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Cover photo Transport Development Areas: Guide to good practice

Transport Development Areas

Transport Development Areas | UK-English
Transit Oriented Development | US-English
Knooppuntontwikkeling | Dutch

Founded on an understanding of the interrelationships between accessibility, location, design and intensity of land use, the Transport Development Areas concept developed in the United Kingdom is a cross-sectoral mechanism for delivering higher density development around public transport nodes. The approach unites land use planning and the development industry with transport planning and transport operators. Urban design, community involvement and active urban management are key components for a workable package.

RICS

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors or RICS has been developing the concept of the Transport Development Areas or TDA's with key stakeholders for a number of years now. In 2002 RICS published a guide to good practice that provides planning and transport practitioners with the tools needed to identify and implement TDA's. The guidance was sponsored and supported by thirteen government authorities, professional institutes and transport organisations. This sponsorship lent significant backing for implementing the ideas developed in the guidance.

Higher density, mixed-use development

TDA's can be developed in a wide range of circumstances, ranging from transport nodes in large conurbations to relatively small market towns. In essence, a TDA is a means of securing well designed, higher density, mixed-use development around good public transport nodes in towns and cities. It does not seek to lay down a rigid blueprint and can be applied in ways that suit the needs of a particular location. It does not require new legislation or changes in policy, but it does require the commitment of local authorities and other partners if the concept is to be carried forward successfully.

Integrated approach

The TDA approach is:

• Pro-choice/public transport
• Pro-sustainability
• Pro-environment
• Pro-urban renaissance
• Pro-development

TDA is an integrated land use planning approach to create a more specific relationship between development density around urban public transport interchanges and the level of public transport services provided. As an economic concept, TDA's are also a focus for more institutionalised arrangements whereby public transport operators receive additional funding based on the transfer, where appropriate, of part of the higher financial returns to development which might be achievable in such areas. TDA's, therefore, can deliver significant transport and development benefits by enabling financially more attractive (or at least less uncertain) development opportunities, and by offering the prospect of additional investment in public transport improvements. They also contribute to the sustainability objectives of the Transport White Papers by integrating land use and transport, reducing both the need to travel and reliance on private transport.