Ideas/Visions for Ottawa, Canada's Capital

[lrt's friend]

Dynamic cities are the product of the mentality of their population, not the other way around. That sounds like defeatism, sure, but a lot of the suggestions here strike me as big 'top-down' instead of 'bottom-up' ideas. It's a product of a government minds, in a sense. I see this a lot in any industry - the culture inhibits thinking out of the box.

Only government particularly municipal government has the power to facilitate improving the way a city operates. We cannot have patios everywhere without the city's support. They set the sidewalk rules. We cannot create public places that people want to go to without the city's involvement. We cannot improve walking and bike infrastructure without the city's participation.

All of these things support making a city more dynamic if done properly. It might not make Ottawa, a Montreal or a New York, but that should not be our goal. Our goal should be to make a better Ottawa.

Yes, we need grassroots involvement, but that can be both a positive and a negative, ie Nimby's. Effective decisions are top-down because that is where the power is but it also depends on listening well to the people. Watch the video that I posted on building great public spaces. It is about New York City but can apply anywhere.

One important thing is that we get very creative people involved, who can get exciting projects past the bureaucrats, accountants and the engineers. Remember how a concern was expressed about maintenance costs of public spaces on Lebreton Flats. That makes you think of weed infested bland pieces of lawn or expanses of concrete would be the outcome. That points to a lack of creativity and even trying to stifle creativity. Great public spaces will attract both people and their money. Saving money could be counterproductive if we end up with something underwhelming and unattractive.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Would it be fair to say that the two universities punch below their weight in terms of contributions to a dynamic Ottawa?

In the case of Carleton University, is it because the campus in so insular, surrounded by water and greenspace and not interacting much with the neighbouring communities.

[acottawa]

Both universities are principally commuter schools. Students drive/transit home to the suburbs after class.

[J.OT13]

We can forget about the role of Universities for at least one academic year, but during normal times, they have a significant role. Our institutions are viewed as local/commuter schools, until we stop and think of the thousands of residences, both on campus and off.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

We can forget about the role of Universities for at least one academic year, but during normal times, they have a significant role. Our institutions are viewed as local/commuter schools, until we stop and think of the thousands of residences, both on campus and off.

Every university has that. It's the proportions that matter. I'm going to bet that non-local students at Queen's have a larger impact on Kingston than the same set at U of O and Carleton on Ottawa. And that's fine. Million+ metros are not usually college towns.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Would it be fair to say that the two universities punch below their weight in terms of contributions to a dynamic Ottawa?

U of O students contribute to a dynamic Byward Market and Sandy Hill, and increasingly Rideau east of King Edward.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

We can forget about the role of Universities for at least one academic year, but during normal times, they have a significant role. Our institutions are viewed as local/commuter schools, until we stop and think of the thousands of residences, both on campus and off.

3500 in residence is a pretty small impact in a city of Ottawa’s size. I know there are off campus students downtown, but I don’t think that is a large number either.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Every university has that. It's the proportions that matter. I'm going to bet that non-local students at Queen's have a larger impact on Kingston than the same set at U of O and Carleton on Ottawa. And that's fine. Million+ metros are not usually college towns.

It is not just the relative numbers, there are probably significantly more Queen’s students living in central Kingston than OttawaU students living in central Ottawa, despite OttawaU being twice the size.

[Urbanarchit]

I'd like to see King Edward Avenue restored to what it was with the linear park down the middle, and have something similar done to Rideau Street. I look to Sendai's Jozenji-dori. It's wide street with a linear park down the middle shaded by a lovely tree canopy, and lined by apartments, offices and shops. You can check out the link to it above. It looks somewhat human scale and friendly.



I wouldn't mind seeing such tree coverage on York Street.

[mykl]

I really don't think you can discount the high number of students living in Sandy Hill, Lowertown, and even in the Golden Triangle/Centretown and Lees. There are a LOT of students near the university, aside from its 11 residences. uOttawa is very good for the vibrancy of Ottawa's downtown. It also has some lovely architecture.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Urbanarchit

I'd like to see King Edward Avenue restored to what it was with the linear park down the middle, and have something similar done to Rideau Street. I look to Sendai's Jozenji-dori. It's wide street with a linear park down the middle shaded by a lovely tree canopy, and lined by apartments, offices and shops. You can check out the link to it above. It looks somewhat human scale and friendly.



I wouldn't mind seeing such tree coverage on York Street.

Ottawa lost so much when the elms were killed in the 60s and 70s. I don't remember the boulevard park on King Edward (I believe they were cut down in 1965), but I do remember other streets such as Island Park and Clemow Avenue that were lined with massive elm trees. I noted just last week of one surviving massive specimen on Island Park just north of Carling.

It demonstrated that although these streets have beautiful homes today, that the shade cast by those massive elms and the architecture created by those trees made it even better back when I was growing up, and nobody today can fully understand that.

I visited Greenville South Carolina a few years ago and the remarkable thing about that city was the shaded downtown streets. In areas with hot summers and this does include Ottawa, summer shade makes a more inviting space for pedestrians. While we know that urban street trees are shortlived, this indicates that we are not designing our streets and sidewalks to give them a reasonable chance of survival. Sidewalks are not wide enough, tree wells are not big enough and we are too dependent on using road salt to clear our streets in winter.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Acajack

That has never been my impression - at least not for table service restaurants.

