De-congesting city-zenship: Seeing the green political economy of 'new' and 'old' parkway modernization in the National Capital Region

Set in the "history(y)city" of "parkway modernism," this tale of the urban form seeks to de-congest city-zen voices, and re-think the "old" political economy of road congestion in the "new" City of Ottawa from an urban green political economy lens. By exploring the local contestation over the Alta Vista Parkway, and critically re-appropriating past planning practices, this thesis aims to locate spaces for talk and action as much as to understand the "arrested circulation" of road-discourse. Focusing on present and past deficiencies in the process, definition and discourse of parkway modernization, this thesis provides a critical re-thinking of technical rationality. It argues that to liberate their voices from the alienating grips of auto-domination, local residents must embrace festive, active and deliberative citizenship. The fragmentary moments of the Alta Vista Parkway debate show a glimmer of the possibility for imaginative modernisms embedded in the everyday material and discursive practice of active city-zenship.