Is the woonerf dead?
I took a bike to the woonerf where my grandmother used to live. Things have evolved but this 1985 woonerf is still going strong.
Urban planning
Densification in Dutch villages: how does that look like?
The 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
Recently 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?
A 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 [Read more…]
Brand new Berczy Park Toronto – 1 Excellent Public Space Done Right
Take 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 [Read more…]
So… will anyone actually buy a unit without a parking space?
Over the last year or so Karen and I talked on and off about how we want to live when we are reaching our 70’s. Do we still want to live in the inner suburbs in a house with a garden and be car dependent at times? Do we want to move into a condo closer to LRT and use [Read more…]
The Unknown Amsterdam by Bike – Part 2
Last week, we started cycling to Amsterdam north and checked out some great places. This week we continue the trip along the waterfront.
UN-Habitat: The New Urban Agenda in 1000 Words
A short primer in 1000 words on the New Urban Agenda for the United Nations Habitat III conference in Quito, October 17-20.
Designing the Innovative Greely Cycling Loop
Long considered Ottawa’s conservative heartland with black pick up trucks and Ottawa Sun readers, rural Ottawa is asking for bike infrastructure: “All our little neighbourhoods are separated by our big roads.”
Ottawa Input for Minimum Parking Standards
In a previous post, I wrote about the eventual redevelopment of the South Keys mall. This week, there was a first meeting on the redevelopment of another mall, Westgate, which is much older than South Keys. I once had to pick up medication at Westgate around midnight. It is quite a desolate place. A woman jumped out of a car, kicking [Read more…]