A Place To Sit
Take a seat
Pull up a chair
Make yourself at home. Make yourself comfortable. Find a spot to rest for a while.
These are all expressions that suggest we find a way to sit and have a break. We might engage in conversation with those around us, or have some quiet thoughts to ourselves. We might be waiting for a bus or enjoying the view. We might doze off, listening to the birds or the sounds of city life around us.
We need more places to sit and do just that. We need places to sit, to find joy in simply being.
Too often, Ottawa bus stops have nowhere to sit, let alone stand out of the rain while waiting for the bus. Benches are placed with little thought for the view that is offered or positioned so that you can’t engage in conversation with those around you.
Parks are a good example of this. As a regular visitor to the Ottawa Farmers Market at the Byron Linear Park, this Saturday market is teeming with people. It is great to connect with local vendors, finding not only farmers but artists and bakers. Engaging in conversation is part of the fun. Lunch options have been growing; the Falafel Guys are stupendous and have been joined by numerous other small local options, from grilled cheese to pizza.
Like so many Ottawa parks, there is nowhere to sit. At best, there are a few benches with little or no thought to how the park might be used, let alone offering ways to engage the busy market.
There is one ancient picnic table chained to a tree, and it is not accessible. The cost to install permanent seating or more tables is in the thousands of dollars, something the market can’t afford to do, let alone maintain.
There is no seating. People wanting a break sit in the dirt on the hillside. This is no way to build community. This is no way to cater to the needs of people.
Places like the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris offer thousands of durable, moveable, seats that allow visitors to find a spot that suits them. They can rearrange chairs to form a conversation circle, to capture a view or draw, paint or read by their chosen sunlight. And, miracle of miracles, this finally happened in Toronto in 2025 with movable seats at the brilliant Love Park, by the late Claude Cormier, arguably the best landscape architect Canada has seen in generations.
It shouldn’t be radical to believe that places to sit should be part of our urban life. The Globe and Mail argued this point in an editorial last week, highlighting the challenges of urban seating as a problem driven by “procurement and implementation timelines.”
Architects DCA believes that a place to sit is critical to forging community. Creating a place to sit allows for conversation to happen, for ideas to form. We believe that taking a seat is a way to raise an idea, to table a motion.
To solve the procurement and implementation problem, we called a manufacturer of Canadian outdoor commercial furniture and placed an order. While a modest start, we’re providing four chairs at the Byron Linear Park for the Farmers Market. These will be installed each market day and then stored. We hope to add to this inventory regularly.
Pull up a chair and brng your idea to the front; share it with the world and express yourself.
Make yourself at home; make yourself comfortable. Rest a while. Find comfort in the world, even if only for a few moments. That might be enough time to eat a sandwich, to catch your breath, to finish a coffee.
It might be enough time to make a friend.
Take a seat.
You never know what conversation might happen.
Photo glossary:
- Heavy timber bench in Comox, BC; handles provide accessible seating while still allowing someone to stretch out.
- Heavy timber and stainless steel seating at Cobb’s Pond in Gander, NL
- Moveable lounge seating at the waterfront in Victoria, BC
- Creative seating in Chicago, IL allows flexible seating options and shows Chicago as a city of design
- Retaining wall with seating in La Baie, QC; provides flexible seating options overlooking the harbour
- Raised seating integrated with decking at the High Line, New York City
- Bench seating that can be rolled along abandoned railway tracks to forge community, High Line, New York City
- Moveable chairs at the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris.