Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide

2020 STA Nominee Cities Feature Electrification, Pedestrian Design, and Low-Cost Interventions from Africa, Asia, and Americas

Woman on back of bicycle that man is riding in bicycle lane in Colombia
Montería, Colombia built 60 km of cycling infrastructure

For 16 years, the Sustainable Transport Award (STA) has showcased cities that demonstrate political courage by implementing innovative sustainable transport projects. This year is no different. The 15 nominated cities for the STA hail from Africa, Asia, South America, and North America and feature transportation interventions from electrified vehicles and widened walkways to new transportation lines. This year, as in others, demonstrates that size, both in city and project, is not the largest determining factor regarding impact. In fact, it is often the small, on-the-ground, and low-cost interventions such as sidewalk improvements, bus frequency, and or parking reform that make the biggest difference in people’s lives. With the political will for improvements, any city can make adjustments large and small that transform lives. This was evident in the nominees where cities of all sizes presented an impressive collection of innovations all with the same goal of improved sustainable transportation.

Large Indian bus on BRT route in Amritsar, India
Amritsar, India increased its BRT ridership to 76,000 people per day

Strategies honored by the STA improve mobility for all residents, reduce transportation, greenhouse and air pollution emissions, and improve safety and access for cyclists and pedestrians. Cities apply under five categories of interventions including Cycling & Walking, Public Transport, Sustainable Urban Development, Travel Demand Management, and newly added for 2020, Urban Freight. This year the most popular interventions were Cycling & Walking and Public Transport with 12 and 11 cities, respectively, engaging in interventions in those arenas. Six cities engaged in Sustainable Urban Development and only 3 cities engaged in Travel Demand Management. The 2019 winner, Fortaleza, Brazil, implemented a complete streets plan that massively improved road safety by prioritizing public transport, cycling, and walking. The winning city will be announced at the MOBILIZE summit in Fortaleza in June, and will host the MOBILIZE summit the following year.

While many of the Public Transportation interventions included creating new or expanding current BRT lines like in Peshawar, Pakistan or Richmond, USA. Some cities increased public transportation with other types of interventions like a new funicular in Bogotá, Colombia. Many cities saw ridership and participation in public transportation increase. Jakarta, Indonesia has doubled its BRT and bus ridership through better integration of systems and improved access to stations. Public transportation growth also came from electrifying vehicles already in use like buses and rickshaws in Amritsar, India; tricycles in Pasig City, Philippines, or motorcycles in Marrakech, Morocco.

  • Richmond, USA opened a new BRT line in June 2018
  • Kingston, Canada’s communications campaign focusing on young people increased ridership among that demographic

When it came to Cycling and Walking, Cali, Colombia; Cuenca, Ecuador; Montería, Colombia; and Pasig City, Philippines started or expanded public bike share programs while San José, Costa Rica expanded its cycling infrastructure. Many cities provided their pedestrians with enlarged sidewalks or footpaths like in Pune, India; Montería, and Providencia, Chile. Improved pedestrian environments are crucial to healthy and safe residents. Cities also focused on inclusivity. In Kingston, Canada, youth were targeted to engage in public transportation or in Montería, Pasig City, and Bogotá initiatives specifically targeted supporting low-income communities.

Bicycle riders with reflective vests in San Jose, Costa Rica
San José, Costa Rica built 15 km of cycling pathways

Many of the Sustainable Urban Development projects included transformations of waterways and historic districts into pedestrian friendly and mixed real estate neighborhoods like in Amritsar, India; Pune, Providencia, and Cali. Additionally, Kigali, Rwanda and Pasig City host regular car-free days. Parking policies in Pune and congestion pricing in Cali serve to alter their urban landscapes, promoting a high shift to public transport and active modes.

“We are thrilled with the list this year because it demonstrates how innovation can come from anywhere – it is not just the ‘usual suspects’ of progressive, predominately Northern European cities that are implementing policies to improve sustainable transport,” says STA committee member Aimée Gauthier, “The STA demonstrates that with enough political will, any city is fully capable of putting forth powerful solutions to enhance their urban environment.”

