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In this episode of The Life-Sized City, renowned #urbanist Mikael Colville-Andersen takes us to #Hamilton, #Ontario—a city once known for its industrial might that is now undergoing an exciting transformation. From its emerging music scene to the #revitalization of its harborfront, this episode explores how Hamilton is reinventing itself and embracing its cultural and environmental potential.
Normally The Life-Sized City has covered larger cities but Mikael was eager to explore a mid-sized city and see what the similarities and differences might be.
The episode opens with a deep dive into Hamilton’s rich and diverse music scene, which has flourished alongside the city’s broader urban transformation. Mikael meets with local musicians, venue owners, and cultural advocates who explain how Hamilton’s gritty, working-class roots have shaped its vibrant and dynamic music culture. From indie bands to live performances, the music scene is not only giving Hamilton a new identity but also breathing new life into its downtown core, making it a magnet for young talent and creative energy.
One of the most significant urban projects in Hamilton’s renewal is the ambitious redevelopment of its harborfront. Mikael walks through the revitalized waterfront, which has been transformed from an industrial wasteland into a bustling, people-friendly space with parks, walking paths, and public art installations. Local urban planners and architects explain the vision behind this project—turning Hamilton’s waterfront into a thriving cultural and recreational hub for residents and visitors alike. This transformation is a critical part of Hamilton’s push to reconnect the city with its natural assets and promote more sustainable, community-focused development.
As Mikael continues his exploration of the harborfront, he speaks with community leaders who are focused on ensuring that the development benefits all Hamiltonians, not just the affluent. They discuss the need for affordable housing and accessible public spaces in the city’s waterfront plan, ensuring that Hamilton’s urban renewal remains inclusive.
Environmental sustainability plays a central role in this episode as well. Mikael explores how green infrastructure and public space improvements are transforming Hamilton’s landscape. Community-driven projects, like turning vacant lots into green spaces and urban gardens, are helping the city move away from its industrial past toward a greener future.
Mikael also highlights the importance of creating better cycling infrastructure in Hamilton, with local cycling advocates pushing for expanded bike lanes in a city historically dominated by cars. He rides along the city’s growing cycling network, discussing how these developments are creating more sustainable, active transportation options for Hamilton’s residents.
This episode of The Life-Sized City paints a vivid picture of Hamilton as a city in transition—from steel town to cultural hotspot, from industrial harbor to vibrant waterfront. Through the lens of urbanism, Mikael Colville-Andersen uncovers how Hamilton is harnessing the power of its music scene and waterfront development to create a more livable, sustainable, and inclusive city.
#LifeSizedCity #HamiltonOntario #Urbanism #MusicScene #HarborfrontDevelopment #MikaelColvilleAndersen #PublicSpaces #CyclingInfrastructure #GreenSpaces #UrbanRevitalization #SustainableCities #urbansim #urbanplanning #cities #city #ville
0:00 Intro
1:35 Architecture and Urban Design
9:35 Cycling
15:38 Fireflies in the Forest
20:36 Hamilton Music Collective
23:17 McQuesten Urban Farm
30:06 Tiny Houses/Housing
37:20 Harbourfront Revitalization
43:23 Music as Identity
49:54 Outro
44 Comments
suprised the gore park / james st north vagrants didnt harass you for public phot / video awful area the downtown core is. since they removed carding the entire downtown core has gone to shit…
Pure Propaganda .
Road engineering ? now everybody stops every light.All traffic clogged all day long.Bike lanes with one bicycle every once in a while and still blasting through stop signs and lights.
propaganda
This video is at least 4 years old. And that library if you walk to it. Be careful of the homeless shelter across the street. Bums in every corner . And nasty garbage everywhere. And most of the computers if you dare go, are just adult children escaping responsibilities by playing games on the computer. Most ppl are accessing the computers for junk. It’s a lost world in there. Literally the biggest part of zombieland in Hamilton is directly out front of that glass building. Day or night! Hamilton house pricing is no place to start a family anymore. Hamilton is complete trash. I’m trying to escape. But it’s much easier said then done. Ppl living in tents at an all time high. All across Hamilton. Place is a mess.
Gotta bring back small business. Looser controls. Cheaper permits to build stuff on your own property for Christ sakes. Tax reform. And government spending reform. And let ppl work again without both hands in the pocket and you’ll have a city again. But we have a corrupted government. So forget about it. Those are changes that cannot be made without what?!!! A much needed revolt!!! But that won’t happen either because they got us fighting eachother so divided. They have it all figured out. We are sheep. Turning into zombies. We better hurry before it’s too late!
The light timings have changed and now all lights stay red in an intersection for pedestrian crossing cars can't catch the sweet light timings anymore in the core of the city for a few km in each direction from the center
They implemented this many months ago possibly close to a year ago
Hamilton's knee jerk reaction to put Main two ways is utter bullshit.
First thing that stood out was the guy saying the one way streets was a body blow. The body blow was converting them to 2 way streets to absolute gridlock. Anyone who knows Hamilton, knows the one way system was PERFECT for the city. Cannon street and Wilson street both went opposite ways. Then king street and main street went opposite ways. Facilitating traffic perfectly. If you needed to get across the city quicker, there is Burlington street and the LINC. Trying to say turning it to 2way would help for business is false. People go to shop if they want to, it doesn’t make people driving in gridlock say “hey I feel like shopping now”. Also another lie is the woman who represents the biking around Hamilton saying people downtown want it, is a lie, many people do not care for biking and it only is good for the smaller demographic of bikers in the city. The accidents are not due to the one way streets either. It’s the ignorant pedestrian who just hop out in the street to cross. Obviously there is many driver error accidents but let’s put blame on the people as well. And let’s not ignore the problem and the BIGGEST reason people don’t like going downtown and that is the drug addicts and homeless people who create a dangerous atmosphere for the citizens. But the city won’t do anything about that. I’m quite surprised how these “professionals “ who design the city are so ignorant to what makes the city work and facilitate properly.
So uploading old episodes eh?
the person who made this video has no clue what hamilton is like i have lived in hamilton for 49 years and this video is totally wrong there is way more better things about hamilton that what this video shows what a dissappointment
All I gotta say is: LOL !
❤️ Love on Hamilton
you guys are ffffffffddddd up
49:16 Wrote a song about it – like to hear it – here it goes! – Calhoun Tubbs
Don't worry about Bike lanes Doug Ford wants to get rid of them .
My great city born and raised ❤️Hamilton ❤️
I like the better bike paths but we also need travel road from one end of the city, to the other. And you have to have that. The slower you make it and stopping every light, helps no one for work and shopping. You drive and lots of homeless people walk out in front of you .. they won't go to a crossing as it's too far .. especially closed to West end. I have ladies with buggies do it 🙄
You need traffic flow plus safe areas to cross and Hamilton can't figure that out.
First I have heard of McQueston and that is a great thing they are doing. And the lane way house is also a great idea.
The waterfront is a joke … taking away and less parking for visitors (where people could go to enjoy waterfront, if they don't live there.. we won't be able to) and building lots of condos.. no one wants all those condos at the waterfrontso I hope it looks good.
But u challenged them to have the parking .. we lose free parking, this I know, already. I have spent lots of time down pier 4 and 8 and I could not have done it without free parking and car access, for all the time i spent there. It is the people that live in Hamilton and outskirts I care more about …and we are losing all of that, for us.
But definitely love changes around Dr Disk and watched a few bands on the rooftop.
No need to attack me.. I am allowed my opinion.
I’ve lived here for 64 years, and not once thought of leaving. I know every part of this once beautiful, family friendly city and love it all! We’re struggling like most urban and rural communities, but we will continue to work hard to make our city proud again! Loved the video, the cinematography was great!
But we have hope in Hamilton, because Pierre wants to re-open our steel mills. I look forward to Pierre, becoming our next Prime Minister
Cool my town for 56 years I've been here.
Moved to Hamilton 2015, lived and raised un Brantford. But l always loved Hamilton once l step foot the 1st time so many many years ago.
I have lived in Hamilton my whole life. The city was on the rise but the last few years it has really declined drugs everywhere violence shootings. I really hope Hamilton gets its s*** together
this has for sure aged
Grab me my Tiger Cats cap, Tiger cats windbreaker, and Mecca track pants and let's go to Timmies for a smoke and a coffee.
Since Covid and the legalization of Marijuana, Hamilton has become an utter shit hole….rampant shootings, homelessness, poverty, crime and urban decay. All the while they want to install an LRT to carry a few passengers……at one time Hamilton was a manufacturing juggernaut. No city could compete with Hamilton's industrial might……Studebaker, Westinghouse, Camco, the steel Companies, Firestone, Amercian/Canadian caners. I could go on but you understand what I am talking about. The home of Tim Horton's donuts and even their coffee taste like dirty. An utter shit hole
density causes is not a solution when the infrastructure does not keep pace like sewage systems.
Great Video, I tried to post this up on Hamilton Neighbourhood Watch, with no success. So I posted this up on my own page.. Yes.. I had to post this really great YouTube video on the landscape of our City… Though I not native to Hamilton, it has been my home and native land for over 40+ years.. My names is Ed and I not only live in the Hammer.. My heart call this place home.. Enjoy..
I've lived in the Hammer for 60 years, it's always felt like my home, but right now and maybe for the last 4 or 5 years now it's feeling a little less like home. I don't know if I've outgrown Hamilton or if Hamilton has outgrown me, whatever the case may be one of us needs to make a change.
wow! nice to see this being covered. Hamilton has great potential be to a great culity and bring it's glory back. in the right hands of people who have love and dedication for the city. best of luck!