Every single person or family I know in Europe eats (or ate) out far less often than my family, or what I observe among my friends here. And they all cite the high cost of dining out there.

Yeah in the countries where it's cheaper than Ottawa salaries are dramatically lower. Actually it's under appreciated how much poorer almost every European country is than Canada.

Originally Posted by acottawa

3500 in residence is a pretty small impact in a city of Ottawa’s size. I know there are off campus students downtown, but I don’t think that is a large number either.

I think a lot more live off campus than on. Sandy Hill is filled with students but so are many of the condos in the byward market. Foreign students especially seem to be a major source of both renters and buyers of those condos.

[silvergate]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Only government particularly municipal government has the power to facilitate improving the way a city operates. We cannot have patios everywhere without the city's support. They set the sidewalk rules. We cannot create public places that people want to go to without the city's involvement. We cannot improve walking and bike infrastructure without the city's participation.

All of these things support making a city more dynamic if done properly. It might not make Ottawa, a Montreal or a New York, but that should not be our goal. Our goal should be to make a better Ottawa.

Yes, we need grassroots involvement, but that can be both a positive and a negative, ie Nimby's. Effective decisions are top-down because that is where the power is but it also depends on listening well to the people. Watch the video that I posted on building great public spaces. It is about New York City but can apply anywhere.

One important thing is that we get very creative people involved, who can get exciting projects past the bureaucrats, accountants and the engineers. Remember how a concern was expressed about maintenance costs of public spaces on Lebreton Flats. That makes you think of weed infested bland pieces of lawn or expanses of concrete would be the outcome. That points to a lack of creativity and even trying to stifle creativity. Great public spaces will attract both people and their money. Saving money could be counterproductive if we end up with something underwhelming and unattractive.

Unfortunately the city government is, for the most part, made up of existing residents of the city. Not only would we need councillors actually willing to fight for these things, but bureaucrats with this kind of mentality would be needed in much greater numbers. Until the mindset of enough residents shift, these kinds of dynamic things probably aren't in the pipeline.

It's why a city-wide top down approach will not work in the current state, and why grassroots changes should be the first step.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by acottawa

It is not just the relative numbers, there are probably significantly more Queen’s students living in central Kingston than OttawaU students living in central Ottawa, despite OttawaU being twice the size.

Canada has a handful of highly prestigious universities with a significant student population from out of town. Queen's is one of them, uOttawa and Carleton unfortunately are not.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Urbanarchit

I'd like to see King Edward Avenue restored to what it was with the linear park down the middle, and have something similar done to Rideau Street. I look to Sendai's Jozenji-dori. It's wide street with a linear park down the middle shaded by a lovely tree canopy, and lined by apartments, offices and shops. You can check out the link to it above. It looks somewhat human scale and friendly.



I wouldn't mind seeing such tree coverage on York Street.

That's not too far from what is currently proposed for the Market area. King-Edward could only revert to this if a new bridge (or less likely, a tunnel) is ever built.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Canada has a handful of highly prestigious universities with a significant student population from out of town. Queen's is one of them, uOttawa and Carleton unfortunately are not.

According to this, 57% of OttawaU students come from outside the region (works out to 24,500).

https://www.uottawa.ca/institutional-res...nning/files/7500_uoo-impactstudy_rpt.pdf

That's slightly higher than the number of out of town students at Queen's (24,000). They are more spread out in Ottawa, and obviously have a smaller impact in a much bigger city. Still the vast majority are concentrated in Sandy Hill, the Market and the Golden Triangle, so they have a similar impact on those particular neighbourhoods.

I couldn't find similar numbers for Carleton, but based on student population, they are probably around 75% of OttawaU and more spread out.

[J.OT13]

That's honestly far more than I thought. Very surprising stats.

[Truenorth00]

Are we talking about a more lively city or just a more lively downtown core? Cause the entire current discussion seems focused on getting more people active in the core. That's not a lively city per se.

If we're talking about developing a more lively city, I think that's fundamentally about building a far more pedestrian city, so that 90% of daily needs are within x amount of walking minutes. See Paris and their 15 minute city concept. Other cities have similar targets. Melbourne in Australia uses 20 mins. Once you design a city fundamentally around walking to your daily tasks, the city becomes more "lively" simply because there are people out and about living life.

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[kwoldtimer]

I don’t know of anything outside the Greenbelt that fits the bill (centre of Kanata - I’ve never been?), but a number of central neighbourhoods are there or have the potential to get there, istm. The Glebe/Landsdowne/Ottawa South; Westboro/Hintonberg; Little Italy; Beechwood Village; Old Ottawa East (moving in right direction); Montreal Rd Vanier (potential); Montreal Rd/St Laurent/Montfort (a big stretch, but potential). Even TrainYards, had they delivered on the original concept, but it’s now more opportunity lost. Looking further into the future, one might suggest Merivale, but I don’t see that happening for decades.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

A square or small park is nice but it supports limited activity. Downtown parks in Waterloo, Kingston, New York, Montreal, Vancouver, Moscow, support a range of activities - they don’t close for two weeks for the Jazz Festival.

I specifically noted how Ottawa's major downtown opengreenpublic spaces are comparable in size to other cities', and not "small", but oh well.