Here's my rather long contribution:
Transportation
Taxis
I like OTSkyline’s idea of identifiable taxis in Ottawa. While I can always identify a Blueline taxi, they don’t pop out as much as a yellow or green/orange taxi
like Toronto has. I’d like to see a red-and-white taxi, and maybe turquoise-and-navy-coloured cars to identify Ottawa, although maybe not with the bottom part being red and the top white. I’d also prefer them to be electric, and not burn fossil fuels.
LRT
First, I’d like to see us move away from the use of gas and move towards cleaner, renewable energy sources, with fewer buses on the road but a more efficient system.
As great as the LRT will be and as decent as the O-train is and the few additional stops it might get (Gladstone stop), I would rather have seen something more central that serves our urban core, as opposed to the suburbs. As much as we may try, it’s hard to put one train system to serve a low-density, widespread area.
Instead, I want to see something that can quickly and efficiently move people from the CBD and Centretown to Chinatown, Little Italy, Hintonburg, West Wellington, Westboro to at least Bayshore, with multiple stops along the way. Somerset, Wellington and Richmond Road would benefit more if we had LRT going on or underground (expensive, but ideal), with transit stops in newer mid- and high-rise commercial or residential buildings with room for stores in at ground level. As it would be going through the centre of these neighbourhoods, it would be easier to access for people coming to and from these stations, as well as get larger numbers of people to these commercial streets and their stores. Not only would it be helpful for people going to shop at Bayshore, it could connect to the Coliseum, and could spur development in these areas (though I’ll discuss later about development). Or it could go to Britannia Beach.
We could still use the LRT we’re getting to go as far as Baseline/ Algonquin College, especially as it would be immensely useful for me attending it this fall. This underground LRT that I suggested above could connect to that one and the O-train so people can get to and from these different lines to go to other locations. There could be another connection farther down towards Cleary or Woodroofe between Wellington LRT and Confederation LRT.
There should be a North-South line going from our CBD through Centretown, the Glebe (stop at or near Lansdowne), Old Ottawa South to at least Billings Bridge . Could continue further until it gets to the airport and/or Confederation Heights (Heron and Riverside). If it were ever possible, though I don’t think it would be physically realistic, to have it continue North under the Ottawa River to Hull, to ferry people between Hull and Downtown.
I would like to see Rideau and Montreal Road revitalized, and I would like to see LRT running down these roads, though it would be nice to eventually have an underground system that leaves more of the surface space for other needs, such as cycling, pedestrians and cars (there’s a limited space available, and it would get too crammed trying to put everything into that space). With all the vacant land and buildings that could and probably will be torn down, we could replace them with newer buildings with stations underneath, maybe opening onto side-streets to leave Rideau and Montreal open for commerce.
I think there should be more trans-provincial transportation. I’d like to see the Prince of Wales bridge restored and used for rail between Gatineau and Ottawa. I don’t think it should be an extension of the O-Train, but still be a train that stops at Bayview Station. Half of this line could be paid for by Ottawa and the other half by Gatineau. If they want to extend it further North into Gatineau along Saint-Joseph to Casino-du-Lac-Leamy, then they could pay for that extension on their own, but they could at least have a major node around Terrasses de la Chaudière or Boulevard des Allumettières where BRT or trams or something from Aylmer and Hull meet.
There should also be an LRT train that connects to actual Gatineau that will go to Hull, but that crosses to Vanier and Lowertown to the Rideau Centre station. From the stations in Gatineau could be where other Gatinois transit meets to get people to other parts of Gatineau and into Ottawa. This would be immensely expensive, but go a long way to relieving traffic entering and leaving Ottawa, as well as make both sides of the river more accessible to residents, and possibly encourage development.
Streetcars/ Tram
Another bit would be the use of streetcars or trams. Having lived in Toronto, I find they’re messy with the overhead wires (made me feel like a bird in a cage) and all the tracks all over the roads, easily tripping people up. But I still like them more than buses, provided they have their own route separate from vehicles and pedestrians so they aren’t stuck in traffic as much.
