204A: Overcoming Fear of Change: How Ottawa and Other Cities are Shifting the Planning Paradigm and Challenging the Status Quo

September 21, 2022

1:30PM - 2:00PM

Zoning is the foundation to create inclusive communities with flexible spaces. However, it has become overly focused on the separation and excessive regulation of land, without sensitivity for context, scale, and compatibility needed for a 21st century city. Zoning by-laws play a critical role in facilitating change that aligns with the needs of increasingly diverse populations and a rapidly evolving economic environment less focused on “traditional” industry. Zoning by-laws present unique opportunities to disrupt the status quo by facilitating the creation of a built form that prioritizes a holistic approach to land use and urban design. Revisiting the zoning by-law presents a unique and powerful opportunity to change land use assumptions and prioritize a holistic approach towards form, function, and compatibility.

In pursuit of a world-class zoning by-law founded on such values, the City of Ottawa and WSP conducted a best practices review of zoning in North America. This robust review spanned 15 Canadian and seven American jurisdictions and sought to identify innovative practices that addressed a range of issues, including affordable housing, infill management, and by-law format. By exploring such topics, we are better suited as planners to foster meaningful change in our communities informed by an inclusive lens. This includes the reconsideration of traditional values that have been embedded into our land use planning systems to make way for unconventional solutions.

Join us for this presentation where representatives from Ottawa and WSP highlight important lessons that can be learned from such discussions and where Ottawa intends to go with these lessons in its zoning by-law re-write. Included is a panel discussion where attendees can ask questions and share their own experiences. This presentation is an opportunity for us to consider how zoning by-laws can be reconsidered, reinvented, and reimagined.
 

Speakers