Mobility: How Can a City Make the Most of a Railway Hub?

Halfway though the project, ENTER.HUB partners and their Local Support Groups have produced a series of recommendations for cities working to integrate railway hubs in the tissue of middle-sized cities. Their recommendations mix issues of urban planning, mobility and citizen participation for a sound recipe for integrated urban development.

10 on URBAN PLANNING AND MOBILITY

Producing Multi-Polar Networks

. . . R1. Combine fast and slow mobility, and augment fluidity Reggio Emilia: “The Mediopadano Hub will be an interchange and an intermodal node whose core is the Mediopadana station. It is a node because it should be able to easily connect HS line with local railways (interchange) and freeway (intermodal)”.

. . . R2. Reduce distances and time dedicated to mobility Creil Agglomeration: “A reorganisation of the public transport supply to reduce travel time and optimize routes.”

. . . R3. Consider HST railway station as a link between national, metropolitan and local networks Ulm: “One should connect the public and the station with the urban transport system and use the station as hub for all modes of transportation.

. . . R4. Take advantage of international corridors and of existing metropolitan paths Ulm: “The city is part of the high-speed railway line, a global connection through TEN-T, and the axis/corridor "Magistrale" Paris-Stuttgart-Ulm-München-Salzburg-Wien-Budapest”

. . . R5. Think about public space as a possible universal walking area Gdynia: “The hub area will receive additional value by transforming the square on Dworcowa-Starowiejska intersection into pedestrian friendly zone and construction of new shopping centre- extension of trade and culinary offer.”  Preston: “Preston has routes into public realm which include parks (Winckley Square, Avenham& Miller) and retail offers (Fishergate Central).”  Łódź: “The priority of the New Centre of Łódź program is to create attractive and properly maintained city spaces. New points will appear on the map: the market, the EC1 square, pedestrian lines in main area’s axes both in north-to-south and east-to-west directions, and many others.”

Introducing a Creative Approach

. . . R6. Consider Public Space as a logistically accessible world All partners: “Major issue is to improve the quality of life and the accessibility of the hub and design a mostly accessible public space around it, with green areas, pedestrian areas, linked with nature.”

. . . R7. Develop facilities inside and outside the Hub to serve an Economic strategy Creil Agglomeration: “Our project aims at building a compact centre of the agglomeration around the station, and providing amenities and services (housing, offices, shops, etc.) accessible to a large territory.” Encouraging Changes of Behaviour

. . . R8. Consider Time Management as well as Space Design Porto: “Let’s set up a national card that permits travel across the whole country, or even the Peninsula in Spanish-Portuguese case”.

. . . R9. Set up a bike plan; Facilitate car sharing Creil Agglomeration: “An online platform, which provides information on multimodal routes at the scale of the department, ensures interface between supply and demand of car sharing.” Preston: “The city has developed a cycling route – the Guild Wheel – around the city which facilitates access to the city centre by bike.”

. . . R10. Set up partnerships and coordinate complementarity between all stakeholders Örebro: “Citizens were from the very first beginning involved in the planning process for a new travel centre. Around 1000 people travelling to or living in the region were interviewed before the first sketch was drawn.”

10 on GOVERNANCE AND PARTICIPATION

Governance

. . . R1. Make a comprehensive mapping of stakeholder interest and identify key players – each Hub project will have its own context and specificities in this respect.

. . . R2. Use all means at your disposal to bring essential delivery partners into the core group – convincing of mutual benefit, identifying win-wins, negotiation, political leverage, regulation, legislation...

. . . R3. Public authorities and agencies can take an exemplary lead in developing high performance cooperative working i.e. between region and city, between neighbouring municipalities, between railway and bus companies...

. . . R4. Set realistic targets in terms of development and timing – scale appropriate to catchment and throughput, some development processes need to be recognised as long term and also need to be communicated as such.

. . . R5. Establish an effective leadership structure It can be a plural form of leadership or single agency driven but ultimately informed decisions need to be taken and put into operation. “One has to be sitting in the driver`s seat but plenty of others have to be in the car and say where they would like to go”.

. . . R6. Exploit the opportunity of fixing non-negotiable deadlines Complex projects like Olympic facilities are usually delivered on time because of the strong multi-level commitment, all faces pointing in the same direction - although it must be conceded not always on budget.

Participation

. . . R7. Build a strong communication strategy making full use of existing and new (social) media opportunities.

. . . R8. If participation is genuinely intended to inform, input and co-produce then it should be incorporated at the outset and with a perspective of continuity (not necessarily at all times and on all issues). If participation is only introduced at a later stage or when difficulties arise there is a risk of obstruction, delay or even conflict which is then in contradiction with the principle of governance.

. . . R9. Clearly set out what is possible and what is not. The challenge is to explain what is possible and what the limits of the planning and participation process are.

. . . R10. Develop a system of participative monitoring to ensure that development and service provision continues to respond to citizen needs and expectations – the primary role of a Hub facility is still to serve both travellers and the wider population.

Read more: 

ENTER.HUB minisite – URBACT website

Governance and Participation - Project output

Enter.Hub Baseline Study - Project output