[URBAN NOTE] Spacing on the urban rebirth of Hamilton

[rfmcdonald]

Spacing shares Emily Glazer's report of a revelatory field trip to post-industrial Hamilton, one looking at the ways in which the city is being reborn.

I so have to get there again.

Fifty Torontonians pile onto a schoolbus and head to Hamilton for a daytrip organized by Toronto-based Civic Salon and the Young Urbanists’ League (YUL) on April 25th. The idea was to foster better ties between the two biggest Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) cities. The result was an on-the-ground lesson in urban revitalization thanks to what’s going on in Hamilton, and some instructive clues for strengthening the region’s cohesion.
Sponsored by Evergreen Cityworks, the sold-out tour affectionately called “Hamiltime” bustled between Hamilton’s rich naturescapes and urban clusters like the downtown and sprawling industrial zones. But Civic Salon organizer Jo Flatt was drawn most to the human engine behind Hamilton’s revitalization. “After spending time there I realized that there are a lot of amazing people who are doing great things to transform the city,” reflects Flatt. “I was amazed at the level of community-led initiatives that are making the city better.” Rachel Lissner, founder of the YUL, wanted to Torontonians to expand their horizons. “It is really important to remember that geographically, socially, economically, and politically, we are part of a greater region and we should be aware of what is going on beyond our mostly-porous borders.” Flatt and Lissner linked with local guides Peter Topalovic (Transportation/City of Hamilton), Chelsea Cox (Social Bicycles or SoBi, Hamilton’s bikeshare) and Jay Carter (Evergreen Cityworks).

As the day-trippers could attest, more interesting than ideas for integration are the things that have recently kept these municipalities apart. “It is surprising to me how close Toronto is to Hamilton and just how few of my friends and colleagues have ever been there,” muses Flatt. Is it something about Hamilton’s faded rust-belt past, the Torontonian’s penchant for never leaving home, or something more akin to a lack of regional imagination which prevents the Golden Horseshoe from blossoming into an Ontario equivalent of the Bay Area in California? Of late, however, a number of forces have collided to knit the GTHA closer together such as punishing housing costs in Toronto, the scramble for infrastructure to host the Pan Am Games, and a grassroots-led revival of Hamilton.

On the ground, the tour made sure to showcase Hamilton’s proximity to nature, beginning the tour at Webster Falls inside of Spencer Gorge, and later visiting Albion Falls. Head of Watershed Planning and Engineering Scott Peck spoke of Hamilton’s 147 waterfalls, a blessing of the Niagara Escarpment that snakes through the city and creates its famous mountain and plain divide.

In the East End, Hamiltime ventured past the smokestacks often scorned by inhabitants across Lake Ontario. The cloudy blooms are reminders of the heydey of the “Ambitious City” where Dofasco and Stelco fed the city with steel and prosperity then declined with the surge in trends like outsourcing, globalization and automation.

Today the biggest employers are the academic and hospital sectors centred around MacMaster University, explained Jason Thorne, himself a recent returnee to the Hammer. Thorpe is the head of Hamilton’s Department of Planning and Economic Development. He spoke to Hamiltime amid the antique and textile shops on Ottawa Street North in the heart of the east end which used to be a low-density, post-war community of steelworkers. Now it is an increasingly mixed neighbourhood with newcomers to Canada, and is the site of what Thorpe refers to as a “third wave of revitalization.” But in contrast to Locke and then James streets that had previously revitalized, Ottawa is being renewed with existing infrastructure. “It’s revitalization without completely re-doing the streetscape,” says Thorne. The lots are narrow, not conducive to new developments. Vacant storefronts were plentiful, but the vacancy rate went from forty to just two percent within seven years. The areas’ affordable houses are also drawing Torontonians who can no longer pursue a middle-class lifestyle complete with home ownership in Toronto. “A lot of exciting stuff, even though I’m a city bureaucrat, is really not to do with the city,” adds Thorne. “It’s is a very grassroots citizen-led revitalization.”