Tag / CivicSquare
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Helping Neighbourhoods Walk to School
The Challenge: Today, fewer and fewer students are walking or cycling to school. From 1986-2011, the rate at which Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) students 11-13 years of age were driven to school doubled, according to a Metrolinx study. At the same time, the number walking and cycling fell from 62% to less than…
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The Missing Middle: A Sweet Spot of Support for Intensification?
Hamilton’s Durand neighbourhood is one of the city’s oldest, most dynamic communities. Significant change and growth is occurring in the neighbourhood, including proposed new developments tied to intensification that are eliciting a robust community dialogue on how the neighbourhood should look in the future. As part of this dialogue, a survey conducted by Civicplan on…
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Geotrail: Promoting Active Transportation Off-Road
There are a whole myriad of online and mobile tools that curate experiences for people in the urban environment. Whether it’s restaurants or a walking tour, there are endless recommendations available on how to spend your time in cities. But what about the natural environment? Specifically, how can online tools help promote active transportation off-road.…
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The Economic Value of Heritage
The value of heritage buildings is a hot topic in communities across North America. Many people value these buildings. They display style and workmanship that we often do not see with new buildings, and they connect us to our city’s history. They do much to establish the character of a street, and form the backbone…
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Women and the City
The following remarks were presented as part of panel discussion at the Women and the City event hosted by the Useful Knowledge Society at the AGH Annex, in Hamilton on June 6th 2017. Good evening, thank you to the Useful Knowledge Society for inviting me to participate on this panel. As mentioned, I’m a Principal…
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Adaptive Reuse for Community Benefit
Ontario’s mid-sized cities are changing. Population growth, urban renewal, new transit systems, and growing economies are bringing newfound energy to cities across the province. One challenge for these cities is to find ways to reuse and reinvent spaces that may no longer serve the purpose for which they were intended originally. To better understand how…
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More than Money: Revisiting the New Deal for Cities
Almost 15 years ago, former Finance Minister Paul Martin addressed the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference in Hamilton, Canada and proclaimed the need for a “New Deal for Cities” where better federal-municipal relationships would forge a stronger urban Canada. Jack Layton, then president of the FCM, looked on enthusiastically, as he had pushed for…
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How PB Analytics Helps Build Neighbourhood Engagement
Since 2012, residents of Ward 1 in Hamilton, Canada have worked together to determine how approximately $7.5 million (CAD) would be spent on local infrastructure projects. The ward’s participatory budgeting (PB) process, “forWard one,” has grown in popularity year after year. In its first year (2012), just over 400 residents participated. The 2016 process recorded…
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Data-Driven Participatory Planning
Data-driven participatory planning is helping policy makers and civic leaders better engage the public in local decision-making. Robust engagement improves public planning outcomes, strengthens local communities, and promotes greater civic pride. PlanLocal, a participatory planning process designed and implemented in the city of Hamilton, is an example of innovative engagement that leverages the knowledge and…
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How Members Use Hamilton’s Bike Share System
Since its launch in January 2015, the city of Hamilton’s bike share system, SoBi, has had increasing success. In just two short years, SoBi Hamilton membership has grown to 10,000 active members who use the service from over 100 station hubs spread across the lower city. In order to gain greater insights into SoBi members…
