Stations as a lever for inclusive growth

Abstract

While promoting sustainable mobility, stations are considered simultaneously interchanges (or nodes) for different types of mobilities (train, bus, tram, car, P&R, taxi, bike and on demand services) and public spaces (or places) for interactions and social networks, where to meet people and to find different urban amenities 1 . Stations represent a link to both global and local networks (urban, commercial and transport) and therefore they are an integral part of the built environment. They need to be accessible by all and well connected to the entire metropolitan scale. The degree of openness of the station towards the city, its urban permeability, allows for higher quality of life, more social interaction and higher level of inclusiveness. This includes a functional mixité in the station area, blurring station limits (physical and social) by promoting the construction of residential and commercial centers around it. The development of transit-nodes (or stations) has an impact on the social, economic and security issues with the changes directly involved in the urban fabric, including the railways. By reinforcing the transport network, they have to adapt to mobility transitions associated to those changes. In this context, by looking at the sustainable development goals (SDG) related to the relationship Mobility & City, urban transformations driven by the development of transit-nodes comply with the following SDG: resilient city towards an inclusive growth 2 (SDG 11), the healthy city towards well-being environment (SDG 3), booster for innovation and economy (SDG 9). Based on those considerations, the co-creation experiment presented in this book is looking at existing and new transit-nodes along rail-metro networks in the metropolitan area of Rotterdam. By incorporating stations in the city urban strategies, the urban designers, the students and tutors attempt to define stations as destinations by themselves and as inclusive places, in addition to their travel functions. In the academic design experiment (City of Innovations project), the potential of using the design as a tool for co-creation is explored. The approach aimed at connecting the mobility strategy with new opportunities for urban growth and neighborhoods related activities, towards an inclusive and sustainable urban environment. […]