About the Sustainable Transport Award

The Sustainable Transport Award is an annual award chosen by the STA Committee given to any city that has implemented innovative sustainable transportation projects in the preceding year. The STA has been given every year since 2005 to cities worldwide that have implemented innovative, important, and forward thinking initiatives in transportation. Past winners have included cities of all sizes – from large metropolises to medium-sized cities from North America, Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. The winning STA city hosts ITDP’s  MOBILIZE summit the following year and like every year, the 2020 winner will be announced at MOBILIZE in Fortaleza, Brazil, the 2019 STA winner. The 2020 winner will be honored at a ceremony in Washington, DC this upcoming January.

See the full list of the nominated cities here.

Amid Traffic and Air Pollution, Congestion Pricing Gains Momentum in Mumbai

Congestion is an ongoing and well understood problem that plagues many cities India. Today in Mumbai there are more cars than before and due to increased traffic, buses are running slower than they did in previous years. Drops in bus ridership are easy to attribute to the decreased reliability due to increased traffic. While congestion pricing is seen as one solution to address traffic problems growing in Mumbai, very little had been done to move this regulation forward until recently when the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Agency (MMRDA), the agency responsible for urban planning in the Mumbai region, began to hold conversations with ITDP about the possibility of enacting congestion pricing. While congestion pricing studies could be performed in most Indian cities, having the metropolitan support through the MMRDA has made this study significant.

This conversation gained momentum when MMRDA and ITDP convened a stakeholder focus group meeting to understand various perspectives of congestion pricing. The discussion was attended by more than 50 representatives from various public organizations and civil society organizations, including the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, Mumbai Metro, Mumbai’s bus service Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), as well as officials of the toll collection contractor MEP Infrastructure Developers, technology giant Tata Consultancy Services, and a few non-profits. While many participants stressed the importance of providing strong public transport alternatives before implementing congestion pricing, all stakeholders agreed that Mumbai would need to implement various Travel Demand Management measures, with congestion pricing being one of them, to address this challenge.

Congestion pricing is seen as an important tool that will raise revenue that can be invested in other forms of transportation like buses and pedestrian paths. Currently, Mumbai is constructing a second metro corridor and hopes that the opening of this corridor can coincide with the unveiling of the congestion pricing. Ideally, through the right pricing and implementation, this regulation could significantly reduce the number of private vehicles on the roads. However, it is not clear how the pricing will be implemented – such as through zones like in London or based on peak travel times.

Discussions are held regarding congestion pricing

Along with congestion pricing, other solutions like a finite number of license plates or charging for street parking are being discussed. It is possible that two wheeled vehicles and some shared vehicles may be exempt, as many options and ideas are still being discussed.
The goal of this study is to create a toolkit that can be used to create a pricing structure and a plan for congestion pricing that can be used elsewhere. As other Indian cities seek solutions to growing traffic problems, these guidelines could present a universal set of standards.
Regardless of the methodology, the objective remains appropriately ambitious. Through political motivation, congestion pricing can both raise incredibly useful revenue and decrease the throngs of traffic plaguing Mumbai. With decreased traffic public transportation like buses will run faster and emission rates will decrease. The daily lives of Mumbaikars will improve.

Nominate Your City for the 2020 Sustainable Transport Awards

ITDP, together with an international committee of development and transport experts, invites you to nominate your city for the Sustainable Transport Award.  

Nominations accepted March 1st-31st, 2019 at staward.org.

Does your city deserve more recognition for new transport, street design, or policy improvements that increase mobility and improve quality of life for your residents? The Sustainable Transport Award is a unique, global recognition conferred by a committee of international experts in sustainable transport and development that supports the often-unrecognized progress happening on the ground.

Anyone with city contact info and details of projects can submit a nomination, which can take as little as a few minutes. If your city is selected for the second round, more details will be requested.

Since 2005, the Sustainable Transport Award has recognized courageous leadership and vision in sustainable transportation and urban livability. These strategies should improve mobility for all residents, reduce transportation greenhouse and air pollution emissions, and enhance safety and access for bicyclists and pedestrians. Nominations are welcome from any interested parties, but typically include government, civil society organizations, and academic institutions. Nominations must include verifiable project data and contact information for the city.

Cities of all sizes from all over the world have been recognized by the committee for best practices in sustainable transport. Past winners include:

2018 STA winner, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

  • Fortaleza, Brazil
  • Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • Santiago, Chile
  • Yichang, China
  • Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Paris, France
  • Mexico City, México
  • San Francisco, United States
  • Ahmedabad, India
  • Bogotá, Colombia

A complete list of winning cities with details on their win is available at staward.org.

The 2019 winner, Fortaleza, Brazil, was selected for its multi-year program of street transformation, including complete streets with more equitable division of road space among users, and reductions in emissions and road safety by prioritizing public transport, cycling, and walking. In 2018, they reached a total of 108 km of dedicated bus lanes, refurbished bus terminals, and fare integration. They complemented this with a massive 225 km of cycling infrastructure, integrated bike share with public transport, and cut road deaths by over a third in 3 years.

In June 2019, Fortaleza will host MOBILIZE, a transport summit held each year in the winning city. MOBILIZE brings together 200 international urban transport and development planners, practitioners, and officials, world-class researchers, and NGO representatives to share strategies, challenges, research and study the example of Dar es Salaam as an international best practice in sustainable transport. The winner of the 2019 STA is where the summit goes next year.

“The Sustainable Transport Award is about celebrating bold vision and momentous changes that improve quality of life for people in cities. In the nearly 15 year history of the award, the nominees have often included cities doing great work under the radar,” says Michael Kodransky, chair of the STA Committee, “There are so many inspiring changes happening on the ground in cities that aren’t known as having the usual transport best practices. The STA and MOBILIZE are great vehicles for recognizing political courage and showcasing the latest achievements. It’s also a great opportunity for those of us working in sustainable transport to learn from innovative approaches, which are shared with a global cohort of transport and development leaders at MOBILIZE”.

The 2020 winner will be announced at MOBILIZE Fortaleza on June 26, 2019. The winner and honorable mentions will be recognized at a ceremony and reception in Washington, DC during the Transport Research Board conference the following January.

China’s Metro Boom Continues to Drive Rapid Transit Growth

Xiamen’s first metro line | Source: Xinhuanet.com

Transit growth in Asia, particularly in China, has continued, and even accelerated in the past few years. This growth is not new, of course, Chinese cities have been adding transit rapidly over the past several decades. As of 2017, this shows no signs of slowing.

ITDP looked at bus rapid transit (BRT), light rail transit (LRT), and Metro growth in 373 urban areas around the world, and found that metro growth in Chinese cities is the largest single contributor to new kilometers of transit in the world. However, LRT development was more robust in Asia than any other continent for the first time in 2017, and BRT is growing strongly in Argentina. The 2017, there was a total of 897 km of rapid transit infrastructure built, with Metro accounting for 707 km (79%). LRT followed with 135 km built in 2017, a 2.4% increase over 2016. BRT accounts for the remaining 55 km, with the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina accounting for 50% of global BRT construction in 2017.

Construction of rapid transit infrastructure has increased tremendously since the beginning of the new millennium. The opening of BRT and metro rail systems has been at a faster pace, thus contributing more to the rapid transit growth for the past two decades. The LRT concept gained a wider recognition in the 1980’s before declining in the 1990’s, and then slowly growing in the last 15 years.

Comparing the rapid transit growth on yearly basis, there was an overall 18% decrease in the kilometers of infrastructure added in 2017 compared to 2016. This, however, still represents the 5th highest year of growth on record in the 37 years included in the dataset.

There are several conclusions that can be drawn from this. One is that China, a country dealing with worsening air pollution and traffic congestion, as well as increasing wealth, has embraced rapid transit as an urban mobility solution, and continues to show that commitment in their infrastructure investments. The Chinese government is putting a major effort into promoting a sustainable transportation system, and attempting to address climate change. This data highlights that how China has transformed its public transportation sector dramatically over the last few decades and continues to be on the top in terms of contributing to the global rapid transit growth.