There could be a streetcar line that goes Along Carling to at least Lincoln Fields Station/ Shopping Centre and all the way East to Bronson. Having frequent streetcars could allow for more frequency. When it reaches Bronson, it could move North along it until it gets to Cathedral Hill Condos. As much as it might aggravate people, I would suggest they close off Bronson North of Albert and build a small tunnel for the streetcars to enter and turn around, instead of staying on the surface and turning around on that park space overlooking LeBreton. By closing off that little bit of road, you could allow for pedestrians, but at least extend that little park overtop of the current road. It would make Queen and Sparks a dead-end, but it wouldn’t make much of a difference for Sparks, which is quite narrow here (and the sidewalk is barely wide enough for one person to use). This could also go to Britannia Beach, instead of just starting and stopping at Lincoln Fields.
For me, Gladstone and the #14 bus are important for me to get downtown and home, as it’s the closest bus that I can take from my house. I think it’s too narrow West of the O-train tracks, so at least until Preston would be useful. It could turn South on Preston and go to Dow’s Lake Pavilion or go North along Preston to LeBreton. At the very least, have a tram on Gladstone that continues straight down it to Elgin, and turns North on Elgin to go towards the NAC. This might be useful if we want to intensify and redevelop Gladstone as an important commercial and residential street, along with Catherine Street, which is only a few blocks South. It would also cross over the Bank Street LRT for people who want to go North or South.
I’d like to see a streetcar line for King Edward that goes through uOttawa to Lees, before turning back along King Edward. It would be useful for residents to get to several major transit stations, to uOttawa (helpful for professors and students who work or study that and live in the area). This would require trucks to be eliminated from King Edward and Rideau (tunnel?), and for car speeds to be reduced/ not treated as a fast thoroughfare to and from the MacDonald Cartier Bridge to Rideau or the Queensway. Fewer cars on King Edward and slower speeds. (Put segregated cycling lanes; fewer and slower cars; more residential and commercial buildings, some with retail; streetcar line; more trees and plants).
Another streetcar line could go from Train Station or Industrial Avenue up along the Vanier Parkway to at least Beechwood.
I’d also like to see something from Lees that goes along Main through Old Ottawa East to Old Ottawa South at Bank.
There could also be a streetcar line that goes from Tunney’s Pasture up to Carling, and maybe another from Westboro or Westboro Beach up Churchill to Carling.
I don’t have any graphic design skills, so if someone was willing to take it upon themselves to draw up this comprehensive transit map to help visualize it, I would be eternally grateful.
Cycling
We need to get more people to stop using their cars and cycling more, but we can’t do this unless we create more and safer routes to and from the places people want to go. Winter might be a bit of a problem, but there’s a potential 6 months of the year that we could see people cycling in. There are studies that I have read about (I’ve read books about cities and transportation that discuss them) that say one of the greatest deterrents for cycling is the perception of it being unsafe. Part of that relates to how cities expect cyclists to bike alongside motorists, many of whom I find feel entitled to the road and would hit or cut off cyclists (not to say cyclists aren’t guilty of an transgressions).
So I suggest proper segregated bike lines over an extensive system that connects with other lines so that people can get from place to place easily.
Scott Street, Wellington Street/Richmond Road, and Carling deserve proper East-West routes to and from downtown, that goes through most of the important parts of Kitchissippi Ward. There should also be North South routes ideally along Churchill (if possible) Holland, Parkdale (though we’d have to deal with traffic first, and is probably not realistic) and Bayview/Bayswater. It would be ideal for these lines to go to Carling and to the Ottawa River, through Westboro Beach, Mechanicsville, Tunney’s Pasture and Bayview.
Preston, Booth Bronson, Bank, and Elgin at the very least should have segregated bike lanes to up to Carling or as far South as possible (like Bank which could go past past Lansdowne to Billings Bridge, and as far North through LeBreton to the recreational bike path, and even straight through to Hull. I would like to see other streets like Lyon, Kent, O’Connor, Metcalfe with bike lanes.
For East-West, Albert, Somerset, Gladstone would be important. We could also allow Slater, Albert, Queen, Wellington or Sparks Street (wouldn’t
that be scenic!) and maybe Catherine, including the extant Laurier lane.
