Transit-oriented Development Strategies Research Articles

Creating inequality in access to public transit? Densification, gentrification, and displacement

Densification is a key concept in contemporary urban planning. Yet, there are widespread concerns about densification causing displacement and gentrification. This paper examines densification around train stations—a prevalent form of transit-oriented development (TOD) in cities with established public transit systems—in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. We assess the effects of densification around train stations on the socioeconomic population composition in these areas and investigate three different potential displacement effects. Leveraging 1.8 million linked person-housing unit observations for all individuals within our study perimeter, we provide a more nuanced understanding of densification’s effects on the population composition and displacement than prior research. Our findings reveal that even though densification increases the absolute number of low-income residents, it primarily benefits middle- and high-income households. Specifically, there is a decline in the share of low-income residents, attributed to the influx of younger high-income individuals. Moreover, incumbent low-income residents experience an increased risk of direct displacement due to housing demolitions. These outcomes highlight the limitations of TOD strategies in mitigating persistent socioeconomic disparities in public transit access, emphasizing the need for more comprehensive measures to address the challenges of equitable housing and public transit accessibility.

Johannesburg’s transit revolution: a critical report on transit-oriented development strategy

ABSTRACT In urban planning processes, global policies that are evaluated positively may not achieve favorable performance in specific urban, social, and policy circumstances. The practice of transit-oriented development (TOD) strategy in Johannesburg is a representative example. This report focuses on its role in balancing ecological sustainability, social inclusion, economic development, and impact on citizens. The report finds that while TOD can theoretically help eliminate social inequalities and promote economic and ecological sustainability, its practical effect is limited, manifesting in exacerbated government deficits and a growing gap between the rich and the poor. This report examines the causes and provides recommendations.

Development of the TOD.id Mobile App

The rise of large cities worldwide has spurred the emergence of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) as an urban planning concept. Indonesia, including Jakarta, has begun implementing TOD strategies. To facilitate TOD in Indonesia, this study proposes a conceptual mobile app, TOD.id, informed by preliminary research. It introduces a novel tax approach, Land Value Capture (LVC) tax, to address funding challenges, which account for up to 53.8% of the problem. However, TOD.id remains in a developmental phase, with all features in the conceptual stage, making it unsuitable for immediate market launch. During this stage, this research aims to enhance the TOD.id mobile app by refining existing features and exploring potential new functionalities, which will be based by literature review and benchmarking against similar existing apps in Indonesia. The study employs a desk study method, a qualitative benchmark study method, and the collection of qualitative data. The outcomes of this research are expected to pave the way for the optimal realization of TOD.id in the Indonesian market, aligning with the projections from previous studies.

Evaluating the dynamic performance of TODs and determining the priority TODs in Hefei city

In recent decades, transit-oriented development strategies have been widely applied in different countries around the world, including China. There is a mutually promoting relationship between urban land use (activities) and traffic (accessibility) in TODs. However, some TODs cannot achieve this process, which is beneficial to their development. This research evaluated the relationship between accessibility and activities in TODs by applying the SBM model and the super-efficiency SBM model. Hefei City was the case study. The results can identify the TODs whose activities and accessibility cannot promote the development of each other and should be prioritized in future planning. There are two types of priority TODs from the analysis: “Undersupplied TODs” and “Underdeveloped TODs.” In addition, this method can sort TODs according to the efficiency with which it achieves the above relationship. Identifying priority TODs would be helpful for planners to find weak TODs in the TOD network quickly.

Transit-Oriented Development and Sustainable Cities: A Visual Analysis of the Literature Based on CiteSpace and VOSviewer

In the last three decades, relevant research has rapidly increased in tandem with the global popularity of TOD (transit-oriented development) initiatives. It is vital to thoroughly summarize this research and investigate its development trends for sustainable cities. The advent of bibliometrics has given rise to a new method of conducting systematic reviews. We wish to illustrate the evolution of the TOD field by applying scientometrics, with the aim of revealing trends in this field and establishing a scientific classification system. We employ visualization software such as VOSviewer and CiteSpace to conduct bibliometric analyses on TOD-related publications from the WOS database from 1994 to 2021. Potential TOD-related research hotspots and cutting-edge research trends are thoroughly examined. The results indicate that TOD research topics are diverse, with hot topics related to land use, built environment, travel behavior, etc. The regions studied in TOD research are mostly metropolitan areas. Based on a modest number of starting keywords, this strategy can be used to build a more relevant and deeper research network. Through expanding the research content and improving research methods, this paper can provide insights into identifying the evolution of TOD research in different locations of the world, as well as provide a reference for the application and implementation of TOD strategies.

