Civic improvements often\u00a0emerge from unplanned urban activity<\/p>\n
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Can a government town like Ottawa truly be a messy city? And what exactly is a \u201cmessy city,\u201d anyway?\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Those questions ran through my mind as I read the 2025 book\u00a0Messy Cities: Why We\u00a0Can\u2019t\u00a0Plan Everything. The book\u2019s editors, four Toronto urbanists, purposely avoided defining the term \u201cmessy city\u201d (although\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0clear they\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0advocating for litter-strewn communities).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u00a0didn\u2019t give people a definition because we kind of wanted to see how people responded,\u201d says Dylan Reid, one of the book\u2019s editors. \u201cBut to me, messy urbanism\u00a0is\u00a0everything that\u2019s informal or unplanned or kind of irregular or unconventional in the city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With essays from 44 writers, the book offers diverse examples. Desire lines, those well-trodden dirt paths that pedestrians make when taking a shortcut from point A to point B, get several shoutouts. A Toronto \u201cbeach\u201d that sprang up in a vacant lot, an\u00a0ugly-but-popular\u00a0L.A. taco\u00a0stand\u00a0and an urban lawn planted with wildflowers are other examples.\u00a0In some cities, people engage in \u201ctactical urbanism,\u201d setting up tiny parks in parking spaces or painting their own crosswalks across busy intersections.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Such innovations often cause conflicts between fans and haters. However, Reid says, civic improvements often\u00a0emerge\u00a0from\u00a0these\u00a0heated debates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He gives the example of graffiti tags. Taggers may see graffiti\u00a0as a way\u00a0to\u00a0express themselves harmlessly\u00a0on neglected spaces, but\u00a0lots of\u00a0other people view it as\u00a0vandalism.\u00a0Since many taggers\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0paint over artwork, many cities\u00a0now encourage\u00a0artists to\u00a0create\u00a0murals on blank walls. As a result, formerly dull spaces become local landmarks and even tourist attractions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would not have happened if it wasn\u2019t for the tagging,\u201d Reid says of Toronto\u2019s mural program. Without some messiness, he adds,\u00a0\u201cwe\u2019re not going to have the kind of vitality that we want in a city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite Ottawa\u2019s reputation\u00a0for caution,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0easy\u00a0to find\u00a0informal or\u00a0unconventional uses of urban spaces.\u00a0In 1986, artist John Felice Ceprano began creating balanced stone sculptures in the Ottawa River at Remic Rapids Park. By 1998,\u00a0they\u2019d\u00a0become such a beloved attraction that the National Capital Commission offered him a contract to keep building them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In another example that might be termed \u201ccompounding messiness,\u201d\u00a0a post on a neighbourhood Facebook page inspired a blockade of the 2022 truckers\u2019 convoy on Riverside Drive. The following year,\u00a0a\u00a0professor installed a fake City of Ottawa plaque nearby to commemorate \u201cthe Battle of Billings Bridge.\u201d\u00a0The\u00a0plaque was promptly stolen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ottawa\u00a0frequently\u00a0tries\u00a0to divert\u00a0urban messiness\u00a0into\u00a0somewhat\u00a0controlled\u00a0channels.\u00a0For instance, along with a mural program, the city has\u00a0created\u00a0three legal graffiti\u00a0walls: one under\u00a0the Dunbar Bridge near Carleton University, another near the Albert Street\u00a0Education Centre and a third at the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex in Orl\u00e9ans.\u00a0<\/p>\n