For a typical adult, especially one living in a suburban context like Orléans, the convenience of certain amenities are the physical manifestations of everyday quality of life, and the efficiency of getting things done over the average day, week, or month.
In a series of articles over the next several weeks, I will be taking an inventory of the area in and around the catchment of the Convent Glen Orleans Wood Community Association. I want to explore the inequal distribution of services and stores and shops that are a large part of making nice places to live. From my perspective as a resident of Convent Glen North (CG North; see map below), my theory going into this is that my neighbourhood has schools, parks, and not much else within a convenient walk.
In order to be as complete as possible, I’m going to be trying to find several options for a whole host of different categories of common amenities. It would be very nice to have one or several options for each category within 500 m – 1 km, but Convent Glen North almost never passes that test. If that fails, we’ll be looking across the whole catchment, moving to about 3-5 km where possible. For a community to qualify as a village, most or all of these amenities should be accessible within a 10-15 minute walk for the closest option.
Importantly, these places also often serve as public spaces where you are likely to run into people you know or spend time with neighbours and friends. Without local shops, stores, and spaces to spend time, it’s almost impossible for a community to grow and develop into a place where people get to know eachother and support one another to become a village.
As we go through each category, I’ll be awarding points on a scale from 0 to 5 based on the number and quality of the amenities in that category nearby (within a 10-15 minute walk). A true village will have multiple places in nearly all categories within that distance, so let’s see how we do in Convent Glen North.
We’ll have summaries of the categories as we cover them down below with links to each article.
Categories Covered:
Coffee Shops, Grocery Stores, Corner or Convenience Stores, Medical or Dental offices and Pharmacies, Restaurants and Hardware Stores, Schools, Parks, Community Centres, LRT Stations, and Libraries, and Fitness Centres & Gyms, Post Office/Shipping, Banks, and Barbershops & Hair Salons.
If you think we’re missing an important category of place, let us know at [email protected]