Why Ottawa has an 'amazing opportunity' to rethink its urban fabric

What's the debate about the federal government's latest directive on working from the office really about?

Andrew Reeves says it's a question that's been on his mind lately.

"Is the pushback to coming back to the office more of a pushback [against] crappy spaces and crappy places?" asked Reeves, an architect and founder of Ottawa firm Linebox Studio, in a recent interview withCBCOttawa News.

"Maybe it's not really about work. Maybe it's really about the experience of a city."

Reeves is one ofmany mulling over those sorts of questions ever since theGovernment of Canadaupdated its back-to-the-office directive last week.

As of later this year, the feds expect the vast majority of public servants will be in the office three days a week.

• Federal public servants to return to the office 3 days a week this fall

Any departments that haven't already implemented thethree-day minimum requirement must dobySept. 9, the directive said.

It was issued roughly one month after Premier Doug Ford was in Ottawa, calling for the federal government to get workers back in the office more frequently for the sake of the city's struggling downtown.

"They have to get people back to work," Ford said at the time. "I'm begging people to go to work for three days not that they aren't working at home, but it really affects the downtown."

'We're extremely concerned'

Both the back-to-work directive and the premier's plea come as Ottawa's urban core faces a spectrum of complex challenges, from vacant storefronts on Bank Streetto increasingly open street drug usageon parts of Rideau Street.(Things are similar across the riverin downtown Gatineau, Que.)

But mandating civil servants to spend more time in downtown office towers isn't a panacea particularly if you ask people likeNancy Peckfordwho've seen their communities thrive as people spend their salaries locally.

"With those hybrid work options, more [residents]have been able to frequent local businesses, build relationships, get their gas, get their groceries," said Peckford, the mayor of North Grenville, Ont. "So we're extremely concerned."

According to census data, North Grenville grew by nine per cent to nearly 18,000 residentsbetween 2016 and 2021.

A big part of that growth, Peckford told CBC Radio'sAll In A Daylast week, is that the cultural embrace of hybrid work has made the community just south of Ottawa more appealing for workers in both the public and private sector.

"What I think is important is that the Government of Canada really looks at their responsibility, not to the economy of just the nation's capital, but the economies of smaller communities that surround the city of Ottawa," she said.

128:53:20The cost of public servants going back to the office on local economies

\nThe federal government wants public servants back in the office three days a week starting in December to support Ottawa's downtown economy. The Mayor of North Grenville argues that federal workers should support the economies of the places they live not where they work.

It's a similar situation in the west Ottawa suburb of Bells Corners, according to Christine Leadman, head of the local business improvement area.

Residents have been doing things like buying their groceries closer to home andsupporting local business owners who've shared that they're struggling, Leadman said.

She doesn't think, even with the latest back-to-work directive, thatthings can change too much.

"I don't think you'll see a huge shift, especially when you have the government looking at unloading 50 per cent of their properties," said Leadman, referring to the$1.1-billion federal budget pledge to transform half of the government's office portfolio into housing.

"Where are [those workers] going to be, then? There won't be those buildings."

Looking to Berlin or Copenhagen

The shift in Ottawa's urban corehas been happeningsince "well before the pandemic," Leadman said.

Contemplating its future and tackling challenges like housing shortages and the street drugcrisis was a big focus at a recent city-building summit hosted by the Ottawa Board of Trade, she added.

All in a Day10:32New report on revitalizating Ottawa's downtown core released

Sueling Ching, a member of the Downtown Ottawa Revitalization Task Force, speaks to Alan Neal about its findings.

"You just can't say, well, things are going back to normal, or the feds are coming back," she said.

"Because there is, certainly, a lot of pushback from the public service to say, 'Why is it on us? Why is on our backs to make sure that [downtown] businesses thrive?'"

For Reeves, COVID-19 while highly disruptive primarilyhighlighted shortcomings that already existed with Ottawa's urban fabric, particularly the geographical balance of residential and commercial developments.

Other cities Reeveshas looked at, such as Berlin and Copenhagen, have better addressed that balance.

They've been able to foster what he calls"tiny towns in a major city," with amenities like schools and parks and shops all within easy walking distance.

• Welcome to the 15-minute neighbourhood: Intensification key to city's official plan

With the sheer number of vacancies in the core, Ottawa has an"amazing opportunity" to address that imbalance and do something similar, he said.

The challenge, he said, will be getting municipal politicians who are elected to four-year terms to make meaningful decisions that could shift Ottawa's urban fabric for decades to come.

"I think what's happened in North America is maybe we went a little too far [with] offices being downtown and the scale of downtown. And I think there's opportunity now to recorrect that and rethink it," he said.

"Other cities have done so, and I think we're next."