Sparks Street was thronged in the 1970s. Will the Mall ever regain the popularity of its heyday? Most of its stores and services are gone, and the new Sparks Street Public Realm Plan re-imagines it as an urban oasis of greenery and carefully curated attractions.
by Robert Smythe
The dominant design theme for the new plan to rejuvenate the Sparks Street Mall is called a “meandering pathway.” After years of neglect, when many were suggesting that we should give up on the whole venture, it’s reassuring to see a recommitment to Ottawa’s boldest experiment in urban design.
Last month, the City of Ottawa released its Sparks Street Public Realm Plan. It is a compendium, a strategic wish list of component parts. They set the directions for a new “downtown oasis… to create comfortable public spaces that encourage people to relax and linger.” Two new light rail stations on Sparks Street will bring the people. Will the plan be sufficient for lingering?
The Sparks Street study is one of those aspirational everything-but-the-kitchen-sink planning documents — long on optimism with terms like “authentic” and “alluring,” and short on the hard realities of implementation. While it tries to include every conceivable amenity and attraction, as a finished product of urban landscape architecture it is still curiously flat and underwhelming. As a foundation for further tweaking and refinements it is a promising start.
This plan likens the meandering alignment to a “progressive discovery of the public realm through a series of outdoor rooms.” Putting these pretensions aside, here are some of the highlights:
Car and truck menace: Nothing had degraded Canada’s first pedestrian mall more than the constant car or truck parking and illegal traffic that had invaded Sparks Street. Last year the Mall Authority was shamed into installing bollards to control this. A more gimmicky solution for controlling the unwanted traffic has been devised — bollards mounted on a swinging platform which would be rotated to an open position for authorized delivery vehicles allowed before 10:00 a.m.
The 50 trees promise: The Sparks Street plan pledges to stick them in the ground to the greatest extent possible. It’s a laudable goal, but no street allowance is more densely honeycombed with underground services, conduits, and wiring, and this is capped over by a thick layer of concrete that was meant to protect the major water main that was laid when the mall was last reconstructed in 1987-88. Previous versions of the mall have resorted to raised beds and tubs.
Waterworld: the redesign includes multiple fountains. In the past, Sparks Street’s water features have turned into leaky temperamental follies that ran dry shortly after installation. Unless there is a commitment to constant maintenance and repair, caution is advised.
Wired for sound: Free WiFi, charging stations, integral loudspeakers for performances (a.k.a. the “carefully curated calendar of special events”), tour apps, and digital kiosks are some of the electronic offerings on this menu of desirable options. As with water fountains, these marvels are finicky, date quickly and require continuous upgrading.
Winter warming: The plan proposes pockets of weather protection. Warming stations and heated sidewalks could make the mall more comfortable in the winter months, when it is least hospitable.
Moving the furniture: Some fixed seating will be on the low planter walls, but most of it is on moveable chairs that can be arranged at will. None of the renderings depict the fenced-off beer-drinking pens necessitated by the liquor laws which are currently the mall’s primary use. How this conflict can be resolved is unclear.
Respecting history: Sparks Street is officially designated as a heritage conservation district and contains the city’s largest concentration of important historic buildings. The draft plan claims to “acknowledge and protect heritage aspects along Sparks Street and the surrounding backdrop of buildings and landscape.” The redeveloped mall’s concept for a meandering pathway could be a jarring intrusion, abandoning any sympathy for its built heritage environment and substituting a design vocabulary of jagged edges or irregular bulbous curves. If it is to be defiantly modern (as was the 1967 design) it needs to be of a higher order.
A long wait: After two years of consultation, the city has scheduled a further three years until construction can actually begin, no sooner than 2022. This is for the development of a final design, financing and cost-sharing between the trilateral parties. Given a notoriously stingy City Council, an NCC that can’t seem to get anything done, a federal Public Works Department that has been less than dependable in its support for the mall, and the competing short-term interests of business owners, what could possibly go wrong?
The Metcalfe-to-Elgin block in cold weather. Sparks Street’s winter woes would be alleviated by warming stations and heated sidewalks.
The Metcalfe-to-O’Connor section, at night. Loose tables and chairs, outdoor performances and public art on display.
The O’Connor-to-Bank block. Shelter from the rain, and dancing water. Please walk your bike. Actually, pedestrian-paced cycling will continue to be permitted, which will require bylaw amendments.
