The professional opportunities that coworking at CoMotion On King has provided continue to be mighty beneficial. But being able to really engage and immerse in the downtown Hamilton community has been at least as rewarding.
It’s one thing to see the growth and transformation of downtown Hamilton happen from a distance, in the newspaper, or in blogs; but being right in the mix of where it’s all happening offers a pretty cool perspective. Fittingly, this post is being penned from the benches of Gore Park. It doesn’t get more ‘heart of Hamilton’ than that!
One element of urban life that I’ve recently learned a whole lot more about is the sharing economy. This refers to businesses that are built with the model of facilitating the shared uses of a product or service. And naturally, with the influx of people living downtown, the proliferation of condo dwelling, this segment is on the rise. Every day I see SoBi bikes rolling around and I’ll periodically walk by a parked Community CarShare car. And a night out at Gallagher’s, or listening to DJ Mark spinning at The Mule usually ends with Uber. Living in an area where you have a concert hall, an abundance of restaurants, a GO station and an art gallery in your backyard means you probably don’t have room for a tool shed. That’s not a bad trade-off. But, when there’s a need for a few power tools, having a convenient and effective way to acquire them, such as through The Hamilton Tool Library, without having to store them, becomes a consumer demand — or, maybe even necessity.
Seeing and learning about how this is taking hold in our city is what The Hamilton Shared Summit is all about. This will be hosted at CoMotion On King this Thursday, May 4th from 6pm to 10pm.
Chris Schafer (@chrisschafer) of Uber will speak about the future of transportation before opening the floor for ample question and discussion time.
Various business and individuals involved in the sharing economy will be speaking and sharing. A great chance for them to exchange ideas and a chance for me to get a bit more in touch with my city. I find events like this really cool. It’s an opportunity to learn about a flourishing business segment in a casual, social environment – often over a couple Collective Arts brews.
CoMotion On King hosts events like this fairly often; this is a huge benefit for me. You always meet some cool people and virtually everyone’s up to talk about the latest developments in Hamilton. (My guess is that the recent LRT win will be a hot topic.) And, as a freelancer, every event is a chance to network. An opportunity to connect with someone who just might need what you have to offer.
