Hamilton's core has become a grey sea of concrete and asphalt, broken only rarely by tiny oases of greenery. If we seek a root cause of Hamiltonians' abandonment of their city centre, we need look no further than the harsh sterility of that photo.

It is no better from ground level: a downtown of poured concrete, tall stairs to empty plazas, and too many bunker-style buildings, their entrances hidden or underground. How has it come to this?

Hamilton is remarkable for its magnificent canopy of trees. From the Mountain, when the trees are in leaf, Hamilton appears as verdant as any city on Earth. This is a city with world-class public gardens, an enviable park system, flowers in the middle of its streets and a location on the Niagara Escarpment and the Bruce Trail.

But a Hamiltonian can only look at that aerial view of the core and wonder where all the green has gone.

Gore Park is surprisingly, and disappointingly, tiny. The only other patches of grass in the core are around the Education Building, in front of the old County Courthouse and in artificial geometry on a desolate rooftop plaza. Our core looks cold and windy in winter, blisteringly hot in summer. If new life in Hamilton's downtown is important (and we at The Spectator have made it clear here and in our news pages that we passionately believe that to be so), it must become a more welcoming place. Source.