Emergent Urbanism: Architectural Place-Making in Response to A Minnesota High Speed Train Network

Abstract

The way existing cities are set up and built is unsustainable, and risky. The bulk of new growth is occurring on the fringe of cities, where the streets and buildings have been designed for the automobile as the primary mode of transportation. With the price of gasoline continually climbing, it is not unexpected that this type of development would collapse with the loss of affordable gasoline. If given another way of getting around, the people may change their perceptions of cities and how to live and build within them. It is important to have an alternative form of transportation in Fargo-Moorhead as well as the greater region. This thesis proposes to explore the architectural impacts of using pedestrian focused transportation as a catalyst for new urban growth within downtown Moorhead, MN.