NCC goes for plans to make Ottawa a ‘city of light’
By Natalie Harmsen
The National Capital Commission has given the green light to a range of projects that will brighten Ottawa’s downtown core at night and attempt to put the city in the same league as Paris and other dramatically illuminated European capitals.
The NCC’s board of directors approved the final version of the “capital illumination plan” at a meeting on Sept 12.
Launched in 2014, the now-polished plan will serve as the 10-year framework for Ottawa to become a “city of lights,” enhancing its nighttime landscape through the aesthetic illumination of buildings, bridges and other landmarks. The completed plan, including public consultations, cost $227,000 according to the NCC. The budget for implementing it, will be “dealt with on a case by case basis.”
The central aim, the federal agency says, is to improve the “visitor experience” of Canada’s capital.
But concern for the ecological impact of the project is a contentious issue for stakeholders such as Safe Wings Ottawa, a group aiming to reduce bird mortality from window collisions. Safe Wings coordinator Anouk Hoedeman said she’s glad to see light pollution — excessive brightness in the night sky — is acknowledged as an issue in the plan, but added she wishes it was dealt with more thoroughly.
“When we talk about illuminating buildings, there’s a lot of things that are brought up in the plan that sort of go against trying to reduce light pollution,” she said.
Hoedeman said the designated dark zones, which will be set in place to protect wildlife, are good measures to include.
“Light pollution is already quite an issue downtown, and it seems to be becoming more of a problem, because everyone is putting in these energy efficient LED lights these days,” she said. “That’s why we emphasize that Parliament Hill should not be illuminated, because it’s a very important wildlife habitat.”
The Hill is situated on the south bank of the Ottawa River, home to over 300 bird species, many of them migratory varieties such as swallows and Chimney Swifts. The Lac-Deschênes–Ottawa River region is a designated Important Bird Area due to its role as a high-traffic waterfowl congregation site.
The dark zone for waterways in Centretown include the Ottawa River and Rideau Canal. For these areas, there will be subtle, low-impact lighting to minimize illumination with blue and ultraviolet wavelengths. Light beams will point away from the water to avoid reflections.
“The environmental component of this plan is very high priority for us,” said Christopher Hoyt, a senior architect at the NCC. “Our first principle on this project is to adopt responsible environmental management practices, and to us that means night sky impact and reduction of energy use. We have a team mantra on the project: light better, not more.”
This strategic new lighting will showcase the city’s most iconic features, including the Parliament Buildings and the canal, while also de-emphasizing areas such as busy roadways, which Hoyt says are often over-lit.
Confederation Boulevard — the ceremonial route through downtown Ottawa and Gatineau straddling the Ottawa River — the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Canadian Museum of History are among the landmarks to be highlighted under the plan.
Priority illumination projects for the NCC in the next five years include lighting up Richmond Landing — a history-rich stretch of LeBreton Flats shoreline — Rideau Hall, Nepean Point (where the National Gallery and Champlain’s statue overlook the river), Confederation Park in Centretown and the Sussex Courtyards, a series of enclosed spaces on the west side of the Byward Market.
David Jeanes, president and chair of Heritage Ottawa, said the plan will bring new life to historical monuments in the central part of the city.
“The lighting is namely to draw your attention to what’s already there,” he said.
Stakeholders consulted for the plan included the municipal governments of Ottawa and Gatineau, Safe Wings Ottawa, Centretown-based eco-consultancy EnviroCentre Ottawa, and local Business Improvement Areas such as the Sparks Street Mall.
The NCC also held four public consultations to gather citizens’ input. These included an information session at the NCC’s urbanism lab and a stakeholder workshop to identify specific sites for illumination.
Last year, guided night walks were held for the public to offer reactions and exchange ideas.
Between June 22 and July 9, 197 people also participated in an online survey to provide feedback for the plan.
Hoyt said he’s excited to see how the lighting will improve the urban nightscape.
“In North America, we were kind of behind some of the European countries in the way we think about our nighttime environment, and so we’re looking to cities like Stockholm and others — Lyon, France — that really have focused on this since the early nineties.”
“The nighttime environment here in the capital hasn’t had a lot of attention in the last decade probably, maybe longer. I know the NCC has been talking about doing a plan like this for at least 20 years,” he said.
THE BALANCE OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Everyone who has ever lived in a bustling city knows trying to see the stars amongst a sea of city lights at nighttime is “near to impossible” according to Robert Dick, a retired astronomy professor who is a plan stakeholder.
One of the plan’s principles is to balance the role of light and darkness. Dick says there are two ways in which light pollution affects the view of the night sky.
“If you have a relatively dim area and you want to highlight a (space), you can put a bit of extra light. If the light you’re adding doesn’t shine into the darker area and there’s no glare to affect your vision, that looks very attractive and is very practical,” he said.
Dick developed the Light Pollution Abatement Program for Canada, which advises governments on how to reduce the levels of light pollution. He gave several presentations to the NCC on low-impact lighting for the plan.
“My comments to the NCC were that it’s a very creative document. There’s a lot of prose that will be almost impossible to turn into a technical specification. They have all these wonderful words and phrases that aren’t defined. What is ‘good lighting?’ how do you describe a ‘friendly ambience?’ he said. “There’s no way to enforce anything in it.”
Dick also developed the Canadian Dark-Sky Preserve Program—to designate areas where no artificial lighting is visible—for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He is the author of the Parks Canada Guidelines for Outdoor Lighting.