This paper suggests a ghettoization of Lodging Homes has developed in Hamiton, Ontario. Through an examination of Residential Care Facilities (R.C.F.s), much can be learned about this phenomenon. Specifically, the processes which cause the ghetto to develop, and its impact on the environment. A model representing the processes which lead to the development of the ghetto clarifies this picture. As a result of deinstitutionalization, there are new client demands which are met by the public and private sectors. Any R.C.F. operator is limited by the physical and social infrastructures. The model suggests these factors combine to create the ghetto. The examination of the pre and post By-law periods in Hamilton provides a two stage test of the model. The findings of this study indicate the Lodging Home Ghetto is seen as a social problem by both government and local citizen groups. This opposition initiated the creation of Lodging Home legislation in Hamilton. However, the ghetto is still present. The client has a minor role in this process, while the social service and land use professionals impact is also not as significant as expected. Hence, problems associated with the use of social programs within a free market structure are apparent. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

none / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

<p>This thesis adopts a socio-ecological perspective on health and examines everyday life for the community-based chronically mentally disabled (CMD) in Hamilton, Ontario. As with most larger North American cities, this population is residentially concentrated in inner city census tracts. This shared central location implies common experience of aspects of the urban environment.</p> <p>An analytical framework is developed, based on socio-ecological principles. Coping and satisfaction are identified as two dimensions of community experience that may augment conventional measures of post-hospital outcome. On the framework, seven subsets of client and community variables are identified: personal characteristics, psychiatric profile, psychiatric services, housing, social support, lifestyle and beliefs and attitudes. Survey data collected in two rounds of interviews from an initial sample of 66 CMD clients from three aftercare programs are used to undertake both quantitative and qualitative analysis. In the former, composite measures of coping and satisfaction are constructed and the relationship between these indices and client and community variables are examined using bivariate and multivariate techniques. Qualitative analysis is based on narrative accounts offered by clients in the course of interviews. An interpretation of these texts and analysis of daily activity patterns is undertaken at both the level of particular individuals and the sample as a whole. This analysis of the experience of time, space and community life for the sample complements the evidence from quantitative inquiry.</p> <p>Findings from the quantitative analysis indicate that clients coping well in the community were more involved in gregarious activities, had enough to do, had more significant others and were more involved in mental health services. Those more satisfied were older, had more significant others, did not live in a lodging home, were more residentially stable, had enough to do and were not recipients of an income supplement. Results of the qualitative analysis of narrative accounts and time budget data indicate that poverty and unemployment compound the effects of illness and lead to a monotonous experience of relatively unconstrained time within a highly constrained activity space.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Charles Darwin proclaimed, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”. At the time, he probably did not fathom the relevance of his statement to the economy of cities. As the manufacturing sector dissipates, industrial cities strive to adapt by diversifying their local economy. This research provides a narrative of Hamilton’s industrial development and its transformation in search of a new identity. It examines the city’s economical, social and physical decay and its current urban regeneration that is based on the re-appropriation of its cultural landscape. This thesis argues that when cities focus only on the economic dimension of development, it may have an adverse influence on their inherent cultural identity which serves to undermine their ability to adapt and diversify. For Hamilton, a case in point is urban transformation of James Street North in a city that was recently subject to decades of neglect. James Street North has become the centre of a bourgeoning arts scene that is beginning to revitalize its neighbourhood. The thesis proposes the adaptive re-use of a deteriorated yet historically significant urban block within the area. The design intervention advocates an urban intensification intended to materialize a social and aesthetic identity derived from the urban agendas of Jane Jacobs, Charles Landry, and Sharon Zukin. The design synthesis proposes to establish a ‘creative milieu’ that becomes a catalyst for social cohesion, sustainable regeneration and an incubator for creativity. The design strategy consists of a hybrid building typology that is able to intensify diversity, exhibit creativity and engage dialogue among its occupants.

Charles Darwin proclaimed, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”. At the time, he probably did not fathom the relevance of his statement to the economy of cities. As the manufacturing sector dissipates, industrial cities strive to adapt by diversifying their local economy. This research provides a narrative of Hamilton’s industrial development and its transformation in search of a new identity. It examines the city’s economical, social and physical decay and its current urban regeneration that is based on the re-appropriation of its cultural landscape. This thesis argues that when cities focus only on the economic dimension of development, it may have an adverse influence on their inherent cultural identity which serves to undermine their ability to adapt and diversify. For Hamilton, a case in point is urban transformation of James Street North in a city that was recently subject to decades of neglect. James Street North has become the centre of a bourgeoning arts scene that is beginning to revitalize its neighbourhood. The thesis proposes the adaptive re-use of a deteriorated yet historically significant urban block within the area. The design intervention advocates an urban intensification intended to materialize a social and aesthetic identity derived from the urban agendas of Jane Jacobs, Charles Landry, and Sharon Zukin. The design synthesis proposes to establish a ‘creative milieu’ that becomes a catalyst for social cohesion, sustainable regeneration and an incubator for creativity. The design strategy consists of a hybrid building typology that is able to intensify diversity, exhibit creativity and engage dialogue among its occupants.

