Past Events

October 28, 2010 Public Lecture

 
"Amenities, Design and Development: When Having a Team and a New Stadium Matters...And Why"

Dr. Mark Rosentraub
Bickner Endowed Chair and Professor of Sport Management
University of Michigan

The PanAm stadium issue has stimulated a level of civic engagement virtually unprecedented in recent Hamilton history. What does the research say about what makes a successful stadium and how it can best contribute to the community?

Dr. Rosentraub is the Bickner Endowed Chair and Professor of Sport Management at the University of Michigan. His most recent publications have each focused on strategies for cities and regions to use sports facilities and teams, entertainment complexes, and cultural centers to enhance urban design and attract and retain the human capital needed for real economic development in cities. His research also explores ways to fashion financing programs for facilities that protect and advance the public's interests. Dr. Rosentraub’s current research focuses on the ways in which the world’s largest sports and entertainment organizations and teams can successfully work with the public sector to positively impact regional economic development and urban planning and design while achieving their revenue goals.

View full size poster (.pdf).

Read the Hamilton Spectator article.

Should where you live predict your life expectancy? Whether your baby is
born underweight? Whether you have a university degree?

In April of 2010, The Hamilton Spectator’s outstanding Code Red series brought to our attention the startling disparities in health that exist among Hamilton neighbourhoods. It's a tale of two cities that go by the same name--one comfortably affluent and the other shockingly poor--that is also compellingly told in the Hamilton Community Foundation's Vital Signs report.

Many groups and individuals have mobilized across the city, hoping to take action. From January to June 2011, the Chair in Research on Urban Neighbourhoods, Community Health and Housing (CRUNCH) at McMaster contributed to the discussion by hosting the Code Red Rx: Prescription for Healthy Neighbourhoods Speaker Series. We featured insights from both local and international authorities on options to improve health and well-being in Hamilton’s neighbourhoods.

Together, we are helping to create a made-in-Hamilton action plan.

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Tuesday January 25, 2011 Public Lecture

"Poverty By Postal Code: How Neighbourhood Solutions Can Work"

Poverty by postal code. It's what Hamilton Community Foundation CEO, Terry Cooke, has called the disparities between Hamilton's neighbourhoods, and it's a grim reality revealed in both The Spectator's Code Red series and the Community Foundation's Vital Signs report. If wealth - and health - are defined by where we live, are neighbourhood-based policies and programs the answer? McMaster researcher Dr. Jim Dunn shows us where these approaches have been used, their pros and cons ... and what we can learn for Hamilton.

Check out a .pdf of the flyer.

Read the Hamilton Spectator articles (Sat January 22-Steve Buist) (Wed January 26-Daniel Nolan).

Download Dr. Dunn's powerpoint presentation (pdf format).

Listen to the presentation (10 MB mp3 file) (24 MB mp3 file).

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Tuesday March 8, 2011 Public Lecture

"Urban Development Agreements: A Poverty Prescription for Hamilton?"

Canada may be a world leader in medicare and multiculturalism, but our track record on finding solutions to concentrated urban poverty is nothing to write home about.

Until now.

Join University of Western Ontario researcher, Dr. Neil Bradford, as he explores neighbourhood transformation through "urban development agreements"--comprehensive strategies that bring together the resources of all levels of government, businesses and communities to transform neighbourhoods. Dr. Bradford takes stock of the possibilities for Hamilton. What could an urban development agreement do for us? And who needs a seat at the table?

Check out a .pdf of the flyer.

Read the Hamilton Spectator articles (Sat March 5-Steve Buist) (Wed March 9-Daniel Nolan).

Download Dr. Bradford's powerpoint presentation (pdf format).

Listen to the presentation (9 MB mp3 file).

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Wednesday June 1, 2011 Open Forum

"Code Red Open Forum: One Year Later"

The groundbreaking Code Red series, by investigative reporter Steve Buist, was published in 2010. Code Red used data to map the health of Hamilton down to the neighbourhood level and started a new conversation in Hamilton. Learn what has and hasn't happened in the year since publication.

Speakers include Dr. Michael Hayes ("From Code Red Kid to University Professor"), Steve Buist, Neil Johnston, Terry Cooke, Dr. Chris Mackie and Paul Beattie.

Host: Jim Poling, Managing Editor, The Spectator

The event was taped by Cable 14 and aired on several dates in June 2011.

Watch Dr. Hayes's presentation here (420 MB .m4v file), courtesy of Cable 14.

View the Spec ad here.

Read the Hamilton Spectator articles (Mon May 30-Daniel Nolan) (Thurs June 2-Molly Hayes).

Read the letter to the editor "Equality is good for everyone" (Mon June 6-Bill Johnston).

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Wednesday October 5, 2011 Q&A with Nathan Edelson

Revitalization Not Displacement

We’re putting Vancouver on the (friendly) Hamilton hot seat for an afternoon Q & A on inclusive
neighbourhood planning. From the Olympic Games to the Downtown Eastside, what can we learn from
their experience? Put your questions and concerns on the table!

About our special guest:

Nathan Edelson originated the idea of "revitalization without displacement." He is a senior partner with 42nd Street Consulting – a company that focuses on planning for inclusive communities. He worked with the City of Vancouver Planning Department for 25 years and, from 1995 to 2008, he was the Senior City Planner for the historic neighbourhoods of the Downtown Eastside, Chinatown, Gastown and Strathcona. In addition to supervising a strong multi-disciplinary staff team, he was the founding chair of the Downtown Eastside Integrated Services Team, co-manager of the area-wide Housing Plan, member of the Inclusive Commitments for the 2010 Olympic Bid and chair of the Vancouver Agreement’s Economic Revitalization Plan Task Team.

Prior to this, Nathan was the planner responsible for the Joyce Rapid Transit Station Area Plan, the Downtown South high density residential community plan and worked on the Central Area Plan as well as city-wide initiatives on secondary suites, liquor licensing and other contentious issues.

He was also the founding executive director of Little Mountain Neighbourhood House, a community based social service organization and vice president of the Forum for Planning Action – a group of students, professional and community activists calling for more meaningful public participation in planning.

In 2009, Nathan and his partner Normajean McLaren were the first Bousfield Distinguished Visiting Scholars at the University of Toronto. He is an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning and a member of the UBC CIDA funded New Public Consortia for Metropolitan Governance Project, which is studying inter-governmental relations in Canada and Brazil.

He has worked with many non profit organizations and is currently on the steering committee of Living in Community, a coalition of business and community organizations working to improve safety for sex workers and the Community Arts Council of Vancouver.

MANY THANKS TO OUR SERIES PARTNERS: