Transit stations and urban design in Calgary: retrofitting innercity neighbourhoods
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2007
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Abstract
The City of Calgary is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. With a population of almost a million people the most important issue in the minds of its inhabitants is transportation. One of the most efficient ways of moving people in a city is Light Rail Transit. Calgary's LRT system or C-Train was established in 1981 and is still being developed as the city grows. Although the City of Calgary is committed to expanding its LRT system according to some of the principles of transit oriented development (TODs), to date there has not been a comprehensive approach to incorporating urban design of existing stations and their surrounding neighborhoods, as a way to increase ridership. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate how the Calgary LRT system efficiency can be increased by urban design, retrofitting existing settlements in order to transform them into a physical form that encourages the use of public transit. The study demonstrated that there is a relationship between the variables of density, diversity and design and transit use. The three variables, when combined, can increase transit ridership. By having dense and mixed-use neighbourhoods, the stations can be nodes for employment and recreation while providing a sustainable and accessible form of transportation to the people living around them. The reconfiguration of land with high value for the city as a whole is necessary in order to take advantage of LRT infrastructure and maximize its potential. There are several potential locations where the variables producing true transit oriented developments can be improved, as a way of increasing ridership and consequently reducing the effects of continued sprawl.
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Bibliography: p. 87
Some pages are in colour.
Some pages are in colour.
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Citation
Uribe, T. A. (2007). Transit stations and urban design in Calgary: retrofitting innercity neighbourhoods (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/1460