To understand if transit growth is keeping pace with urban population growth, the Rapid Transit to Resident Ratio (RTR) was used as a metric to compare the length of the rapid transit lines (including LRT, BRT and Metro) with the country’s urban population (cities with population over 500,000). China’s RTR has risen steeply over the last 20 years, mainly due to massive continual investment in metro infrastructure. In 2017, 422 km of metro is from newly built and extended metro lines in just 12 cities in mainland China. Guangzhou, a city in Southern China, had the greatest metro growth, with 84 km added in 2017.

The RTR numbers indicate a sharp increase after the millennium, which points out that urban population is proportionally increasing with  rapid transit investment. But it should be noted that China is the one that has heavily invested on rapid transit infrastructures and with their urban population growth decreasing significantly it appears that the global increase in RTR could be mostly attributed to China.

Although Taiwan has only three rapid transit systems operating in four cities, it saw the highest RTR growth in 2017, due to the opening of the 51 km Metro in the city of Taoyuan.

Kaohsiun Tram, Taiwan | Source: www. urbanrail.net

Since 2009, Asian countries have contributed the highest to the global rapid transit growth, mostly through robust metro development. Four cities in China: Xiamen, Guiyan, Shijiazhuang, Yinchuan, and three cities in India: Hyderabad, Kochi and Lucknow opened their 1st metro lines in 2017, bringing the total number of cities with metro to 178.

In 2017, Asia had more robust LRT development than on any other continent. Notably, LRT lines opened for the first time in Shenzhen, China; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and in Izmit and Izmir, Turkey. Outside of Asia, LRT lines opened in Granada, Spain; Luxembourg city, and Aarhus, Denmark, bringing the total to 397 cities with LRT.

We can expect this trend to continue. At the end of 2017, China’s central government announced a policy to relax the minimum population requirements for local governments to pursue metro projects from 3 million residents to 1.5 million. As a result, smaller cities can build metro systems, with China expected to have around 6400 km of rapid transit infrastructure by 2020.

In India, the City of Pune is Making Space for Transit and People

Pune is a flourishing green city of 6.5 million people in the western state of Maharashtra, a few hours from Mumbai. Since 2007, the city has set ambitious goals for a sustainable future, and 10 years out, there are big on-the-ground changes. In 2016, Pune was selected as one of 20 “Lighthouse Cities” under the nationwide urban renewal program, the Smart Cities Mission, setting an example for other Indian cities to follow.

In 2015, the city launched the Rainbow bus rapid transit (BRT) system promised in 2007. Today, the corridor runs 39 kilometers, serving 120,000 people per day. It has high-quality and best-practice design features, and has brought more than 12 percent of its ridership from other modes, primarily private cars. “Mass rapid transit is the most efficient way to transport large numbers of people around a city and is therefore essential for development,” says Commissioner Kunal Kumar of the Pune Municipal Corporation. “To improve accessibility and service, the city’s budget for 2016–17 and 2017–18 provides for extension by an additional 21km and retrofitting of existing BRT.” With massive investments proposed to expand the system through these city budgets, the Rainbow BRT network is expected to almost double in size and service an additional 48 kilometers by 2018.

Pune has also devoted significant resources to making its streets people-friendly. In 2009, under the JNNURM Mission city-modernization scheme, Pune began improving connectivity by creating a better network of roads equipped with infrastructure for non-motorized transport (NMT), such as footpaths and cycle tracks. The improved usage of these streets by pedestrians and cyclists sparked interest among decision-makers and officials to undertake similar street projects that would cater to the needs of all road users by developing a Complete Streets network.

“Streets are important public spaces that should be designed to respond to the various functions that they host, beyond being mere conduits for vehicles,” Kumar said. “The Pune Municipal Corporation is committed to an agenda of sustainable development of the city, and good street designs are of critical importance in this effort. We thus decided to embark on the Pune Streets program to make Pune a model city for complete streets and one of the pioneering few Indian cities in this field,” he explained.

