Is Ottawa the City that Fun Forgot?

[acottawa]

While Ottawa has many fine qualities (access to nature, several interesting attractions, good facilities for a city of its size), what strikes me is how sterile much of the city is. Almost the entire waterfront consists of some combination of freeway, parking lot, lawn and bike trail - contrast with pretty much every city in the world that has lively sections of waterfront with cafes, pubs, restaurants, buskers, street vendors, etc. or actual parks (manicured grass does not a park make). Khartoum has a riverfront that the NCC would be proud of, other than that Ottawa is pretty much an aberration.

While Ottawa doesn't have many public spaces, ones that do exist (confederation square, roof of the NAC, several little plazas downtown, Sparks street) are barren, windswept and completely devoid of anything. Again, contrast that with other cities where plazas are full of activity. One exception is the courtyards in the market (now the NCC pulled that off is beyond me).