Canadian Urban Institute 2024 conference wrap up: “Stop planning, start building”
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe Canadian Urban Institute held its annual conference in Ottawa late 2024 and discussed the challenges of Canadian cities.
Urban planning
Engage with New Bank Street Feasibility Study this Week
Reading Time: 4 minutesEngage on line in the Bank St active transportation and transit priority feasibility study on June 12.
A food map of Merivale Road in Ottawa’s NeMa district
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen Matt and I walked on Merivale Road in Ottawa last year I saw a number of restaurants I had never noticed before. After doing some research I thought I’d create a fun map of the area with a new name that is a nod to SoHo and Tribeca.
Gatineau in 99th percentile of 2022 People for Bikes City Ratings
Reading Time: 4 minutesGatineau, across the river, scores high in the 2022 @PeopleforBikes city ratings. But look what happens if Gatineau and Ottawa are seen as a one National Capital Region, as the locals do: It has a similar rating as Vancouver, based on available data.
City keeps ignoring important desire line at future Algonquin station
Reading Time: 8 minutesIt is very disappointing to see that the City of Ottawa ignores the most important desire line at Algonquin Station, used tens of thousands of times each year by residents avoiding Baseline Rd.
Is the woonerf dead?
Reading Time: 4 minutesI took a bike to the woonerf where my grandmother used to live. Things have evolved but this 1985 woonerf is still going strong.
Densification in Dutch villages: how does that look like?
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe Netherlands needs to be really smart with its space. Many villages have grown and added many homes around the old core. Here are some examples of urban densification.
Cycling with Professor Buehler
Reading Time: 7 minutesRecently Professor Ralph Buehler from Washington visited Ottawa. We took him on a cycling infrastructure tour through the centre of the city. Read what we saw in this blog post.
How About a 2nd Billings Bridge in Old Ottawa South?
Reading Time: 3 minutesA hotly debated area for safe cycling in Ottawa is the intersection at Riverside and the Billings Bridge, built in 1916. According to BikeOttawa’s website, the intersection at the south side is the one that has the most reported collisions in Ottawa, including a deadly one, when Meg Dussault was waiting on her bicycle at a cramped sidewalk/MUP and a right turning truck caught her bars. Vision Zero From a Sustainable Safety or Vision Zero point of view, this intersection needs to be changed, so that this can never happen again. There are plans to build a path underneath the [Read more…]
Brand new Berczy Park Toronto – 1 Excellent Public Space Done Right
Reading Time: 5 minutesTake a close look at the picture below, and you probably think it is one of those slide show images of Jan Gehl, to show some place in Køpnhågn in the 1960’s as part of a successful place making “parking-lot-becomes-urban-park-you-Canadians-should-walk-more-enjoy-the-winter-stop-whining-about-the-cold-it-is-cold-in-Denmark-too-and-look-we-cycle-year-round” story. But this picture is not Copenhagen, it is downtown Toronto. Trip to TO Just two weeks ago, my wife and I had to go to the GTA as my wife had meetings in Oakville. We took VIA (450 km/$44 one way), the GOtrain (45 km/$9.02 – PrestoCard) and a taxi from Oakville Bronte to the hotel (7 km/$15) Burlington, [Read more…]