Reflecting on Old Ottawa South’s Built Environment, Past and Present (cont.)
Old Ottawa South, which sometimes is referred to as Rideauville, is home for over 8,000 residents,[5] which is the upper population limit for what planners often refer to as a “neighborhood.” The area, however, also consists of smaller sections, the borders of which generally are defined by its primary thoroughfares, including Bank Street, Riverdale Avenue, and Sunnyside Avenue. What many of its residents would define as their neighborhood often simply consist of the houses located along one or two city blocks. The area is fortunate to have two distinct geographic boundaries. The first is a natural one, the Rideau River, which provides its border from the south and also partly from the east. The second is the Rideau Canal, the heritage site on which construction was initiated in 1827, and which functions as Old Ottawa South’s northern boundary. Avenue Road provides its eastern boundary, beginning from the river at the south, up to the intersection of Echo Drive and Riverdale Avenue near the canal at the north. In contrast to the other boundaries of the neighborhood, this eastern one is a rather “fuzzy” zone that blends and brings together Old Ottawa South with the neighboring - and very much similar – parts of the Old Ottawa East community. In fact, the Ottawa South Community Association allows residents living to the east of Avenue Road, who officially belong to Old Ottawa East, to join the association on a fee paying basis.
In contrast, the western border of Old Ottawa South leaves much to be desired. This border is defined by Bronson Avenue, a fast and high-volume thoroughfare that presents a physical rupture and barrier between Old Ottawa South and the adjacent Carleton University, thus preventing any sense of continuity from evolving between the university campus and bordering neighborhoods (fig. 1).
Fig. 1: Satellite image showing the northern part of Old Ottawa South and the southern part of the Glebe with the Rideau Canal separating them (Google Earth, 2008)
[5] Statistics regarding the population of Old Ottawa South are provided in the web site of the City of Ottawa.