For Lowertown, I would recommend Sussex, but with the NCC and what exists Northwest I feel it would be a lost cause.
However, Rideau, George, York, and Laurier could use the East-West routes. Nicholas, Waller (sort of), Dalhousie, Cumberland, King Edward could use a proper North-south route, all intersecting with the East, South routes in this area and Somerset Ward to get people to and from this part of the city. It would be a bit trickier with the Rideau Canal, but Rideau/Wellington, Laurier, Mackenzie King, Somerset, Catherine, Hawthorne and Lansdown would be ideal. You could also have a pedestrian/cycling bridge that connects Fifth Avenue and Clegg Street.
Main Street all through Lees could use a bike lane as well.
I’m not that familiar with Vanier and its needs, but Montreal Road, Vanier Parkway, North River Road straight to the train station, Hurdman and Industrial Avenue would be useful. St-Laurent, McArthur, Coventry could also have bike lanes.
I haven’t said much about Hull because I don’t know much about Hull. I haven’t ever lived there nor have I spent much time there, so as far as needs, I can’t comment on what and where too much. But I also think there needs to be segregated bike lanes that connect with Ottawa’s. Booth, Portage Bridge, Alexandra Bridge, Macdonald Cartier, Island Park, Prince of Wales could use bike paths, and at least Rue Laurier that connects them all. There are more that could go in, but I don’t know much about Hull’s streets, so I don’t want to comment too much out of ignorance.
As for the other streets in Ottawa that pass through neighbourhoods with narrow roads, like through the Glebe, Centreown, Sandy Hill, Hintonburg, there should be bike lanes as well, but perhaps only painted ones.
With a system like this, it would be quite easy to get everyone around the city properly and safely by bike. It would eliminate many cars from the road and even free up seats on public transit for other people who don’t wish to bike, making it less crowded for a time. It might even help with development on or near these routes.
Bike Share Program and Puzzle Parking
Ottawa has (or had) Bixi Bike, but it’s aimed more for tourists who want to bike along the canal or river. The docking stations were located in prominent tourist destinations, but were not distributed extensively, with the western-most one, to my recollection, being on Lyon and Queen. It wasn’t a bike-share program like Montreal’s Bixi, or Paris Vélib with frequent docking stations throughout the city, and not just in the downtown, allowing people to get from their homes to work or shopping throughout the Plateau, Downtown, Westmount areas (and perhaps more).
What Ottawa should have, along with the extensive segregated cycling routes , is a proper bike-share program that has docking locations in Vanier, Lowertown, Centretown (CBD and everything South), Glebe, Hintonburg, Dow-Preston/ Little Italy, Chinatown, LeBreton, Bayview, Tunney’s, West Wellington, Westboro, Old Ottawa South, Lees, uOttawa, and more. One should be able to rent a bike to get to their destination, park it in a docking station, and then rent it again to go elsewhere. They could even use the Smartphone apps to indicate where the nearest docking station is, how many bikes are available and if their bike can be parked there.
Now, an important part of improving cycling infrastructure in Ottawa is parking our bikes. What am I supposed to do if I want to bike downtown but can’t find a spot to lock my bike because the racks are full with other bikes? We’d have to invest in more bike racks, but that can get quite crowded and unpleasant. Just think of what some parts of Amsterdam look like (not my photo):
Well, we can copy what
Japan is doing with parking infrastructure (definitely worth watching). Use the electric “Puzzle Parking” system that allows us to place our bike on a platform and then brings it down into into an underground parking garage specifically for bikes. It would leave surface area available for other uses, and could potentially allow more bike spots than we need.
Pedestrian
I think this has been said before, and may not be as easy, because there are a lot of things that would contribute to an improved pedestrian experience.