Under this program, a street network of 100 kilometers has been identified for redesign. Thinking ahead to ensure integration and quality, the city, with ITDP India’s assistance, empaneled four nationally acclaimed design firms and allocated each 25 kilometers from the network. ITDP developed the scope of work for the designers and is part of the committee to periodically review the designs.

The first phase of construction has begun with Jangli Maharaj Road, a busy 1.5 km-long street being redesigned by Oasis Designs, Inc. A 300-meter stretch along this street now sports a cycle track and a much wider footpath, made possible by streamlining the old haphazard parking. Green spaces serve as buffers to segregate the two modes of walking and cycling. “The design now celebrates  the newly created public realm, giving people clear and buffered walking and cycling, and also incorporates outdoor seating areas for people to have a quick lunch, play areas for kids, and many seats for people to sit and enjoy the urban life of Pune,” explained Sujata Hingorani, principal landscape architect and partner, Oasis Designs, Inc. Better signage and street lighting are other features that collectively make JM Road a stellar example of street design in the country.

“I could have never imagined taking a walk on this road earlier,” said a local resident using the path. “Nowadays, I spend most of my evenings after work here, enjoying this active street. The chaos is no more; I can now walk and shop to my heart’s fill!”

These dedicated efforts toward improving the quality of urban life for its citizens resulted in several accolades for Pune, including its selection as a Smart City. Among other initiatives, 27 kilometers of streets have been identified for redesign as Complete Streets in the Area-Based Development (ABD) area as part of the Smart City proposal, along with 18 kilometers of street retrofitting. In keeping with the city’s model of high-quality design, the 27km network encompassing three neighborhoods has been allotted to the designers.

A wide and active footpath marks the edge of DP Road in Aundh, made possible by merging the frontage of the shops with the sidewalk.

One of the key objectives of the Smart Cities mission is to engage the community in the urban renewal process at all stages. One such important event in Pune was the seven-day trial run of the proposed pedestrian plaza in Aundh, a neighborhood bustling with activity and people reclaiming streets. Showing residents on the ground what their neighborhood could be helped convince the shopkeepers to agree to merge shop frontage with footpaths. The first segment of the bustling D.P. Road in Aundh has already been remodeled under this proposal. The footpath was widened by merging the with 7,900 stations and 7,000 cycles. Furthermore, the regional streets on the periphery of the city are being redesigned into cycle-safe streets with funds from the state government.

Backing these design changes in the city are institutional reforms that help enhance the capacity of the government. A dedicated Street Design team of urban designers and planners will oversee general maintenance and design of streets in addition to designing neighborhood streets. The pedestrian policy adopted by the city, which now guides the development of high quality pedestrian infrastructure, envisions Pune as a haven for those on foot. Most importantly, the Pune Municipal Corporation, with technical assistance from ITDP, has developed a unique set of Urban Street Design Guidelines that prioritize walking and cycling, leaving no doubt of Pune’s direction of development. While the city is rolling out these changes, the state of Maharashtra has encouraged all its cities to prioritize public transit and nonmotorized transit. According to this policy, walking, cycling, and public transport will account for at least 80 percent of all trips by 2027.

Pune is inspiring many cities in India to take measures for sustainability and equity. Nashik has hired urban design firms for its proposed Complete Streets network of 50 kilometers; Chennai is keen on expanding its complete streets into a network and setting up a BRT system, learning from Pune’s journey so far. The future of this journey looks bright and green for all of India, having already transformed people’s lives for the better in Pune, with a promise of more across the whole country.

This blog post is modified from an article in the 29th issue of the Sustainable Transport magazine.  You can find the article and others here.

Nominate Your City for the 2019 Sustainable Transport Award

ITDP, together with an international committee of development and transport experts, invites you to nominate your city for the Annual Sustainable Transport Award.  

Nominations are now open and will be accepted online at staward.org until April 13, 2018.

Since 2005, the Sustainable Transport Award has recognized profound leadership and vision in sustainable transportation and urban livability. These strategies should improve mobility for all residents, reduce transportation greenhouse and air pollution emissions, and enhance safety and access for bicyclists and pedestrians. Nominations are accepted from any interested parties, including government, civil society organizations, and academic institutions. Nominations must include verifiable project data and contact information for the city.

