Fostering rail-based accessibility by land management - a perspective from the French-German Bahn.Ville project
Document Type
Conference Paper
Publication Date
2011
Subject Area
place - europe, land use - transit oriented development, land use - urban density, mode - rail
Keywords
France, Germany, transit oriented development (TOD), rail, accessibility, urban density, land use
Abstract
Implementing transit-oriented development is conceived to be a major challenge in creating sustainable mobility options on the level of the urban region all across Europe. Rail corridors can serve as a backbone for the development of accessible and liveable neighbourhoods. The French-German Bahn.Ville project (see www.bahn-ville.net; www.bahn-ville2.fr; www.bahn-ville2.de) has generated considerable knowledge and experience on how to link research and methodological know-how with policy and practice. Based upon two case-studies in the St. Etienne region (Greater Lyon/France) and along the Taunusbahn corridor (Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region/Germany), both process-related as well as methodological concepts have been developed, implemented and evaluated in a close cooperation of research institutions, regional planning authorities and local players. It has been found that innovative instruments of land-use and transport observation are very helpful for successfully implementing these concepts and to guide urban action in the field of land management. Such tools can facilitate the integrated evaluation of urban projects around stations and more specifically alert the competent players of urban planning (mainly municipalities) of opportunities to get active in land management. Furthermore, these tools could encourage the development of a "of cooperation" which is necessary for a fair land management. For the Bahn.Ville project, a GIS-based accessibility measurement tool has been developed to analyze spatial and transport structures, to evaluate the impacts of specific measures (like increased connectivity within the walking and cycling networks or improved urban structure) on accessibility patterns and especially to detect mismatches between land-use and accessibility of specific localities. These accessibility measurements highlight the potential of higher densities and increased land-use diversity within the catchment areas of the stations, taking into account non-motorized as well as bus and car-based (P+R) station access modes. The tools that have been developed and tested will be presented. Results will be discussed in a French-German comparison. Conclusions will be drawn on the potentials of transferring the results from the case studies to a more general European context. This paper clearly is referring to planning for sustainable land use and transport and therefore should be considered within the respective PSLUT sessions.
Rights
Permission to publish the abstract has been given by AET, copyright remains with them.
Recommended Citation
Keller, J., Wulfhorst, G., & Leysons, T. (2011). Fostering rail-based accessibility by land management - a perspective from the French-German Bahn.Ville project. Paper delivered at the European Transport Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, on 10 - 12 October, 2011.
