Streetscape

WWJJD? Centretown through Jane Jacobs’ eyes

Editor’s note: How powerful is the written word? Sometimes to gauge the impact of a writer we have to imagine what our world would be like without...

Turn left at the teapot: corporate sculpture in Ottawa

In the dense forest of corporate buildings in downtown Ottawa, wouldn’t it be nice to distinguish one corner from another? Too many offer only the...

The laneways of West Wellington

This week the Citizen’s David Reevely ran an excellent post on Ottawa’s  neglected laneway system, which has largely been allowed to disappear...

Needed: feet on the street

This week on Ottawa Morning the CBC’s Julie Ireton is taking an in-depth look at Ottawa’s dysfunctional Sparks Street mall, the national...

Where in Ottawa? – Round 2

First of all congratulations to Charles A-M aka Centretretowner for correctly identifying the former bank’s likeness in the central carved panel above the...

Round and Round the Boulevard

Ottawa Graffiti: A Photo Exposé

Tattooed onto the concrete skin of the city, graffiti plays an ambivalent role in the aesthetic of the urban spaces. While the sprayed, drawn or painted...

More blogs about buildings and streets

A couple of weeks back we wrote about some excellent Ottawa blogs that take an urbanist point of view with them as they explore our city’s streets...

Places we like: three blogs about buildings and streets

A supportive ecology is crucial to any organism, and Spacing Ottawa is no different. But whereas in many cities in North America our recent splash landing...

The sign of the fish: Ottawa sewer grates

Are the patterned openings to these storm sewer grates trying to tell us something? Some people look at them and see an odd jumble, others think a...

Street furniture for smokers: an Ottawa success story?

They are the least-thought out public spaces in Ottawa and yet they are used hundreds of thousands of times in a day. Many people spend more time in and...

Public Space and Private Gain: What’s ours is yours, for a price

The “public-ness” of public space is a loose concept. Public sidewalks are – in principle – meant to be accessible to and enjoyed by members of the...