Cities of all sizes from all over the world have been recognized by the committee for best practices in sustainable transport. Past winners include:

2017 STA winner, Santiago, Chile

  • Santiago, Chile
  • Yichang, China
  • Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Mexico City, México
  • Medellín, Colombia
  • San Francisco, United States
  • Ahmedabad, India
  • Seoul, South Korea
  • Bogotá, Colombia

A complete list of winning cities with details on their win is available at staward.org.

The 2018 winner, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is the first African City to win the STA, for launching a series of transformative improvements that bring a high quality rapid transit system to its streets combined with walking and cycling infrastructure improvements. The changes are anchored around the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transit system, or DART, a high quality-high capacity system incorporating best practice design and features, the first true BRT system in East Africa. DART has reduced commute times by more than half for residents, who previously faced upwards of four hours stuck in traffic every day. In addition, the city has built cycle lanes and improved intersections and sidewalks along the corridor.

Dar es Salaam BRT system

In June 2018, Dar es Salaam will host the MOBILIZE Summit, held each year in the winning city. MOBILIZE brings together 200 international urban transport and development planners, practitioners, and officials, world-class researchers, and NGO representatives to share strategies, challenges, research and study the example of Dar es Salaam as an international best practice in sustainable transport. The winner of the 2019 STA is where the summit goes next year.

“The Sustainable Transport Award is about celebrating bold vision and momentous changes that improve quality of life for people in cities. In the nearly 15 year history of the award, the nominees have often included cities doing great work under the radar,” says Michael Kodransky, chair of the STA Committee, “There are so many inspiring changes happening on the ground in cities that aren’t known as having the usual transport best practices. The STA and MOBILIZE are great vehicles for recognizing political courage and showcasing the latest achievements. It’s also a great opportunity for those of us working in sustainable transport to learn from innovative approaches, which are shared with a global cohort of the leading influencers at MOBILIZE”.

The 2019 winner will be announced at MOBILIZE Dar es Salaam on June 28, 2018. The winner and honorable mentions will be recognized at a ceremony and reception in Washington, DC during the Transport Research Board conference the following January.

[WEBINAR] Women on the Move: Women & Transport in Indian Cities

Presented on
Tuesday, March 20, 2018

 

Background
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, India Programme and Safetipin released a a first of its kind policy brief on Women and Transport in Indian Cities in 2017. The policy brief fills a key gap in urban transport literature in India by recommending gender responsive transport indicators, supported by benchmarks to set goals and monitor outcomes and outputs at the city level. Additionally, it provides case studies for implementation guidance. The brief will be relevant for policy and decision makers at the national, state and city levels, advocacy organizations and professionals.

About the Webinar
Women on the Move: Women and Transport in Indian Cities  will introduce the policy brief, discuss the gendered dimensions of urban transport and employment in the transport sector in Indian cities. Emphasis will be on proposed urban transport indicators and service level benchmarks (SLBs) for comprehensive mobility plans, recommendations to improve women’s modal shares and experiences of walking, cycling, public and intermediate public transport, and engendering public transport authorities. In addition to SLBs and recommendations, the role of ministries and departments in mainstreaming gender will be discussed. There will be a Q and A session at the end of the presentation.

You can find the webinar recording and presentation slides on ITDP India’s website here.

 

About the Presenters

Sonal Shah | Senior Manager, ITDP India Program

Sonal leads urban planning strategy, research, projects and policy at ITDP India. She has 13+ years’ experience across multiple scales from city development to neighbourhood plans, transit oriented development and station accessibility planning to street design, historic precinct conservation, urban redevelopment, housing policy research, and gender.

 

Dr. Kalpana Viswanath | Co-Founder, SafetiPin

Kalpana is the co-founder and CEO of Safetipin, which is a social enterprise using data and technology to support cities in their endeavour to become safer, more inclusive and smarter. Since its inception in 2013, Safetipin has worked with more than 30 cities in India and other developing countries. Safetipin collects public space data through multiple sources including the MySafetipin app, and works with governments, to use this data for better planning and maintenance of cities.

