Just, Healthy, and Sustainable Neighbourhoods
New mixed-use building at 145 Main St.
Note: It will be each participant's responsibility to help us meet current Ottawa Public Health safety standards. We ask maintain two-metre social distancing, and even though the event is outdoors, we ask that everyone wear a mask or face shield. The guide and Jane's Walk volunteers will be wearing masks or face shields during the walk. Anyone failing to wear a mask or maintain distancing may be asked to leave the walk.
Ottawa has a low population density compared to many great cities, and in order to take the climate crisis, as well as the housing and homelessness emergency seriously, we need to stop urban sprawl and intensify.
With the update of Ottawa's Official Plan, developers are pushing hard for more developments to be allowed in the far-flung suburban areas. Instead, we must improve existing neighbourhoods, prioritize affordable housing near rapid transit stations, and create 15-minute neigbhourhoods, filled with healthy streets.
The area around Main Street in Old Ottawa East is a good example of where increased density can benefit an existing neighbourhood. A new community centre is coming soon, made possible partly because of a new development.
Land across the Rideau River near Hurdman Station is ripe for affordable housing; now, the community must unite behind this vision of a better Ottawa, and ensure governments enact the needed policies and invest the necessary dollars to make it a reality.
We will have just, healthy, sustainable neighbourhoods, if we push for them.