Towards a knowledge-hub destination: analysis and recommendation for implementing TOD for Qatar national library metro station

During the past two decades, Qatar, a developing country, has invested heavily in infrastructure development to address several challenges caused by the rapid urbanization. Qatar has made a significant step toward its urban sustainability vision through the construction of the Doha Metro system. By adopting Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), Qatar is overcoming some urban challenges. TOD promotes compact, walkable, and mixed-use development around the transit nodes, which enhances the public realm through providing pedestrian-oriented and active spaces. Additionally, Qatar aims to transfer to a knowledge-based economy through developing an environment that will attract knowledge and creative human power. Qatar Foundation is taking the lead toward implementing a Knowledge-Based Urban Development (KBUD) through its flagship project: Education City (EC). This study aims therefore to evaluate the integration of TOD and KBUD strategies to leverage the potential of TOD in attracting knowledge and creative economy industries. The selected case study is Qatar National Library (QNL) metro station at the EC in Doha. The study examines the potential of QNL as a destination TOD to enhance the area's mission as a driver for a knowledge-based economy. The methodological approach is based on the analytical concepts obtained from the Integrated Modification Methodology as a sustainable urban design process. The study’s results revealed that void and function, followed by volume, are the weakest layers of the study area's Complex Adaptive System which require morphological modification to achieve sustainability and a knowledge-hub TOD. The study offers recommendations to assist planners and designers in making better decisions toward regenerating urban areas through a knowledge-hub TOD contributing to the spill out of knowledge and creativity into the public realm creating a human-centric vibrant public space adjacent to metro stations.

Transit-oriented development strategy in Taiwan: An application of land value capture

Transit-oriented development (TOD) has been widely used in many countries to create more sustainable cities. In 1983, the “Taipei City Self-Ordinance for Land Use Zoning Regulation” was introduced to implement a TOD-equivalent design concept even though the term “TOD” was not yet used worldwide. The regulation specifically allowed any new development within a 500 m radius catchment area of a main public transport station which followed Taipei City's urban planning strategies to have a floor area ratio (FAR) reward up to 30% more than the original FAR (Rule No. 80-4). To strategically plan for TOD, Taipei City has developed a comprehensive TOD strategy with four development aspects, ten development strategies and 32 planning principles. The motivation for private developers to follow Taipei City's TOD strategy is the TOD FAR reward. Value capture, an important funding mechanism for public transport infrastructure, has been implemented in Taipei City's TOD strategy to provide a sustainable public transport system. In order to investigate the impacts of TOD strategy in the form of property value uplift at micro and macro levels, trend analysis and difference in differences modelling are constructed. Model results confirm a significant property value uplift at the micro-level. This review has two strong policy uses. First, it can be a starting point to help cities without a TOD strategy to develop a plan. Second, it can help cities, particularly high population density cities, with an existing TOD plan to review their own TOD plan.

Beyond Traditional TOD: Integrating Multiuse Paths and Bike Share into Public Transit to Address the First/Last Mile Issue

Transit-oriented development (TOD) has been promoted worldwide as an integrated land-use and transportation strategy to foster urban sustainability. Bike share provides people with a convenient and relatively affordable way to enlarge the spatial scale of TODs across urban communities, as a solution to the first/last mile (FLM) issue with respect to the transit nodes of TODs. Even though barriers to FLM have been frequently studied, few studies incorporate people’s perceptions of their barriers and/or the integration of multiuse paths (MUPs) into the network of bike share and public transit. Using a survey conducted in the Greater Cincinnati area, Ohio, this study aimed to answer the following questions: (1) What are people's major barriers to integrating different green transportation modes and/or facilities (bike share, MUPs, public transit)? (2) To what extent does the built environment around people’s residential location affect their integration level of MUPs, bike share, and public transit? (3) Which improvements would most likely encourage people to integrate them more often? With descriptive statistics, spatial analysis, and statistical comparison, we found that (1) the major barrier to integrating MUPs into the green transportation system was their lack of connection and availability to transit and bike share; (2) a person’s living environment is spatially related to whether a person integrates bike share; and (3) more respondents would use MUPs more often if an integrated green transportation system could be provided or improved. These findings suggest the potential of incorporating MUPs and bike share into TOD strategies to address the FLM issue.

