My dad was obsessed with the no-motor-vehicle vacation. The perfect trip of hiking, biking, kayaking, cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing...

During this past year of attending meetings related to Ottawa’s new Official Plan, I have been introduced to a new term: the “cut-through”.

A much-favoured term in property marketing is “village”... it evokes a cute, low-rise, dense conglomeration of similar buildings...

Tree. Human. Car. The discussion around Ottawa’ Official Plan suggests that we have room for two, but not all three.

The value of modeling is clear. Simulation and modeling allow us to understand what is likely to happen under certain conditions.

The City’s new Official Plan includes some terrific language that suggest a much-needed revised approach to intensification.

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.

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."

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.