Visualizing Density in Hamilton
- Ana M. Koterniak
- Jan 27, 2018
- 6 min read
Hamilton is one of the three census metropolitan areas in the Hamilton-Niagara Peninsula (HNP) Economic Region, which represents 11% of Ontario’s total population at about 517,000 people. With rising real estate prices in the adjacent provincial capital - Toronto - increasing levels of residential development are being diverted to Hamilton. Residential development, measured by building permits, is expected to rise by 20 percent to 3,200 units in Hamilton, and 7,000 units in the HNP region. Transit extensions to GO transit and Light Rail Service, which are expected to take off in 2018, will both accommodate and perpetuate this growth.
Located in southwestern Ontario, the City of Hamilton is defined by its distinctive geographical features such as the Hamilton Harbour and the Niagara Escarpment. Hamilton is comprised of many communities with a combination of urban centres and rural farmland that offers picturesque sceneries across the city. Prior to the enactment of the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw No. 05-200 (the Bylaw) in 2005, the six communities of Hamilton had individual sets of zoning bylaws, creating inconsistencies in the planning process. This Bylaw replaced the six pre-existing zoning bylaws and is being implemented in stages according to land use. The City is in the process of developing new residential zones to add to the existing institutional, industrial, park, and open space designations. To ensure successful implementation of zoning changes and intensification, the City seeks to effectively educate members of the public on various forms of density.
Hamilton’s Official Plan categorizes density as low (0-60 units per hectare), medium (60-100 units per hectare), and high (100-300 units per hectare), influenced by factors such as context and built form of surrounding areas, planning policies and regulations, and site characteristics. It can be difficult for the general public to translate and visualize units per hectare as varying forms of density, thus the aim is to establish consistency in measured and perceived low, medium, and high density forms, and resolve public misconceptions regarding density. Because Hamilton’s population is incredibly demographically and economically diverse, and because people inherently comprehend information in different ways, effective visualization tools in equally diverse variety of formats will be necessary.
Research & Analysis
Nine existing density visualization tools developed by other municipalities and organizations were analyzed as part of research in Phase 1: Illustrating Density by the City of Olympia, A Citizen’s Guide to Density by Urban Strategies, DensityAtlas.org by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Visualizing Densities Website by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Visualizing Densities by the Region of Waterloo, the Housing Types and Land Use Background Handout by the City of Surrey, Residential Density Guide for Landcom Project Teams by Landcom, Density of Development by Metropolitan Council (Minneapolis), and A Hundred Years of Confusing Urban Densities by the University of Melbourne.
The tools were evaluated based on principles of user friendliness, accessibility and meaningful public participation: (1) thoroughness, (2) context-specificity, (3) clarity, (4) navigability, (5) simplicity of language (non-jargonized), (6) aesthetics, and (7) interactivity. The “context-specificity” criterion, can be translated to “how easy is it for the user to find the information he or she is looking for without the need to sift through many pages or website tabs?”. Each case study was given a score out of five for each of the seven criteria, and the totals of these scores were used to obtain an overall evaluation of each density visualization tool. The research was finalized with a discussion of specific strengths and weaknesses, which helped identify the key components of designing an effective tool for visualizing density.
The Tools
Upon completion of Phase 1 and correspondence with the City of Hamilton, it was concluded that, in order to best meet the needs of the public and the City, the tools must be highly visual, engaging, accessible, interactive, and concise. Thus resulting in the following formats of educational materials: pamphlet, website, and an interactive hands-on lego game. Variety in materials and the use of jargon-free language was used to facilitate understanding by people of many ages and backgrounds.
Pamphlet
The pamphlet was designed to be very colourful, engaging, and highly visual so that the concepts behind the information presented could be understood quickly by people of all ages and education levels. The pamphlet was also designed to be completely flexible, in the sense that each of the pages can exist as separate handouts if necessary. Likewise, each page of the pamphlet can be enlarged if needed and used as a large-format panel at public meetings and workshops. Thus, if a public workshop is occurring for residents of a low-density area, the workshop facilitator has the ability to display or distribute only the pamphlet pages relevant to low-density areas as panels or handouts. The pages have been arranged in a logical and engaging order in order to tell the story of density; they begin with content to answer the question “Why does it matter?”, and continue with content that answers the questions “Where does it happen?”, “How is it measured?”, and “What does it all mean for my neighbourhood?”.
The first page (red) of the panel contains a brief introductory section that discusses why density is important and relevant to Hamilton today. It also contains a list of commonly held misconceptions surrounding urban density, including information and visuals about why these beliefs are not necessarily true. The misconceptions identified on this page were drawn from common public concerns described by the Density Atlas - an online resource containing information regarding urban density - and Hamilton’s own Residential Intensification Guide.
The second page (yellow) contains information and visuals regarding how and where density occurs in the city. More specifically, this page illustrates the relationship between the City’s Official Plan and Zoning Bylaws and how these policy documents direct the development of density in Hamilton. Hamilton examples of each step in the density designation and regulation process are given in picture form, including screenshots of Hamilton’s actual Official Plan and Zoning Bylaws.
The third page (blue) presents a series of highly simplified visuals and key questions regarding how density is measured and what forms density can take within different high, medium, and low density designations in the city. The metrics chosen for this page are the most commonly used density metrics by various municipalities for measuring and evaluating density: floor space ratio, dwelling units per hectare, and people per hectare. The visuals that explain each of these metrics were inspired by visuals on DensityAtlas.org. Instead of offering examples of mathematical density calculations, Nami opted instead to provide key questions for each density metric to explain the underlying theories. This page also contains a visual representation showing how density measurements are actually more related to site area than built form.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth pages show possible development outcomes for neighbourhoods designated low-density, medium-density, and high-density respectively. The visuals on this page include examples for both possible building types and possible neighbourhood types. Joining these pages across the top is a stylized transect to show the approximate building heights and built forms of each density designation relative to the other two designations. Below this transect, each page also contains a series of icons that show all the possible building designs that could be developed within each designation. Under the icons are a series of aerial images matching the specific density denoted on the page.
Game
A game named “An Interactive Abstraction” was created as one of the tools of visualizing density. The word interactive refers to the tangible, participatory and engaging nature of Lego blocks, the primary material of the game. Intended for use in public meetings, the Lego blocks represent the built environment in its most distilled form, meant to encourage hands on manipulation and transformation based on citizen’s understanding of density in conjunction with active conversation and exchange of ideas. The game starts with acquiring a lego base plate and 5 lego blocks, each representing a certain density. With each new lego block on the baseplate - the density increases, the positioning, stacking, or orientation of blocks is what starts to shape the resident’s community. As an example, three different built environments are demonstrated in the instructions, each with the same density.
Website
The traditional way cities communicate with the public is by the means of public meetings and workshops. With the fast paced environment of the 21st century, larger cities, and busier schedules, many people are unable to stay sufficiently involved and informed. Our last product - a website, is targeted to those very people. The information and the visuals contained in the pamphlet, as well as the game instructions, can be found at all times on the following website: visualizingdensity.format.com. The website can also be shared on social media by anyone on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Users can also use the “Contact” page to direct all questions and inquiries regarding the content on the website to the City of Hamilton
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