Accessibility and Transit-Oriented Development in European metropolitan areas

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2015.07.003Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The relationship between TOD degree and cumulative rail accessibility in cities.

  • A comparison of connectivity, densities and accessibility in six study cases.

  • Cumulative rail accessibility is higher in cities with a higher TOD degree.

  • A methodology for TOD and accessibility planning.

Abstract

This study investigates how urban form is related to accessibility. In particular, it explores the relationship between Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and rail-based accessibility in a metropolitan area. The following overarching questions are addressed: Does a TOD-informed urban spatial structure correlate with high rail based accessibility? Which features of TOD are correlated to rail-based accessibility? These questions are answered through a comparative analysis of six metropolitan areas in Europe. The “TOD degree”, operationalized as the extent to which urban development is concentrated along rail corridors and stations, is correlated with a cumulative opportunity measure of rail-based accessibility to jobs and inhabitants.

The comparison demonstrates that rail-based accessibility is higher in urban areas where inhabitants and jobs are more concentrated around the railway network and in lesser measure in urban areas with higher values of network connectivity. No correlation is found between rail-based accessibility and average densities of inhabitants and jobs.

Introduction

The urban and transport planning strategy of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has been generating considerable interest in academic and professional circles recently (Bertolini et al., 2012, Cervero, 2004, Curtis et al., 2009). TOD’s approach of concentrating urban developments around railway networks builds upon strategies applied since the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and Europe, when the construction of streetcar and metro lines was integrated with urban developments. After the Second World War planners in parts of Europe, most notably in Stockholm (Cervero, 1995) and Copenhagen (Knowles, 2012), were able to channel suburban development into satellite suburbs along transit corridors. In recent years a third generation of TOD approaches has emerged. In the United States, since the 1990s, following experiences pioneered in the 1970s in cities such as Portland, TOD has become the dominant urban growth planning paradigm. It is focused on combating unbridled urban sprawl and closely connected with Smart Growth (SG) and New Urbanism (NU) approaches (Dittmar and Ohland, 2004). Also in Europe many metropolitan areas (Bertolini et al., 2012, Givoni and Banister, 2010) are promoting urban development along rail corridors as a tool and, at the same time, a target for achieving more cohesive territories and sustainable urban development.

Under favourable conditions, TOD is seen as delivering multiple benefits, such as helping shape polycentric cities and regions, mitigate urban sprawl, boost public transport ridership, increase biking and walking, while accommodating economic growth and creating attractive places. Indeed, there is a substantial body of literature on the comprehensive assessment of TOD strategies (Arrington and Cervero, 2008, Renne, 2007); and on specific TOD impacts, such as on property values (Bowes and Ihlanfeldt, 2001, Duncan, 2011, Mathur and Ferrell, 2013) or on relocation of jobs and dwellings (Cervero and Landis, 1997, Pagliara and Papa, 2011) but much of the interest is related to analysing TOD impacts on travel behaviour (Cervero et al., 2002). However, none of these studies give direct insight into the relationship between TOD and accessibility, that is, the degree to which the urban and transit network structures enable individuals to participate in activities and obtain spatially distributed resources (Geurs and van Wee, 2004, Handy, 1992, Handy and Niemeier, 1997). This can be seen as a worthwhile objective in itself and as an influencing factor of travel behaviour change.

In this paper, we aim to address this gap by studying how the degree of TOD of a metropolitan area is related to the rail-based accessibility to jobs and inhabitants. The following research questions are addressed: Does a TOD-informed urban spatial structure correlate with high rail-based accessibility? Which features of TOD are correlated to rail-based accessibility? The latter include such characteristics as density distribution of inhabitants and jobs, and network connectivity. By exploring these issues, we aim to provide empirical insights into the understudied relationship between TOD (a transport and urban development strategy embraced by increasing numbers of cities and regions across the world) and accessibility (a key policy aim and feature of the urban system). In so doing, we also provide a comparison of TOD degree and accessibility values in six different metropolitan contexts.

