Why does intensification have to be so hard? ...Conflict around intensification is rooted in much more than just “resistance to change”.

Imagine an elderly lady named Betty, living in a senior’s residence in Heron Park. She just witnessed the first snowfall of the season...

No business can survive without customers. Most businesses will tell you there’s no such thing as too many customers.

Through five thousand years of urban living, people have lived over the shop. Mostly because it was the only possible arrangement.

Walkley Road connects two of Ottawa’s great recreation areas. On the east end, sits the Mer Bleue conservation area....

If there’s one thing everyone on the planet can agree on, it’s that we all hate traffic. We hate being in it, we hate being near it.

Nothing is as difficult to incorporate into a walkable streetscape as a Drive-Thru. The whole concept is to be served in the car.

The most difficult part of advocating for walkable communities in this age, is painting the picture of what they might look like.

Up until 1997, it was legal in Canada to advertise cigarettes. The ads that I remember from childhood consistently promised the smoker...

"A footbridge makes it practical for the non-driving population to work, live or attend school on the other side of the bridge."

"I say we ask for something outrageous on this corner: a truly public bathroom. Right on the corner, with signage, open all year round..."

Of all the arguments put forward against 15 minute neighbourhoods, the most cynical, is that they will be bad for low-income people.

"...a lot of Ottawa’s school-age population attends school out of range of what would be a reasonable walk on a January morning."

"...I’ve set myself the task in this blog to present the advantages of a 15 minute neighbourhood from the perspective of a driver."

I've become increasingly sedentary. Most of us have... Over the past few months I've come to the dawning realization that I must change...

The unrelenting segregation of housing from retail that characterized post WWII planning, left people with no destination for a useful walk.

In the beginning, was the City. And the City was without order. People, wagons, horses and oxen filled the streets. People produced wares...

"You can't just jump on a bicycle for the first time and go for a ride! It's time for Walkable Neighbourhood Training Wheels."

Are dark looming towers and cold apartment blocks the only way forward? Could it be possible that a simple solution, a win for all, is...

I’m told we’re witnessing the Third Great Extinction of Retail. First, Shopping Malls killed the Main Street stores. Then Big Boxes...