Integration of Intermodal Transport Stations as a Tool for Urban Renewal in the City of Baghdad

Abstract

The recent population growth, urban expansion, and high standard of living witnessed by most cities, including Baghdad, have made the provision of integrated urban transport systems a major challenge for those in the transport sector. To address the central issues related to urban renewal, growth and land use in cities, and the importance and impact of integrated intermodal transport systems on the design and urban renewal of cities, it is thus important to investigate the role of integrated stations in achieving the urban development and renewal of the city and to determine the most important comprehensive indicators in the field of integration of such systems in order to develop tools for urban renewal and growth.This paper offers an analytical and evaluation method to assess the potential for redevelopment of major intermodal transport stations and the opportunities for space and urban renewal that might follow such redevelopment. The methodology was implemented in the redevelopment of Berlin Central Station and the comprehensive plan for road transport for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi 2030, and may thus offer a basis for assessing and evaluating the city of Baghdad in terms of transport and developing future plans in this area. However, it required the development of correct scientific frameworks for the integration of multi-modal urban transport stations (systems) as development tools and attractions, and to have a positive impact for the city. This led to the research problem of investigating the “lack of sufficient perception of the impact of the complementarity of intermodal transport stations and their role as a tool in the urban renewal of the citybased on the assumption that integrated intermodal transport stations are large and multi-functional facilities, consisting of several integrated smaller systems, operating in a single overarching system such as a city at a scale that allows them to act as a tool in the process of urban renewal by promoting positive interaction with the surrounding environment.