Smart Growth and Transit Oriented Development: Financing and Execution Challenges in India

Cities today face burgeoning personalized vehicles as a consequence of neglected public transport and a spatial planning model isolated from transport planning. Transportation planning has been accorded a residual rank post spatial planning. This has prompted dispersed and automobile-centric growth of cities. The pursuit of more sustainable, liveable, congestion and pollution free cities resulted in the paradigm of New Urbanism and Smart Growth. Transit-oriented Development (TOD), an integral part of Smart Growth, has emerged as a paradigm in urban design. It aims at the concentration of development in or around a transit station or along a transit corridor. TOD could be a befitting reply to sprawl, congestion, pollution and provide an effective way to restructure existing cities. By integrating public transport and land use planning TOD provides ways to intensify agglomeration economies and weaken congestion diseconomies. TOD has several socio-economic and environmental benefits to its credit. The chapter looks at the various advantages of TOD and the challenges faced in its execution and financing. Further, several successful TOD practices from around the globe have been discussed to draw lessons for replication in India.