Urban life, digital culture
There’s an old tourism slogan that states “Saint John: Where it All Begins”. I’ve always thought that’s a great description of Saint John’s place in geography, history and technological innovation.
First, Saint John is where the river meets the sea, built around a natural harbour created by the mouth of the St. John River as it flows into the Bay of Fundy, home to, as anyone knows, the highest tides in the world. So we’ve got a cool address.
Second, Saint John is home to a surprising number of Canadian firsts. There are the ones Saint John residents proudly recite such as the first fire insurance company (1801), first charter bank (1820), first municipal police force (1826), first public water system (1840), first public library (1883) and first public playground (1906). But the list of national firsts doesn’t stop at the turn of the last century, even if Saint John residents’ memories do.
That brings us to our third point – Saint John is a leader in creating an urban digital culture. Don’t click away – stick with me and let me explain.
It starts with the technology, courtesy of the old NBTel and more recently, its successor Bell Aliant. NBTel was the first company in Canada to install a fully digital network, in 1993. With that technology, NBTel became the first company in North America to offer voice mail (1993), the screenphone (1993), caller ID (1993), Internet service (1994), high-speed Internet on home computers (1996) and streaming video services over phone wires (1998).
Meanwhile, while NBTel’s engineers were working away in the Living Lab, small business owners along with members of the arts, culture and heritage community were looking around the city’s dilapidated Uptown and entertaining some dreams of their own. They realized that the city’s 19th century successes had left an architectural legacy. Saint John has the most intact collection of 19th century commercial and residential architecture in Canada. In 2000, the City of Saint John developed a Heritage Action Plan to encourage the redevelopment of the Uptown core, home to the majority of Saint John’s architectural heritage. Since then, over $50 million has been invested in heritage properties.
For instance, there’s the Red Rose Tea Building, rejuvenated by local developer Mike McGraw. The red brick structure, built in 1903 at the entrance to the Uptown, is now home to Mariner Partners, a number of ICT start-ups and increasingly, law and accounting offices wanting to be close to their developing client base.
The second major development was the multi-million dollar restoration by John Irving of a block of heritage buildings (1878-1880) located at the corner of Prince William and King. Its anchor tenant is CenterBeam, Inc. and other tenants include ICT firms Ambir Technology Group and CSO Customer Solutions Online, claim management company Cunningham Lindsey and Irving Oil Limited. Down at street level there’s Birks Jewellers, Handworks Gallery, Opera Bistro, Salon Circa, Wellington West Financial, Freak Lunchbox and inprint, a UNB Saint John Bookstore.
A short block away, the restored John Law Building is home to a cluster of design firms and artists’ studios. The historic old Post Office building has morphed into The Prince William, a trendy address for some of the city’s latest batch of start-up companies and the Saint John Theatre Company has a new home in the BMO Rehearsal Hall on Princess. These renovations coincided with the rise of the post-NBTel start-ups and these young, innovative entrepreneurs were attracted to the city’s heritage commercial spaces.
Today Saint John’s Uptown is the most densely populated mixed-use neighbourhood in the Maritimes. The area contains close to 1,300 businesses – the largest percentage from the ICT sector – and 18,000 residents. All these people have created a truly urban campus along Saint John’s waterfront – housing, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, design firms, lawyers, accountants and knowledge workers all within walking distance of each other.
That’s a great story – anchored by Saint John’s rich history and propelled forward by the imagination of the people who live here now. Saint John is where it all begins – the really cool part will be to see where we take it.
This is a condensed excerpt from Saint John’s application to the Intelligent Communities Forum’s Smart 21 program. You’ll also find it on the Think City blog.
