Series: Formative Documents

Ottawa Valley Group

Groupe de la Vallee de l’Ottawa
Grupo de la Valle de Ottawa

The Social and Political Force of the Future

The political and cultural climate now encourages coordination in replace of control. Public participation is giving way to civic engagement. This is a
necessary evolution. We are leaving behind outmoded strategies, which saw the State at a remove. With more active, educated, and connected
populations, the demands placed on government by its citizens are now characterized by a desire for involvement, recognition, contribution, ac-
knowledgement, and incorporation. The process has become the product. As we embrace secular, civic existence, we increasingly seek meaning
within the processes, which constitute our collective, daily life. Further, a growing consensus holds that the wisdom of the groups is at least equiva-
lent to the wisdom of the group, i.e. publics vs. council. We, the people, hold our selves responsible for developments within our polity. A healthy
city sees publics forming and disperssing around issues of fleeting and sustained interest. How do we best gather physically and digitally? How do
our gatherings relate to decision making, power, and future planning? When we deliberately gather, we accept a civic ‘terms and conditions’. What
are they? How do we achieve consensus before we even open our mouth? Engaging in a conversation confirms that you care about a declared
subject. “Why do you care?” “Each group a means of creating.” What do we create? Mainly, our groups produce vision. As vision varies in its depth
and quality, we tie as many together as possible. Often, we lose ‘vision’ in our translations. But finally, sharp vision is still our desired outcome. In our
emerging schema, visionaries give way to visions, collectively produced and concertedly published. -- Morgen Peers, Coordinator

Introduction. Aims. Ambition.

A group that thinks like a valley; regionally, ecologically.

Un groupe qui pense comme un valle; regionale, ecologiquement.

Un grupo que piensa como un valle; regional, ecologicamente.

OVG-GVO Ottawa, ON K2P 0A8 T 613-883-1982 @ OVG_GVO email@[Link] [Link]

Ottawa Valley Group | Groupe de la Vallee de l’Ottawa | Grupo de la Valle de Ottawa

INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW
Ottawa Valley Group will support teams of experts as they study and report openly on critical questions and known
challenges, both regional and global.

The OVG will openly review received reports. Acting in its capacity as a non-profit cooperative, OVG will approve of and
assist in the establishment of other necessary public-serving social enterprises.

OVG will re-present the sum of its acquired knowledge through public education campaigns.

Ecology of the Cooperative - Core Groups

A B C

3 - Review Reports / Set Agenda 1 - Report to Board 3 - Report to Board

1 - Review Reports / Set Agenda 2 - Lend Expertise to C 2 - Lend Expertise to B

Roles & Responsibilities Roles & Responsibilities Roles & Responsibilities

A Funds B & C Study & Report on Infrastructure Study & Report on Quality of Life

Sponsor Other Working Groups Sponsor Study Groups Sponsor Study Groups

Establish New Non-Profits Aggregate Information & Resources Aggregate Information & Resources

Promote the Ottawa Valley Promote Regional Thinking Promote Ecological Thinking

Board-sponsored working groups join with A, functionally separated from the activities of B and C.

A 1

B
3
4
2

C
A = Board of Directors B = Critical Regional Working Group C = Human Ecology Working Group

Introduction. Aims. Ambition. 1

Ottawa Valley Group | Groupe de la Vallee de l’Ottawa | Grupo de la Valle de Ottawa

“B and C are permanently convened bodies of regional, national

and international practicioners, each rotating their seat at a
determined interval, with each seat being dedicated to some or all
of each Working Group’s chief tenets.”
OVG-GVO // Board of Directors // Group A
• The Board will maintain a trans-disciplinary view of the Valley, its challenges and opportunities, achieved through a
diversity of representation and decision-making within the Group.
• As a cooperative, the Group will be the sum of its membership; one vote per member.
• Once the Group is initially established, Directors are then appointed by a members vote.
• Voting takes place every four years / 3-Term limit for all Directors
• Text for Review: History of the Ottawa Valley | First Report: Future of the Ottawa Valley

Critical Regional Working Group // Group B

• Critical Regionalism describes a trans-disciplinary stance toward a locality's ongoing
negotiations in the fields of Housing, Transportation, Urban Planning, and Infrastructure,
et al; the balance to be struck is between regional heritage and globally ascending norms
and patterns.
• What trends are developing elsewhere? What types of initiatives are working nearby? Abroad?
• This group will initially form through a 1-year re-examination of two seminal Canadian texts:
• Metropolitan Problems: A Search for Comprehensive Solutions & Urban Canada: Problems and Prospects

