A new group is hoping a city-wide perspective to new development will help residents embrace taller buildings and more density for a “work-play” vision of Ottawa.
Ottawa Urbanism, led by Centretown lawyer Philip Ghosh, emerged from an online discussion forum of urban design enthusiasts in support of the city’s intensification policy promoting more high-rises and increased population density in downtown Ottawa.
The desired effects include promoting pedestrian transportation and eco-friendly behaviour, as well as reducing traffic and suburban sprawl.
“The pro-intensification bent of our organization is one of looking at change as a positive and trying to work with the change to make it as good as possible,” says Ghosh. “We think that by being proactive we can get better results.”
In the past year, 1,992 residential unit building permits were issued to areas targeted for intensification, which amounts to nearly a four per cent increase from 2010, according to the city’s annual development report for 2011.
“I think there’s a lot of good to be said for dense neighbourhoods. It’s definitely a positive to live in a community where you can walk, cycle, and take transit to everything that you need,” Ghosh says.
“I think increasing numbers of people want to live in those places, and if we don’t provide them with an outlet, we’re not doing anyone service.”
The rush of new developments, such as the Claridge and SoHo Italia condo projects, have led to concerns for current residents in these targeted areas, often over height, but Ghosh says he hopes Ottawa Urbanism can shift this debate.
“We find that height is a galvanizing issue that needn’t be and we’d rather focus on design rather than height,” he says.
In addition to plans to liaise between residents and city hall, Ottawa Urbanism has already been in contact with downtown citizens’ groups, such as the Centretown Citizens Community Association and the Dalhousie Community Association.
Downtown community associations are regularly raising concerns about oversized buildings in the area, but DCA vice-president Eric Darwin says he thinks there is room for co-operation.
“The groups have differences, but apparently some parts of our agendas overlap. For example, we both want more focus on the street level, on sidewalk capacity, and place-making,” he says.
“But I do think they would get the cold shoulder from some people who perceive their agenda as being too different from their own.”
It is these individual community agendas that Ottawa Urbanism hopes to bring together.
“I think you have a lot of disparate agendas,” says Lucia Harper, director of communications at Ottawa Urbanism.
“One community will have one priority and another community will have a different one, so we’d like to unify some of these messages by bringing people together and working with these community associations.”
Ghosh agrees that working together is essential.
“We all want to co-operate together because the goal is the same, to make Ottawa the best it can be,” he says. “These are just two different outlets for citizens to communicate that to city hall.”
Attempting to address the concerns of multiple communities will be a big task, says Darwin.
“If they want to go to community association meetings and be a voice out there for the larger picture, go for it,” he says. “But if there’s 30 community associations and each meets once a month, plus they’ll have their own meetings, it’ll be time consuming.”
As Ottawa changes, Ghosh says he hopes Ottawa Urbanism can help people see what the future of the city will be.
“We are a metropolis, but we don’t acknowledge that fact. I think by acknowledging it and putting forward a vision of what a big city Ottawa is going to be, we can achieve a better city.”