That I would get lost driving in downtown Ottawa is understandable, what with all those one-way streets and my terrible sense of direction. I’m sure I’m not alone.

One little sign with the words No Left Turn can create havoc with any meticulously plotted route plan. See me now driving in circles wondering where the Rideau Centre went. Is that it over there? How did a shopping centre up and move to the right of me when it was just there on my left a second ago? The moon has been doing that lately, too.

Then there’s the community in which I have lived for seven years. That I can still get lost driving around Kanata is simply annoying. That I can still get lost taking a walk around my Katimavik neighbourhood is downright embarrassing.

I blame it on my Grade 2 teacher. I don’t remember her name, but I do remember her lesson on orientation. North, she told us, is always in front of you. She demonstrated by facing the blackboard, pointing to the front of her and saying, “North.” She then turned to her left, facing the windows, and pointed in front of her. “North,” she said, repeating this as she turned twice more, insisting again that you’ll never get lost as long as you know that north is in front of you.

Unfortunately, I took that lesson to heart. There was the time my parents sent me out in the snow to look for my wayward boot buckle. I got lost. But then, I was only four years old. There was the time I walked around in circles in an old Kitchener neighbourhood, craning my neck to spy the “Big H” in the sky – H for hospital, where my friends had taken a chum with a nose bleed. I got lost. Hours later, back from the hospital, my friends noticed me missing and called police. They provided a description and my age. “Uh, is she a little slow?” police asked. I was 27.

I have come to fear crescents and drives, those esthetically pleasing roads that meander and jog their way through a subdivision, keeping you wondering what’s around the next curve. The sense of anticipation does give me a rush. The problem is, by the time my brain has been dipsied and doodled this way and that along the course, I don’t know where I am, or which way is home, when I exit the maze.

I recently convinced some friends to go with me to Saunders Farm to try out their collection of hedge mazes and labyrinths.  Negotiating the mazes, I figured, would help hone my sense of direction, allowing me to go for a neighbourhood walk without having to wear an electronic tracking device around my ankle.  

Saunders’ literature advertises the Mile Maze, planted in 1994, as “a real puzzle,” complete with secret passageways. This would be just like walking in Kanata, I thought. Unfortunately, I was right. The boys won, leaving the girls, including me, who added zilch to the team, running around in circles for more than an hour.

There has been much discussion in recent years about street planning in the suburbs, or on any large tract of land, such as LeBreton Flats. According to a report by Fanis Grammenos, a senior researcher with CMHC, “Current thinking on street pattern design appears to be divided between concern for the efficiencies of infrastructure and traffic, and a consideration of esthetics. This generally translates into a battle between conventional suburban loops and cul-de-sacs, and ‘traditional’ grid models.”  He favours a fusion of the street patterns of conventional suburbs with those of the traditional grid to “create communities that are efficient, viable, livable, healthy and highly marketable.”

Ottawa city council agrees that better urban designs are needed. To that end, city staff this year began the process of creating urban design guidelines for five topic areas, including “traditional mainstreets,” and “arterial mainstreets.” Improving “the visual and physical pedestrian realm,” along with improving the orientation of buildings and traffic flow, are among the issues being studied.

Consultation with builders, community groups and the public is planned before staff gets back to council in early 2006 with a report outlining the recommended urban design guidelines for each topic area.

Let’s hope the guidelines for streets take into consideration people like me, who like the looks of meandering roadways, but have trouble navigating them. Please help us find our way.

Published in The Ottawa Citizen on Oct. 12, 2005
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