(Turning Rust into Gold?) Hamilton, Ontario and a Canadian perspective of shrinking and declining cities

Abstract

Hamilton, Ontario, like many cities heavily dependent on manufacturing in the 20th century, experienced de-industrialization and associated change in its economic and employment fortunes, as well as comparative weakened fiscal strength. In contrast to cities in the United States though, Hamilton's population kept growing, at least slowly, and its unemployment rate never skyrocketed, even though the proportion of the population earning middle- to high-incomes declined for a time. In urban scholarship, dramatic population loss has attracted researchers to study shrinking cities, however population change fails to tell the entire story of the possible fates of rust-belt cities that also requires the analysis of economic changes. Our aim is to identify Hamilton's challenges and characteristics followed by how current political, financial and regional circumstances shape the city's development and create different circumstances for post-industrial cities. We review this using Hamilton's census data since 1951 and fiscal data, development projects, and interviews with local public officials and private business reveals the significant impact the post-industrial era and the Canadian perspective. Our findings suggest that despite differences between shrinking characteristics in Canadian and US cities, Canadian cities should receive more attention and offer a different perspective on the “rust-belt” literature.