as the city that fun forgot. I believe that is not really true.

What does Ottawa need to add or change to end that perception?

Change: Some of Ontario's anti-fun provincial policies. That's out of Ottawa's hands alone.
Change: Too many properties with PWGSC as the landlord on Sparks.
Change: Reflexive anti-building, pro-shrubbery mindset whenever it comes to any development or redevelopment.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

A truly walkable city. Not just better transit. Nobody goes to Montreal to ride the metro.

Narrator: People totally do that.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I agree that Ottawa has no inner city parks little alone downtown.

Have you ever been to Ottawa?

It certainly has the beautiful Rideau Canal but no actual parks or gardens. It's a very odd omission for a national capitol.

Have you ever seen a map of Ottawa?

Why are so many people in Ottawa convinced that (a) Ottawa is lacking in parks, and (b) parks are the key to make a city more "dynamic/vibrant/exciting", etc.?

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Ottawa focuses way too much on middle to affluent (mostly family) tourism.

This is a problem all across Canada, and it's only gotten worse as inter-provincial and inter-city passenger transport that isn't a plane or a private automobile has atrophied over the past few decades.

Ottawa has become increasingly gentrified, pushing affordable spaces conducive to artistic activity out of the picture. We need more incubators for originality and uniqueness.

Similarly, on the small-office and small-retail side. We keep losing small spaces in our older and interesting neighbourhoods to demolition and redevelopment that can only ever attract the Shoppers and Rexalls, while at the same time making it impossible to build new neighbourhoods according to the old and cross-pollinating way of building a city and its culture.

You want your city to not be boring? Stop allowing only boring 🞵🞵🞵🞵 to be built, start allowing non-boring things to be built, and stop hollowing out the parts and institutions in your city that tend towards making it less boring.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by grooveduster

The first is to focus less on the Parliament buildings as a tourist "draw". It's a beautiful building for sure, but no one really goes to Paris or London solely to see the seat of government.

I can guarantee you, more people go to Ottawa or Paris or London to see the buildings that mark them as national capitals, than who do so to check out the quality of the turf in the parks.

A large common parkspace is essential, like Central park, Hyde Park, Mont Royal Park, etc.

We have a whole bunch of them. The issue is not a shortage of "green" space, because Ottawa doesn't have such a shortage - it's in how we use them, and in how we are permitted to use them. The NCC, the 🞵🞵🞵🞵 attitude of the city, the Presbyterian Ontario attitude towards alcohol, the local NIMBY and Karen culture; THOSE are the problems, not some imaginary lack of parks.

There are many parks in downtown Ottawa, but none really speaks "Let's spend a day walking around and get lost!" kinda thing. This proposed park needs an easy to remember name, a clear "entrance", and proper branding.

What "proposed park"? What urban fabric will we uproot in the core of Ottawa to satisfy our apparently endless "green space" fetish?

Lastly, if we go the DC route, all museums should be within walking distance from one another. Tell my why the (beautiful) Aviation Museum is where it is??

So that aircraft can be delivered to it before being decommissioned for museum display?

Don't get me wrong friends, I love Ottawa, buy man oh man, could it ever use a re-think...it could be great...and don't even get me started on the ratty utility poles everywhere....

Another one of those bizarre Ottawa fixations: poles. As if Ottawa, and Ottawa alone, has utility poles.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Why are so many people in Ottawa convinced that (a) Ottawa is lacking in parks, and (b) parks are the key to make a city more "dynamic/vibrant/exciting", etc.?

Well put. Ottawa has poor street life. And that is a huge part of why it lacks draw. The market is still kind of unfriendly to pedestrians. Sparks St. has a weird disjointed patio scene. The canal does not even have hot dog carts on it in the summer. Most of the museums require transit to get to them. So not pedestrian friendly.

I don't think of Ottawa as the city that fun forgot. I think of Ottawa as the city that let suburbanites run amok. There's nothing truly urban about it. The planning 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵. And as a result so does the street life. It reflects the fact that most of the city is 9-5 McMansion dwellers who see their relationship to the core as entirely transactional.

