Quote:
Originally Posted by lrt's friend
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.
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Chicago also has a massive, multi-lane pseudo-highway running along most of its waterfront. That's a bigger barrier to the waterfront than we have.
I think that you are right about getting the density closer to the water. Even if the distance is short, non-interesting blocks create a psychological barrier between the water and the city. Chicago has parks along most of the waterfront, but what it does well is allowing density right up to the parks to give more people quick access. That would work here. And anywhere we don't have big parks (Zibi, Lebreton, Bayview), we should be getting development close to the water while maintaining a decent public right of way for restaurants, squares, playgrounds etc.
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