Human Ecology Working Group // Group C

• "Human ecology deals with the relationship between humans, human societies, and their
natural, social, and created environments."
• Human ecology explores not only the influence of humans on their environment but also the influence of the environment
on human behaviour, and their adaptive strategies as they come to understand those influences better. [...] For us, human
ecology is a methodology as much as an area of research. It is a way of thinking about the world, and a context in which
we define our questions and ways to answer those questions [...]
– "What is Human Ecology?", Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University
• How is regional life being re-imagined around the Globe? How is happiness being attained?
• This group will initially form through a 1-year re-examination of two seminal Canadian texts:
• Shared Spaces: The Communities Agenda & Belonging: The Meaning and Future of Canadian Citizenship

Temporarily Sponsored Working Groups // D, ... ∞

• Novel or emerging issues require thoughtful and timely responses.
• The Group will be attentive to such issues through its regional and global leadership
• dotOttawa is being put forth as OVG’s first temporarily sponsored Working Group
• The dotOttawa Project will become known as Group D, with new groups following as E, F, ... AA, etc.
• See: [Link]

Introduction. Aims. Ambition. 2

Ottawa Valley Group | Groupe de la Vallee de l’Ottawa | Grupo de la Valle de Ottawa

“The Ottawa Valley Group will focus on the two main aspects of betterment
as pertains to a city-region; its situation vis-a-vis its neighbours and global
partners, and second, the ecology and/or interplay among people, places,
and policies connected to and affecting life within the area.”

AIMS

As a Group
A total view of the Valley can be achieved utilizing a five-point framework for analysis and critique.

Five-Point Framework: People, Places, Pillars, Policies, and Power.

People - Citizens, residents and all vistors to an area.

Places - Known locales, landmarks, utilities, and architecture (landscape or otherwise).

Pillars - “... of the community.” Connurbations of people and/or information. People or Hubs - analog or digital.

Policies - Value Statements, Motions and other functional recommendations by groups or bodies.

Power - Elected officials, arbiters of access (to resources), and other centres of decision-making and/or authority.

People, Places, Pillars, Policies, and Power; a region’s 5 Political Ecologies.

Ongoing summarization of these ecologies and their inter-play will characterize the Group’s background activities

Regionally
The Group aims to lead other global regions through its collaborative and trans-disciplinary (read: exemplary) focus on
pressing issues affecting the Ottawa Valley, the Outaouais, and other affiliated regions, including the Greater Toronto Area
and the island of Montreal. What challenges are common to others? What solutions are pan-regional? Pan-continental?

Ecologically
The Group aims to pioneer novel methods for analyzing and conceptualizing the myriad ecologies, within which each of
us lives and participates. By connecting the fields of Municipal Cultural Planning, Public Health, and Environmental
Science, citizens, visitors, and professionals alike will more holistically envision our area’s complexity and potential. What
webs of ecologies do we find elsewhere? What types of ecologies are native to the Valley? Could they thrive in foreign
soil?

Introduction. Aims. Ambition. 3

Ottawa Valley Group | Groupe de la Vallee de l’Ottawa | Grupo de la Valle de Ottawa

“The Ottawa Valley Group is being established, in the hopes that open
collaboration and information-sharing will lead to a convivial consensus
around acute regional and global issues. Consensus is the pre-condition for
collective action. What types of action have appeal? Can we demonstrative?”

AMBITION

Lighter. Tighter. Brighter.

LIGHTER

The Group seeks to lessen its imprint but amplify its impact, much like its hopes for the Ottawa Valley.

TIGHTER

As ecologies overlap and assist one another, the region moves toward a desirable state of dense inter-dependency.

BRIGHTER

We believe our region and its people can each have a brilliant, more attractive future - indeed one brings about the other.

What is all this Four?

Committee of the 4th Internal Ecology

A 1


Ecologies 1. 2, and 3 will be represented by small committees (referred to
as Committees 1, 2, and 3), wherein members from A & B, or B & C, or A
& C will meet periodically to exchange ideas and information.

B
3
4
2 Committee 4 will be composed of representatives from all three groups.

C


By allowing members of the Board, the Groups, and the Cooperative to
encounter one another within a supportive, deliberative space (4),
collective ambition can encounter collective wisdom. big ideas. blooming.

Introduction. Aims. Ambition. 4