Public-Private Partnerships for Transit-Oriented Development: a case study on the potential of Hobart, Australia

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has been popular for urban development, especially for cities with transport network expansion. While TOD has been proved effective in facilitating mass transportation and making optimal use of property development, it is hardly a one-stop development strategy for solving issues such as traffic congestion. In this study, the city of Hobart is investigated with reference to the TOD metrics and experiences of public-private partnership (PPP). Hobart authorities have attempted to provide better living and working conditions while facing the problems of economic development and traffic congestion. The TOD metrics are proposed for application at different stages: (1) Travel Behaviour, (2) The Local Economy, (3) The Natural Environment, (4) The Built Environment, (5) The Social Environment, and (6) The Policy Context. Based on a literature review, a set of PPP metrics is proposed for the Hobart’s potential TOD framework. Drawn from on-site observations, key transport issues of Hobart are examined with the application of the PPP and TOD metrics. The results of this study could serve as a reference for regional cities in formulating their TOD strategies via PPP.

Where Are Potential Areas for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)—Exploring the Demands for Built Environment for TOD Planning

Sustainable urban growth advocates the implementation of transit-oriented development (TOD) to optimize urban spatial structure. The bilateral planning concept of TOD emphasizes the importance of discovering areas with existing TOD features but poor public transit service (potential TOD areas) and further introducing transit connectivity or conducting TOD policy in such areas to facilitate sustainable transportation. However, current studies that are devoted to discovering potential TOD areas remain scarce. In this study, we find that random forest (RF) is an optimal algorithm that can effectively identify potential TOD regions in Hong Kong. We propose an RF-mediated machine learning model (RF-TPI model) and reveal underlying mechanisms of specific indicators. After iteratively learning the typical features of TOD areas in Hong Kong, the developed RF-TPI model shows great capacity to identify potential TOD areas, with satisfactory model performances (accuracy score: 0.89, precision score: 0.81). Further investigation on manifestations of indicators by the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) interpreter demonstrates the intricate, significant nonlinear and threshold effects of distinct indicators. Conclusively, we highlight that random forest would be a prospective tool for identifying potential TOD areas to aid TOD strategy in urban sustainable endeavors.

Characterizing metro stations via urban function: Thematic evidence from transit-oriented development (TOD) in Hong Kong

The strategies using transit-oriented development (TOD) to optimize transportation sustainability have been implemented in many metropolitan areas and extended beyond the role of exclusively offering transit services. Research findings from existing literature have largely shown that metro station catchment areas can attract a substantial number of urban functions and human activities that lead metro stations to be vital and vibrant places of urban daily life. In this work, we propose a data-driven semantic framework to characterize metro stations through points of interest (POIs) in Hong Kong. The analytical results reveal four thematic topics of urban functions that are closely related to commercial, residential, tourism, and industrial activities. Given the implementation of a hierarchical clustering approach on these thematic topics, the similarities among different stations are investigated. In particular, metro stations in the same thematic group tend to be spatially concentrated, suggesting an evident geographical proximity relating to similar urban functions. Plus, results from the Multinomial Logit Model (MNLM) confirm that the surrounding built environment of metro stations has close relationships with the heterogeneity of urban functions. Ultimately, this study introduces alternative insights into the urban functional heterogeneity exhibited by metro station areas, and the practical implications for more targeted TOD strategies are discussed.

Concept of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and Implementation: Case Study of Pune

India is one of the developing nation and fastest growing economy in the world. India is facing rapid rapid population growth and it rank second in case of population. there is urbanisation going on so people are traveling to city for better life style, result in in stress on basic amenities, life style , employment ,housing and some other basic needs .Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is gaining popularity as a tool to achieve sustainable development in india . Transit oriented Development presents unique opportunities for indian city indian cities cities to meet challenges of the urbanization, inequity, quality of urban realm and climate change. Transit Oriented Development ( TOD ) include mix land use , transportation , street design, employment, green space etc. Transit Oriented Development being scientific and integrated development process between transport planinng and land use can be effective tool for attaining sustainable urbanisation . The objectives of this study are to assess TOD plans and proposals in select Indian cities to reveal their expected benefits (Pune). The TOD regulations in cities are being assessed in terms of transit benefits, land use mix, travel demand management measures and the provision of affordable housing . Based on the case of Pune, a planning framework would be developed to arrive at TOD strategies and measures for other Indian cities . This paper studies the concept of TOD and its advantage, challenges and case study.