Our interpretation of TOD is different from other, more localized approaches (Bernick and Cervero, 1997, Cervero et al., 2002); for us, TOD is the measure in which the whole urban area, not just a single neighbourhood, is oriented towards transit. Accordingly, we define the “TOD degree” as the degree of correlation between the railway network connectivity and the distribution of densities in the whole urban area, and “accessibility” as the number of jobs and inhabitants that can be reached by rail as a percentage of the total jobs and inhabitants in the study area. While recognising that accessibility is affected by a much wider range of factors, including subjective ones, in this study rail-based accessibility is measured as an aggregate objective indicator, and it is defined as a condition for rail use and as an enabler (or disabler) of travel choices and behaviours.

This research employs several innovative approaches. The first is the use of accessibility in analysing the TOD degree of an urban area. As previously stated, while there are multiple empirical studies on the linkages between TOD and travel behaviour, its relationships with accessibility have attracted much less attention. By definition, accessibility by rail is dependent on the spatial distribution of jobs and residents with regards to the vicinity to rail stations. However, the two measures are still conceptually distinct (the former is a condition, or quality from a system user’s point of view, the second a characteristic of urban form). Accordingly, this paper innovatively contributes (1) a transparent link between the two and (2) a systematic way of assessing to what extent and because of which transport and land use features, the spatial distribution of jobs and population matches the rail network. In this sense, we offer novel, or at least more structured, insights into how certain distribution of inhabitants and job densities and rail transport characteristics, and their interrelationships, are related to rail-based accessibility. While general TOD characteristics and benefits of TOD are extensively addressed in the literature, this research focuses on the yet understudied relationship between TOD and accessibility. Furthermore, the existing literature rarely employs accessibility metrics to compare metropolitan areas, and most empirical research measuring accessibility focuses on case studies of single regions (Benenson et al., 2011, Cheng et al., 2007, Cheng et al., 2013; for a recent exception comparing two cities see Silva et al., 2014). In this study, we instead make a systematic comparison of accessibility measures in six different urban areas, which is seen as a valuable procedure for understanding the determinants of accessibility (Levine et al., 2012). A final innovation is the focus on Europe. TOD empirical studies focus overwhelmingly on the North American context, and few studies (Keller et al., 2011, Knowles, 2012, Singh et al., 2014) propose quantitative analysis of TOD urban structures in the European context, where the urbanisation patterns and histories differ radically from those in the US.

The paper is organised in five sections. Following this introduction, in Section 2 we position our research within the relevant literature on the relationships between TOD degree of the urban structure, accessibility and travel behaviour. In Section 3, we present the research design, subsequently turning to the presentation and discussion of the results in Section 4. On the basis of the analysis provided, we formulate several conclusions in Section 5.

Section snippets

Literature review: TOD degree of the urban structure, travel behaviour and accessibility

The interaction between the TOD degree of the urban structure, accessibility and travel behaviour has attracted considerable attention in the scientific literature worldwide. Four main groups of studies can be identified (see Fig. 1) and categorized according to the main relationships studied:

  • 1.

    interrelation between rail transport network and land use, and the resulting TOD degree of the urban structure,

  • 2.

    TOD degree of the urban structure as a factor affecting travel behaviour,

  • 3.

    impacts of

Research design

The research methodology was set up to provide insights into the relationships between TOD degree of the urban structure and citywide accessibility. It is based on comparison of the urban structure and accessibility qualities of six European metropolitan areas and entailed the following steps:

  • Design of a methodology for data-based inspection of the relationships between TOD degree of the urban structure and accessibility: grid-based data from each case is organised in a systematic spatial

Outputs of study cases cross-sectional comparison

The cross-sectional analysis was completed in two steps. First, the two variables for the different case studies were calculated and analysed independently. The second step focused on the correlations between the two.

Conclusions

Transit-Oriented Development is one the most commonly used development strategies for metropolitan areas. Furthermore, accessibility is increasingly being used by transportation and urban planners as a tool for identifying and assessing integrated urban and transport development solutions. However, accessibility metrics, while increasingly important in transportation and urban planning practice and research, are rarely used to compare and assess metropolitan areas, especially TOD urban

References (79)

  • K.T. Geurs et al.

