Shift Change

Scenes from a Post-industrial Revolution

Stephen Dale

• Publisher: Between the Lines
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781771135535
• eBook ISBN: 9781771135542
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Hamilton's industrial age is over. In the steel capital of Canada, there are no more skies lit red by foundries at sunset, no more traffic jams at shift change. Instead, an urban renaissance is taking shape. But who wins and who loses in the city's not-too-distant future? Is it possible to lift a downtrodden, post-industrial city out of poverty in a way that benefits people across the social spectrum, not just a wealthy elite?

In Shift Change, author Stephen Dale sets up "the Hammer" as a battlefield, a laboratory, a chessboard. As investors cash in on a real estate gold rush and the all-too-familiar wheels of gentrification begin to turn, there's still a rare opportunity for both old-guard and newcomer Hamiltonians to come together and write a different story—one in which Steeltown becomes an economically diverse and inclusive urban centre for all.

What plays out in these pages and at this very moment is a real-time case study that will capture the attention and the imagination of anyone interested in equitable redevelopment, housing activism, and social justice in the North American city.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• contents
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter One Tectonic Shift
• Chapter Two Boom, Bust, and a Double-Sided Bohemian Renaissance
• Chapter Three The “Creative Class” Creates a Global Urban Clash
• Chapter Four A Blue-Collar Legacy—for Better and for Worse
• Chapter Five Slogging towards Tomorrow
• Notes
• Index
• About the Authors