Downtown Ottawa: Designed for Living

Downtown living brings the world to our doorstep. As Ottawa centre grows, we see a diverse and exciting community with multi-ethnic and cultural flavour, people, places and attitudes. The downtown offers the opportunity to live, eat, shop and enjoy everything from the obscure to the mainstream; from politics to entertainment to greenspaces to liveable neighbourhoods. Ottawa’s downtown has something to offer to everyone. Just ask any one of the 11,000 people who have moved to the downtown area in the last 10 years.

Designing the downtown area into a community that sustains living, working and playing has challenged the City of Ottawa in the past. The Residential Downtown Intensification Initiative launched in 1994 offered a range of incentives to attract new development. The success of these actions can be seen in the over 6,000 new residential units built in the downtown area to attract new residents.

While these numbers are impressive, redevelopment opportunities for additional growth in the downtown area still abound. The City of Ottawa will continue to focus on design and intensification to support redevelopment with residents in mind.

The City’s Official Plan supports downtown development with strong intensification policies, which make maximum use of existing services and facilities while emphasizing quality design and neighbourhood compatibility. In March 2004, City Council approved the “Downtown Ottawa Urban Design Strategy” that establishes a framework for advancing the downtown urban design objectives of the Official Plan.

Building on this foundation, the City’s Strategic Plan is intent on reinforcing a culture of quality urban design that is essential to healthy, liveable and economically viable communities. The City has established awards programs to recognize achievements in urban design. The Ottawa Urban Design Awards celebrate projects that exhibit urban design excellence. The Ottawa Architectural Conservation Awards recognize the outstanding restoration and conservation of the City's heritage resources.

The City of Ottawa will continue to focus on design and intensification to support redevelopment with residents in mind.

Stanley Wilder, Planner II
Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability
Planning and Growth Management
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1
613-580-2424, ext. 13116
stanley.wilder@ottawa.ca