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A successful American dream, according to some, would have our cities sprawl outward with residents in gas-guzzling SUVs commuting to their suburban homes, blaring ' Suburbia', from the Pet Shop Boys. But this vision presents two major problems: environmental damage from pollution and wasted time stuck in traffic.
The optimist could put the case of EV or fuel cell cars in our near future for the first issue. The second is with a fully autonomous - L5 EV cars, traffic jam will be a thing of the past, and you could have a restful and quicker commute home? However, that is not the full story, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlights the positive correlation between urban density, people's health and wellbeing. Urban density being more environmentally friendly and sustainable. So, this is a recipe for dense urban development with transit system as the backbone of the main modal split.
So, let's go to Hong Kong of the Late 1960. Three things were happening:
Population was skyrocketing.
Land was limited
Mass transit was the solution, and the colonial government via the consultant proposed a system, which in the words of the designer was financially incumbent to deliver a system whose capital and operational cost will be borne by the fare gate.
So that is Transit Oriented Development, Made in Hong Kong. Here is the original recipe.
Fig. Section from the Hong Kong Mass Transport Study, 1965 Fig. Section from the Telford Garden Development.
View of Telford Garden development by MTR
The Freeman, Fox, Wilber Smith and Associates study on the Hong Kong Mass Transportation study, circa 1967, proposed a transit system that was contiguous, part of or fully integrated with the dense urban development of the city, further made strong recommendation for the urban renewal of the derelict parts so that the higher density could have a symbiotic relationship of the server and served. The last was the 'Property and Rail Model', which you can see in the image directly above, section on the top right.
This one high density development now houses more than 19, 000 residents, with the vertical stratification of different functions, and requirements. Which was developed by the HK MTR and partly offset the cost of the first MTR line, the Kwun Tong Line. Whilst this development and some surrounding ones provides the passengers whose's revenue makes the HK MTR possibly the only metro system in the world that is solvent?
There will be other links, where I will discuss this in more detail. Watch this space.
The Hong Kong MTR Station model at the concourse level is the primary link to connect the station to the surrounding buildings. It could be at the underground level, the ground level, or even at the above ground footbridge level.
This symbiotic density/ transit /linkage dance provides the background for the urban planning of HK, its new town & old town revitalisations
Fig. Concourse level axonometry, showing adits/passage linkage to the surrounding development
That successful mantra has been repeated all around Hong Kong, to much success and created the DNA of the new towns and revitalisation of many older sections of the city. When Shenzhen was being formed in the 80's and the 90's, Hong Kong's developers and the MTR took the same model there, whilst the density in Chinese Shenzhen and other cities may not approach Hong Kong's +6X plot ratio, or ultra ground cover (>100%), the model is very similar, yet different.
TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELPOPMENT NOMENCLATURE
TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELPOPMENT NOMENCLATURE
The pains of the suburban living were felt by Peter Calthorpe, in his recommendation, the Next American Metropolis, he made the sacrilege mention for the public to walk, to take the metro and to build the new American cities.
Calthorpe, a pioneer of New Urbanism, advocates for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) as a solution to the sprawling, car-dependent urban landscapes that is the United States. The call for a well-designed, dense, mixed-use neighbourhoods cantered around efficient mass transit can enhance the quality of life, reduce environmental impact, and foster community engagement, similar to the IPCC's views.
What is important is that the new cities that sprung from the WTO reorganisation around the 1990-2000, has been based on the concept of ToD that sprung from the model created in Hong Kong and the throries that was elaborated in the Next American Metropolis, etc.
©Peter Calthorpe,The next American Metropolis, 1993
©Peter Calthorpe,The next American Metropolis, 1993
Please read this section in conjunction with the whole paper, so that it is possible to have a glimpse of ToD in its entirity.
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