What it means to create investible infrastructure

In emerging cities around the world, transport infrastructure is a promising opportunity to enhance urban mobility by unlocking congestion and shortening journey times. Major investment in transportation projects is also seen as a way to spur economic growth, enable urban regeneration and address high-level urban challenges such as climate change, public health and social inequity.

Yet the reality is that great transport infrastructure alone cannot guarantee successful urban growth or socioeconomic uplift. Even when central governments are able to inject large sums of capital into infrastructure projects, these investments do not always reduce congestion or bring socioeconomic change as intended. Furthermore, it is rarely financially sustainable over the long term to cover the high operating costs of transport systems with government subsidies and farebox revenue alone. So how can transportation infrastructure deliver on its urban ambitions and be financially sustainable over time?

Delivering meaningful change through transport projects can be jumpstarted by rigorous integration of stations with surrounding urban development. Many cities around the world have come to appreciate the role of transit-oriented development (TOD) in providing greater land use and density around stations, but the interface between transport and development must be properly designed and executed to stimulate wider urban benefits.

An unguided ‘build it and they will come’ approach to transport infrastructure, which is common in rapidly urbanising cities, often unintentionally results in ‘build it and figure out the rest later’. This piecemeal approach to TOD results in an urbanism where transport infrastructure and adjacent development are not well integrated strategically and physically – hampering environmental, economic and social uplift. In this way, cities and transport agencies are not able to capitalise on the value added by transportation until years after the completion of new infrastructure, if at all.

To gain greater value from investment in transportation, TOD around stations should be planned and designed in parallel with infrastructure design. An integrated design process is key to creating stations where transport and development work seamlessly, enabling safer and more continuous connectivity and supporting wider socioeconomic growth. Well-designed TOD improves the efficiency of land use – providing a diverse, market-appropriate mix of uses with a clear sense of place/orientation. Integrated TOD also promotes sustainable onward journeys via active transportation (walking and cycling), bringing greater transit equity – including access to jobs – and promoting the health of cities and their people.

Integrated TOD design also has the potential to generate greater economic returns for transportation agencies, station area developers and local authorities, improving the long-term investability of infrastructure projects. With the right value-capture instruments in place, station area development can even provide a revenue stream to transport agencies to help finance construction and operations. However, the real key to realising long-term value lies in the spatial design of the interface between the station and adjacent development to strengthen connectivity and commercial success.

The importance of getting this interface right was apparent as One Works’ recent proposal to optimise the planned Oslo Metro – Fornebu Centre Station with adjacent mixed-use development. Adopting an integrated design approach, One Works’ proposals for the underground metro station were designed to flow seamlessly into the surrounding public realm and residential led, mixed-use neighbourhood. A critical part of the scheme was simplifying the configuration of the station and adjacent development to reduce construction cost/risk and shorten the delivery programme for both Oslo Metro and the station area developer. This optimisation enhanced station access and also strengthened the project’s economic metrics – improving returns for the developer and offering the possibility of additional revenue to Oslo Metro via value capture agreements.

One Works is also working in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on the Masar Urban Development Project, a large-scale TOD providing robust pedestrian connectivity between high speed rail, planned metro, BRT and local bus service with surrounding mixed-use development – including globally-significant religious/cultural destinations. In addition to designing the public realm, metro station box-out and underground car parks, One Works also prepared a retail strategy aimed at improving the commercial offer for pedestrians in the public realm. As part of the retail strategy, One Works applied its understanding of people flow in both transport and retail environments to stimulate revenue regeneration whilst supporting urban connectivity, public safety and sense of place.