Streetscape

Walking the west: self-guided heritage tour of Hintonburg

Making the grade for bikes: how much separation is enough?

The other day I came across this odd length of one-way street in Hintonburg.  It’s a short block joining Armstrong to Wellington Street West but it...

Photowalking the city: Five questions for Justin Van Leeuwen

The Resurgence of the Front Porch

Erin O’Connell is an urban planner who has worked in both the private and public sectors. She enjoys thinking about urban design, cycling to work, and...

Street Names: Works of Fiction

The above photo was taken at a street corner in the far eastern reaches of Orléans; an obscure intersection, but of course its pop-culture reference is...

Street Names: Wellington, ByWard and By

In recent weeks, we’ve witnessed a debate over whether or not one of the central streets of the downtown core should be renamed. As a result of that...

Intersection from Hell

Good will on our streets: The Art of Swap

A few years ago little wooden boxes started appearing, nailed to telephone poles across Ottawa. Inscribed with the motto “Take something –...

Revisiting the front porch

In many neighbourhoods in Ottawa, front porches seem like holdovers from another age. They are so rarely used, it’s almost as if residents are now...

Street names: the stories behind the signs

Anecdote, urban legend, sometimes even myth: we don’t usually associate such descriptors with the street map of our city, but there is a story...

Caring about Carling

Editor’s note: this post originally appeared on the author’s own West Side Action blog. Last night was the first Public Advisory Committee...

Surface parking targeted in design plan for Centretown

They’re ugly when full, desolate when empty, and they promote unsustainable commuter practices. Unfortunately, surface parking lots disfigure the...