Toon Dreessen

Op-ed: Your vote helps build our city — literally

City Hall

“We can be the city we want to be. But we can’t get there if we don’t vote,” writes Toon Dreessen.

Op-ed: We can be better than bland, but it will take a coherent vision for our city

Ottawa

“We need to be both a city for people and a city for the world,” writes Toon Dreessen.

Making smarter development decisions to ‘become the city we aspire to be’

Real Estate

We need to understand the root causes and bring leadership to solving problems so that we become the city we aspire to be, writes Toon

How building height limitations are contributing to Ottawa’s housing crisis

Real Estate

By limiting development on certain streets to four storeys, the city has virtually guaranteed that these lots will remain undeveloped, writes Toon Dreessen.

Why #ShopLocal should be applied to small businesses on – and off – mainstreets

Techopia

Governments often design RFPs to demand unreasonably high thresholds for insurance coverage, years of experience or firm size that have little or no bearing on

Ottawa’s Porsche dealership debacle shows there’s a better way to incentivize desirable urban developments

Techopia

The city should encourage investment in our communities, writes Architects DCA president Toon Dreessen.

Putting Ottawa’s public properties to better use

Real Estate

What if we thought differently about our publicly-owned assets?

How public washrooms can aid Ottawa’s economic recovery

OBJ360 Sponsored, Ottawa, Sponsored

How can cities help create the kind of community that supports small businesses? One way is with good public amenities.

Dreessen: ByWard Market plan needs a bolder vision of excellence

Ottawa

Area could be an incubator for testing how to support small businesses in a post-COVID economy, creating the walkable, sustainable community we all aspire to