Transit-Oriented Asia

Dr. Ming Zhang of the University of Texas at Austin says that Asian cities, despite their density, have a lot to learn from Western transit-oriented development practices.

1 minute read

August 26, 2009, 1:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Zhang lists 5 lessons Asian cities could learn from TODs in the West:

"I concluded that TOD should be further promoted in Asian cities, for two reasons. First, car ownership and car uses, although still low relative to the US, are on the rise. The newly developed areas in many fast-growing Asian cities are becoming increasingly car-oriented and hostile to pedestrians and cyclists. Second, major cities throughout Asia have seen booming development of rapid transit systems. Yet, not all of them have done well integrating the transit with surrounding functions. Many stations and their nearby land uses situate adjacent to each other without synergetic connections, leaving much of the high-density dysfunctional. TOD provides a useful framework to address the issues."

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