The Metro Gold Line, which connects Los Angeles to Pasadena in California, passes through a transit-oriented residential complex, known as the Archstone Apartments, surrounding Del Mar station. Photo by LA Wad.

What is Transit-Oriented Development?

Transit is popular. People want to live near transit and companies want their employees and customers to commute by transit. It is almost always true that real estate costs more near a subway station. However, urban planners need to ensure that these market forces are allowed to manifest themselves and put more people, jobs and shops near transit.

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is the process of structuring zoning codes and other planning regulations to ensure that growth occurs around transit hubs. It can also refer to specific developments, rather than the general process.

The Rosslyn-Ballston Metro Corridor near Washington, D.C. is an example of concentrated urban development near metro stations. Photo by Transit Nerds.

Many jurisdictions have zoning requirements that promote low-density development: minimum lot sizes, low floor area ratio limits, height restrictions, or parking requirements. Under these zoning laws, even if both developers and consumers desired more growth around a new light rail line, for example, they couldn't legally build those types of developments. TOD, on the other hand, requires policies that would allow density around that light rail station.

Transit-oriented development is also strongly associated with mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly design. By putting both residential and commercial uses near the transit station, you create an environment where both residents and workers in the area can be largely car-free. This means that valuable transit-accessible space doesn’t have to be wasted on parking lots. Additionally, mixed-use TOD allows the area to be used throughout the week, at any time of day. However, TOD does not need to be mixed-use; many central business districts, for example, are transit-oriented but single-use.

History Lesson

A century ago, automobiles were barely part of the transportation system. People walked, used horse-drawn carts, or in industrialized countries, took streetcars. Housing and jobs clustered around avenues with streetcars, extending into the suburbs even as closer, but less transit-accessible, areas remained undeveloped. The dense neighborhoods of older industrial cities reflect the transit-oriented development that defined urban growth during that period.

Case Study: Boston, MA

Brighton, MA, 1910. Photo from Brighton-Allston Historical Society.

Boston, Massachusetts was known for its street-car based expansion around the turn of the 20th century. After the streetcar made it out to Brighton, a small, largely agricultural community of 6,000 residents grew in size to 47,000 in 35 years. Dorchester, another city absorbed by Boston, jumped from a rural community of 12,000 to an industrial powerhouse with 200,000 residents. Where the electric wires took the streetcar, growth followed almost instantly.

Transit-Oriented Development Today

Around the world, cities are rediscovering the power of mass transit to reshape neighborhoods. In Washington, D.C., the Green Line has revitalized neighborhoods still scarred by riots in 1968. Transit-accessibility brought residents and businesses to areas that badly needed them. Across the D.C. Metro system, land values are between 12 and 20% higher within 300 feet of a Metro station. D.C.’s investment in a rapid transit system combined with its willingness to allow intense growth immediately around Metro stations has been a major contributor to the area’s renaissance.

A wall of buildings aligned near rapid transit routes in Curitiba, Brazil. Photo by BuenosAiresPhotographer.com.

In Curitiba, Brazil, zoning has been aligned with the creation of bus rapid transit lines, ensuring TOD along the routes. The most intense land use, whether the buildings that house the most residents or the most jobs, are concentrated along bus rapid transit lines.