Accessibility and Transit-Oriented Development in European Metropolitan Areas (original) (raw)

Accessibility impacts of tod experiences in European metropolitan areas

2014

The study investigates how Transit Oriented Development-TOD structure affect accessibility in cities with the aim of establishing whether TOD patterns of urban expansion, in terms of network connectivity and inhabitants and job density, could be associated with measures of rail accessibility. In particular the paper addresses the following overarching questions: is TOD informed structure related to high accessibility by rail public transport? Which features of TOD structure affect accessibility? The paper provides a cross-comparative empirical analysis of six metropolitan areas in Europe, where the TOD degree is measured as the amount of urban development clustering along rail corridors and stations; this feature is then related to cumulative opportunity measures of accessibility to jobs and inhabitants. The research demonstrate that accessibility increases in cities that are developed around the rail network and with higher value of network connectivity, but no correlation is found between accessibility and mean density values. The research furthermore provide an application of the node-place model demonstrating its useful potential in accessibility planning processes.

Past, present and future of Transit-Oriented Development in three European capital city regions

The concept of Transit-Oriented Development—development near, and/or oriented to, mass transit facilities—has generated much interest in Europe over the last decade. Coined in the United States in the 1990s, the term " TOD " is frequently assumed to be a recent American import and a reaction to the consequences of mass motorization and sprawl. However, TOD is based on much older ideas of rail-based urban development that took place inmany European cities during the 19th and 20th centuries. Arguably, the modern reincarnation of TOD is more focused on urban aesthetics. Other tenets, such as accessibility, density, and mixed-use, have remained more or less unchanged. This article examines how planning policies in three European capital city-regions— Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Vienna—have been shaped by the ideas and principles underlying TOD.

How does transit-oriented development contribute to station area accessibility? A study in Beijing

International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 2019

Theoretically, transit-oriented development (TOD) can enhance accessibility by providing a relatively high level of transport connections and high-density, mixed-use, cycling-and pedestrian-friendly land use around transit stations. Empirically, there is a noted positive relationship between the transport component of TOD and accessibility, but the evidence is more mixed with respect to components other than transport (e.g., high urban density and diversity, or proximity of land uses to the transport node). In order to examine how the specific components of TOD are related to accessibility and the relative importance of each component to enhance accessibility, the paper develops a methodology to explore the relationship between each TOD component and accessibility, and applies it to Beijing, China. First, the paper assesses the accessibility of metro station areas in Beijing. Second, it studies how TOD components are related to accessibility at the one-hour travel time catchment level. The results highlight that, in the Beijing context, both a station area's location relative to the city center and the land use pattern (e.g., a relatively lower average residential density; a relatively higher average all-job density; a relatively lower average job density in the sector of retail, accommodation, and catering; a relatively higher average job density in the sector of education, health, and culture; and a relatively lower average degree of functional mixes) around all the stations within the targeted station's one-hour travel catchment are relatively more important to enhance the area's accessibility than improving the area's transit performance. This outcome provides insights for developing areaspecific and targeted strategies to enhance the accessibility of a given metro station area in Beijing.

Accessibility and spatial Development in Europe

2006

The European Union expects to contribute to reducing the socioeconomic disparities between its regions by the development of the trans-European transport networks (TEN). However, although the infrastructure networks are one of the most ambitious initiatives of the European Community, the TEN programme is not undisputed. In this paper work done by the authors for two projects of the ESPON 2006 Programme (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) is summarised in which the current European transport system was analysed from a spatial point of view and in which the impacts of transport infrastructure investments and other transport policies on socioeconomic activities and developments in Europe were forecast with special attention to the spatial and temporal distribution of impacts.

Characterising Transit Oriented Development in the Paris metropolitan region: what type of TOD are they?

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is a planning model that was introduced by Calthorpe (1993) in the United States. However, it has been applied in different international contexts: in high density urban environments (Asia) but also in medium density urban environments like in Australian cities (Perth, Brisbane) and in Canadian cities (Vancouver). The TOD concept is understudied in Europe. In this paper we analyse TOD-like projects using TOD criteria measurement -like the density of the built environment, the quality of public spaces, accessibility to public transport, the mix of landuses -to determine the kind of TODs they are. Those criteria have been selected according to the literature on the topic. For this analysis of TOD projects, we use geospatial data for the Paris metropolitan region. After the identification of typical Transit Oriented projects, the objective is to analyse recent TOD case studies (e.g., ZAC Pleyel project in St-Denis). The aim is to understand why some criteria are more challenging than others to implement in practice. The qualitative data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with urban stakeholders. The overall aim of the paper is to provide planning recommendations for best practices of TODs in a high density environment such as the Paris metropolitan region.

HOW CENTRAL IS THE RAIL STATION? Incorporating Rail Centrality with Development Potential

The study presented in this paper offers a methodology for the assessment of development potential around rail stations, by taking into account the importance of each rail station in the global rail network and the local urban fabric in the rail station’s vicinity. To achieve this goal this methodology incorporates intercity rail centrality along with local centrality measures relevant for non-motorized transport. The case study explored here is the Israeli railway passenger network spanning form the southern city of Beer Sheva up to the northern edge of the Haifa Metropolitan area. Following earlier efforts for a multi-modal transit analysis using space syntax (Gil, 2012; Law et al., 2012), this study aims to combine centrality regimes at different scales, therefore providing the capability to assess a place potential for development based on its multi-modal accessibility. Combining the values of different centrality regimes allows for identification of areas that have high centrality values at different geographical scales concurrently. This methodology highlights the locations of rail stations with good local accessibility ripe for development. Moreover, this process may also be used in the planning of new rail stations and in choosing their locations.

Rail Mega-Projects in the Realm of Inter- and Intra-City Accessibility: Evidence and Outlooks for Berlin

Built Environment, 2012

This article resumes and complements recent quantitative research on the impact of the Berlin railway system on the urban economy. Evidence suggests that access to intra-city rail lines has exhibited considerable impact on the value of urban land since at least as early as the late 19 th century. Since then, access to the intra-city rail network has remained a significant determinant of urban land value, although the marginal impact has decreased over time. In contrast, the post-unification realignment of Berlin's inter-city rail system has had, if any, only a weak impact on real estate markets. Micro-level simulations indicate that the new central station's connection to the urban railway network is likely to have more pronounced, although relatively localized impacts, raising the question on how to balance the cost for infrastructure among landlords and society.

The accessibility city. When transport infrastructure matters in urban spatial structure

2011

At the present time, most large cities in the world are polycentric and, at the same time, they are undergoing a process of employment and population decentralization. Gordon and Richardson (1996) argued that polycentricity is just an intermediate stage between monocentricity and a more unstructured, chaotic and amorphous location model, the dispersed city. Focusing their attention only on main centers,