Transit-oriented development versus car-dependent development: The importance of high frequency transit services and prior investment in transit

Urban development in most Global North countries is largely car dependent, enabled and facilitated by mass car ownership, cheap oil and weak planning powers. Although car/auto-dependent development (CADD) is environmentally unsustainable, private car ownership and use have become deeply embedded in urban societies and hard to shift unless transit investment occurs prior to urban regeneration and new urban development. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) provides an alternative to car-dependent development, and modern rapid transit systems and services can play a critical role in shaping sustainable urban development and regeneration. This research, using as its academic lens a systematic literature review of TOD, CADD and their interrelations, analyses successful and unsuccessful practices from around the world, and the lessons learnt from them. It contextualises the strategic importance of high frequency transit services and prior investment in transit as essential requirements for liveable cities. We position TOD, the 15-minute city concept and public transport prioritisation in general as the antidotes to CADD's negative environmental and socio-economic side effects. However, there is often a serious mismatch between spatial planning policies and the timing and scope of new investment in rapid transit.