Town and Crown is an illustrated history of the planning and development of Canada’s capital city, filling a significant gap in our urban scholarship.
It is the story of the transformation of the region from a sub-arctic wilderness portage to an attractive modern metropolis with a high quality of life. The book examines the period from 1800-2011, and is the first major study that covers both sides of the Ottawa River, addressing the settlement history of Indigenous, French and English peoples.
Ottawa’s transformation was a significant Canadian achievement of the new profession of urban planning in the mid-20th century. Our national capital has the country’s most complete history of community planning, and served as a gateway for important international planning ideas and designers.
Town and Crown illustrates the influence of landscape architect and Olmsted protégé Frederick Todd; Chicago’s City Beautiful architect Edward Bennett; and British planner Thomas Adams. Prime Minister Mackenzie King maintained a direct interest in planning Canada’s capital for almost fifty years, choosing France’s leading urbaniste, Jacques Gréber, to plan the post-1945 redevelopment of the region.
The principal research method for Town and Crown includes over sixteen years of archival studies in North America, Australia and Europe, and interviews with key politicians, designers and planners that supplemented the contemporary research. The narrative is augmented by over 200 images drawn from early sketches, historical maps, plans and archival photography to illustrate the physical transformation of Canada’s federal capital.
About the Author
Professor, FCIP, RPP, AICP, P.Eng.
Dr. David Gordon
David Gordon, FCIP is Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University. He was SURP Director from 2008-2018. Prior to returning to Queen’s, he practised in the public and private sector for 15 years. David is a founding Director of the Council for Canadian Urbanism, a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners and has shared their National Award of Distinction four times.
His books on planning history and urban redevelopment include Town and Crown: An Illustrated History of Canada’s Capital; Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities; and Battery Park City: Politics and Planning on the New York Waterfront. David has taught community planning at other universities including McGill, Ryerson, Toronto, Latvia, Western Australia, Harvard, MIT and Pennsylvania, where he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar. He holds a DDes from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and an MPl and BSc from Queen’s.
