Imagining the future of transportation. A blog by Matt Pinder.
Freeways are the pinnacle of car infrastructure, allowing motorists to travel long distances safely and conveniently. But when freeways run through urban areas, they have major impacts on people’s ability to walk and cycle.
Curious to get to know a new neighbourhood in Ottawa, I met up with another local blogger to walk his community’s main street.
After living car-free in downtown Toronto and Ottawa, I thought I could continue my car-free journey in the suburbs. For nine months, it worked fine, but eventually my wife and I caved.
A community is not simply car-dependent or not. Understanding the various levels of car-dependency can help us create more resilient and multimodal communities.
Hospitals are major destinations with unique travel demands. In our auto-centric world, the default assumption is that most people will drive there and that cycling is just not possible. But evidence locally and abroad shows that hospitals can be major cycling destinations – we just need to include the right ingredients.
Street design is not neutral: every subtle design detail reflects a community’s values, and comparing designs across communities reveals how those values differ.
Ottawa’s South Keys Centre is an unremarkable place, with a golden opportunity to become remarkable, setting an example for sustainable suburbs across the continent.
Beyond the Automobile 