In this season of snow, slush, rain, and general impediments to people walking, it is nice once in a while to spot something positive, right here in laggardly Ottawa.

The new entrance to the Rideau Centre, facing MacKenzie King Bridge, has this glass canopy:

Notice the nicely patterned glass, the reasonable width … there is much to like here.

I have noticed similar struts outside some of the new Lansdowne Park buildings, but when I was last there, no glass [yet?].

One can go further. Look at this glass canopy:

Yup, it’s a glass canopy to shelter pedestrians whilst waiting for a green light at an intersection. Notice too the concrete bollards-that-mean-business. No wimpy commitment to pedestrians-first here (photo taken in Bellevue, WA).

And here is a municipal glass roof for protection while pushing the button to get a crossing light (notice also the extent of the concrete crosswalk that includes the whole intersection):

 

When do you think we will get our municipality to express such tender for care for pedestrians?

On the subject of municipalities, this is a glass roof over a sitting area in a municipal park in Portland. Yup, you can sit out during a shower. And at night, the supporting rafters up above where festooned with LEDs that put on a [free] light show. Imagine a city actually wanting people in their parks after dark !

 

Here’s a Portland bus shelter too:

 

 

And to sum up, here are some infill Seattle buildings with glass canopies, extending for blocks through a traditional main street area not dissimilar to Preston or West Wellington, complete with a planter strip to separate people who walk from people who drive:

 

Below, notice the glass canopy, planters to distance people who walk from those who drive, benches, ped-scale lighting, and especially notice that elegant and thin tree-shaped strut that holds up the overhead ped crossing of the busy road. A tich more elegant than what we have on Rideau Street.

 

Now you know what to lobby for.