Wider sidewalks to fit more people who will use them for either getting from place-to-place in a New York minute, as well as enough space for people to stroll without getting in other people’s way. The sidewalks should be as uncluttered as possible to allow for more room to stroll, but there should be trees with broad canopies that provided shade, colour and act as a barrier from traffic. There could be benches and recycling bins. Every so often, we could have good street art, not just some weird marble fire hydrant, like in West Wellington/ Hintonburg. There could be some space for restaurants to have patios/
terrasses. Ground floor retail should be included as much as possible on current and other streets, which would make the areas more appealing if they have good stores. No building should be allowed to have blank walls, and windows at street level should be transparent enough to allow for people walking by to at least gaze into, like window-shoppers.
As for trees, I'd love to have a flowering tree, much like Japan's cherry blossoms (sakura), which are incredibly worshipped with their famous
hanami. Actually, they have weather forecast-like forecasts of where and when the cherry blossoms are blooming, and people go out and sit under them, drinking and picnicking and having fun. Magnolias would be great, too.
Here’s an example of an ugly blank wall (on an older building) on Queen Street
GoodLife Blank Wall by
Shel Def on Flickr
I want to emphasize uncluttered pedestrian routes. Sparks Street as too much crap that forces people to weave in and out a lot, and doesn’t make for a memorable experience. With all the “ad kiosks” and street lamps or street art, it’s just such an awkward unpleasant street that I would rather walk along Queen Street because there’s less getting in my way.
Wide sidewalks should, obviously, be for big or important streets. Some back streets like MacLaren are too small to allow for cars, bike and pedestrians, so what we have no seems decent enough.
Motorists and Parking
We need to stop being a city that prioritizes cars over people. Roads should be narrowed and motorists need to be given less priority. We need to improve other modes of transit to get people out of cars, and start getting more people to live in the five main wards (Kitchissippi, Somerset, Capital, Rideau-Vanier, Rideau Rockcliffe) where they don’t have to rely on their cars.
We should eliminate on-street parking, thus leaving more room on the street to give over to public transit, pedestrians, cyclists. Underground parking should also be limited.
All surface parking lots that do not belong to a house (mostly post-1950s homes) should be banned. The big lots that we currently have should either be turned into proper parks and public squares, or turned into a temporary greenspace with grass and maybe some flowers and trees. Eventually they will be dug up and turned into a building, but asphalt reclamation is ideal. Reducing asphalt will allow for better water absorption and reduce the
UHI effect.
Parking garages, like the two in the ByWard Market, Rideau Centre and the one on Slater should be demolished and replaced with a building.
For pedestrians, even reducing spaces for cars to park on-street or underground would be better, as from personal experience, having to dodge cars exiting the garages.
About a week ago I was exploring our downtown and noted how often I was fleeing from cars exiting the offices. This one below of the Manulife Building on Queen and Metcalfe had four doors all beside each other, two for parking and another two for deliveries that had enough space outside them for a semi to park. I didn’t feel safe here, and this is something we should be avoiding. One reason it was unsafe was that two of the doors were right beside the blank wall of Edoko Restaurant, which acts as a site barrier for people passing by. A car could be coming out of the garage and neither the motorist nor the pedestrian would have noticed because their view is blocked by another building.
Manulife Garages by
Shel Def on Flickr
Etiquette
People in Ottawa have almost no etiquette when it comes to public transit, driving and roads, escalators, etc. What I would like to see is a proper project by the city to teach people what they can do and what they shouldn’t do.
For example, notice what people do on escalators. In Montreal, you typically stand on the right side, leaving the left side open for people who wish to walk up the escalator quickly. In Ottawa, people stand wherever they want, in many cases forcing people who are in a hurry to wait behind someone just because that other person doesn’t want to leave room for others to pass them.
Another should be aimed at public transit, especially with the LRT getting underway. In Japan – and possibly Korea – it is socially unacceptable to eat, talk loudly, listen to music loudly, litter, try to pry open doors and more on the trains and buses. Yet we in Canada do these things constantly. I would like to see to multiple campaigns addressing these issues and teaching people how to behave while using public transit.
In this link and below are examples of one humorous campaign done in Japan.
below are examples of one humorous campaign done in Japan.
