What kind of Hamilton do we want in the future?

An ambitious city that aims to attract skilled people must seek the input of local voices

What makes a great city? We all know it when we’re in it: bustling, creative, fun and safe.

In describing such a city, we’re talking about the vibrancy of a place, and that starts with the people who live in it.

But as author and activist Jane Jacobs once noted, “That the sight of people attracts still other people is something that city planners and city architectural designers seem to find incomprehensible. They operate on the premise that city people seek the sight of emptiness, obvious order and quiet. Nothing could be less true.”

Thankfully, the notion that it is people who are the heart of the city (not the buildings, not the roads) is gaining traction everywhere.

In designing and planning cities for today and for the future, the public’s wide range of interests and concerns is starting to take centre stage — its health, the culture it is creating, the immediate natural environment, as well as its economic prosperity.

What do the public spaces look like? How many green areas exist within the city and how accessible are they? What are the options for people to get around? How affordable is housing?

We will have a thriving city when we address its basic needs together.

Today, an ambitious city that aims to attract and retain innovative, creative and skilled people must seek out the input of its local voices.

Such a city welcomes and nurtures public participation; it encourages its residents to engage with the political process, with the culture, with the life of the city.

People have the right to contribute their ideas toward building the cities they want to live in.

Together with the experts, they are part of imagining a better city, and that is how a city reaches its full potential, democratically. Beware the politician who challenges the intelligence of residents to contribute to or exert influence on senior city staff and council’s decision.

Since more than half of the world’s population lives in cities — and by 2050, it could be 75 per cent — we urban dwellers should all be urging our leaders to prioritize sustainable urbanization.

Our cities have to become resilient in order to withstand the devastating impacts of climate change that are becoming routine as a result of extreme weather events.

But because of these threats, we also have an opportunity to make our best cities yet.

Cities for people can be oasis of green infrastructure to both delight us (people are healthier, have lower stress levels when they live in proximity to nature) as well as handle run-off and support plantings.

Take for instance, Brooklyn’s “Lily Pads” at a housing complex that will provide permanent flood barriers in the form of raised earth in the middle of internal courtyards. For extra security, this community will get an active flood wall bolstered with passive barriers.

Our cities need to be places that provide shade and cool temperatures during the hot months and bright and fun places.

Our streets can be places that are not about driving through, but for getting around sustainably, efficiently, safely and enjoyably and to linger in as public spaces that bring people together.

Let’s take a leaf out of urban centres such as Seoul — which is getting rid of highways in favour of parks and paths for people — and Singapore, where getting around using public transit is faster than in a car, and a motor vehicle tax is imposed to curb car ownership and road congestion.

Many cities such as Frankfurt and Venice are curbing carbon emissions and congestion by going car-free in their downtown cores.

Vancouver is doing wonders with 50 per cent cycling and walking as the preferred mode of transportation in the core.

Since 2014, Australia’s Gold Coast LRT is in it’s second year and has seen ridership of more than 14 million.

After only two years the light rail is carrying the equivalent of the city’s population each and every month.

Cities are the seat of culture, art, technological development and progress.

Cities, what’s more, can be awesome places that energize and offer support, connection and community for all who live there.

In building our cities, we should remember that a city is alive — dynamic, not static — so we need to be responsive to these ever changing needs.

So what kind of city do we want Hamilton to look like and for whom?