The Santa Clause Parade has been moved from its route downtown to the mountain. This should be an obvious indication of how bad it is in the core. The new route seems like a bad location Stonechurch and Upper Sherman to Limeridge mall?
I’ve lived in Hamilton most of my life- born, raised and returned. The biggest problem is that there is nothing to attract me to go downtown. Urban sprawl in both Stoney Creek and Ancaster as well as more and more apartment buildings have made driving around here very frustrating. The downtown is filled with abandoned storefronts and Jackson Square is almost empty. The escarpment is constantly crumbling and the roads are getting worse because there are more people using them. Tent cities are everywhere and the drug problem is keeping people from going downtown because on every corner your met with someone asking for money or mental health issues screaming at you for ignoring them (which happened to me). The City’s Council is failing its community. No affordable housing, no expansion to roads to eliminate gridlock or timely road fixes. They recently squashed a billion dollar industry coming into Hamilton – there was suppose to be a huge studio consisting of sound stages etc. and they got rid of it because of miscommunication and red tape.
I grew up in Oriole Cres (McQuesten) and I tip my hat to guys like Adam who is out there doing good and empowering people.
I work at a community centre and see our communities problems first hand and it will take a long time to fix Hamilton problems if done right, and right now I don’t believe the city’s Mayor and Counsellors will do anything unless it benefits them or their friends. It took ten years to build a community garden in a vacant lot- think of how long it takes to actually build or rezone here…good luck.
The arts community is amazing and the people here are pretty down to earth.
All in all it is a great place to live but needs a ton of work and new City Counsellors that look forward and not cause more harm than good.
Affordable housing in Hamilton means the working poor get to live in a tent beside their drug addicted neighbours.
Hamilton is a Fantastic City. Unfortunately the Host, and the Architect have a low level understanding of the City. So when they say something it sounds like they are ignorant about the city. Oeople are driving those cars so its weird to say that people, and Cars are separate things. We don’t need to slow down the main arteries making traffic pile up and increasing pollution, frustration, and causing pote tial safety issues. No many use the Bike Lanes. They are barely used. Mostly DUI’s Bikers, Teenagers, or people who can’t afford cars. Cyclist who do use it for cycling don’t use it correctly, they Blow Stop Signs, and Red Lights, or ride on the Sidewalks when it suits them, and quite often cross over multiple lanes causing safety issues. There is plenty of streets for pedestrians, with lots of shopping, and events. Our Bus Routes are great for this. Humans are not perfect so increasing the chance for accidents is not a good idea. Super propagandist feel to this video. Whether that’s true or not, I couldn’t get past it. The Cylists trying to increase Bike Lanes are so Focused on putting Citizens out of Jobs by making Enviromental Claims, and complaining about the Vehicles who the road is made for. Most times its found they embellish what Impact is happening to suit themselves in a very self-centered, and power grabbing way. There is so many safe areas for cycling, I can’t imagine getting yourself to a state where you could need more. Getting to an up-roar when they want to cause issues for people who have to travel across the ciry for work. When City council De-Synced the lights downtown, my commute near doubled depending on how much traffic there was.
This really comes off as a hippie cyclist, propaganda video with no sense of Hamiltonians. Whether that was i tentional or not, it doesn’t feel authentic at all.
The library smells like ass and the market hours change constantly, and the “farmers” are mostly re-sellers who bring stuff from the Toronto Food terminal. Just across from the library is a men’s shelter where scores of people high on fentanyl scare the beejeebies out of anybody walking by. People on scooters, bikes and motorized wheelchairs beep at you to move the eff out of he way when you try to walk on any sidewalk. The entire city has turned into a nightmare. It used to be a beautiful clean city but now it is a dystopian hellscape to escape from.
Am still here but want to move back to Montreal where I grew up
Big mistake closing Farmers market on Tuesday
Makes no sense
Collisions. Car Collisions.
This episode is about 5yrs old. Things have gotten worse os some respects but better in others.
What garbage – was this sponsored by the woke anti-car lobby! Doug F should speed up his anti-bike lane campaign. I ignore the elderly eh?
You need to come back and check out the encampment "body blow" now. Also, tell me you want 15 minute cities without actually saying it. Good job! 👍
Dundas, Ancaster and Dundas are the cash cow for Hamilton Downtown. Ridiculous!
the new people with there new ideas and no clue… sounds like the normal now .. one way streets are the only thing in the hammer that sense…bike lanes dont get used , just spend a day watching them in traffic because they took a lane away….
Released 2 weeks ago but these images are years out of date. The first indoor market they showed was part of the now closed City Centre AND the image of the historical buildings they are "saving"- those are the very 4 buildings that collapsed on Remembrance Day because the city and builders dragged their asses allowing the designated historical buildings to deteriorate- on purpose. 10 years they sat empty. That's how you "legally" get rid of historically designated buildings and everyone knows it. Bad choice of images.
Its half Austin TX, half Cleveland OH, half Stepford CT