The Spacing Roadshow in Ottawa: Building a City, Building a Capital
By Adam Bentley
August 9 2011

Four in five Canadians today live in urban or suburban communities, so to find out what this means for the average homeowner, BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners has partnered with Spacing Magazine as they head on a cross-country road trip to celebrate what city-living is like in Canada today. They’ll be sending us updates along the way (We’ve already heard from Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal), and now they’re in our nation’s capital, Ottawa.

Ottawa was never meant to be a national capital. When Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the capital of the Province of Canada in the late 1850’s, the town was a dirty, polluted centre of lumber processing known for brawls between Irish and French immigrants, dirt roads filled with livestock, open sewers, and wooden housing that often burned down. Ottawa was precisely selected for its difficulty to access by invading armies due to its remote location and undesirable physical qualities befitting a capital city.

The first residential areas included Uppertown (the area now containing the Central Business District) for Ottawa’s moneyed citizenry, and Lowertown, a cholera-infested slum for new immigrants. Housing in both areas consisted of a mix of 2- and 3-level free-standing and semi-detached homes with Victorian architectural influences from Toronto, and row housing influenced by those of Montreal. Building methods and materials included wooden frames and roughly cut stones.

New streetcar suburbs such as The Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Sandy Hill, and New Edinburgh were built to accommodate new Federal Government civil servants. While the lots were wider than in Lowertown, that neighbourhood’s architecture influenced residential styles in new communities. Working class families settled in wood-frame handyman homes built over shoveled out cellars in Mechanicsville and Hintonburg. These two neighbourhoods are now sites for some of the most innovative infill efforts in the entire city.

Today, Ottawa’s architectural heritage can be best described as a never-ending perceived conflict between the belief of what should be built in a city consisting of hundreds of thousands of unique and diverse residents and what should be built in the national capital of a G8 country. Within an area of just a few square blocks, a person may find buildings including a mix of Victorian, Gothic Revival, Neo-Classical, Federal, Second Empire, Queen Anne, Arts and Crafts, Islamic, Modern, and Post-Modern influences.

It may be an unfinished capital city, but it has become one that reflects Canada’s many influences.

By Adam Bentley, urban planner and contributor with Spacing Ottawa

SPACING OTTAWA
Dreaming in colour: The story behind Ottawa’s world-class transit map

BY ADAM BENTLEY
May 9 2011

ADDED FOR THIS RE-POST: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING A CUSTOM BUTTON OF THE MAP, PLEASE SEND ME AN E-MAIL.

Editor’s note: At Spacing Ottawa we were captivated by Adam Bentley’s vision of an Ottawa “transit map from the future”  from our very first time of viewing.  At the time, it seemed that the startling image just arrived in the blogosphere out of thin air, but in this post Adam shares the story of how it was that the diagram came to be propagated so quickly and so widely.

Whether you develop a plan to improve public space or a recipe for a new ice cream flavour, a good idea can spread like wildfire if it is presented properly –and you don’t need a degree in communications to do so. Several months ago, I developed a long-term vision for mass transit in Ottawa. Self-described “transit nerds” referred to this map as a “dream transit plan” or “fantasy transit map”. However, upon releasing the map online, a captive audience of urban and transit enthusiasts took the plan very seriously and provided useful feedback and compliments. After tweaking the proposal, I quickly found that this idea had received such a positive reception that discussion spread online through SkyscraperPage.com and TransitOttawa.ca. There was even an account by someone who claimed to have seen the map posted to a transit stop (I was never able to personally confirm this claim). I later asked several respondents what features of the map they thought inspired such a positive response. Their replies mainly included a clear message evident from the map’s content, the map’s ability to be easily understood by a variety of people, and my decision to present the map online, as opposed to community groups or as a letter to the media.

I designed the map to present a solution to the problem of long travel times on public transit between Ottawa and Gatineau’s multiple hubs of activity. The proposal called for continuous long-term investment in a complete and interconnected network of light rail, light metro, bus rapid transit, and regional rail to provide users with multiple simple connections (something Jane Jacobs would approve) to activity and residential centres throughout the National Capital Region. The plan would fit into the current Transportation Master Plan and revive some ideas from the City’s previous ‘Chiarelli-era’ rapid transit plan and the seemingly forgotten 2007 Mayor’s Taskforce on Transportation. Online and real world responses to the plan’s proposals included enthusiastic praise for its call for visionary and long-term thinking, and that it should immediately be included in current plans for Ottawa’s future rapid transit network. Respondents agreed that the proposal presented the idea that through simple and easy connections, users could reach every notable destination or hub in the city.