People on buses in Ottawa can be really obnoxious, not provide courtesy seats to those who need it (or kick others off seats when others are open because they wanted to sit there). There are people who choose to sit in aisle seats with the window seat empty or occupied by their bag, when they should sit at the window seat and always keep their bag on their lap so that other people can come and take the empty spot beside them. I’ve seen several times people who refused to let anyone sit beside them, and other times where instead of scooching over a spot to give the aisle seat to another person. There are people who carry too much with them to the point that it blocks the bus (this could include large strollers), such as what I witnessed around Christmas.
I got on the #7 bus to go towards the Glebe around Christmas, and the bus got full quite quickly to the point that it was difficult to even get off the bus (we need to stop overfilling transit). But these two people, possibly unrelated, got on with rolling suitcases each. They decided to sit down in the double seats towards the front of the bus, across the aisle from each other, and left their suitcases in the aisle. These suitcases were beside each other, blocking the aisle for anyone trying to get by.
There’s also the problems with cars. Motorists are some of the most entitled people I have witnessed in Ottawa, to the point that they put their lives and other people’s lives at risk, in many cases injuring or killing pedestrians and cyclists.
Many a time I notice how people in all vehicles will choose to speed up when the light is turning yellow, or will blow through a red-light. I see people who drive too fast, or worse people who don’t stop at stop signs, either by driving through without stopping or do a “rolling stop” where they only slow down but keep going. This is unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists, and only furthers my ire against cars and motorists. There needs to be an even more extensive campaign to teach road safe (people spend how many years trying to get their licence, and yet seem to ignore all the rules they were taught?). There should also be harsher punishment for breaking these laws. Simply being fined doesn’t discourage anyone, especially not people wealthy enough to continuously pay off these fines. I think there should be a 2- or 3- strike system where, after a warning or two, you lose your drivers’ licence for a year or more, and only after this time period has elapsed can they try to get their drivers’ licence all over again, much like when they had to get it the first time. Repeated infractions should result in permanent bans on driving. These people would then have to find an alternative to getting around, which could involve public transit, cycling or moving altogether to a more favourable area. The city should get tough on motorists breaking the law and endangering people’s lives.
Queensway and the Parkways
This will be controversial, for sure, and one not many will support. But I believe we should get rid of the Queensway and the parkways. What we’re seeing in many North American cities is a discussion, or in the case of San Francisco, the elimination of highways all together that either choke or divide cities for the “efficiency” of motorists to get into the city and back out to suburbs. I would like to see this changed as well. It would also go along way for redeveloping Lees Station, as that area is a mess thanks to the Queensway and it’s cloverleaf interchange.
There is the option of burying Queensway, and allowing for the land on top to be turned into buildings for offices or homes, with space for retail and transit. In fact, it would be perfect for a four lane road with bike and Streetcar/ LRT line that crosses the city through several key areas (visible if you consult google maps). There would still be a lot of room for houses (some narrower in some areas) or big buildings altogether (downtown or along Catherine).
I also want to see the Parkways eliminated or reduced. I don’t think the Ottawa River Parkway makes the river front pleasant or accessible. I would like to see a straighter road in it’s place that is between two and 4 lanes wide, but leaves ample room to it’s north for greenspace and recreational paths. To it’s south, we could use that land for development. It would be the closest thing to developing Ottawa’s riverfront without actually touching the river or nature along it. We could also create more frequent stop lights and crossings so it’s safe to get to the other side without jaywalking.
Don’t forget that Queen Elizabeth Drive, Colonel By Drive and the Ottawa River Parkway (I know it has a new name) were designed by Jacques Gréber to be a scenic route for motorists only. So taking them away or remaking them so there’s less emphasis on cars and more on people would go a long way to make the area safer and more “scenic” for everyone.
I deleted the picture from the thread, but I originally recommended that the LRT campus station be moved further Southeast so that cars can get from Colonel By onto Waller Street, instead of going around to Nicholas and then turning back to go to Rideau. This would result in the closure of the Nicholas Street “interchange” (not the actual street that goes North-South, but the one that goes beside the uOttawa residence and Desmarais building). Waller would be straightened for cars to go do, and this would free up more space to put buildings and cycling routes, to make it much safer and more pleasant, as fewer people actually walk along there unless they have to.
