Ottawa and Calgary’s City Centres are on a “high,” as both are enjoying a renaissance as places to live with dozens of new residential buildings under construction and more in the planning stages. After recently spending almost two weeks wandering Ottawa’s City Centre, I thought it would be fun compare the two City Centres as places to live.

The epicentre of urban living in Ottawa is around the Byward Market and Rideau Centre Shopping mall. Below are a few of the new high-rise residential tower in Ottawa’s downtown core.

East Village plaza is a popular meeting place in the summer for all ages.

Riverside Living

Ottawa’s City Centre is at the confluence of three rivers - Ottawa, Rideau and Gatineau, - and the Rideau Canal; Calgary’s is at the junction of the Bow and Elbow Rivers. This makes both very appealing places to live as humans love living near water.

An observation - Ottawa doesn’t capitalize on its riverfronts as places to live as much as Calgary.

It’s partly because, in the Parliament buildings sit on edge of the Ottawa River on land that otherwise would be a prime riverfront living site. As well, the University of Ottawa, Shaw Centre, Chateau Laurier and National Art Gallery also occupy prime downtown waterfront sites. The best riverside urban community in Ottawa is its new Lansdowne Park development on the City Centre’s southern edge. Home to not only their football stadium, but several residential buildings, bars with huge patios, some shops and a Whole Foods grocery store - all just a long punt from the Rideau Canal.

Over the past 20+ years, Calgary has taken advantage of the south shore of the Bow River to create three riverside urban villages - Downtown West, Eau Claire and East Village – with dozens of new high-rise residential towers. Ottawa has nothing to match Calgary’s East Village’s amazing transformation.

Ottawa’s Landsdowne Park redevelopment is located near the Rideau Canal next to TD Stadium with a mix of residential development next to bars, restaurants and Whole Foods grocery store.

For the most part, there is not a lot of mid and high rise development along the Rideau Canal. It is home to the University of Ottawa, the iconic Chateau Laurier Hotel and the backside of the City’s convention centre and performing arts centre.

The Bow River is lined with residential development from Fort Calgary Park to Shaw Millennium Park a distance of about 3 km.

These Calgary condos are located across the street from an elementary school with a small playing field.

Transit Oriented Living (TOL)

Living near a rapid transit station is attractive for urban dwellers who want to be less auto dependent. Ottawa has one LRT line running underground through its City Centre, but having only opened in 2019, transit-oriented living is in its infancy. However, there is definite evidence of new highrise residential construction near the City Centre’s Rideau Centre Station, as well as plans for a mega development at LeBreton Flats which calls for a potential new library, arena and residential developments (for 7,500 people) with pedestrian links to two LRT stations.

Calgary benefits from having a much larger and older (opened in 1981) LRT network, which has resulted in dozens of City Centre TOL residential buildings near Sunnyside, Downtown West, City Hall, Stampede and Bridgeland/Memorial Stations. There is even new residential development happening along the downtown core’s LRT free fare zone – Telus Sky and HomeSpace’s affordable housing project, and more to come with office to residential conversions.

The Bridges is just one of many new residential projects next to the Bridgeland/Riverside LRT station.

These residential towers are on or near the Downtown West LRT station and Shaw Millennium Park home to one of the world’s largest public skate parks.

Telus Sky is an office tower on the bottom and residential on the top. It is located in the middle of Calgary’s CBD, on the 7th Avenue Transit Corridor and a block from Stephen Avenue pedestrian mall.

Ottawa’s Le Breton Flats master plan calls for several residential towers, new library and arena over top the underground LRT station. It shares many of the same elements of Calgary’s East Village and Stampede Park master plan.

The tallest building in Ottawa-Gatineau is the 45-storey, 143 m (469 ft) tall Claridge Icon, which is located in Little Italy. The tallest building approved for construction in Ottawa-Gatineau is the 65-storey, 234 m (768 ft) tall Trinity Station Tower 1, part of the three-tower Trinity Centre at Bayview Station project in Bayview Yards

Restaurants, Retail and Recreation

For urbanites, living near restaurants, retail and recreation amenities make urban living attractive. In Ottawa, that means living near Byward Market, Bank Street (North and South of the Queensway), Elgin and Preston Streets, where you can walk out your door and enjoy a plethora of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, patios and fitness studios.

Calgary’s equivalent would be Kensington Village, 17th Avenue SW, 4th Street SW in Mission, 9th Avenue SE in Inglewood and 1st Ave NE in Bridgeland. Ottawa’s and Calgary’s main streets are lined with patios in the summer and home to several live music venues. Ottawa has more of a pub scene versus Calgary’s bar scene. Ottawa’s main streets have more a bohemian look; Calgary’s seem more gentrified.

For shoppers, Ottawa’s Rideau Centre is a mega indoor mall, with Nordstroms, Simons and Apple Store as its anchors, with The Bay attached by a +30 skybridge. Calgary’s The Core has many of the same shops, with Holt Renfrew, Simons and The Bay as its three department store anchors.