Respondents also praised the proposal’s use of colours, lines and fonts to present the idea of an interconnected network in a comprehendible manner. The map’s use of contrasting shades between the background and foreground and various bright primary and secondary colours between the routes were its main formal strengths. Using contrasting colours and shades in a map helps people with vision problems and those who just want to quickly glance at the map more easily see the different elements. I also received praise for representing route capacity with lines of varying thickness. Using wider lines to represent higher-capacity routes (or narrower lines for lower-capacity routes) brings peoples’ attention to primary routes, helping them form a mental map of the locations of the origin, route, and destination of their trip. Visual cues such as rivers and freeways were added as points of reference. The final example of this map’s good form was its use of a sans-serif font, which minimizes unnecessary lines on the map and helps people with vision problems distinguish between individual letters and words.

With forums, social media, podcasts, and blogs, there has likely never been a better era in the history of humanity to share ideas and collaborate on projects with other people around the world. Respondents liked the fact that I developed the map in Google Draw, a free online drawing program that allowed me to share the document with others, thus facilitating collaboration with friends and colleagues. The map was then uploaded to an online urban issues forum, quickly giving me free access to advice from an established network of local and international transit and urban issues enthusiasts and professionals. Using the Internet to disseminate this proposal was a much cheaper and easier option than meeting with individual community groups or seeking the approval of the gatekeepers at the Ottawa Citizen who select submissions for its Letters section. The success of this strategy was evident from the fact that a few weeks later I found the proposal had spread to other online forums and blogs.

A well-thought out idea must have an equally well-planned method of presentation. My mass transit proposal map attempted to combine the best of past and present proposals into one coherent and visionary plan for rapid transit in the National Capital Region. The map was drawn so as to be accessible to a wide variety of transit enthusiasts, urban issues aficionados, and anyone interested in improving the quality of life for the region’s residents and visitors. Its method of dissemination took advantage of fast and cheap access to feedback through online forums, which also raised awareness of the proposal itself. While I am no communications expert, I believe that the mere fact that my proposal can be found on Spacing Ottawa, our city’s premiere urban issues blog, is evidence that this map is a good example of how to successfully present a solution to an urban issue in our current era.

ADAM BENTLEY
Urban and Regional Planner

adambentley@hotmail.com
Phone: 613-406-4453

My diverse experiences have taught me to pay close attention to people’s perceptions of and reactions to their surroundings. I intend to combine skills gained from all my experiences to develop new and creative solutions to planning problems.

EDUCATION
Master of Urban and Regional Planning (Queen’s University, 2010)
Bachelor of Arts (Honours): Film & Media / Political Studies (Queen’s University, 2008)
Ontario Secondary School Diploma: French Immersion (Nepean High School, 2004)

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
Planning
•   Land Use / Real Estate
•   Community Design
•   Social / Housing
•   Transportation
•   Accessibility
•   Public Participation
•   Ecological Monitoring
•   GIS / Mapping
•   Advocacy / Ethics
•   Development Review

Other
•   French: Oral, Reading, Written
•   Communication
•   Teamwork
•   Research
•   Film Production
•   Valid Driver’s License
•   Digital & Print Publishing
•   Federal, Provincial & City  Security Clearance

WORK EXPERIENCE
Dharma Developments: Development Planner (2011)
Ontario Realty Corporation: Planning Intern (2010)
Government of Canada: Department of National Defence, Realty Policy and Plans: Capital Investment Plan (Infrastructure) Intern (2009)
Queen’s University, Department of Film & Media: Course Facilitator (2008 – 2010)
Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada: Research and Communications Assistant (2008)
Opinion Search: Market Study Interviewer (2006)

VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES
City of Ottawa: Planning & Growth Management: Planning Process Assistant (2011)
Queen’s Model Parliament: Delegate, Minister, Senator (2006 – 2008)
Science ’44 Student Housing Co-operative: Monthly Newsletter Editor (2006 – 2007)
Focus Film Festival: Participant (2005 – 2008)
Kingston Canadian Film Festival: Publicity and Events Volunteer (2005 – 2010)
Queen’s University: Municipal Issues Committee, Student Property Assessment Team (2005 – 2007)

