Subdivided and Reconnected: Community Integrated Transportation Hubs as a Response to Car-Centric Growth

Abstract

In little over a century Calgary has gone from pioneer beginnings to an expansive urban area. The City of Calgary’s policies have fostered the conditions for automobile-dominated, single-use and low-density neighbourhoods. This ideology has prioritized the construction of freeways over all other forms of transportation. This has isolated those without cars from the city by separating one community from another.

This thesis re-imagines Calgary’s public transportation network as a multi-modal system that reconnects neighbourhoods and offers a more vibrant and integrated city. Two design projects—a neighbourhood transit hub and a central city transit hub—explore how such integrated transportation hubs can serve as catalysts for inclusive social interaction and improve quality of life.