Downtown Ottawa

30 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Confederation Square, with National War Memorial in its centre © Skeezix1000/cc-by-sa-3.0

Confederation Square, with National War Memorial in its centre © Skeezix1000/cc-by-sa-3.0

Downtown Ottawa (French: Centre-Ville d’Ottawa) is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Like other downtowns it is the commercial and economic centre of the city. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa’s financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the east, Gloucester Street to the south and Bronson Avenue to the west. This area and the residential neighbourhood to the south are also known locally as ‘Centretown’. The total population of the area is 5,000.   read more…

Parliament Hill in Ottawa

2 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

© Coolcaesar/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Coolcaesar/cc-by-sa-3.0

Parliament Hill (French: Colline du Parlement), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings is the home of the Parliament of Canada and has architectural elements of national symbolic importance. Parliament Hill attracts approximately 3 million visitors each year. Law enforcement on Parliament Hill and in the parliamentary precinct is the responsibility of the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS).   read more…

Downtown Toronto

24 September 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  15 minutes

Downtown Toronto seen from Toronto Islands © Arild Vågen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Downtown Toronto seen from Toronto Islands © Arild Vågen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto (neighbourhoods in Toronto), it is approximately 17 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the northwest, Lake Ontario to the south, the Don Valley to the east, and Bathurst Street to the west. It is also the location of the municipal government of Toronto and the Government of Ontario. The area is made up of Canada’s largest concentration of skyscrapers and businesses that form Toronto’s skyline. Downtown Toronto has the third most skyscrapers in North America exceeding 200 metres (656 ft) in height, behind New York City and Chicago.   read more…

Hudson Bay in Canada

20 July 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

Polar bear walking © flickr.com - Emma/cc-by-2.0

Polar bear walking © flickr.com – Emma/cc-by-2.0

Hudson Bay (sometimes called Hudson’s Bay, usually historically) is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of 1,230,000 km² (470,000 sq mi). Although not geographically apparent, it is for climatic reasons considered to be a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It drains a very large area, about 3,861,400 km² (1,490,900 sq mi), that includes parts of southeastern Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, all of Manitoba and indirectly through smaller passages of water parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. Hudson Bay’s southern arm is called James Bay. The Eastern Cree name for Hudson and James Bay is Wînipekw (Southern dialect) or Wînipâkw (Northern dialect), meaning muddy or brackish water. Lake Winnipeg is similarly named by the local Cree, as is the location for the city of Winnipeg.   read more…

Old Port of Montreal

30 March 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Clock Tower © Concierge.2C/cc-by-sa-3.0

Clock Tower © Concierge.2C/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Old Port of Montreal (Vieux-Port de Montréal) is the historic port of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Located in Old Montreal, it stretches for over 2 km (1.2 mi) along the Saint Lawrence River. It was used as early as 1611, when French fur traders used it as a trading post. In 1976, Montreal’s Port activities were moved east to the present Port of Montreal in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.   read more…

The European Union: Real Estate and Demography

25 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union, Living, Working, Building Reading Time:  467 minutes

(Latest update: 22 August 2022) First, there is not THE real estate market – not national and certainly not international. In fact, the market situation is very fragmented due to the general conditions, in other words, many individual markets, collectively referred to as “the market”. Metropolitan Area A faces different challenges than Metropolitan Area B and Metropolitan Area C can not even understand what A and B are talking about. Where there is comparability, is the housing situation in the “affordable segment” in urban centers in all western EU states, the US and Canada. This is where the call for the state, which should intervene regulatively, quickly becomes louder. In free market economies, however, this is on the one hand not wanted and therefore on the other hand, only limited possible. That’s pretty okay, because the market is inherently profit-oriented and that’s just what it will stay, otherwise investment incentives for new construction would sooner or later be completely absent. The “rental price brake” (Mietpreisbremse) exemplifies the problem. At the same time, more and more social housing is being let out of the rental price brake without replacement investment being made. In the following, single aspects are examined in more detail using the example of Germany, whereby the scenarios also apply to other western countries such as the EU states, the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, but also, e.g., to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul in South Korea, Tel Aviv in Israel and other emerging metropolitan regions around the world.   read more…

Canada: Bon voyage!

8 December 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, Bon voyage, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  44 minutes

© George F.G. Stanley

© George F.G. Stanley

Canada has a large domestic and foreign tourism industry. The second largest country in the world and a population well over 36,5 million, Canada’s incredible geographical variety is a significant tourist attractor. Much of the country’s tourism is centred in the following (busiest) regions: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver/Whistler, Niagara Falls, Vancouver Island, Canadian Rockies, British Columbias Okanagan Valley, and the national capital region Ottawa. The large cities (cities in Canada) are known for their culture, diversity, as well as the many national parks and historic sites. There are 17 World Heritage sites in Canada, including one of the oldest, Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories, and one of the newest, the Red Bay Basque Whaling Station in Newfoundland and Labrador. Of these 18 sites, 8 of them are Cultural Heritages and 10 are Natural Heritages. Canada is divided into ten provinces and three territories. Domestic and international tourism combined directly contributes 1% of Canada’s total GDP and supports 310,000 jobs in the country. Most visitors arriving to Canada in 2015 came from the following countries of residence: United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and India. Canada ist host to 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Culture of Canada).   read more…

Magdalen Islands in Quebec

26 November 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Cap-aux-Meules Island - L'Étang-du-Nord Lighthouse © Renaudp10/cc-by-sa-3.0

Cap-aux-Meules Island – L’Étang-du-Nord Lighthouse © Renaudp10/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Magdalen Islands are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of 205.53 square kilometres (79.36 sq mi). Though closer to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, the islands are part of the Canadian province of Quebec. There are eight major islands: Amherst, Grande Entrée, Grindstone, Grosse-Île, House Harbour, Pointe-Aux-Loups, Entry Island and Brion. All except Brion are inhabited. There are several other tiny islands that are also considered part of the archipelago: Bird Rock (Rocher aux Oiseaux), Seal Island (Île aux Loups-marins), Île Paquet and Rocher du Corps Mort. The islands’ interiors were once completely covered with pine forests. An ancient salt dome underlies the archipelago. The inherent buoyancy of the salt forces the uplift of overlying Permian red sandstone. Nearby salt domes are believed to be sources of fossil fuels. Rock salt is mined on the Islands.   read more…

Victoria in British Columbia

15 June 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

The Empress © Miladlaferrari/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Empress © Miladlaferrari/cc-by-sa-3.0

Victoria, the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, is on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada’s Pacific coast. The city has a population of 86,000, while the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria has a population of 383,000, making it the 15th most populous Canadian metropolitan area. The city of Victoria is the 7th most densely populated city in Canada with 4,405.8 people per square kilometre, which is a greater population density than Toronto, Ontario. Victoria is the southernmost major city in Western Canada, and is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from British Columbia’s largest city of Vancouver on the mainland. The city is about 100 km (60 mi) from Seattle by airplane, ferry, or the Victoria Clipper passenger-only ferry which operates daily, year round between Seattle and Victoria, and 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Port Angeles, Washington, by ferry Coho across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.   read more…

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