Lower Town

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Lower Town, sometimes spelled Lowertown (French: Basse-Ville) is a neighbourhood in the eastern part of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded roughly by Rideau Street to the south, Sussex Drive to the north, King Edward Avenue and the Rideau Canal to the west, and the Rideau River and Vanier to the east. It includes the trendy Byward Market area. It was historically French Canadian and Irish (as opposed to English and Scottish Upper Town, a term no longer in use) and its total population today is roughly 11,377 people (2006 census). [1]

According to the City of Ottawa website, there are roughly 4180 native English-speakers in Lower Town, 3530 Francophones, and 2235 with other mother tongues. Lower Town is home to a wide variety of immigrants and visible minorities, of which there are 2495 of the latter.

Lower Town's diverse population makes it one of the city's more interesting neighbourhoods. Its main stretch along Rideau Street is very bustling and includes many African, Asian, South Asian, Caribbean, and Lebanese businesses, a large grocery store, the Rideau Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, and an Orthodox Jewish synagogue.

Lower Town is, however, one of Ottawa's poorer neighbourhoods, especially compared to other central areas more affected by gentrification. Its other main street, aside from Rideau, is King Edward Avenue, a bustling and tree-lined boulevard. During the 1960s, however, increasing car traffic led it to be levelled and expanded into a wide street for cars, with up to 6 lanes at times. At the same time dozens of city blocks and hundreds of homes were systematically demolished to make way for new roads and new development that never materialized, destroying the area's social fabric. This had raised many issues regarding urban planning, especially the effect major thoroughfares have on nearby communities. The number of lanes has since been reduced, and there is currently extensive work in returning the street to its former glory.

[edit] See also

• List of Ottawa neighbourhoods
• Rideau Street