Tram-Train and urban planning: A visit towards several communities of the Karlsruhe area focusing on their conception, density and good connections with the tram-train

摘要

Karlsruhe is well known for its great tram-train network. Nevertheless, the urban structure of Karlsruhe communities with their good connections to the tram-train is less known, even though these structures represent a key point for the large number of public transport users in Karlsruhe. This paper wants to illustrate the urban architectures of several districts of Karlsruhe with maps and photos to help understand how people can be further encouraged to use public transport and leave their car at home. The development of the Karlsruhe conurbation is to be understood in the context of the underlying tendencies which are very often an obstacle to public transport oriented planning. To set the background at first the evolution of stated tendencies in the field of transport development and urbanism is explained. Urban and transport planning seems very often to be caught in a vicious circle of politics as a means of further aggravating negative tendencies. To get out of, or even better, to turn around the vicious circle should be the stated aim of all transport planning policies. Five examples from the Karlsruhe region show how public transport orientated planning relying on a light-rail system can promote sustainable development: - Worth: where the tram-train leaves the main railway line to serve the heart of the densely populated central ares of the town. - Leopoldshafen: where the tram-train became the backbone for new housing developments. - Linkenheim: where the tram-train transformed the ancient main village road. - Waldstadt: where housing developments of the 1950's are very well connected by tram and the other soft modes also play an important role. - A new inner city quarter (Sudoststadt): where re-urbanisation takes place and will be promoted by the tram which is just being built.