Assembling Transit Urban Design in the Global South: Urban Morphology in Relation to Forms of Urbanity and Informality in the Public Space Surrounding Transit Stations

Abstract

The imperative to address the challenge of transforming car-dependent cities and promoting sustainable mobilities requires that we engage with the relationships between urban morphology and forms of urbanity in public spaces surrounding transit nodes. While there has been a surge of interest in investigating the agency of urban planning and design in mitigating urban sprawl and its environmental impacts by creating mixed-use, dense, and walkable places, the extent to which the public space can enable streetlife intensity in proximity to transit remains underexplored. Through extensive urban mapping and comparison of two transit nodes in Tehran, this paper articulates the key morphological elements of building density, functional mix, and access networks, how they work in relation to forms of urbanity and informality in public space around stations, and what inferences can be made on how public space within station areas work in the context of rapidly urbanising cities compared to those in Western contexts. The nexus between functional mix, retail edges, and forms of urbanity has been found critical to the spatial configuration, performance, and transformation of transit station areas. Forms of informality have also been found integral to how public space works in the context of transit urban design. This paper contributes to the newfound accent on urban design dimensions concerning TODs in the context of less formal and more congested cities of the global South.

Learning and Teaching Urban Design through Design Studio Pedagogy: A Blended Studio on Transit Urbanism

“…This also relates to the growing policy interest associated with urban design issues, particularly in the context of the UK [44]. For instance, transit station areas can become walkable if traffic is calmed and transport policies support active modes of travel (e.g., walking, cycling and public transport) over private motorised forms of transportation [9,10]. This resonates well with Whitzman's [20] argument that it is critical for urban design education to engage with larger metropolitan, national and global strategic planning and governance challenges as localised interventions require supportive metropolitan policy and zoning to effectively contribute to progressive urban change.…”

“…Figure 1 illustrates the relations between the two urban design studios along with some of the key learning activities. Transit urban design was selected as the overarching topic of both design studios due to its significance as an approach to engage with the challenge of promoting sustainable mobilities and transforming car-dependent cities [9]. In addition to the same overarching topic, studio sites and urban design aspects outlined for the urban design studios remained the same in both studios to enable continuation throughout the process, avoid unnecessary repetitions of certain learning and teaching activities, support the incremental development of relevant skills, and ensure consistency across different tutorial sections.…”

“…The urban design studios primarily focused on one of the key strategic sites (namely "Cardiff Central Enterprise Zone and Regional Transport Hub") in the Local Development Plan, which was adopted by the Cardiff Council in 2016. The selection of transit urban design as the overarching topic of both design studios is guided by the following two premises: (1) transit urban design is a significant approach to address the critical challenges of promoting sustainable mobilities and transforming car-dependent cities [9][10][11]; (2) urban design education and studio pedagogy should prepare future urban designers to effectively engage with understanding and shaping places surrounding transit nodes and corridors. With a primary focus on the related learning and teaching experiences, this paper contributes a critical case study of designing and delivering blended urban design studios in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”