This month, Forbes named Ottawa as one of the fastest growing cities in North America. Ottawa was one of only two Canadian cities – the other being Calgary – on the list. It’s not hard to see why, as construction sites have popped up in every corner of the city and are becoming an inescapable reality for residents.
Ottawa has developed a strong and lucrative high-tech sector, while the government provides job stability for the city. Added to this are relatively cheap housing costs compared to other large cities, and it's no wonder that the city has been attracting more and more people.
City council has been bracing itself for an influx in population pondering how to expand the city’s infrastructure while trying to meet the needs of current residents.
Before environmental issues gained prominence, it was popular for cities to spread outwards by creating suburbs to meet growing housing needs. However, urban sprawl is no longer in vogue.
With Ottawa’s highly protected Greenbelt acting as barrier to outward expansion, the city has been looking inwards to its urban core as means of combating urban sprawl, but has been met with opposition.While many families still prefer to live in the suburbs, many students, young professionals and seniors prefer to live in the urban core where amenities are close by and public transportation is more accessible.
Infill housing has become the solution for many rapidly growing cities to combat the rising constraints of population growth. It’s the practice of constructing new residential developments in already existing and established communities, usually building houses on vacant, abandoned or underutilized lots.
Infill housing not only meets the demand for affordable housing in the core, it can also help revitalize urban areas by attracting new investments. In cities such as Ottawa, infill housing is the only investment opportunity for developers.
However, infill housing also has a bad reputation among many urban dwellers who oppose the development practice.
It has become a case of “not in my backyard,” where most residents understand the need for more housing but don’t want it in their neighbourhoods.
The reason to oppose these projects? Homeowners don't like the aesthetics of the modern design for most proposed infill housing developments. Residents complain that the houses don’t fit the neighbourhood, especially in Ottawa where there are many heritage neighbourhoods.
Is this a strong enough argument to oppose infill housing? Of course not. Many European cities such as Amsterdam have rows upon rows of heritage houses, houses much older than any in Ottawa, but that doesn’t mean that the Dutch have had to stop their infill housing practices.
Just because contemporary architectural design, with its strong lines and simple forms, doesn’t have the same mass appeal as a traditional heritage home, is no reason infill housing should be stopped.
If residents would only embrace modern design, the city might actually look like the up-and-coming metropolitan city it has been dubbed.
This doesn’t condone the demolition of heritage houses, but it’s a sign that Ottawans are ready for the future instead of clinging to the past.