Over two Saturdays in March 2021, Ecology Ottawa hosted a workshop for residents of the Alta Vista community and other interested parties, led by Walkable Ottawa's founder Rosaline Hill and volunteer Carolyn Mackenzie.
The purpose of the workshop was to foster discussion around a range of issues related to creating a more walkable neighbourhood, and to generate ideas for further exploration and evaluation.
The Official Plan is Ottawa’s major land use and policy document, and will shape our city for at least the next 25 years. Something this big demands major public engagement, and Ottawans have stepped up in a big way. We’ve seen 500-person rallies to stop sprawl, packed Saturday morning Zoom workshops on neighbourhood design, and overwhelming public input into arcane city processes. We’ve seen community outrage at last-minute land use decisions like the Tewin development, and missives from senior city officials pointing to “unprecedented engagement” from the public.
What is climate capitalism? On Wednesday April 28th we heard from Tom Rand to discuss this question. Over 100 Ecology Ottawa supporters tuned in to participate in a topical and thought provoking discussion around the intersection of climate action and economics. How do we, in Tom Rand's words, "use the most powerful tool available to us to solve the biggest problem we face?" In this 90 minute recording, we think about whether "climate capitalism" is an oxymoron, or a pragmatic synthesis.
Over two Saturdays in January 2021, Ecology Ottawa hosted a workshop for residents of the City View community and other interested parties, led by Walkable Ottawa founder Rosaline Hill and planner Carolyn Mackenzie.
The aim of the workshop was to look in detail at the existing infrastructure in City View and assess how the stated aim in the draft Official Plan to regenerate the area, identified as an evolving overlay, will impact the community in its transformation to a complete 15-minute neighbourhood.
Ecology Ottawa has just completed a survey to help identify which Ottawa neighbourhoods score well in terms of walkability – one of the key aspects of 15-minute neighbourhoods which have been proposed in the City’s draft Official Plan.
305 respondents living across Ottawa completed the survey and as well as quantitative data, respondents provided many suggestions of how they would like their neighbourhood to be changed or improved in the future. It is noted that this survey catches a very small sample size of City residents, but we hope it indicates in broad strokes the many steps which must yet be taken to transition to 15-minute neighbourhoods.