Ottawology

Ottawa is often understood only as the seat of the federal government, marked by the neo-Gothic parliament buildings on the hill, and the many government office buildings. Lively, erudite and exciting, Ottawology offers a unique and radical approach to studying the city, injecting it with intrigue and verve, and expanding collective, narrow understandings of Canada's capital city. Tonya Davidson takes readers on a wide-ranging journey through a city populated not only by power brokers, but also workers, students, seniors, trees, eels, turtles, skaters and rabble rousers. Davidson applies her prodigious sociological imagination to critically explore an essential, but little understood, city.

Davidson's Ottawa offers a fascinating template for how to scrutinize the interactions between the weight of history and the effervescent motion of everyday life in a city. She draws surprising connections, from the role of the civil service to the acceleration of suburban sprawl, and the one-time incredible success of the city's bus-rapid transit system, to stories of nightlife, policing, play, libraries, rivers, and malls. Davidson traverses the city's streets and hidden histories to show how social structures, sustainability, and social life intersect, creating an elegant chronicle of the city's rich and fraught social life.