Skip to main content
Home
Open Streets Cape Town
  • About Us
    • Organisation
    • Manifesto
    • People
    • Partners
  • What We Do
    • Calendar
    • Open Streets Days
    • Low-Carbon Transport
    • Talking Streets
    • Street Minds
  • Join the Movement
    • Volunteer
    • Intern
    • Donate
  • News
    • Advocacy & Campaigns
    • Open Streets Days
    • Low-Carbon Transport
    • Talking Streets
    • General
  • Media
    • Open Streets in the News
    • Media Releases
  • Resources
    • Streets & Covid-19
    • General
    • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twiiter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

The future of city planning

Posted on: Tuesday 02 May 2017
Transit-oriented development (TOD) is gaining traction globally as the new paradigm for transport and development planning.
Photo from Curitiba, Brazil https://www.bikeauckland.org.nz

TOD's advocates regard it as a means to create more sustainable and efficient cities. It has also influenced the organisational restructuring of the City of Cape Town, including the creation of a new municipal authority that brings together transport, spatial, land-use and human settlements planning: the Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA).

TDA aims to use TOD to correct the imbalances caused by apartheid planning, and provide citizens with better access to economic and social opportunities. Indeed, it seems that TOD holds massive potential for changing South African cities. But there is little consensus around what it means for citizens and what it looks like. Here are five international examples.

Curitiba, Brazil

This city is the poster child for TOD and, like Cape Town, bus rapid transit (BRT) is the backbone. Curitiba has integrated zoning and transport planning to place high-density development alongside its BRT corridors. The system has directed the growth of the city along five transport corridors. According to Eltis, in the 1970s, about 7% of Curitibans commuted by public transport. In 2006, almost 75% used public transport to get to work. This is equal to 23 000 passengers per hour. Curibita now has a higher GDP and a lower unemployment rate than the Brazilian average, and 55m2 of green space per resident. (The World Health Organization recommends 16m2.)

Read more here

Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver’s Olympic Village (developed for the 2010 Winter Olympics) is a purpose-built TOD linked to downtown via the SkyTrain rapid transit system. After the games, the athlete accommodation became residential housing. According to the City of Vancouver’s website, it is a mixed-use community, with approximately 1 100 residential units, area parks, and a growing number of retail and service outlets.

Read more here

Amsterdam, Netherlands

GWL Terrain is a car-free residential eco-district developed on an old industrial site. The only parking spaces available are on the edge of the complex, which includes properties for both renting and buying. It is a dense district with several shared green spaces. Owners occupy half of the units, and the rest are social housing for rent.

Read more here

Freiburg, Germany

Vauban is a “sustainable model district” built on the site of a former French military base. The development’s layout breaks from the traditional grid. It favours “filtered permeability”, which discourages car use and encourages walking and cycling. It is also situated along a tramway to the city centre, with all homes within easy walking distance of a tram stop. As such, as of 2009, around 70% of households had chosen to live without a private car.

Read more here

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne’s population will grow to an estimated five million by 2030. As such, it is embracing TOD, concentrating development within designated activity centres close to transport nodes.

Read more here

 

Photo from Curitiba, Brazil: https://www.bikeauckland.org.nz

This content was made possible through the support of the WWF Nedbank Green Trust.

Related Event
Street Minds

Exploring what TOD means for the streets of Cape Town

Thursday, May 4, 2017 - 17:30

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is gaining traction internationally as the new paradigm for transport and development planning, which has the express objective of achieving more sustainable and equitable cities.
Read more

Tags:

General
Public Transport
Planning
Transport and Urban Development Authority
Urbanism
Transit Oriented Development
Low-Carbon Transport

Related campaign

Low Carbon Transport

Low-Carbon Transport

Creating a new mindset about movement in collaboration with the WWF Nedbank Green Trust
Read more...
Green Trust

Recent

TUMI Urban Mobility Conference

TUMI 2021 Urban Mobility Conference: Shaping the Future

Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 12:00

INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP: Hosted by Open Streets Cape Town

Learn more...

Twitter Feed

Tweets by OpenStreetsCT

Newsletter

Newsletter

Stay informed

Sign up to receive the latest news, event info and campaign details from Open Streets Cape Town.

Sign up

Donate

Donate

Support us

Want regular Open Streets Days in Cape Town?

Donate to the movement now via PayFast.

Contact

Say hello
Email us: info@openstreets.co.za

Connect

Follow us

Facebook YouTube Instagram

© Open Streets Cape Town

Website proudly built by


Kindly hosted by

amazee io