AWARDS AND PUBLICATIONS
Publication: “Dreaming in Colour: The story behind Ottawa’s World-Class Transit Map” Spacing Ottawa (May 9 2011)
Publication: “Too Small for a Park, too Awkward to Sell? There’s a Community Design Plan for that.” Spacing Ottawa (Jan. 11 2011)
2008-2009 Queen’s Graduate Award (Queen’s University, School of Graduate Studies & Research)

CURRENT MEMBERSHIP
Canadian Institute of Planners/ Ontario Professional Planners Institute (Student)
SAW Video, Ottawa

CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
Canadian Institute of Planners: Montreal, PQ (2010)
Invisible Cities: Urban Biodiversity: Toronto, ON (2010)
Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS) (presented group project): Guelph, ON (2010)
Strength in Services Summit: Toronto, ON (2009)
Canadian Association of Planning Students: Montreal, PQ (2009)

COMPUTER SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE
•     ArcGIS
•     Final Cut Pro
•     Google Docs
•     Google SketchUp
•     MAP
•     Microsoft Office

RECENT WORK
Film: Call of the City (2011) – In Post Production
Jenn, age 18, lives with her disabled father in rural Ontario. When she is accepted to a prestigious art college in Toronto, she must decide whether to pursue her passion for photography in the big city or fulfill her obligation stay home to care for her father.

Vision: Ottawa-Gatineau Rapid Transit Plan (2010)
Implementing a regional rapid transit network requires sustained, long-term, and visionary planning and development policies. I prepared a visually engaging regional rapid transit plan for the National Capital Region that would quickly and easily transport people to and from every major activity hub. When published on May 9th 2011, an article about the plan became the widest circulated edition of Spacing Ottawa to date.

Master’s Report: Transit-Oriented Development in Smith’s Falls, Ontario (2010)
While VIA Rail moves its Smith’s Falls station from the town’s centre to its periphery, Ottawa proposes commuter rail between the two urban centres. From detailed site visits, policy analysis, and interviews, this report (which can be viewed online) concluded that the central location is better for encouraging transit-oriented development and makes transit-friendly recommendations for the vicinities of both stations.

Group Project: Residential Intensification in Kingston’s Near-University Neighbourhoods (2009)
Many houses around Queen’s University have been converted into controversial high-capacity rentals for students. With support from case studies, interviews, and an interactive workshop, this report for the City of Kingston and presented at the 2010 Canadian Association of Planning Students conference defined the best types and locations for proper residential intensification near Queens’ urban campuses.

Plan: South Fairfield Heights Community Plan (2009)
Surplus open space from a new section of Transitway is the catalyst for finding new strategies to attract people to neglected public space in this leafy Ottawa neighbourhood. Various stakeholders were consulted in preparation of this plan for a city councillor, which was published January 11 2011 in Spacing Ottawa.

SPACING OTTAWA
Too small for a park, too awkward to sell? There’s a Community Design Plan for that.

BY ADAM BENTLEY
January 11th 2011

PRESENTATION SLIDES: South Fairfield Heights: Community Design Plan

In 2007, the Mayor of Ottawa’s Task Force on Transportation suggested connecting Smiths Falls with Ottawa via commuter rail. While planning for this rail line continues, VIA Rail is preparing to move its operations from a historic urban station to a new unstaffed building at the edge of the Town. Does the existing or future train station have more potential to accommodate commuter transit-oriented development (TOD), as defined by the City of Ottawa’s guidelines? A combination of TOD guidelines from the City of Ottawa and Robert Cervero’s Developing Around Transit were used to evaluate the potential for existing land uses and policies to accommodate TOD around one of two potential sites for a commuter rail station in Smiths Falls. Twenty-five guidelines were divided into six categories: land use, layout, built form, pedestrians and cyclists, vehicles and parking, and streetscape and environment. All guidelines were compared to existing land use conditions and relevant policies for within a 600-metre radius of the existing and future VIA Rail stations. Upon applying the evaluation criteria to the existing and potential attributes of the two site areas, and the policies of the municipalities of Smiths Falls and Montague, the conclusion drawn from the detailed analysis was that the existing VIA station and site area are in a better position to use existing land use patterns and municipal policies for positive commuter TOD. To properly take advantage of any future commuter rail station, Smiths Falls should connect its existing core commercial area on Beckwith to the station via attractive amenities at higher densities along Daniel Street and promote Victoria Avenue as a new destination for a wide variety of land uses. The Town should amend its Official Plan and Zoning By-Law to promote biking as a viable mode of local transportation and implement a local mass transit network to connect the station to other areas of the Town. Should Canadian Pacific Railway move its yards to another part of the city, the Town should determine what transit-oriented uses could be made of the current rail yards.