ByWard Market
There is a lot of work that needs to be done here, I don’t know where to begin.
Get ride of all surface parking lots and replace them with buildings. If you use google maps or visit yourself, you can find a lot of empty lots between buildings that serve as vacant land or small parking lots. Fill those up with buildings, ideally something that fits in with the area (I think the Byward should have a 5-6 storey height limit) and doesn’t require much or any demolition. Those buildings should have ground-floor retail and office and residential space above.
The two parking garages, one between York and George and the other between York and Clarence should be demolished and replaced with something better. What sort of building you introduce doesn’t matter, but just something with ground floor retail, that can contribute to make the area nicer-looking and more pleasant to be near. The parking garage on Clarence could be turned into some sort of cultural centre for the city.
Most streets should have good pedestrian and cycling access, with reduced streets to two lanes. York could have one lane going East and another going West on either side of the media.
York needs to do away with the parking it has and turn that into a tree-lined, grassy and flowery public space for people to stroll and watch buskers and maybe sit and watch some fountain or something. If it’s possible, it could go straight to King Edward, but if not, there could be a pause where the parkade is. The sidewalk could be bumped out more and the buildings could take more room, to mark a beginning and end to both greenspaces. The sidewalks where the stores and restaurants are could be wider, as well.
Similar with George. As you can see in the images below, I’d like to see the Chapters parking lot and loading area eliminated and turned into a public square that yin-yangs with the square in front of the Ottawa School of Art. You can put more trees and grass along it to provide shade, some segregated bike lanes, and get rid of the Giant tiger parking lot. There would be more room for buskers and vendors.
As much as it’s okay to have vendors beside the Byward Market Square building, I feel like moving them onto George would be better, and open that up to wider sidewalks for pedestrians and cyclists to use and visit the stores. I’d also like to see better stalls for vendors, as when I was doing some urban sketching this summer, I noticed how much the stalls and shops, particularly after they had closed shop, looked so beat up, unsafe and uncanny to a market in a developing country – quite scuzzy looking. I’d like to see newer, more attractive stalls designed and introduced.
I’ve already mentioned eliminating blank walls, and that goes doubly for the Bay/ Frieman’s. That blank wall all along George to La Bottega needs to go and be opened up to a more transparent and interestingly-designed façade. Making it a glass wall would make for some interesting views of the market for people shopping there.
GET RID OF THE MARRIOTT COURTYARD HOTEL! I cannot stress this enough, it is ugly and a waste of space. Replace it with a nicer building with underground parking (not a lot) and use the parking lot beside it if necessary. It doesn’t need a courtyard that would close people off from the market. Put retail all along it, on York, George, and Dalhousie. If you go to the thread for Union du Canada/ Claridge hotel you can see a rendering of a 7-storey building that I’d love to see here.
Building Heights and Types
I think heights are too limiting. I think we shouldn’t have building heights except for in certain areas (like the Byward Market). But our CBD, most of Centretown, LeBreton, Bayview, Dow-Preston, Rideau should be allowed taller buildings, with more emphasis on mid- and high-rise, mixed use. I don’t think we should have a grouping of high-rises, but something more like what you can see on this page (Graph taken from Vishaan Chakrabarti's wonderful book, [url=http://www.amazon.ca/Country-Cities-Manifesto-Urban-America/dp/1935202170/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392172060&sr=8-1&keywords=urban+manifesto]A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for Urban America[/ur].):
I’d like to see buildings at least 30-40 in our CBD, and elsewhere could be taller to provide some variation in our skyline.
I think we need to see better designs and more mixed use. In our CBD I think we should stop building more, unnecessary office buildings there, and start building high-rise residences with ground-floor retail to get people living there and make it more vibrant. If we need more office buildings, we can put some on Rideau, some on Catherine, and some at Dow-Preston, but then Bayview, LeBreton, Tunney’s can absorb the rest for now.
Lees Station
Develop this area. Get rid of the cloverleaf interchanges and make a more mixed-use, residential, office, retail area with decent transportation connections, tie-ins to Sandy Hill and OOE, and cycling paths.
Parkdale Market
Parkdale Market is perfect for redevelopment. I think I’d like to see a height limit here, of 6-8 stories, but some 10 stories could be allowed). I want to see all the vacant lots, old, rundown buildings replaced with newer buildings that have some room for some offices (not for the government, but for other companies that we will hopefully attract to Ottawa or will be started here).
Retail at street level all over, with room for cafés, restaurants, retail, and even smaller things like microbreweries, art galleries, studios, but maybe a performance hall someplace?
This area should be the arts district for Ottawa, where artists come to present things, that we have interesting outdoor art exhibits that constantly change, like a smaller version of Montreal’s Quartier-des-Spectacles/ Places-des-Arts (which has a neat geyser fountain). The blocks could have smaller cut-throughts for pedestrians to go to galleries, stores, etc., as well as making it easier to get through blocks.
Building on the cut-throughs, I imagine them beings similar to
Japanese back alleys, pictured below (Korea does this, too). They're narrow commercial streets that house little restaurants and bars, some are so small you can fit only 3 or 4 people in them. I'd hope for something a bit bigger and not as grungy, but still full of interesting little things to explore.
A concern with making this an arts district would be housing artists. I believe it would be important to provide subsidized housing for the artists and creative class in some of the condos that would be built in the area, so that they can continue there work, in many cases in the area. Some could be rented out like hotels for visiting arts from around Canada and from abroad. This would be important because I feel with the gentrification going on in Hintonburg, many young people and artists (an important part of the creative class that makes areas like Hintonburg interesting to begin with), many of them are being displaced, taking along with them the "creative, artistic" identify that many Hintonburgers are proud of. Below is an image showing the distribution of subsidized units (Graph taken from Vishaan Chakrabarti's wonderful book, [url=http://www.amazon.ca/Country-Cities-Manifesto-Urban-America/dp/1935202170/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392172060&sr=8-1&keywords=urban+manifesto]A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for Urban America[/ur].):
I would move the park and market West one block so that it’s in the centre of the area, and Parkdale could have a row of buildings that blocks the traffic of Parkdale from the market and park. The park could be nicer, much like Montreal’s
Square Saint-Louis. There could be better stalls for vendors, all on Hamilton Street, which would be closed off to all but pedestrians, effectively creating a little market square, with restaurants and such inside the building where they used to be.
I would also demolish the townhouses along Hamilton from North of Spencer, and replace them with a better, multi-unit mid- or high-rise with retail. I don't think the townhouses look good or fit into the area, at all! I'd also like to see the eastern portion of the mall demolished and replaced with a better, multi-storey building. That giant area between the offices and condos of Holland Cross would be a perfect place for a public square or public performance area. You could even put the market in there, but I do prefer the idea of closing off Hamilton and keep the market beside the park.
Furthermore, if Parkdale Market could become an exciting arts district for the city, it might be enough to attract tourists and other people to Hintonburg, thus justifying a hotel either in this area or as a a part of the Tunney's redevelopment. There could also be a new museum at Tunney's (Museum of Civilization, I hope?)
Commercial Streets
I’d like to see Gladstone East of Preston and Armstrong turned into denser commercial streets. There are other streets that we could look at, such as Catherine and Rochester, King Edward, etc.
Other streets need to be improved by filling in empty lots and replacing current stores and restaurants with better ones. Bank Street, Bronson, Rideau, Dalhousie, Cumberland, parts of Wellington/Richmond come to mind.
Also, a for-fun graphic showing how Japan is able to have a higher density of people in a smaller area than Eixample, in Barcelona. Graph taken from Vishaan Chakrabarti's wonderful book, [url=http://www.amazon.ca/Country-Cities-Manifesto-Urban-America/dp/1935202170/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392172060&sr=8-1&keywords=urban+manifesto]A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for Urban America[/ur].
I’m sorry, but I wrote a lot and my brain is burned out.
Edit: Added to Parkdale Market about alleys and residences, and graphics, and King Edward, as well as bike-share/parking and etiquette.
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We could only hope for some other flowering tree, if they can survive in Ottawa, but the salt would be a problem...
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