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

Abstract

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.

The equity implications of TOD in Curitiba

“…Provision of public transport, walkable infrastructure and proximity between residential and commercial use are factors that can lead to reduced car use and higher levels of transit accessibility to opportunities (Boschmann & Brady 2013;Taki et al, 2017;Dai, 2014;Perk & Catalá, 2009). Because of these benefits, several studies argue that TOD strategies can foster more inclusive cities and equitable transit systems with lower car dependency and greater access to opportunities for all communities (Calthorpe, 1994;Chava et al, 2018;Jamme et al, 2019;Appleyard et al, 2019;Lyu et al, 2020). On the other hand, assessments about the implications of TOD often relate its implementation to increased land prices along the corridors and segregation of social classes, (Padeiro et al, 2019;Chava et al, 2018), exclusion and peripheralization of the low-income population (Saunders & Smith, 2014;Jamme et al, 2019).…”

“…Traditionally, the discussions around TOD often focus on access to transit as a way to increase transit ridership, tackle traffic congestion, and create socially cohesive urban neighborhoods (Deboosere et al 2018). More recently, though, there has been a growing interest in how TOD can promote access to opportunities (Papa & Bertolini, 2015;Renne et al 2016;Lyu et al, 2020) and on what social equity implications it could have (Venter et al 2018;Jamme et al, 2019)…”

The Possibility of Reorganising Transit-oriented Development

“…In that context, many researchers have discussed effective policy structures and methodologies to create urban form compactness (Bibri, 2020;Bibri, Krogstie, et al, 2020;Korthals Altes and Tambach, 2008), as well as the compact model's contribution to sustainability (Iizuka, Xuan et al, 2020;Wang, Liu, et al, 2021) and compact city theories' effect on urban expansion in areas with population growth (Xu, Zhou et al, 2020). In addition, studies clarifying the possibility of proactive land use within a station's immediate sphere and accessibility to a station in line with walkability have been conducted (Lyu, Bertolini, et al, 2020;Wenner and Thierstein, 2021). These are critical perspectives when questioning the pros and cons of compact city policies and TOD theory.…”

Subway expansion, job accessibility improvements, and home value appreciation in four global cities: Considering both local and network effects

“…We investigate whether the employment of transportation accessibility measures within the analysis yields more comprehensive and robust results than the dummy alternative (Hypothesis 1). By measuring gains in accessibility to jobs, we adopt a continuous treatment variable that takes into account the fact that new subway stations can produce differential mobility improvements depending on their integration with the citywide transport system; the local land-use pattern; the area's location relative to city centers; the neighborhood's walkability (Lyu et al, 2020); plus other aspects that are further explored in the next section.…”