As significant features of rapid development of urbanization in China, the continuous sprawl of urban spaces and the rise of population are accompanied by a noteworthy increase of daily commute vehicles miles traveled (VMT) in many cities. The overburdened urban utilities have led to an imbalance between supply and demand in the transportation system, which asks for a transformation of the traffic structure in China. Transit-oriented development (TOD) has gained popularity as a mean to encourage transit ridership and redress a lot of urban problems such as traffic congestion, air pollution. In the view of China’s huge population density and complex development context, the applicability of TOD in China needs to be carefully examined. This study investigates the definition, characteristics and design principles of TOD under the comparison of western and Chinese context in term of population density, mass transit ridership and local policies. From the lesson drew from case studies conducted in current TOD projects in different Chinese cities, a new framework together with KPIs to assess the TOD projects in China is proposed. Under the framework, not only the relationship between land use and traffic system, but also collaboration among different stakeholders are taken into consideration.

CICTP