This research paper describes a working-class suburban neighborhood for the pre-WWII period 1900-1940. The data are accumulated from tax assessment records, as these are extremely accurate and contain a large variety of information suitable for this study. The main objective is to describe the characteristics of Union Park in Hamilton, Ontario, using the years 1911, 1921 and 1931 as representative of the time period. Three areas of concern were focused on: the occupational characteristics of the inhabitants, describing the inhabitants homes based on building values, and determining characteristics of construction in the area as either owner-built or speculatively built. In general the results show that the area was predominantly working-class, the homes were very cheap in relative value and that the area was primarily owner-built for the period of study. Interesting variations were observed and possible reasons for such variations are suggested. / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)

<p> This study investigates variables associated with residential mobility and migration at the ecological level. The aim of the study is to test the application of factor analysis to a more specific subject than the description of the whole urban structure. </p> <p> Theoretical formulations about urban growth, urban ecology and mobility are examined, together with empirical research in these fields, to determine variables considered to be associated with changes in residence. The indicators of variables chosen for analysis are from census data and city reports, and each census tract of the chosen urban area is assigned a value for each indicator. The area selected for the study is the Hamilton Metropolitan Area, Ontario. </p> <p> The results of the analysis reveal that most of the variation in the variables is accounted for by two factors: dwelling type and household composition, and economic status. These are the same factors which have been identified in factorial ecologies of geaeral urban structure. </p> The remaining factors are more associated with mobility, and reveal that different origins of movers and migrants are associated with different characteristics and geographical distributions. The hypotheses concerning the relationships with age, population growth and distance from the city centre are supported by the analysis, and the size and direction of movement is generally as expected. However, the hypothesis of increasing economic status with increasing distance migrated is not confirmed: migrants from abroad and different provinces tend to migrate to areas or lower economic status than migrants from Ontario or from the Hamilton metropolitan fringe. </p> <p> This study recognises the limitations of a factorial ecology of residential mobility. Particular care should be exercised in the selection of variables and measures of these variables. Factorial ecology is a descriptive tool, and further analysis of apparent association between variables should be undertaken to determine their statistical significance. </p> <p> The study emphasises the contribution of factorial ecology to the description of areal associations of more specific subjects such as residential mobility, and possibly for other social phenomena. As such, it provides a means for parsimonious description of aspects of urban social geography. </p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This thesis examines the relationship between childhood exposure to air pollution and long-term health. The research is based on an earlier study (1978-1986) that examined the relationship between exposure to air quality and respiratory health for a cohort of elementary school-aged children (n=3,202). These children resided in four distinct neighbourhoods in Hamilton, Ontario, which exhibited significant gradients in air pollution levels. Informed by the Life Course Health Development model, a survey was developed and administered on a reconstructed cohort (n = 395). The following objectives were addressed: 1) to determine the current health status of the reconstructed cohort; 2) to assess the potential relationship between childhood exposure to air pollution and adult respiratory health; and, 3) to explore factors mediating this relationship. Data was collected for a range of variables including residential and occupational histories, socio-demographic variables, and health outcomes. The dataset was merged with data from childhood on respiratory health, exposure to air pollution, and socio-demographic variables. Results indicate that a relatively high percentage of respondents had asthma in childhood (11%) compared to the original cohort (5.5%). In addition, prevalence rates of most health outcomes were higher than those of the Canadian population. Despite the gradient in air pollution levels, there were no significant differences in health status across neighborhoods. However, results of bi-variate and multi-variate analysis indicate possible significant associations between childhood exposure to S02 and hospital visits for asthma, asthma incidence in adulthood, and ever being diagnosed with asthma for females. For males, results suggest that childhood exposure to S02 is not linked to respiratory health. Factors related to the macro and micro environments also play significant roles in long-term health. This thesis made significant contributions to knowledge by suggesting that childhood exposure to S02 may impact long-term respiratory health for females, and may be linked to inflammatory diseases. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation examines the literary archives of three Ontario cities – Windsor, Hamilton, and Toronto – to discover and enfold urban nature in our everyday lives. Beginning with a refusal to accept the popular notion that there is no nature in the city or that the city is separate from the natural world, I seek to engage with writers in these three cities to find representations of and engagements with the natural world in an urban setting. In the light of a growing environmental crisis marked by fossil fuel shortages, climate change, biodiversity decline, and habitat loss, this project is an attempt to craft a meaningful response from an ecocritical perspective. Central to this response are two key contentions: one, that the natural world is in the city, but we need to find ways to recognize it there; and, two, that the most efficacious and ethical way to respond to environmental crisis is to make this urban nature a part of our everyday lives by fostering attachments to it and protecting it, or, to put it differently, enfolding it into our human lives. Using literature, my project shows how the natural world is present in three Ontario cities and how writers like Di Brandt, John Terpstra, Phyllis Brett Young, and others are already including urban nature in their work. This work also addresses significant gaps in Canadian literary discourse which has tended to focus on wilderness or rural spaces and in ecocritical discourse which has also tended to eschew urban locations. This project adopts an interdisciplinary perspective to read a wide range of texts including fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, educational material, scientific publications, and others in order to encourage readers and citizens of Windsor, Hamilton, and Toronto to discover and enfold the urban nature present in those cities. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This project utilized an interdisciplinary approach to explore what harm and harm reduction meant during intersecting public health emergencies, the opioid crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. Using thematic and historical analysis, I analyzed interviews with frontline workers, news coverage, and municipal government documents to understand how people conceptualized the opioid crisis during coronavirus (and vice versa). On the whole, I found that harm reduction was a central aspect of the efforts against the opioid crisis in Hamilton. However, there were discrepancies in how it was practiced and understood. Generally, harm reduction was presented in municipal government documents as a medical intervention that involved, for example, the provision of new needles and naloxone kits to prevent disease and death. Such a practice was indeed important to address the unique harms at the intersection of COVID and the opioid crisis. However, to frontline workers and activists, harm reduction was a much broader term: it included services that were crucial to daily life, such as food and washrooms; the right to safe housing; and broader social and structural interventions, such as the decriminalization of opioid use. The context of the coronavirus pandemic, which exposed people who use opioids to unique harms, exacerbated the disparity between these definitions: harm reduction was simultaneously presented as a narrow, medical practice and a broad, political intervention. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)