- Living, working and shopping in Delft Central Station    click here to open paper content667 kb
by    Kusumo, Camelia | c.kusumo@bk.tudelft.nl   click here to send an email to the auther(s) of this paper
Short Outline
This paper analyses the potential of the new development the of railway station area in Delft Central Station, the Netherlands, in creating and stimulating the emergence of a vibrant urban place for living, working and shopping.
Abstract
This article analyses the potential of large urban infrastructure project in the city of Delft as a
future place for living, working and shopping. At present, the railway station in Delft plays an
important role in the economic development of the city. Everyday more than 20,000 passengers
stop at Delft railway station. Most of these passengers are students and employees at high
education institutionsBy the coming of the Stedenbaan, a rapid transit system in Randstad
Holland, the Dutch railway company expects the amount of the train and the passengers to be
doubled in Delft Central Station by the year 2010. Therefore the municipality of Delft proposed a
new master plan to upgrade the quality of the infrastructure. This proposal eliminates the
existing barrier effect of the railway by building underground railway tracks, which gives a new
opportunity for redevelopment of the urban area around the existing station.

The new master plan opens up new opportunities to upgrade the location into a regional centre.
The empirical analysis presented in this article shows that an intelligible spatial configuration of
the area around the station is important in providing opportunities for a vibrant urban place
within the urban fabric of the city. In fact a combination of high quality infrastructure (physical
and virtual), a good urban space (spatial centrality), the presence of university and cultural
historical value are the main strengths of this location. Being integrated in different levels of
movement scale, the master plan stimulates the emergence of livability, with a pleasant
atmosphere and a nice environment around Delft Central Station for different kinds of knowledge
based economy and commercial activities without decreasing the quality of its historical centre.
Keywords
urban space, knowledge based economy, retail activities
Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2005: Making Spaces for the Creative Economy
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