MSCA-COFUND-CLEAR-Doc-PhD Position#CD22-40: Implementing the urban density of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) metropolis ; the cases of major transit projects in Paris

Large transit projects currently being implemented in Paris (Grand Paris Express) and London (Crossrail/Elisabeth line) bears ambitions of major urban transformations. These major transit investment are designed to improving access conditions and to generating sustainable urban development at agglomeration scale, especially in peripheral spaces with identified opportunities for urban growth, through urban regeneration. Referring to Transit Oriented Development as an academic corpus and an operational concept, the thesis projects intends to focus on density around transit stops as a key factor to characterize and discuss the urban dynamics related to the development of transit systems.

This research aims to address TOD implementation problems related to density. The central research question centers on identifying lessons for successfully developing and implementing a TOD strategy in the London and Paris metropolitan region. The lessons will be structured around three key areas: (i) the production of density-based TOD classification; (ii) the issues of understanding the processes of using, representing and translating knowledge and information related to TOD planning concepts; (iii) the analysis of actors, institutions and governance.

In deed, urban density is expected (by transport planners), planned (by metropolitan authorities), is sometimes overwhelming (resulting from the land value pressure, as a sum of private actors decisions), but can also be resisted (by local stakeholders), and even feared (in the post-pandemic context). The topic of urban density around transit involve a series of connected concepts – well captured in the TOD literature – of functional diversity, urban design, accessibility that should be included in the focus of the topic. This involves the topics of the acceptation of density, supporting urban diversity, adapting to land price pressure (sometimes due to speculation), planning for housing affordability, the design of a post-pandemic density, the quality of urban design.

* see table here: https://nextcloud.univ-lille.fr/index.php/s/yX2x7brp9D79Gq9

__Thematic__

1 Past, present and future density, diversity and accessibility of railway stations districts

2 Past and present urban development project around stations

3 Barriers and ways forward

__Objectives__

1 Objectivizing urban issues

2 Understanding the narrative

3 Identifying and proposing

__Methods__

1 Measuring urban indicators by means of GIS, accessibility measurement tools (e.g. OpenTripPlanner), TOD indexes

2 Studying past and existing urban projects, actors interviews

3 Studying how problems, barriers (for more density, more diversity, housing affordability, better design, accessibility) are enunciated, and how they are – eventually – resolved

__Outcomes__

1 Producing new knowledge

2 Assessing the current urban projects

3 Identifying good practices, the main factors and actors at play

The candidate should have a written and oral level in English and French languages, in order to be able to read documents and conduct actors interviews.

References :

Cervero, Robert. 2019. ‘The Transit Metropolis : A 21st Century Perspective’. Transportation, Land Use, and Environmental Planning, 131.

Papa, Enrica. 2019. ‘Implementing Transit Oriented Development in Greater London’. In Transit Oriented Development and Sustainable Cities, 186–97. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Ibraeva, Anna, Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Correia, Cecília Silva, et António Pais Antunes. 2020. « Transit-Oriented Development: A Review of Research Achievements and Challenges ». Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 132: 110 30.

Renne, John L., et Bruce Appleyard. 2019. « Twenty-Five Years in the Making: TOD as a New Name for an Enduring Concept ». Journal of Planning Education and Research 39(4): 402 8.