Emily Vuong

Developing A Mixed-Use Urban Project: A Contribution to Neighbourhood Revitalization and Building Urban Community

Interior Design

2022

Through combining housing and shared spaces for commercial and individual use, this project will encourage social interaction, bringing the community together and creating harmony in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood. This thesis proposes that a more community-oriented mixed-use complex is an important response to the increasing social isolation brought by increased urban density, less public social spaces, and current demographic trends that increase the likelihood of our living alone. As we continue to lose social spaces to ever more much-needed housing, joining places of residence with new spaces for social interaction is imperative. In an effort to strengthen social networks, this thesis will examine how an urban mixed-use building can encourage socialization and bring together a community with extensive shared spaces. This mixed-use concept will join its focus on the residential community of the Queen West neighbourhood, with an additional focus on creating its own community through community spaces for gathering, shared co-working spaces, café, bar lounge, and other shared spaces/amenities to draw the public in, and can help to build social networks at multiple scales.