TOD and Affordable Housing

 

A new revitalized TOD-area near the Cleveland BRT


by R. Balachandran, Alchemy Urban Systems

Click to enlarge

The cost of housing is well beyond the money paid for rent or mortgage.  There is also the cost of access. This refers to bundle of services including water supply, sanitation, health, education and most importantly, transportation. Therefore, housing can be made truly affordable only if the whole package (housing plus services) is made affordable. In large cities where walking and cycling are not sufficient to ensure access to needed opportunities and services, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) offers a great opportunity to do this.  In this blog, I attempt to outline the opportunity and the challenges to making it happen. I write specifically in the context of transit catchments in developing/ low-income countries where the urban poor end up living in substandard housing in risk-prone areas of the city. This discussion is relevant mainly to Metrics 5.B.1- Affordable Housing, and 5.B.2-Housing Preservation of the TOD Standards, but may also be connected to others, for example Metric 4.A.1-Walking Distance to Transit.

 

The Opportunity

An affordable transit system increases accessibility and mobility all along its route, providing substantial benefits to communities in its catchment.  When cities with substantial populations of urban poor take up station area planning, or TOD area planning, they should ensure easy access to transit for low income families.  

To begin with, when transit alignments are planned, stations could be located within walking distance to existing high density low-income settlements (with measures to ensure that redevelopment pressures don’t displace the residents). Secondly, connections could be made to settlements further away using feeder buses, para-transit and infrastructure for walking and cycling.  These two interventions however only provide access to existing settlements with/ without improving their housing conditions.

The most important and forward-looking intervention possible is to enable the development of new affordable housing of acceptable standards within the station areas for low-income families to move into. In cities that have public housing and public transit programs, affordable housing projects should be located in TOD/ station areas. One example, is the Sikandar Bakht Nagar Housing Project for Economically Weaker Sections at Behrampura, Ahmedabad, India (see images), built to rehouse informal dwellers from a flood-prone area on the banks of the Sabarmati River, within short walking distance from both the river and a Bus Rapid Transit station. And while Sikandar Bakht Nagar has been criticized for a number of design, construction and maintenance problems that should be addressed, its residents do benefit from rapid and convenient connections to countless opportunities and resources throughout the city.

Location of the Sikandar Bakht Nagar within a 350 meter walking distance to a BRT station
View inside the housing complex

 

Ensuring Access to Services

A significant element of subsidy is inevitable in the process of producing affordable housing and keeping them affordable.  Fortunately, in a TOD context, there is an opportunity to capture a portion of the unearned value gained by private properties in the catchment of transit (the concept is usually referred to as “value capture”) and use it to achieve comprehensive redevelopment including affordable housing and infrastructure upgrading.  The revenues from value capture should be escrowed towards affordable housing, infrastructure upgrading and other public investments within the TOD areas.

But, while the “value capture” opportunity is seductive, it is often exploited in a simplistic manner where additional development rights are offered at a price in the catchment areas of the transit system without any planning, ostensibly to densify the area according to the principles of TOD.  However, densification without carefully planning the provision of utilities and services can result in infrastructure inadequacies.  Already deprived low-income communities suffer exacerbated shortages for water and sanitation as well as access to health, education and other community services.  They end up paying more for these services, undermining the affordability of housing as a complete package.

Therefore, TOD policy should ensure that promotion of affordable housing in TOD areas happens through planned development or redevelopment with adequate infrastructure provision. Users of the TOD Standard are advised to use their discretion to only allocate density points where infrastructure is sufficient.

BRT in Medellin, Colombia transformed access in a low income neighborhood
Public plaza near a low-income housing development in Sao Paulo, Brazil

 

Maintaining Affordability

Access to transit is a powerful driver for real estate values and could cause gentrification of affordable housing in a TOD/ station area.  Therefore, it is important to take specific measures to keep the housing affordable to the target group over time.  How to do this requires context specific policies.

