Future City

Future City game concludes in year 2022

It's the year 2022 in Hamilton, which means the Future City game has reached its conclusion. Thank you to all of the players who participated by voting on the weekly scenarios, tuning in for the videos, exploring the interactive city map and commenting and posting stories. It was exciting to watch Hamilton grow on this fantasy platform and to see how scenarios played out when real votes were tabulated. Urban renewal, disaster relief, ethical dilemmas and climate issues all had to be dealt with on Future City over its three-month lifespan.  We are interested in your thoughts on the project. Thanks again to all who joined in this adventure.

Top Secret area around the airport

What is going on at the airport site on Future City? The area is blacked out on the map. There are rumours that a military experiment is under way. Or that there has been some sort of shipment that was found to be radioactive?

Cause for a different causeway

A suggested causeway across the lake is the answer to our congestion around the golden Horseshoe but between Guelph Line (Burlington) and Fruitland Road(Grimsby) is not the answer.
The Problem is the never ending congestion between Toronto and the US border.
Objectives:
1 Immediately cease growth construction on the QE
2 Cancel proposed plans for the escarpment highway (parallel to the Hamilton-Fort Erie QE
3 Direct all Federal/Provincial funding for these future plans toward the following solution.
5 Redirect the traffic, other than that intended for the Greater Hamilton Area, to where the majority is heading, the GTA.
The Solution.
A causeway across lake Ontario beginning either at
1 Port Dalhousie, if not financially shared by the USA.
2 Youngstown New York, if financially shared by the USA.
and in either case. terminating somewhere at approximately Port Credit in the GTA.to merge with all of the major routes.Hwy 400, 407,401 and the QE.

Future Benefit
By greatly reducing the traffic to and from the GTA and the Muskokas, the existing highways will carry us well into this century, will give our residents the peace of mind and opportunity to travel our roads safely, free of the never ending congestion and more importantly, to encourage new industry to locate in the most ideally located community in Canada.

Hamilton loses the canal vote

Although the straw poll indicated that Hamilton was favored to win the Future City question on the canal, Welland was chosen. Comments from the game site indicated that the cost to the environment vs the economic benefits to Hamilton swayed the vote to Welland.

What might not have been understood is that, regardless of where the canal is located, an entirely new canal would have to be built. To simply widen or deepen the canal would not be possible, because this would interrupt shipping for several years and this is not an economic option.  So the premise that it's better to widen the existing canal vs building a new canal doesn't actually hold water.

That's one large project that went to another municipality. We'll see what happens in the next round, when a gold smelter gets debated. The premise is that a local mine will be shipping ore to a neighboring city to be processed. Will Hamilton accept a large smelter within its municipal boundaries and benefit from the jobs boom, or will another municipality benefit.

There are obvious costs and benefits to weigh, as the two video testimonials eloquently argue.

Hamilton vs Welland canal

A straw poll on thespec.com last week tested how the vote might go in the game. It was close, but the Hamilton canal was favoured by a slim margin. The voting on the game doesn't close until Wednesday.

How to play

We've had a few early comments about what happens at the instant you open the game. You are looking at the map as it exists in the year 2022. When you look around the interface, you can explore other indications about the "present". The Stats and History tab the top of the screen is a good way to get a sense of the populaton, pollution and budget issues facing the city in the year 2022. Reporting and Commentary provides a wide range of feedback from other players and also provides more background about other events that are happening in the city, the country and the world. Use this to place yourself .. and to write your own story about what you think of the year 2022.

So, once you've become familiar with this landscape, it's time to step into the future. The Question of the Week and Vote tab at the top of the page allows you to alter the future. By watching the videos and understanding the issue in this week's big decision, you can then vote on whether the map and all of the indicator graphs will change. The winning vote will alter the shape of the city. The developers will tally the votes next week, and the map will change, based on the outcome.

In this case, it's whether the Welland Canal will be relocated on our doorstep.

The reveal of this new look for Hamilton will take place next week.

And another scenario is proposed. What will it be? We'll give you a hint. "All that glitters... "

Game launch today

The game launched this morning at 6 a.m. The city is in the year 2022. There are a few cool things you will notice when you get the map: Six Flags has taken over Confederation Park and now operates a huge amusement park there.

There's an underwater expressway from Hamilton to Toronto. You can see the ramp that drops into the harbour from downtown.

There's all-day transit service to Toronto.

And a sports-concert complex has taken up residence on what were vacant lots around the old bus terminal on Rebecca.

Can you spot anything else?

Are you game for the city?

Future City is a platform on thespec.com that ages Hamilton 100 years over the next 100 days. Starting Nov. 1, you can begin voting on a series of big events that will change the face of the city.

The city opens Thursday in the year 2022. A lot has changed. A lot will change in the next 100 days on thespec.com/futurecity. The best part is, you get to be involved in every move. You get to tell us your stories and to include these on the game. You get to comment on each stage.

These events hit every week until the city is completely remade and relocated into the future. By the time the game is finished, it will be the year 2122.  This first week's decision is whether a new shipping canal will be cut from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie from Winona on the outskirts of Hamilton to  Dunnville. It's fantasy, but it is not without precedent. The first "Welland" canal was to be built from the Grand Canal to Hamilton Harbour. That never happened. Now is your chance to revisit the decision of the 1820s and to move the canal here.

The voting begins on this first stage on Thursday, Nov. 1.

Check out Future City on Nov. 1 when the game begins. The url is www.thespec.com/futurecity

Future City intro

What do want to see in Hamilton's future. Talk to us in this feedback blog.