Light Railways and Busways as Key Driver for Sustainable Urban Development: Swedish Experiences with Transit-Oriented Development

Sustainable urbanism and good placemaking revolve around creating and maintaining sustainable and attractive places by reviving planning and urban design paradigms and by experimentation and innovation. The transports play a crucial role in the sustainable urban endeavor and expectations for wide accessibility and networking are very high. The challenge today is to integrate and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of urban and transport systems and the transports have to fulfill the ongoing demands for enhanced efficiency, comfort, safety, and speed, as well as the environmental factors in the light of global climate change and the energy crisis. One emphasis has been on public transports and transit-oriented development (TOD), compact cities and urbanity-empowering public transports like light railways or light rail transit (LRT) and bus rapid transit (BRT) with its busways as key drivers for sustainable neighborhoods. TOD in a Swedish (European) perspective is by no means a new idea. Three cases of newer light railway and busway projects (Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Norrkoping) are explored in this paper and they are seen through a historical overview of TOD experiences in Sweden. The authors also investigate and draw attention to the values of placemaking and sustainable urbanism via the advantages and disadvantages of the urban and regional public transport systems and TOD principles.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: pp 259-278
  • Monograph Title: Sustaining the Metropolis: Light Rail Transit and Streetcars for Super Cities
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01514781
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Feb 20 2014 10:19AM