New Report: Experiencing urban change along Hamilton’s LRT corridor: Resident experiences prior to construction
By Rebecca Mayers, Brian Doucet, Nicolle Rallis and Caleb Babin
Hamilton is about to embark on the construction of a new 14-kilometre light rail transit (LRT) line between McMaster University and the Eastgate Square shopping centre. In between, it will run through many different neighbourhoods, including some of the city’s poorest. There are already signs that change is taking place. The aim of this report is to better understand what kinds of urban changes are experienced by residents living along the LRT corridor even before construction begins. We want to contribute to debates in the 4Ps: the planning, policy, political, and public spheres.
To do this, we engaged with residents to understand their observations and experiences of change. This kind of research helps us to see patterns, processes, and experiences at both a fine-grained and city-wide level. Much of this knowledge either does not show up in statistics, or is only evident in data such as the Canadian census after events have already happened.
This research is funded in part by the Hamilton Community Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Canada Research Chairs program.
