This week’s public-service job walkout adds to the list of challenges Ottawa faces as its economy tries to rebound from the pandemic and it looks to reimagine city space, a prominent urban planning expert says.
In 2019 the Ottawa Board of Trade and the Ottawa Business Journal designed and delivered the first Ottawa City Building Summit to gather local business and
The head of the Canadian Urban Institute says there's 'no magic bullet' for the nation's capital to reimagine its long-term direction in the aftermath of the pandemic.
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Keesmaat said people often talk about wanting a sustainable, walkable, transit-orientated and inclusive city, but governance doesn’t always match the aspirations, and she used land-use planning as a prime example.
“You’re not going to get a walkable city if you’re sprawling at the edges,” Keesmaat said. “You’ve got to connect those dots.”
Keesmaat said Ottawa has arrived at an important moment when it must decide if it’s going to be a sprawling city or a city “that embraces sufficient density that is carefully executed and carefully planned,” creating a transit-orientated, walkable city with varied housing options.