Many developing countries with poor data infrastructure and enforcement systems have tried in vain to use covenants restricting the resale/ renting of affordable housing units allocated to “beneficiaries” identified through a due process.  Market forces have historically found ways of subverting such restrictions.  Another method is to prevent amalgamation of more than one small house into a bigger one.  Regular checking of the units is required for this and is best achieved by involving the community members.  Creating a “Community Land Trust” (CLT) is yet another method that is gaining favor. The CLTs could regulate or manage all transactions on these houses including sale, rental, lease etc. to ensure that the house is always occupied by the targeted income-group at a price truly affordable to them. CLTs, or variations of this model, could potentially involve the community members in the active management of the affordable housing developments.

To conclude, TOD offers a great opportunity to promote a truly affordable housing and services package for the urban poor in the cities of developing countries. However, beyond the scope of TOD Standard indicators, achieving this in the long term involves addressing the challenges of ensuring adequate services and maintaining affordability of the housing developments.

Download The TOD Standard here and visit todstandard.org for more information.  You can also read more insights from other authors of The TOD Standard here and here.

Dar es Salaam Leads a Breakthrough for African Cities (Issue 29, 2018)

 

#WomenOnTheMove: Women and Transport in Indian Cities

Photo Credit: Santhosh Loganaathan, ITDP India

“Ultimately, transportation is the fulcrum that allows women to participate in the workforce; a societal shift to transform the entire world economy.”

– Sonal Shah, Senior Manager, ITDP India Programme 

Centred around this idea, ITDP and Safetipin have released a policy brief on Women and Transport in Indian Cities. The draft was released on 13 June 2017 at a roundtable discussion on Gender and Transit, organized by ITDP, Safetipin, and UN Women with participation from 30 women’s groups, international organizations, professionals and academic institutions.

A roundtable discussion on Gender and Transit was organized by ITDP, Safetipin and UN Women with participation from 30 women’s groups, international organizations, professionals and academic institutions.

The coming decade will be a defining moment for India as its urban areas are estimated to constitute around 40% or 600 million of its total population by 2030. According to the High Powered Executive Committee (HPEC), around INR 23 lakh crores is required over 2015–2030 for India’s urban transport infrastructure. The national government has initiated missions and schemes to invest in urban transport and infrastructure; and created indicators and service level benchmarks to establish a city’s baseline and goal for improvement. The recently announced Green Urban Mobility Scheme (GUMS) expects to invest around INR 70,000 crores over 2018–2023 on sustainable transport.

“The defining characteristic of violence against women is its normalization and ordinary and continuous nature.”

– Kalpana Viswanath, Co-founder & CEO, Safetipin

While there is momentum by different levels of government in addressing women’s safety in public transport, urban transport investments are largely gender blind with a limited understanding of the interrelationships between gender and transport. Sustainable urban development will remain elusive without integrating women and girls in urban transport.

Photo Credit: Steve Evans

Ultimately transportation will help women access economic and social opportunities. In the next few years, cities will need to make a concerted effort to improve women and girls’ experience of sustainable modes of transport to achieve a target of 40% of all trips. The policy brief fills this gap by providing a framework to integrate technical, social, quantitative, and qualitative approaches for enabling this transition.

The brief underscores the need for policy focusing on women and transport in Indian cities. It covers gendered dimensions of urban transport, with a focus on trip chaining and purpose, modal shares, trip distances, time poverty, sexual harassment, and employment in the transport sector.  The brief also proposes urban transport indicators and service level benchmarks for comprehensive mobility plans. Recommendations to improve women’s modal shares and experiences of walking, cycling, public and intermediate public transport, and engendering public transport authorities are included.  Since urban transport is not the responsibility of one ministry or department, gender inclusion will require interventions at multiple scales and coordination with a number of ministries and departments.

Women’s access and use of urban transportation will play a key role in achieving India’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) and ensure women’s right to the city and its public spaces.

“When we create cities – their public spaces and transport systems – that are responsive to the needs of women, children, and the elderly, they become great cities for all!” 

  – Shreya Gadepalli, ITDP India Program Leader

Download the policy brief here.

This article was originally published by ITDP India.  View here.