10 Questions to Ask About Planning, Financing and Implementing Transit Oriented Development Strategies

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) strategies can improve connectivity between housing and employment centers, green spaces, and community facilities by supporting both local environmental sustainability objectives, through more efficient use of land, and “complete” streets, by creating safer infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists, leading to potential modal shifts. Enabling conditions for TOD may include changes in land-use regulation and other statutory provisions to create an integrated regulatory framework. TOD requires robust stakeholder engagement and institutional coordination during planning and implementation. Financing mechanisms cities have used to fund TOD include Land Value Capture, a strategy based on expected increases in land values due to infrastructure investments. These mechanisms have been used to generate revenues such as Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and a wide range of taxes and fees. Cities should be aware of the potential negative impacts of TOD, such as displacement and gentrification. Effective and inclusive TOD strategies should be accompanied by land management strategies that mitigate these impacts, including having policies in place to ensure the preservation and expansion of affordable housing. There is typically a lag of at least 5 to 10 years before the economic and financial impacts of TOD investments are fully realized, thus requiring the need for patient capital, well-structured deals and financial instruments, and proper governance.

City Profile: Khon Kaen, Thailand

This city profile focuses on the patterns of growth, challenges and urban renewal in Khon Kaen Metropolitan Municipality located in Thailand’s north-eastern region. It is presented in the global, Asia-Pacific regional and Southeast Asian context, where the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable urbanization are in a flux. After the Second World War, Khon Kaen emerged as a regional urban centre due to the Thai government’s anticommunist campaign and it being military base to US camps in the US-Vietnam War. As the city rapidly urbanized, it faced diverse challenges, ranging from an influx of rural migrants to environmental degradation. Today, Khon Kaen’s urban challenges are different. As the economy shifts from manufacturing to services, metropolitan government leaders and their constituents seek to transform Khon Kaen into a smart city with a transit-oriented development strategy. Climate change has also affected the city, causing devastating floods and prolonged droughts. Residents in squatter settlements are highly vulnerable to these climate-induced disasters and are under constant threat of eviction. Informed by the development trajectory outlined above, this city profile starts by laying out the global, Asia-Pacific regional and Southeast Asian context, and then discusses Khon Kaen’s rise to prominence as a regional economic and logistic hub in Thailand’s north-eastern region. The city’s current conditions, such as its geographical, historical, economic, social, environmental and administrative and governance contexts, are considered. Then, contemporary challenges of sustainable urban development are explained. This city profile culminates in a discussion of future development strategies for Khon Kaen as a bellwether secondary city in Thailand.

Land use and public transport integration in small cities and towns: Assessment methodology and application

It is widely accepted that land use and public transport planning should be harmonised in order to provide a viable alternative to car transport. Following the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) concept, many studies and plans aim to concentrate urban development in areas accessible by high-quality public transport. Encouraged by studies asserting the positive relation between urban density and public transport use, scholars and practitioners focused their attention on tools and strategies that increase urban density, thereby overlooking geographical contexts where these strategies cannot be applied. TOD might however be also a valuable strategy in low-density contexts, like lower density parts of metropolitan areas, or suburban areas and small towns. It seems therefore relevant and interesting to develop a methodology to explore the value of TOD strategies in such contexts. Our paper fills this analytical and application gap and proposes to extend the conceptualization and implementation of land use and public transport integration to areas where low-density urban development has already occurred (e.g., low-density suburbs, or areas where the protection of natural and cultural heritage precedes urban development). In such cases, where is not possible to increase urban density around transport nodes, the quality of the transport network plays a decisive role.The approach builds on the Node-Place Model by including evaluations of the quality of feeder networks. We applied the methodology to a case study in the Campania Region in southern Italy, indicating a possible way to evaluate land use and public transport integration while considering, at the same time, the quality of transport as network.The application of the methodology allowed to highlight imbalances between accessibility – by main and feeder transport – and land use intensity, and to sketch urban development strategies and priorities of intervention on the transport network.

The accessibility assessment and the regional range of transit-oriented development: An application of schedule accessibility measures in the Nord Pas-de-Calais region

Transit-oriented development (TOD) arouses a great deal of interest as the interaction between transport and land use becomes a key topic in regional and urban planning. Even though accessibility is a key driving factor, it is barely assessed with accuracy. In Europe, the scope of TOD effects is large. It strongly influences the development of regional transport. Regarding that, this research brings forward a method that is based on multiscale accessibility measures to evaluate TOD strategy in a metropolitan European region. Hence, it proposes a multiscale accessibility method. On one hand, it introduces the pedestrian accessibility indicators at the local scale. On the other hand, it tackles the schedule accessibility measures in a constraints-based approach at the regional scale. This method is implemented in assessing the potential of TOD strategy in Nord Pas-de-Calais (France). For that, two TOD scenarios are presented. The first one tackles the main metropolitan center but does not include downtown. The second one deals with a second-order peripheral pole. These scenarios present difficulties in gathering both an effective local TOD and a sustainable development policy at the regional scale. However, a TOD center can enhance the intermediate scale urban centrality when using intermediate schedule accessibility measures (for coaches and buses). Furthermore, the indicators about the rail transit system highlight an uncertainty in the regional effects, which can only be solved by applying a major and expensive policy. The final remarks pave the way for further research regarding a full-fledged regional TOD strategy that includes a well-ordered dissemination of TOD centers.