When it comes to recreational opportunities, I didn’t see anything in Ottawa like Calgary’s Shaw Millennium Park with its huge skatepark or the MNP Community & Sports Centre (the new name for the Lindsay Park Recreation Centre).

Though Ottawa’s Rideau Canal pathways are wonderful looking, I was shocked to find almost nobody using them on a beautiful Sunday morning and afternoon. In the summer, the canal offers boating fun; in the winter the world’s longest skating rink. Calgary’s Bow River pathway is packed with people anytime the weather is nice - even in the winter. Calgary’s Bow and Elbow Rivers offer rafting in the summer, with winter skating limited to Olympic Plaza and sometimes the lagoon at Prince’s Island.

Calgary’s Shaw Millennium Park is a unique urban park.

Calgary is home to BUMP (Beltline Urban Mural Project) which has resulted in 50+ major murals across the City Centre.

Parks are critical to urban recreation for both passive and active activities. Ottawa’s major downtown park is Major’s Hill Park at the confluence of the Rideau Canal and Ottawa River. The Calgary equivalent would be the Bow River Islands (Prince’s, St. Patrick and St. George) or perhaps Fort Calgary Park. Ottawa does have the Victoria Island Park in the Ottawa River but it is less connected to everyday urban living than Calgary’s island parks.

Other large Ottawa parks include LeBreton Flats Park, Confederation Park and Lansdowne Parks. Calgary’s equivalent is Riley Park, Lindsay Park, Murdoch Park and Tom Campbell’s Natural Park. Ottawa’s City Centre is dotted with small neighbourhood block parks – not unlike Calgary’s Memorial Park or Thomson Family Park.

When it comes to cycling, the two cities are pretty much on par with each other. “People for Bikes” in 2022 ranked Calgary 58, and Ottawa 51 out of 100, for cycling infrastructure and friendliness.

I loved how Ottawa was able to convert old homes into businesses all over the City Centre, to add much needed urban living amenities, from bakeries, bistros and boutique to professional offices. This doesn’t happen very often in Caglary.

In addition to high-rise and mid-rise residential towers, Caglary’s inner-city communities are being invaded by infills housing - single family, duplexes and row houses. In some communities 85% of the old housing stock has been replaced by larger family oriented homes.

Culture Vultures

For yet others, the key motivation for urban living is having cultural experiences close by. Ottawa’s City Centre is home to the National Arts Centre, a huge performance arts centre with 3,670 seats in four performance spaces. Calgary’s Arts Commons has 3,200 seats in five spaces. If you add in the nearby Vertigo, Lunchbox and Grand Theatres, Calgary’s City Centre is on par with Ottawa when it comes to the performing arts.

While Calgary wins hands down with its funky new Central Library, Ottawa wins when it comes to the visual arts with its cathedral-like National Gallery. Calgary’s Contemporary Calgary public art gallery (with plans for expansion), as well as the existing Esker Foundation Gallery are both architectural gems, just not on the scale of the National Gallery architecturally or scale of exhibitions.

Ottawa’s City Centre is a mecca for history buffs with dozens of magnificent heritage buildings and several museums – including Bank of Canada Museum, Canadian War Museum, Canadian Museum of Nature and Canadian Museum of History, the latter just across the Ottawa River in Gatineau. Sparks and Wellington Streets are lined with large heritage buildings.

While, Calgary’s City Centre may not have the “national” stature that Ottawa has, it holds its own being home to the Glenbow Museum, National Music Centre, Calgary Zoo and Telus Spark (Science Centre), as well two active historic main streets - Stephen Avenue downtown and 9th Avenue in Inglewood.

Both cities have two art house cinemas. And when it comes to festivals, both have the usual cultural festivals (Folk, Blues, Jazz, Film) as well as ethnic festivals. Ottawa’s City Centre has two signature downtown festivals – Tulip Festival and Winterlude, while Calgary’s signature festivals are the Calgary Stampede and the Lilac Street Festival.

For sports fans, Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre is in the suburb of Kanata (think Airdrie) while Calgary’s Saddledome is in the City Centre which means easy access to three hockey teams, a lacrosse team, as well as numerous concerts and events for urbanites.

Last Word

Currently, about 14,000 people live in Ottawa’s downtown – plus 25,000 in Centretown, 15,000 in Glebe and 5,000 in downtown Gatineau (just across the Ottawa River, in Quebec) for a total of nearly 60,000 urban dwellers.

Calgary’s downtown population is now nearing 20,000, plus 26,000 in the Beltline, 18,000 north of the Bow River and 15,000 in other nearby neighbourhoods including Sunalta, Inglewood and Mission for a total of 80,000 urbanites.

When it comes to urban living, Ottawa and Calgary’s City Centres are surprisingly similar. One major difference is Ottawa doesn’t have the number of small infill home developments that Calgary does, a result of its City Centre being populated by large two storey brick homes, on the same scale of Calgary’s new single family, duplex and row housing infills.

Here Are a Few More Urban Living Articles:

Parks Are A Must For Urban Living

Downtown Living is cooler than you think

Calgarians love living on the edge of their downtown!

Urban Living Ottawa vs Calgary