    Accessibility evaluation of land-use and transport strategies: review and research directions

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2004)
  • Md. Kamruzzaman et al.

    Advance transit oriented development typology: case study in Brisbane, Australia

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2014)
  • R.D. Knowles

    Transit oriented development in Copenhagen, Denmark: from the Finger Plan to Orestad

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2012)
  • M.-P. Kwan et al.

    Scale and accessibility: implications for the analysis of land use-travel interaction

    Appl. Geogr.

    (2008)
  • S. Mathur et al.

    Measuring the impact of sub-urban transit-oriented developments on single-family home values

    Transport. Res. Part A – Policy Practice

    (2013)
  • A. Paez et al.

    Measuring accessibility: positive and normative implementations of various accessibility indicators

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2012)
  • F. Pagliara et al.

    Urban rail systems investments: an analysis of the impacts on property values and residents’ location

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2011)
  • K.A. Ratner et al.

    The reshaping of land use and urban form in Denver through transit-oriented development

    Cities

    (2013)
  • D.E. Reusser et al.

    Classifying railway stations for sustainable transitions – balancing node and place functions

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2008)
  • T. Schwanen et al.

    Travel behaviour in Dutch monocentric and policentric urban systems

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2001)
  • Y.J. Singh et al.

    Measuring transit oriented development: a spatial multi criteria assessment approach for the City Region Arnhem and Nijmegen

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2014)
  • D.S. Vale

    Transit-oriented development, integration of land use and transport, and pedestrian accessibility: combining node-place model with pedestrian shed ratio to evaluate and classify station areas in Lisbon

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2015)
  • B. van Wee

    Evaluating the impact of land use on travel behaviour: the environment versus accessibility

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2011)
  • S. Zemp et al.

    Classifying railway stations for strategic transport and land use planning: context matters!

    J. Transport Geogr.

    (2011)
  • S. Zemp et al.

    Generic functions of railway stations—a conceptual basis for the development of common system understanding and assessment criteria

    Transport Policy

    (2011)
  • A. Anas et al.

    Urban spatial structure

    J. Econ. Literature

    (1998)
  • Arrington, G., Cervero, R., 2008. Effects of TOD on housing, parking, and travel. Report 128. Transit Cooperative...
  • I. Benenson et al.

    Public transport versus private car GIS-based estimation of accessibility applied to the Tel Aviv metropolitan area

    Ann. Reg. Sci.

    (2011)
  • M. Bernick et al.

    Transit Villages in the 21st Century

    (1997)
  • L. Bertolini

    Spatial development patterns and public transport: the application of an analytical model in the Netherlands

    Plann. Practice Res.

    (1999)
  • L. Bertolini et al.

    Station area projects in Europe and beyond: towards transit oriented development?

    Built Environ.

    (2012)
  • M.G. Boarnet

    A broader context for land use and travel behavior, and a research agenda

    J. Am. Plann. Assoc.

    (2011)
  • Cervero, R., 2004. Transit-oriented development in the United States: experiences, challenges, and prospects. Report...
  • Cervero, R., Ferrell, C., Murphy, S., 2002. Transit-oriented development and joint development in the United States: a...
  • D.G. Chatman

    Does TOD need the T? On the importance of factors other than rail access

    J. Am. Plann. Assoc.

    (2013)
  • J. Cheng et al.

    Measuring sustainable accessibility

    Transport. Res. Rec.: J. Transport. Res. Board

    (2007)
  • P. Chorus et al.

    An application of the node place model to explore the spatial development dynamics of station areas in Tokyo

    J. Transport Land Use

    (2011)
  • C. Curtis et al.

    The relevance of traditional town planning concepts for travel minimization

    Plann., Practice Res.

    (2010)
  • C. Curtis et al.

    Transit Oriented Development: Making it Happen

    (2009)
  • Cited by (189)

    • Factoring in temporal variations of public transit-based healthcare accessibility and equity

      2024, International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text