Index rates Hamilton second-last in Canada for being attractive to youth

Hamilton has scored second to last out of 13 Canadian cities measured for their "youthfulness" appeal.

When it comes to factors that make a city "youthful," Hamilton is sorely lacking, particularly in comparison to larger Canadian cities, according to the key indicators measured by YouthfulCities — an organization dedicated to figuring out what's important to those aged 15-29.

The city is failing short on security on public transit, and there isn't enough publicly accessible Wi-Fi throughout the city.

Out of a possible 1634 points in the Youthful Cities 2018 Canadian Index , scored 604. Hamilton's youth make up roughly one in five Hamiltonians.

Cities from across the country were scored on living, working and play options in their perspective cities — a collection of 1573 data points used to measure the various attributes that make places more attractive for younger people to live.

The Canadian cities rated highest are all larger cities with Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal claiming the top spots.

The index scored Hamilton well for employment, lower costs for concert ticket prices, but not so well for public transit, which the survey suggests is important to youth.

The survey says accessible public transit, bike and walking options are things youth are looking for when deciding to plant roots.

According to the survey, Hamilton scored low in this category because there aren't enough transit options and buses are lacking security on them.

The index claims a big contributor to Hamilton's poor safety score is that it's the only city measured in Canada that doesn't have a passenger bill of rights, night stop programs, transit police or security officers, and surveillance on transit.

It suggests that adopting at least some of these security measures on public transit would be a good first step to improving the city's safety score.

Hamilton also comes in the bottom three on digital access in the city because there's a lack of availability of free publicly accessible WiFi throughout the city.

The city would also apparently serve artists better by requiring new developments over a certain size to include a budget for a permanent public art installation, which would exist as part of an integrated, long-term public art plan, says the index. 

Hamilton scores high on music scene

Where Hamilton thrives according to the index is the music scene, which looks at availability of music-based entertainment options in a city.

The city ranks third overall with the cost of a music concert placing it first in that category. 

Youth in YouthfulCities's 2016 Urban Attitudes Survey gave the music aspect an importance rating of 7.77 out of 10 – placing it in the lower middle of factors that they think are important in their cities.

Since 2013 the group collecting the data has been asking about 30,000 youth from around the world questions about what makes a city ideal for them to live in, and then grading cities based on those responses.

Employment 

Hamilton also took a top spot in the employment category with a ranking of fifth. 

It looked at the overall climate of youth employment in a city and measures the proactive tools and mechanisms in place to combat youth unemployment. 

The 2016 survey gave employment an importance rating of 8.52 out of 10 — placing it just outside the top 5 most important factors for youth in their cities. 

In the report, Co-founder of YouthfulCities, Robert Barnard Canadian cities are falling behind on a global scale. 

"In 2015, Toronto was the only Canadian city to make the Top 10 of the YouthfulCities Global Index, coming in 6th place. Montreal and Vancouver just barely made the top 20 and were behind most other North American cities, including Mexico City," said Barnard.

He says cities around the world are competing to become more liveable, smart, innovative and desirable.

"Simply put, cities are competing to become more youthful - more connected, dynamic, curious, open, inventive and playful," said Barnard.