Here is the link to the FULL TEXT (PDF, 98MB) of my Master’s Report.
Here is the link to the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (PDF) of my Master’s Report.

Would big government be better for Ottawa?

EVAN THORNTON
September 20th, 2010

Editor’s note: Spacing Ottawa  reader Adam Bentley send this to us in the form of a letter to the editor.  Discussion around reducing the size of city council  is an election topic not just in Ottawa but in other Ontario cities as well, but the idea of radically expanding the size of our City’s governing body isn’t one we had come across before. Here’s how Adam says it could be done:

Real Council Reform Should Return Power Back to Citizens

Mayoral candidate Jim Watson recently suggested reforming city council by creating a smaller city council and dividing the city into boroughs. All Mr. Watson’s proposal does is concentrate power into the hands of an even smaller group of career politicians, with little difference of opinion between each, and create an extra level of government that would have no real power.

Any reform that happens to Ottawa’s City Council should benefit the city’s wide variety of voters because ultimately, it is them who elected officials must serve. Real council reform should be based on New Hampshire’s House of Representatives –a legislature consisting of 400 members (for a state with a population slightly more than greater Ottawa), each of whom are paid an annual honourarium of $200 for their service to the state and represent a diverse cross section of the state’s population. Even though each representative only takes on a small role (as opposed to a few politicians taking on many responsibilities –each amassing quite a lot of power), collectively they work as hard as any other legislature.

This system has many advantages that lead to more and better input from many different citizens in legislation. The first advantage is that because the work is divided amongst so many people, being a Representative is a part-time job. Therefore, members don’t seek to become career politicians. They are primarily interested in serving the public good. The second advantage is despite such a low wage, the risk of influence peddling and bribery is minimal because due to the large size of the legislative body, each member only has a relatively small amount of influence.

With a similar amount of resources as required to maintain the current council, such a system of representation could be implemented in the City of Ottawa to replace the small, inward-looking bunch of current politicians who are no different from those of the past, and will be no different from those of future councils under the current council model.

An adaptation of the New Hampshire model for Ottawa would be as follows:

The Council

The council would be comprised of about 200 councilors, meeting two or three times per month –as is the current frequency of meetings. There would be no government or opposition, just members elected to represent their constituents. But unlike the current system, instead of a mayor, there would be a Speaker of the Council whose role would be to manage the operation of City Council and act as its external spokesperson. The speaker would be elected by a majority vote by councilors, much like a provincial or federal legislative speaker. Council would typically meet in the evenings or on weekends, to make it easier for people who work during the day to attend meetings (this applies to councilors, observers, and presenters).

Representation

Multiple councilors would represent individual constituencies (districts) of 30,000 to 50,000 people. Given the total number of councilors, each councilor would represent about 3,000 people. Multi-member districts balance representation of geographic and non-geographic (such as income, ethnicity, and ideology) constituencies, and encourage councilors with different perspectives to work together on common issues.

Election

Councilors would be elected every four years by single-transferable vote. In other words, voters would rank as many candidates as they wanted running in their district. Through a system of quotas, the most preferred candidates equal to the number of councilors for the district would be elected to City Council. Assuming current levels of voter turnout, a typical quota might be 1,000 votes. Allowing people to be elected with so few votes keeps campaign costs low, allowing more people to be able to afford to run for elected office.

Administration

Due to the higher number of councilors and part-time nature of their work, council’s administrative resources would be divided amongst more elected officials. This division would include councilors from the same constituencies sharing staff and smaller individual office budgets. The Speaker’s Office would manage council business with help from the Clerk’s Office.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of City Council would not be much different from the current council, but would also include hiring city managers (There would be five managers and a C.E.O. responsible for different departments, elected by majority vote), attending committee meetings, holding office hours to meet with the public or other officials, and critiquing the work of city managers. Councilors would be expected to devote six hours per week to their public responsibilities.

Remuneration

Each councilor would receive an annual honourarium of $600, as well as have their travel expenses covered. Urban councilors would receive a bus pass or a bike, while rural councilors would receive money to cover gas expenses or rural bus pass.

Reforming Ottawa’s City Council in a manner similar to New Hampshire’s House of Representatives would bring a greater diversity of opinions to City Hall, allow a greater number of citizens to participate in the decision-making process, and take self-interested career politicians out of public affairs -leading to policies and by-laws with better public input, more public support, and ultimately more public faith in democracy and government.