TOD is the key to more efficient, sustainable, and equitable communities because it prioritizes the “3Cs”: compact, coordinated and connected. By following a TOD approach, decision makers and urban planners can strengthen their communities.
1. Quality Public Transit - Public transit is strongly linked to urban development. High quality, convenient transport depends on dense and connected neighborhoods. The goal of a transport system is to connect a high number of riders with the city in a comfortable, efficient, and affordable way.
2. Active Transport - The interests of pedestrians and cyclists should be at the heart of urban planning. Decision making should shift residents—particularly car users—to active transport. Many commuters already take two non-motorized trips on a daily basis by walking to and from transit hubs to their homes or cars. It is important to build on this and encourage non-motorized transport holistically.
3. Car Use Management - Car use and parking policies play an important role in creating a safe, human-oriented urban environment. Since the 1980s, cars have dominated Brazilian cities. Despite individual car trips accounting for 27.4 percent of all urban trips (or 36 percent in cities with over one million residents), car infrastructure is supported with four times the amount of investment that public transit receives.
4. Mixed-Use Neighborhoods with Efficient Buildings - A mixture of land uses enhances the local economy by densifying and diversifying the design of the community. Mixed-use neighborhoods favor short trips by foot or bike. Similarly, buildings should minimize how much energy and water they consume and require for building and maintenance.
5. Neighborhood Centers and Vibrant Ground Floors - A built environment with adequate public space promotes social interaction between residents. Sustainable urban communities must be sufficiently dense and contain a variety of uses that are complementary to residential life. Public spaces should be connected to the urban transport network and serve as vibrant, human-centered places of activity.
6. Public Spaces - The purpose of public space is not only to enhance public life and social interaction, but also to provide a safe environment for pedestrians and cyclists. Public space is the place of encounter, exchange, and circulation within a community. All individuals have the right to access public spaces, regardless of personal, social, or economic condition.
7. Community Participation and Collective Identity - Community participation is essential to building a vibrant, inclusive neighborhood that is safe and equitable. Stimulating community participation creates a more equitable, harmonious relationship between varying social groups living in the same area. Respecting the unique identity of local communities results in a higher share of residents engaging in civic, cultural, and economic activities, generating a sense of belonging and ownership of the city.
CHALLENGES OF BRINGING TOD TO BRAZILIAN CITIES
1. One of the challenges of implementing TOD comes from the governance side. Public policy often intends to develop affordable housing projects on unused land that have secure access to urban services
2. However, because management changes, it can be difficult to guarantee that projects will continue. Similarly, legal mechanisms are needed to ensure that TOD is kept a priority throughout urban planning processes.
3. In order to remedy this, decision makers and planners need to follow TOD guidelines to improve mobility and urban development at the individual street and neighborhood levels, as well as at the level of the city as a whole.
KNOWLEDGE GAPS FOR TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT
1. With an increase in their rate of urbanization, many low- to middle-income countries are feeling additional demand for services, amenities and infrastructure. To address this, several cities have followed unorganized development practices (like building bigger and faster), only to meet additional challenges down the road—displacement, uncontrolled migration, greater traffic, higher land prices, insufficient affordable housing and more.
2. TOD remains vulnerable to three reoccurring implementation challenges: coordinated planning, regulatory frameworks and project funding.
3. First, a lack of coordination between land and transportation planners has historically prevented an integrated planning approach to land, transportation and economic development. This disconnect has led to lost time, increased infrastructure costs, poor health and the loss of public space. For example, in Warsaw, Poland a demand for housing was not paired with the creation of a transportation network. The result was resident dependence on private vehicles and increased congestion on available road networks. To achieve TOD, participating agencies must set clear objectives for growth, ensuring project momentum through political transitions and between development departments while securing citizen support.
4. Second, an absence of supportive TOD policies in cities has prevented progress by creating isolated areas of development with little foresight for long-term growth. TOD projects require policies that permit high-density and mixed-use developments, often supported by form-based codes that respond quickly to changing economic patterns and space needs. Without local mechanisms in place for land redevelopment, TOD is restricted by national regulations and financial constraints.
5. Lastly, because TOD is a capital-intensive venture, initial funding for large-scale projects is difficult for many cities to secure. By creatively using and combining financing mechanisms, cities like São Paulo, Brazil are able to tap into value capture instruments that produce the highest returns for their communities. These models can also indicate which projects and technologies are the most advantageous, but local decision makers often aren’t familiar with the options available to them.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND TOD COMING TOGETHER IN BRAZIL
1. Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV – “My House My Life” in English)—Brazil’s affordable housing program—is transforming current patterns of urbanization in the country. MCMV has been responsible for a third of all low-income housing projects in Brazil in 2013 and is helping bridge the way we think about housing and TOD.
2. In addition to a roof over their heads, people need access to jobs and services in order to live well. MCMV is an opportunity for both. First of all, the program enables home ownership. Second, well-planned TOD can facilitate access to opportunities throughout the greater city. However, the challenge is ensuring that the land where these homes will be developed is located close to the city center and well-served by public transit. Making this happen requires dealing with numerous political and economic barriers.
3. In order to avoid real estate speculation. The land was donated by the Federal Government to the city and it is an area that is already well-endowed with public services, infrastructure, and access to transport. The vision is to make the neighborhood home to 1,300 low-income families, where they can maintain their social relationships and have access to services, jobs, education, and health resources throughout the city.
4. Five million homes have been abandoned throughout Mexico, but not because there is a shortage of housing. Entire neighborhoods have emptied out because residents could not continue to live isolated from the city. A decade of building at low cost on the periphery of Mexican cities has culminated in an exodus of hundreds of thousands of families who suffered from a lack of urban services, poor building maintenance, and poor access to transport. Now these deserted areas are isolated and insecure places
(source: thecityfix)
