I am often struck in Europe by how much they promote vacations within the home country or inside Europe. And not just de luxe vacations. Here’s a grocery store chain poster for local weekends not-far-away: Note they are not so … Continue reading Urban Design (xv) Local promotions
European cities have livlier street life than we do. Much of this is due to deliberate design choices, like limiting car traffic. And providing benches: Our new Official Plan is to make Ottawa attractive for those new age employers and … Continue reading Urban Design (xiv) Benches, cafes in fine mixed use areas
The Netherlands, and Europe generally, has a reputation amongst North American progressives as transit, train, and walkable-city nirvana. The reality is quite different. Suburbanization is accelerating, and with it, ring roads and strip development. Car commuting is as popular there … Continue reading Urban Detail (xi) Wooden bridges
It’s difficult to remember when our local mainstreets weren’t populated by cannabis stores every second block. It’s even more difficult to remember the short period when these stores were actually open for business. Now they just promise cannabis but aren’t … Continue reading Urban Detail (x) Cannabis Retailing, legal or not
Right now Ottawa seems happy with bicycles parked on sidewalks. Even many downtown office buildings surround themselves with on-sidewalk bike parking (eg Jean Edwards buildings) while some others make room for bikes indoors (Constitution Square, Flaherty building). But on-sidewalk bike … Continue reading Urban Detail (ix) More on bike parking issues
There are gazillions of bikes in European town centres (not so much in the car centric suburbs). Reducing clutter via bike parking becomes an important tool in keeping old town centres passable. In this photo, the City of Bruges has … Continue reading Urban Detail (viii) bikes in the old town core
Nordhavn definitely appealed to me more than Orestad. A big part of that is scale. Another part is that it seemed less out to impress me with “oh wow” buildings. Especially when those buildings are set apart (“big buildings in … Continue reading Nordhavn (viii): some miscellany
UN City is a large 8-armed star-shaped building that consolidates all the suffering UN staff in Copenhagen into a single location. The surrounding residential buildings were all low rise, with intimate courtyards. Very much in the style promoted by the … Continue reading Nordhavn (vii) UN City and the Jan Gehl school of development
The developers of Nordhavn promise “new architectural masterpieces each year”. Let’s look at a few of them. For convenience, a bunch of them were clustered together. This struck me as part of the “branding” that seems to dominate so much … Continue reading Nordhavn (vi): Yes, there is starchitecture too
There were a number of apartment buildings on the inside streets with courtyards. These are similar in style to what has been built on LeBreton Flats and will be built on Zibi. I wandered into this one: Bike sheds lined … Continue reading Nordhavn v, courtyard apartments
The apartment units directly facing the water appeared larger and of higher amenity than those on the interior streets. They had interesting views of the active harbour and other neighbourhoods, and of course, the water. The “harbour” at Copenhagen … Continue reading Nordhavn iv, mid rise harbourfront living
Several buildings and streets in Nordhavn had a relationship to the sidewalk not seen in Ottawa. I saw similar buildings in Amsterdam too (subject to a future series…). The ground floor units are right up close to the edge of … Continue reading Nordhavn iii, low rise, sidewalk living
There were a few — very few at this time — townhouse-type units that I saw at Nordhavn development zone, Copenhagen. This is not unexpected, as (man-made) land this close to the downtown is very valuable. Nonetheless, they add variety … Continue reading Nordhavn (ii) low rise townhouses
I must confess I found Orestad new urban area rather exhausting; the Nordhavn development area was much more enticing. Some of it is scale … Nordhavn has a high percentage of low apartment buildings and inviting, very well executed public … Continue reading Nordhavn (part i) Copenhagen, Dk
The focus of the previous stories about Orestad is on the new “downtown” and the starchitecture buildings around the Orestad Station. Plus some views of the more ordinary apartment architecture for the rest of us. As was obvious from the … Continue reading Orestad vi, a walk in the ‘burbs
Looking again at the aerial photo of downtown Orestad, the Field shopping mall is dead centre. Just above it is an eyebrow shaped street and canal, which forms the spine of a mixed commercial/office district with a bit of residential … Continue reading Orestad (v), business district, & construction notes
My preference in seeing a place is from the walking around eye view. But sometimes a pigeon view helps too. Here is an aerial photo of downtown Orestad of just a few years ago. The giant Field indoor mall is … Continue reading Orestad apartments for the rest of us (iv)
Let’s visit some of the residential buildings in downtown Orestad. These are the prestige structures right along the main transit line. Notice the frequent stairs down and under the building. Many new residential buildings in Europe have apartments that run … Continue reading Orestad, Glamour Architecture, (iii)
Orestad is planned to have 20,000 residences, and 80,000 jobs, and 20,000 university student places when it’s finished. This new suburban city was started in 1993. The city owns 55% of the development corporation and 45% is owned by the … Continue reading Orestad Station / downtown area (ii)
Welcome back dear reader, to start the new year we are going to visit a new urban development in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. To get to Orestad we’re going to take the Metro from downtown Copenhagen. This is the … Continue reading En route to Orestad, Denmark by metro
Mega-projects like the Clichy-Batignolles are fraught with risk. The costs are enormous, as may be the returns. Large sums in turn attract various interest groups anxious to get some of the money or spend other people’s money. The former St … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, the future carbon-neutral city?
Yes, it is somewhat exhausting to take in all the new buildings in Clichy-Batignolles. So many seemed to yell “look at ME !” Most everybuilding had something that attracted my interest, be it balcony design, shutters, landscaping, mixed use, or … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, the occupied zone, walk 2
Did you enjoy your visit to Paris’s new large park? The pathways, the greenery, the pleasant space to relax or recreate. Before that we saw the Cardinet sector in its last stages of construction. Now its time to wander through … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, the occupied zone
The urban redevelopment scheme in the Clichy neighbourhood of central Paris is centre around Martin Luther King Park. It is 10ha. and has 14 access points from the surrounding ring of developments. The park is divided into two major portions … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, MLK Park
The Clichy-Batignolles plan is highly dependent on the stacking of different uses along its western edge, facing the St Lazare railway tracks, where a track level podium base holds locomotive workshops, with parking above, with offices and apartments above that. … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, rue Cardinet
