Urban Design

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...

The return of food

Kalle Hakala’s December 17th post  (“After the thaw: could this be a farm by next spring?“) brought to mind the relationships between food...

Apt613 Photo Essay: Lesser Known Buildings

Ottawa-the national capital, often overshadows Ottawa-the place to live. This is particularly true in architecture, where institutions like parliament...

Intensification, Smart Growth and Density Bonusing

As condo after condo is planned in the Wellington West neighbourhood, intensification is seen as an inevitable by many local citizens. City of Ottawa...

A river runs near it: re-orienting the Carleton quad

Every five years or so, Carleton University revisits its master plan. The most recent draft edition was released in September 2009. Though the campus has...

Opinion: a reborn Union Station could hold our history

Editor’s note: an earlier version of this post appeared in Spacing Ottawa contributor Dave McClelland’s Ottawa Project blog Ottawa’s Union...

Round and Round the Boulevard

Urbanist’s diary: dirty words and dead-end streets

Orleans Town Centre Cinema – A Possible Future?

Some east-enders may have noticed changes at the Orleans Town Centre this past week. The six-screen multiplex that’s been standing there for nearly...

Opinion: Transit Tunnel is no Turkey

Editor’s note: the following article originally appeared in the author’s own blog, West Side Action, on December 28. Comments and updates are...

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...

The Gréber plan: A ghost of Ottawa past

In the late-1940s, Ottawa was a vastly different place from the city we know today. In spite of being Canada’s capital for 80 years, the city was...