Context

A key challenge that inhibits Sudbury’s growth as a modern city is transportation.

Currently, Sudbury’s population is split amongst many distinct communities, or “constellation towns” that interact with the more densely populated core of the city - namely the three hubs including the Downtown, New Sudbury, and The South End. This is both a product of Sudbury’s industrial economic factors and a “spread-out” development mentality, where the abundance of space allows for outward expansion.

This unique context of many individualized towns forming a greater city offers multifold advantages and challenges. For one, it creates a heavy dependence on using cars to commute to and from one’s place of work. On the other hand, a huge advantage is the unique quality of each town, where each community offers experiences and amenities exclusive to that neighborhood.

Within the core of the city, transportation is essentially limited to automobile and bus traffic, as the vast majority of the streets are undesirable or impractical for foot traffic. Unfortunately, bike lanes are limited, inhibiting biking from becoming a serious mode of transportation. The excellent network of trails spread throughout the parks in the core of the city (such as the Laurentian conservation area and junction creek) harbor the massive potential to be integrated with inner-city bike trails to make Sudbury a remarkably bikable city.

The current lack of transportation options contributes to Sudbury’s dependence on automobiles. Additionally, the GOVA bus system is under-utilized, essentially being used exclusively by those who cannot afford cars, instead of being an enjoyable and viable alternative to driving. Furthermore, Sudbury is generally divided into discrete groups, those that live and work within the core and those who remain mostly in the constellation towns, only commuting to the city when necessary.

There are also those who live in one area for its benefits and commute to another daily via personal vehicles. Consequently, the constellation towns often feel disconnected from the core of the city, and the difficultly of travel between these communities and the downtown inhibits positive development. Currently, the downtown is easily bypassed and is rarely chosen as a destination for shopping and entertainment by anyone outside of the community that calls it home. Many people naturally question the Downtown’s role as the ‘centre’ of Sudbury, opting instead for the shopping potential brought by New Sudbury. Therefore the project aims to re-establish Sudbury as an interconnected, poly-nucleated city.

GoSudbury re-establishes the downtown as the central heart of the city, where all transportation systems meet, and anyone can efficiently access all other parts of the city. 

Approach 

GoSudbury capitalizes on existing infrastructure, such as the light rail system that utilizes existing rail lines, anticipating the relocation of the current downtown rail yard. New stations use adaptive re-use strategies on existing buildings along with terraforming techniques to create hybrid buildings in an approach we’ve coined “Cityforming.”

With the Downtown station operating as the central hub, each subsequent station can be interpreted as an extension of Downtown, offering amenities such as library pop-up shops, local cafes, etc.

A key theme of the project involves the diversification of transport to connect the periphery of the city to the downtown core. By changing the way people reach their destination, the city can be experienced in different ways, while also strengthening local economies and providing various health benefits. This approach can also provide a solution to the lack of parking spaces in the core, which is a reason many choose to avoid it. By letting people access downtown Sudbury without a car, the vast amount of parking space could be repurposed as places for commercial activity, community events, or even new developments.

The use of a streetcar connects not only three cores of the city, but also involves the establishment of commercial networks through the integration of three existing shopping malls. These malls: Elm Place, New Sudbury center, and the Southridge mall, all have unique challenges and would benefit from increased traffic.

The development of these malls as transport hubs would further contribute to the connection of the three hubs of the city. The sites of these malls also include an abundance of parking which could support those using multiple forms of transportation while also integrating the car into a vision of Sudbury for 2050.