UN-Habitat: The New Urban Agenda in 1000 Words
Reading Time: 5 minutes A short primer in 1000 words on the New Urban Agenda for the United Nations Habitat III conference in Quito, October 17-20.
Urban planning
Designing the Innovative Greely Cycling Loop
Reading Time: 3 minutes 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
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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 the car and swearing to the others in the car, then jumped into the car and they all drove away again. While all is still very conceptual, as councillor Jeff Leiper writes on his blog, this is the time to [Read more…]
Rotterdam: City Centre as City Lounge
Reading Time: 4 minutes Rotterdam is taking a lane away in their downtown arterial to create more space for pedestrians and cyclists. The population had asked for it.
Is Parkdale's Median Curb Cut Sufficient?
Reading Time: 4 minutes As it was finished late last year, this bit of bike infrastructure dropped off the radar screen somewhat. At the very north end of Parkdale, it is a bit of a pain in the neck to get to the Ottawa River Pathway/Trans Canada Trail. The northbound stretch on the east end of the Tunney’s Pasture buildings is usually OK to cycle ( I am never there during rush hour though), but then you get this onramp after the Indonesian Embassy to the SJAM Parkway eastbound (towards Downtown and Gatineau) and the off ramp coming from the parkway. This whole area is clearly [Read more…]
South Keys, Ottawa: the End of the Parking Lot?
Reading Time: 5 minutes In my previous blog, I wrote about ‘Retrofitting Suburbia’, a 2009 book by Ellen Dunham – Jones and June Williamson. They describe how older suburban malls from around 50 years ago, when the car was still seen as the solution to many perceived problems, rather than the cause of many problems, can be successfully retrofitted into new town centres, including housing, entertainment, work spaces etc. 3000 parking spots A number of US mall owners have been rethinking the traditional model of the mall as we know it. They are interested in intensification; this naturally leaves less surface space for [Read more…]
Retrofitting Suburbia
Reading Time: 5 minutes One 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
Reading Time: 4 minutes In 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…]
Gift Card from Santa? Here Are Three Canadian Books
Reading Time: 5 minutes So now what? Your mother-in-law gave you a gift certificate (or even cash in an envelope) for Christmas and you really don’t know what to buy because you have everything already. Here are three books related to cycling (or to the broader theme of a better city) for winter reading. All three books are written by Canadians: Tom Babin, who writes for the Calgary Herald; Charles Montgomery, a Vancouverite and our own Ottawa authors Craig Forcese and Nicole Laviolette, law professors at Ottawa U. 1 Frostbike – Tom Babin Tom interviewed me in September 2011 when I was speaking in Calgary [Read more…]
The Most Beautiful Bike Path in the World is in Liguria
Reading Time: 6 minutes Mention you have been to Italy, and people usually assume you have been to Rome, Venice, Tuscany and Pisa. The odd person mentions Capri, Sicily or even the Italian Alps, but few will ever ask if you have been to Liguria. Liguria Liguria is the province that stretches from the French border, past Genua towards Cinque Terre along the Mediterranean. Think Cannes, Nice, Monaco and then start from the border at Ventimiglia along that same coast eastbound. It feels like time stood still in Liguria and that is perhaps because it is mountainous (the Alpi Maritimi); perhaps that has kept [Read more…]