And unless that changes, for most tourists Ottawa will be the 2 hr lunch stop on the cheap Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal bus tours.

[Truenorth00]

Here's a simple exercise. Think of every great city you've ever visited and think of their relationship to the closest body of water. Be that a river, lake or ocean. Now think of Ottawa's relationship to the canal and river. Like everything else, our canal is a parking lot for the upper middle class in the Summer.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

What people remember most of any city is the street life. Places like Niagara Falls have all the gimmicks and indoor attractions you can shake a stick at, but no one ever stays there longer than the duration of a Falls selfie, yet people return again and again to Place Des Arts or Queen St East just to take in the atmosphere.

Have you ever lived in the GTA? If you think people going to Niagara only for a picture of the the Falls than you don't know much about the area.

[wave46]

Is Ottawa that un-fun?

For a city of its size, I thought it did quite well. I thought the perception was a holdover from the 1970s, maybe.

There are places for improvement, sure. Moving Canadian Tire Place downtown would be a good start. The Science and Tech Museum out of the boonies. Encouraging further mixed-use development.

It does quite well on a population adjusted basis. I can't think of another city with its population (say, 1-2.5 million metro) in North America that does better, aside from extreme examples like Las Vegas.

It doesn't have that cool, "happening" vibe, but I think that's more intrinsic to its nature. A designed government town is hard-pressed to have that vibe. Somewhere like Canberra, Australia is deadsville comparatively to Ottawa. Same with Brasilia. Washington DC is a much larger city and the heart of a superpower. Other world capitals don't work that way, because they're also the centre of their respective universes in most senses.

I guess Ottawa could look to somewhere like Wellington, NZ for inspiration. Wellington felt bigger than it was.

I'm just wondering where the goalposts are, mostly.

[ericmacm]

When I visited Ottawa, one of the worst things was the pricing of hotel rooms during weekdays. The cost difference between a hotel during the week vs the weekend was astronomical, like 100-200% higher during the week. I have been told that this is due to governmental usage of hotels during the week. I wanted to stay longer, but I simply could not afford a room at the weekday rates. I also stayed in Montreal and Quebec City on the same road trip, and did not experience a problem like this in those cities.

This issue is a huge barrier to tourism and if fixed, would result in more people visiting the city. Ottawa needs an increase in hotel supply to help lower these rates.

[grooveduster]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

I can guarantee you, more people go to Ottawa or Paris or London to see the buildings that mark them as national capitals, than who do so to check out the quality of the turf in the parks.



We have a whole bunch of them. The issue is not a shortage of "green" space, because Ottawa doesn't have such a shortage - it's in how we use them, and in how we are permitted to use them. The NCC, the 🞵🞵🞵🞵 attitude of the city, the Presbyterian Ontario attitude towards alcohol, the local NIMBY and Karen culture; THOSE are the problems, not some imaginary lack of parks.



What "proposed park"? What urban fabric will we uproot in the core of Ottawa to satisfy our apparently endless "green space" fetish?



So that aircraft can be delivered to it before being decommissioned for museum display?



Another one of those bizarre Ottawa fixations: poles. As if Ottawa, and Ottawa alone, has utility poles.

Uhuniau, I dig this city...I'm just trying to envision it as world class, because I think it's possible. You disparage my points, and that's OK, but don't you think we should "raise the bar" and not be satisfied with mediocrity? I agree with your points on nimbyism and Karens...you're totally on point...but your responses to some of my points exemplifies the problem with this city...sort of a myopic view to what's possible. (ie. why is the aviation museum in the middle of nowhere, when the DC museum is right downtown...no one flew that super cool X-15 to a local DC airport nearby before it was decommissioned, brother). The 'proposed park' I was referring to was imaginary...it could be Lebreton...some useless piece of disputed unused land turned into something cool. It bugs me that there are so many unused parks in Ottawa, and not a single "central" park. I'm not advocating for more green space, just a single really cool big green space, you know? Work with me here....we're on the same forum....we're on the same page.

