Making tracks for Tamale: Strategic implementation of a railway system in the existing urban fabric of Ghanaian cities

Making tracks for Tamale: Strategic implementation of a railway system in the existing urban fabric of Ghanaian cities

Oort, E.N.

Hermans, W.J.A. (mentor)
Van Nes, A. (mentor)
Meijers, W.L.E.C. (mentor)

Architecture

Urbanism

Studio Ghana

2011-06-27

Africa has the potential to be the world's breadbasket, however the continent's fundamental problem is that it has invested relatively little in agriculture and in developing its rural infrastructure. Ghana (West-Africa) is no exception to this. Ghana's Northern Region is identified as breadbasket area, but sufficient transportation lacks. Therefore the Ghanaian Government has planned to rehabilitate its railway system and extend it to the rural north, dispersing economic activities and thus leveling the uneven spread of development within the country. This thesis shows how to strategically implement the railway system in the existing urban fabric of Ghanaian cities. Three sets of guidelines are set up as a practical framework for the determination of the railway alignment and the determination of the location of freight station(s) and passenger station(s). They are tested through a proposal for the implementation of a railway system in Tamale (the capital of Ghana's Northern Region) and they can be used as 'toolbox' for the other Ghanaian cities on eve of the railway implementation. The proposal for Tamale is processed through: 1. A city map with the alignment of the railroad and the location of the freight station and passenger station (based on the set of guidelines). 2. A strategic plan to embed the railway system in the existing city and to tackle existing spatial problems of Tamale. 3. An urban design for the station area to illustrate the strategic plan.

Africa
Northern Ghana
Tamale
implementation of a railway system
existing urban fabric
railway alignment
station location
impact of railways
transportation
agriculture
breadbasket

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6a4217d4-2e96-4227-b793-2b695702e959

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2011 Oort, E.N.