ARL working group “Transit Oriented Development in portfolio development”

The ARL has a new working group that links science and practice on the basis of current planning challenges. The station district may not be a nice place here and there in the present, but in the context of the transport transition it is becoming more important, especially where the train already stops frequently. On November 28 and 29, 2024, the working group “Transit Oriented Development in Existing Development” held its first meeting at the ARL office in Hanover under the direction of Arvid Krüger (University of Kassel) and Stefan Siedentop (TU Dortmund).
 
It is dedicated to the urban development strategy of Transit Oriented Development (T.O.D.), which essentially focuses on the new development (in terms of regional planning and urban development) of urban districts along high-quality, generally rail-bound transport infrastructure (Loukaitou-Sideris et al. 2017). The urban districts themselves are kept compact and correspond to the model of a city of short distances. They are intended to make it easier to switch from cars to other modes of mobility and therefore meet current challenges such as the mobility transition and climate adaptation to a high degree. The transport and building sectors in particular are two areas where it is currently still very difficult to achieve climate targets.
 
However, most of the stations where the strategy can be applied in Germany were already built in the 19th/20th century; accordingly, such a strategy in Germany must be further developed as an existing development strategy. As a result, initial discussions among the 12 members of the working group highlighted the main areas of interest in urban development and the climate crisis for the joint discussion of the topic. In this context, dealing with the existing is particularly relevant: Why is Transit Oriented Development (so far) strongly focused on new construction? How are urban renewal and conversion strategies implemented? What potential does a critical examination of existing buildings offer?

 
The work of the working group will position the topic in the inter- and sub-disciplinary diversity of spatial planning, urban development, open space planning, regional planning, urban renewal and transport planning. In addition, the results are also to be prepared in an advisory capacity for federal and state policy, with the aim of enabling local authorities to conduct experiments that can at least be accompanied by research or take place as applied research from the outset in a transfer and transformation-oriented manner jointly by science and practice.