[wave46]

I think a lot of it comes down to this: a city is the product of the minds of the people who inhabit it.

You can't really plan 'cool' or 'trendy'. It just happens and is the product of the people who live there of a time. Government minds cannot really operate beyond the framework they're in.

The mob-controlled casinos gave Vegas the aura it did. New York City's aura was the product of decades of transition, much of it quite unpleasant.

Ottawa won't be 'cool' in that sense, because the mindset of the majority won't allow for that spirit of the young independent-minded. San Francisco is learning that the hard way now.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by grooveduster

Uhuniau, I dig this city...I'm just trying to envision it as world class, because I think it's possible. You disparage my points, and that's OK, but don't you think we should "raise the bar" and not be satisfied with mediocrity? I agree with your points on nimbyism and Karens...you're totally on point...but your responses to some of my points exemplifies the problem with this city...sort of a myopic view to what's possible. (ie. why is the aviation museum in the middle of nowhere, when the DC museum is right downtown...no one flew that super cool X-15 to a local DC airport nearby before it was decommissioned, brother). The 'proposed park' I was referring to was imaginary...it could be Lebreton...some useless piece of disputed unused land turned into something cool. It bugs me that there are so many unused parks in Ottawa, and not a single "central" park. I'm not advocating for more green space, just a single really cool big green space, you know? Work with me here....we're on the same forum....we're on the same page.

Ottawa's existing parks are an asset and actually make the city distinctive, a very green city that many visitors admire. The bike paths along the canal and rivers to the extent that we have them is really special. However, the NIMBY's that prevented Ottawa getting a proper botanical garden did this city a major disservice, especially since that facility could have been reached from light rail stations. I am hoping the Zibi development will provide a new way for the city to interact with the Ottawa River and provide new beautiful views of the Parliament Buildings. The Parliament Buildings should not be downplayed. They are buildings of outstanding world-class architecture. We should not aspire to a CN Tower and it is highly unlikely that a condo tower will ever have the architectural merit to make it a premier landmark. I remember visiting Wroclaw, Poland, which had built one massive tower in an otherwise mostly low rise city. It stood out like a sore thumb and did not add to the city's beauty.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Have you ever lived in the GTA? If you think people going to Niagara only for a picture of the the Falls than you don't know much about the area.

I agree. I actually like Niagara Falls for more than the beauty of the falls and I don't mind Clifton Hill because it ties in with the city's history. The parks along the Niagara River are beautiful, then their are the historical sites, Niagara-on-the-lake, all the wineries and for those who like it, the casinos. There are lots of attractions for all ages. Niagara Falls is a weekend getaway for the GTA and nearby USA residents given the much higher hotel rates on weekends.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

I can guarantee you, more people go to Ottawa or Paris or London to see the buildings that mark them as national capitals, than who do so to check out the quality of the turf in the parks.



We have a whole bunch of them. The issue is not a shortage of "green" space, because Ottawa doesn't have such a shortage - it's in how we use them, and in how we are permitted to use them. The NCC, the 🞵🞵🞵🞵 attitude of the city, the Presbyterian Ontario attitude towards alcohol, the local NIMBY and Karen culture; THOSE are the problems, not some imaginary lack of parks.



What "proposed park"? What urban fabric will we uproot in the core of Ottawa to satisfy our apparently endless "green space" fetish?
.

I would agree with you that there is more than enough green space in central Ottawa.

A large central park isn't always good for urban vibrancy because it typically separates at least two parts of the city and a lot of people will be reluctant to cross through it on foot after dark. Especially when alone.

It works in NYC because the city has so much going for it in terms of vibrancy, but for a city that wants to up its game on that front, it's probably not a good idea.

I'd also agree on what has been said about optimizing and "dynamizing" the green space that is already there, most notably the areas along the canal that could take some inspiration from the River Walk (Paseo del Rio) in San Antonio which has cafés, restaurants and boutiques. (Feel like I am saying that for the millonth time.)