Years ago, I attended the World Urban Forum (WUF) in Vancouver. WUF is a gathering of groups who are obsessed with urbanism and how, if done correctly, it could help solve many of the world's problems.  The gathering, hosted by the United Nations, really is a geekfest of policy ideas, new technologies, and networking opportunities. But the thing that really caught my eye while I was there was an installation representing an Edible Landscape.  For those who don't know, an edible landscape is basically a garden where all the plants are switched for edible varieties. By doing this, people can grow food and have a lovely garden aesthetic (existing in harmony rather than in opposition). Fast forward a bit more than a decade and edible landscapes are starting to take root at uOttawa. In 2021, the Office of Campus Sustainability started filling some planters on campus with edible plants instead of the traditional non-edible ones. An extension of the community gardens, the edible land...

The University of Ottawa recently announced that construction is beginning on the Tabaret / Grand Allée project. Essentially, the whole project is an extension of the Grand Allée (or the Grand Alley in English but no one really calls it that). There are a lot of good things about the project and a few sad things about it too. A recent article in the uOttawa Gazette spoke about the "makeover" of the space and some of the features. But I feel that more should be done to explain some of the details about the project. In fact, the project is more of a restoration than a makeover. So here is our contribution to what is happening in front of Tabaret. As it stands right now, the Grand Allée extends from the FSS tower all the way to Laurier. This new segment would include the other side of the street betweet Tabaret and Academic Hall, essentially bringing the space in front of Tabaret to the same standards as the rest of the Grand Allée. And it kind of needed it, I mean ...

Welcome to the University of Ottawa. You can't imagine how happy we are to have you with us here on campus. I think you will really like what we have here to offer you, but secretly we are just as excited about what you are going to give us. It is hard for me to sum up the campus in just a few words so you are going to have to bare with me. This is a wonderful place to learn and grow. The people are friendly, the greenery is deep, and the buildings echo with  history. The people here are very proud and very vocal. The community is a mix of French and English Canadians, with a dash of international students from all around. So don't be surprised if you hear the songs of peoples from around the globe as they whiz past you. Here you will find knowledge and a community willing to discuss it. And as the years go by, as you grow taller and as you grow wiser. You will come to know the cycles of the campus. You will see rambunctious youth crowd onto the streets and sing s...

Last summer I wrote about my project concerning the Emerald Ash Borers in Sandy Hill- mostly how Jon pimped me out to a prof and his student to look into the situation (because of my mapping expertise). I spent some time hitting the pavement, plotting out where the ash trees were, and locating spaces to plant new trees to replace the canopy cover that would be eliminated by this pesky invasive species. After identifying the areas, we went door to door and spoke to residents about planting a tree on their property with the help of a City grant. It went pretty well, I had some neat conversations with residents, I was able to breathe some fresh air, and I had a change of scenery from the office. It was great to be done with that project, knowing that the Action Sandy Hill community group had my finalized map in their hands. Effectively they could go about informing more residents and even inoculating trees that were significant to the community and had shown no signs of infection. Ino...

A couple of days ago I left an interesting picture up on my Facebook page. You can check out the picture for yourself but it made me and countless others giggle hysterically. Of course that was minutes before I took a leisurely walk through the campus to go get something to eat... Yeah, so what I found was this party poster blasted all over the campus. And to my utter dismay, someone had taken the time to douchingly tape these posters to the trees on campus. Yes, tape.... super thick packing tape. They went around the tree three times. So this makes me think back to a conversation I had with our campus groundskeeper a couple of years ago. Benoit and I had a nice talk about how many trees die on campus because of the negligence of the people around us. Every year there are people that break branches off of trees to pretend that they are wands; or strip the leaves from the trees to keep as souvenirs; or even damage the bark of the trees to hang posters and banners. ...