Urban planning

Retrofitting Suburbia

April 28, 2015 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 5 minutesOne of the books I have been reading lately is “Retrofitting Suburbia”. Authors Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson are making the case for urban design solutions for older office areas and the large aging (and already dead) shopping malls from the 50’s and 60’s (and the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s eventually). Changing demographics The authors promote retrofitting those old malls and edge cities to urban cores, in order to reduce VMT (Vehicle Miles Travelled). The authors believe that creating an attractive walkable area, with cars being pushed to perimeter, will create more attractive places in the burbs for people to [Read more…]

Chaudière Island in Pictures

February 18, 2015 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 4 minutesIn January 2015, I had an opportunity to visit the Domtar and Hydro Ottawa sites on Chaudière Island in the Ottawa River between downtown Ottawa and downtown Gatineau. As you all likely know, the site will undergo a complete metamorphoses, starting soon. The property is closed for the public as it is still a working Hydro Ottawa site so I thought it was really cool to see it, before it will be completely transformed over the next twenty years. In a way, although it was cold, I was happy to see it in winter. It really adds to the atmosphere [Read more…]

Public Spaces in Aix-en-Provence and Avignon

May 22, 2014 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 6 minutesKaren and I choose to go on holidays in April, after November usually the crappiest month in Ottawa. The snow is gone, the land is brown, the rain is cold and the winds are nasty. Temperatures hover between -5 and +10 C or so. Many Canadians escape winter in February and fly to a resort in the Carribean, but we actually like the winter. But April, no thank you. Last year we were in New Orleans, but this year it was time to visit the family in Holland again. But Holland’s weather is iffy in April too so we opted [Read more…]

2013 Draft Ottawa Bicycle Plan in 1500 words

October 10, 2013 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 9 minutesI read through the draft Ottawa Bicycle Plan last night (update: I improved it a bit here and there on Thanksgiving, removing typos, adding headers and more insight in budgets). A document of nearly 150 pages that outlines the vision for the next 18 years. I think it is a very solid plan, perhaps one of the best I have read. It is clearly written by cyclists with lots of input from the public and Citizens for Safe Cycling, Ottawa’s bicycle advocacy group since 1984. It is all compassing, from infrastructure to education, from winter cycling to fall sweeping. From [Read more…]

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Going Dutch? Ontario's Cycling Strategy Released!

August 30, 2013 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 8 minutesSummarised for you: The Ontario Cycling Strategy in 1000 words: How Ontario will look like in 20 years. This afternoon, August 30, 2013, the Ministry of Transportation released its first provincial cycling strategy in 20 years. This is a much better document than the first draft that was floated around at the beginning of the year. Over 1000 individuals reacted when this first draft document was open for public input, a number that is unheard of in Ontario, which shows the desire for change. From this input and the input of many professionals comes the Ontario Cycling Strategy. The document contains [Read more…]

Guest Post: Kelly Roche's impressions on Frankfurt and Wiesbaden Transportation

July 29, 2013 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 4 minutesTwo years ago, I was interviewed by Ottawa Sun reporter Kelly Roche at the opening of the Laurier bike lane. At that time, the Ottawa Sun was fairly hostile towards cyclists,  (but not Kelly) complaining about the cost of bike infrastructure for ‘a handful of cyclists‘ (760,000 bike trips have been counted since the opening at the Metcalfe intersection counters alone). The total numbers are even higher as not everyone passes these particular counters. Not much of a wedge issue Over the last two years, The Ottawa Sun’s attitude appears to have changed. Of course, we know that newspapers like so [Read more…]

Vanier Prime Candidate for High Bike Modal Share

June 4, 2013 Hansonthebike 8

Reading Time: 4 minutesVanier is a former municipality in Ontario, which was amalgamated with the City of Ottawa in 2001. It is situated at the east end of down town, east of the Rideau River. It only got the name Vanier in 1969, after Governor General George Vanier. It was unfortunately also known for being rough around the edges. But it has a an urban maple groove and a sugar shack in its former city limits. Lately, like Hintonburg, it is going through some real change. There has been gentrification, there are active  community groups  and there appears a new pride in the [Read more…]

Ontario’s “Je ne sais quoi” Draft Cycling Strategy – part 3

December 19, 2012 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 4 minutesOntario Traffic Manual Book 18: Bicycle Facilities This is an item mentioned in the draft policy that I am really looking forward to. Book 18 is nearly ready;  it will be the reference for engineers and planners and designers for bike infrastructure design. Many new ideas will be implemented is the expectation. The book, with input of city staff of a number of Ontario cities, Ottawa being one of them, is delayed as it was supposed to be ready by the end of 2012. I learned that it has been quiet lately. Once many of the new concepts (new for [Read more…]

Ontario’s “Je ne sais quoi” Draft Cycling Strategy – part 2

December 17, 2012 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 6 minutesThe Ontario Draft cycling strategy is not very clear. “Fluff”, is what a former City of Ottawa planner told me last week. I guess that is why they turn to the public. So your input is needed. In fact, I received an email from Toronto saying: “that this piece has already broken the threshold for most comments received on the EBR (Environmental Bill of Rights) and it’s only been up for a few days.”  Let’s zoom in into a number of issues, that are not overly hard to address. Increase bike modal share by proper design If you want to increase the [Read more…]

Ontario’s “Je ne sais quoi” Draft Cycling Strategy – part 1

December 7, 2012 Hansonthebike 5

Reading Time: 6 minutesAfter increased pressure from NDP Urban Transit critic Rosario Marchese and more recently Davenport NDP MPP and GTA issues critic Jonah Schein, Ontario Minister of Transportation Bob Chiarelli announced a draft bicycle strategy for Ontario and asks everyone for input. Finally, after earlier promises in August 2012 that he’d come with major announcements in weeks. This, after a city councillor from the GTA or Burlington somewhere had asked him the question during a Q & A at a major city councillor conference in Ottawa this summer. The Minister must have had enough of the NDP assaults and must have asked [Read more…]