[sustran] Examples sought: transport hubs and social capital

[Cathy Baldwin]

Hi there,

Example required for WRI report

Greetings from soggy Washington DC. I am working on a report for Embarq - the urban planning and sustainable transport team of the World Resources Institute (environmental think tanks) examining how the planning, design and implementation of urban public areas, housing and transport hubs can enhance community social capital and cohesion to meet social sustainability and community resilience goals.  I am looking for an example of a transport hub anywhere in the world  - preferably outside the UK and a developing country preferred but not essential - where its positive impacts on community social capital and cohesion have been considered in even the smallest (or largest) of ways. This could be anything from sociably arranged benches outside that have enhanced sociability among people sitting and lingering there, or a hub where the presence of commuters passing through has brought new life and incidental social contact to an area - or anything similar.

Has anyone worked on an urban development project or impact assessment of such an example that they have available documentation on that they would be willing to share? It would need to have some social information on the plans or the goals that were met - and some behavioural info in, on the desired or achieved outcomes.

I would be very grateful for any docs or recommendations - a case or two could end up in the report as a mention or a case study if there is sufficient social information. My deadline is now (this month).

Thanks v much.
All best wishes,
Cathy

Dr Cathy Baldwin
Research Fellow, Social Factors and Urban Development
EMBARQ
World Resources Institute, 10 G Street, NE, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20002, USA
CBaldwin at wri.org<mailto:CBaldwin at wri.org> |
http://www.embarq.org/en/about/staff/dr-cathy-baldwin
Blog: TheCityFix.com<UrlBlockedError.aspx>  |  Twitter: @EMBARQNetwork <https://twitter.com/EMBARQNetwork>  |  Facebook.com/EMBARQNetwork<UrlBlockedError.aspx>
 www.EMBARQ.org<http://www.embarq.org/>
www.WRI.org <UrlBlockedError.aspx>
 EMBARQ helps cities make sustainable transport a reality.