Urban Design

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...

The meeting of the mega-projects: A tunnel for Bank Street

Editor’s note: Many commentators have noted that the decision by Mayor O’Brien to run again in this fall’s municipal elections means...

Opinion: Renaming Wellington Street would be an act of historical amnesia

Editor’s note: Immanuel Giulea is the Founder and Executive Director of the Société Macdonald-Cartier Society. Ottawa’s civic holiday in August is...

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...

City plans to widen Centretown’s great divide

The always-excellent West Side Action is two parts into a 5-part series on Bronson Avenue. Bronson was designated as an arterial in the 1970s as part of...

Opinion: time is right for teenage transit to grow up

Reading my friend Chris Bradshaw’s recent Spacing Ottawa opinion piece on rapid transit reminds me of the challenges of a growing family. Canada is a...

Preview: Jane’s Walk this weekend

With 35 captivating neighbourhood-based walks on the program, this year’s edition of Jane’s Walk promises to be the most deliciously diverse...

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...

Playing hardball for the convent: power politics emerge from the cloister

Editor’s note: the following article is cross-posted from Spacing Ottawa contributor Chris Henschel’s personal blog, Bestboro, Best Wellington...

Taking a stand for a better Parkdale

Trees and grass with that playground? Swap you for it.

View Larger Map Listening to the repetitive clanging of machines boring through bedrock it can seem that the condo developments along Richmond and...