City Considers Quick Wins (NRU)

Renewing Hamilton

NRU
Oct. 12, 2016

Hamilton is working to improve its downtown, but some public spaces still lack vibrancy. With an eye for placemaking, city staff is looking at implementing simple, cost effective improvements to public spaces, like Jackson Square’s rooftop, to bring more people to underused spaces downtown.

As Hamilton transitions from its role as a major industrial hub to a more diversified urban centre, it needs to improve its downtown and make it a place for residents to live, work and play.

Senior planner Joe Muto explained to NRU that the transition from industrial town to a diverse city has meant a need for more and better public space. While the city has natural assets such as the waterfront and the Niagara Escarpment, there is still much more needed.

Muto points to new central park space in the Beasley neighborhood and the pedestrianization of Gore Park as important additions to Hamilton’s public realm. However, concerned with the high cost of implementing major public realm projects and the time it takes to implement them, Muto has started to look for more cost effective ways to improve public spaces.

Focusing on revitalization in specific areas of the city, particularly downtown, staff provides programs and incentives to leverage urban renewal. One of staff ’s strengths in transforming Hamilton’s public spaces comes from the integration of the planning and economic development staff in one department. Muto says this has facilitated staff having ongoing dialogue with communities and business owners, undertaking pilot projects and testing placemaking ideas.

One example is the Lloyd D. Jackson Square rooft op. While the mall itself continues to be very busy, the privately-owned public space on the roof gets little use. It lacks seating, yearround programming and regular maintenance, is surrounded by concrete walls without visual interest and is not readily visible from surrounding streets.

“In the last five years, I have never seen [Jackson Square] so busy and occupied in terms of retail tenancy,” Muto said while explaining the challenges of getting people to use the rooftop space. “How do you get people up there and why would people go up there? You have to make it an end point for people to actually go [to the rooftop].”

Muto hopes to incorporate ideas developed during the OPPI workshop last week led by People for Public Spaces founder and president Fred Kent, which focused on “lighter, faster and cheaper” methods of improving public space. Participants suggested creating pop-up events with a nearby culinary college, library and farmers’ market, improving wayfinding signage, applying colourful paint for visual interest and improving the day-to-day maintenance of the space as ways to bring more people onto the rooftop.

“[The urban renewal staff ] is really focused on change and I think we have a lot of opportunity with this section because we understand and focus on the downtown, we have a very good
finger on the pulse of downtown ... We have the opportunity to vet these placemaking ideas. That’s why I thought this whole placemaking [workshop] was such a great idea.”

Muto says staff hopes to facilitate small-scale projects on Jackson Square’s rooftop within the coming year.