Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
transport system is needed so that travel to the major centre and between the minor centres
can be undertaken. There is an increasing complexity in all travel movements - with multiple
origins and destinations - which means that the quality and density of the public transport
network (including interchanges) has to be of a high order.
Third, the axial city has developed where there are two major cities joined by high-speed
rail, or two or more major centres in a city joined by a major public transport corridor. For
example, in China, development has taken place at the two 'end' cities (Jinan and Qingdao),
but also at the intermediate stations along the route that are accessible to the high-speed rail
link (Zibo and Qingzhou). Jinan is also being shaped internally as a linear city, with growth
in the traditional centre linked by BRT to the new centre around the high-speed rail station.
In all cases it is important to develop around the highly accessible public transport nodes, so
that the attractiveness of these new transport development areas is fully realised. Development
needs to be of mixed use, including housing, employment, schools, shops, health facilities
and recreational opportunities. This now the major development form being pursued in most
master plans internationally, certainly in the central parts of most cities. Even the former
motorised cities (including Auckland, and even some of the dispersed cities in the US such
as Los Angeles) are now being retrofitted with public transport options, to the extent that is
possible with unsupportive urban forms. The level of urban structural change, however, remains
limited, with strong opposition often found against increasing densities. In the progressive
cities, public transport interchanges can become the new commercial hubs for cities, acting
as 'superhubs' where a major international interchange is involved. Examples are King's Cross
St. Pancras (London), Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin) and Shin Yokohama (Yokohama) (Hall
et al., 2013).
A fourth possibility is the satellite city where new towns are built around an existing centre
(Seoul, Shanghai, and to an extent London), with good-quality links to the central city. The
intention with satellite towns is that each should be relatively self-sufficient, with a balance
between jobs and housing, so that the daily travel would be carried out locally. The difficulty
here is that this option can result in high levels of commuting between the satellite town and
the central city, and often this can be car-based.
In the introduction, the original thinking of Michael Thomson was discussed, in particular
how he categorised the different city structures.
Figure 8.10
attempts to revisit the city
typologies of Thomson (1977), and to a degree Wegener and Fürst (1999), in the light of
recent and potential future developments in transport and city planning, and in view of the
case studies as discussed. It should be remembered that the Thomson categorisation reflected
the time when oil was cheap and plentiful, and when there were few concerns over supply or
resource constraints, and when the potential effects of climate change were not known. We
can see that most cities or jurisdictions have developed as 'hybrids' of the given typologies,
with one or more of 'full motorisation', 'weak centre', 'strong centre', 'low cost' and 'traffic
limitation' attempted, certainly when considered across different parts of the city. Indeed,
perhaps there is coalescence in strategies, with a large investment in public transport now in
many cities, and some form of traffic demand management and polycentric growth. Similarly,
in the case studies presented in this topic, each has developed different supporting strategies
according to the baseline behaviours, problems and opportunities. Strategy development in
transport has become much more refined in all contexts, with integrated and tailored packages
of measures, some very progressive, being implemented.
London has changed from a traffic limitation city (1977) to what might be labelled a modern
low carbon transport city, whilst Auckland has switched from being heavily motorised (1977)