Perspective on an urban transportation strategy with BRT for developing cities

A Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is one of the best strategies for urban transportation, especially in developing cities, mainly because of its cost-efficiency. Starting from Curitiba, Brazil in 1974, including Bogota, Colombia in 1999, many cities in Latin American Countries have implemented a BRT system. In almost all cases, BRT systems are working as a reliable high capacity service. In some cases, BRT systems are well coordinated with an urban transportation strategy framework and/or an urban planning strategy framework, integrating other transportation modes and land uses. Alternatively, there have been very few cases of BRT systems in Southeast Asian countries. Many cities considering implementation of BRT systems do not consider other urban transportation strategies such as Transit Oriented Development (TOD). The objective of the paper is to discuss the perspective of a BRT for developing cities. First, the paper reviews the history of BRT systems followed by a field survey of the results in Curitiba, mainly from an urban transportation and planning strategy point of view. Second, multimodal and inter-modal aspects are discussed, where the relationship with city buses, a balance between private car use and parking policies are emphasized. Third a framework of urban bus planning, management and operation is discussed considering the roles of public and private sectors based on the experiences of several developed cities. Finally, in terms of an urban planning strategy, reviewing the original and applied concepts of TOD, the authors discuss how a TOD strategy could work with BRT systems. The authors address the possibilities and limitations of BRT systems, especially in developing cities. More specific implications are presented in the case of medium sized cities of Southeast Asian countries.

An analysis of the relationship between pedestrian traffic volumes and built environment around metro stations in Seoul

The success of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) significantly depends on the capacity of pedestrians to navigate and access the range of land uses in close proximity to transit stations. In this context, creating pedestrian-friendly environments around transit stations is considered to be the core of TOD strategies. The concept of a “station catchment area” was employed extensively in the early stage of developing TOD strategies to designate target areas where urban design strategies or regulations for TOD can be implemented. This study primarily aims to expand our knowledge about factors in the built environment that affect walking trips around metro station catchment areas. The study focuses on analyzing the associations between pedestrian traffic volume in the streets and characteristics of built environments, particularly at the street and the neighborhood levels around metro stations based on the street’s proximity to the closest metro station. The findings indicate that the relationships between walking and built environment vary according to the proximity to the metro station. In particular, there was considerable differences in the relationship between pedestrian traffic volume and the built environment factors at the distance of 400m from the station. Pedestrians near metro stations tend to prefer walking on wider streets, whereas narrower streets were preferred in areas further from the metro station. Finally, street connectivity and mixed land use were the most consistent predictors of pedestrian traffic volume.

How to Increase Rail Ridership in Maryland: Direct Ridership Models for Policy Guidance

AbstractThe State of Maryland aims to double its transit ridership by the end of 2020. The Maryland Statewide Transportation Model (MSTM) has been used to analyze different policy options at a system-wide level. Direct ridership models (DRMs) estimate ridership as a function of station environment and transit service features rather than using mode-choice results from large-scale traditional models. They have been particularly favored for estimating the benefits of smart growth policies such as transit-oriented development (TOD) on transit ridership and can be used as complements to the traditional four-step models for analyzing smart-growth scenarios at a local level. They can also provide valuable information that a system-level analysis cannot provide. For example, DRMs can provide ridership estimate when densifying either households or employment at certain stations to test the effectiveness of TOD strategies at target stations. In this study, the authors developed DRMs of rail transit stations, namel...

Shifting the Tide: Transit-Oriented Development and Active Transportation Planning in Los Angeles

Los Angeles (LA) has the reputation of an auto dependent city. Although the region is served by a robust public transportation system, the majority of the population commutes by automobile and has developed in sprawling manner leading to poor air quality, traffic congestion and unsafe streets. Despite this, in recent years, the LA region has made significant headway in reversing sprawl and automobile use. This has included encouraging greater land use densities around transit stations, coupled with investments to active transportation systems. This article presents an overview of the historical context of automobile dependency in Los Angeles, the current transit-oriented development strategies underway, and the planning and implementation of Complete Street strategies. It uses this narrative to illustrate how the city is using these strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of climate change.