Land Use Challenges to Implementing Transit-Oriented Development in China

Abstract

Several Chinese cities are interested in incorporating transit-oriented development (TOD) around their subway stations. Few cities, however, have considered incorporating TOD into their bus systems; fewer still have included China's bike population. The midsize Chinese city of Jinan, capital of the northeastern province of Shandong, wants to incorporate both bus rapid transit (BRT) and TOD within its urban planning framework. Jinan is set to construct a 135-km BRT network and seeks to incorporate TOD initially at the neighborhood level and eventually in the entire city. As part of an ongoing project between the University of California Transportation Center and the Transportation Engineering Department of Shandong University, preliminary land use analysis was conducted on a proposed BRT corridor, Lishan Road, incorporating smart-growth principles as a framework for creating walkable neighborhoods. Current land-use challenges, both citywide and street specific, to making the Lishan Road BRT corridor a true transit-oriented development are presented. The main barriers identified are as follows: (a) Excessive auto-oriented land uses along the corridor result in pedestrian–bike, bike–vehicle, and pedestrian–vehicle conflicts, which will increase with the construction of the BRT stations; (b) the land-use pattern manifested in 1-km blocks results in excessive distances between pedestrian crossings at intersections; (c) with superblock land use patterns and a lack of secondary roads, accessibility is limited for all modes; and (d) parking is inconsistently enforced, and cars are allowed to park on sidewalks, creating unwalkable areas and encouraging driving. Policies and guidelines that help shift Jinan's planning to more pedestrian-friendly designs are presented.

Subjective well-being in China: how much does commuting matter?

“…Moreover, longer commute times not only make residents feel physically exhausted but also reduce their SWB. We also found that residents who walk or ride a bike to work Transportation have significantly less sense of happiness than commuters using motor vehicles, which may be related to the imperfect walkways and bicycle lanes in China, where many cities give priority to motor vehicles in road construction (Thomas and Deakin 2008;Pucher et al 2007). Motorway and pedestrian/bike lanes are often mixed, which reduces the safety and pleasure of people walking or cycling.…”

Transit-oriented development: Literature review and evaluation of TOD potential across 50 Chinese cities

“…After careful reading of the abstracts, we were able to identify 15 studies on TOD in China (listed in Table 1) that offer first-hand empirical evidence. (Thomas & Deakin, 2008) x Land use data Jinan (Yang, et al, 2016a) x Land development data Shenzhen (Yang et al, 2016b) x Land transaction data Beijing (Zhang, Meng, Wang, & Xu, 2014) x Housing price data Beijing (Zhang & Wang, 2013) x Housing price data Beijing…”

Urban development around bus rapid transit stops in seven cities in Latin-America

“…Rodriguez, Vergel-Tovar, and Camargo (2016) showed Downloaded by [UC Berkeley Library] at 19:33 04 November 2017 that building activity measured as added floor area and construction permits increased after the implementation of BRTs in Bogota and Quito (Ecuador), although the effects varied based on location and land use. In Jinan (China), the oversupply of auto-oriented land uses, midblock crossings on the corridor, lack of pedestrian infrastructure and connectivity, and parking issues were barriers to the introduction of BRT-oriented development (Thomas and Deakin 2008). In Seoul (Korea), even though the BRT contributed to increases in development density among urban centers, there were limited effects on residential property values within the influence area of the system (Jun 2012).…”