Transport and Urban Development

David Banister

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9781135819927
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping

The editor and his contributors take an international perspective on the links between land use, development and transport and present the latest thinking, the theory and practice of these links. Authors from six countries - all experts in this area - have been commissioned to write chapters on the theoretical debates and more practical issues, via the use of detailed case studies.

CHAPTER 1
THE KEY ISSUES IN TRANSPORT
AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

David Banister and Nathaniel Lichfield

1.1. INTRODUCTION

Transport has a major impact on the spatial and economic development of cities and regions. The attractiveness of particular locations depends in part on the relative accessibility, and this in turn depends on the quality and quantity of the transport infrastructure. At a general level, it seems that these links are well established, but as this book argues, the methods we have available for the analysis of the links between transport and urban development are not adequate, particularly in the context of the changing nature of cities and the globalization of the world economy. It is some 40 years since Mitchell and Rapkin published their seminal study, Urban Traffic—A Function of Land Use (Mitchell and Rapkin, 1954) where the links between land use and transport were first analysed in depth. Here it was argued that if activities associated with particular land uses could be measured, then quantitative estimates of the levels of traffic associated with those land uses could be made. The levels of traffic in the urban area were directly related to the land uses.

However, the continuation of a 40-year debate is not in itself a reason for a book. At present there is a set of important conceptual, theoretical, analytical and empirical issues which need to be addressed as there is intense discussion and controversy in the field. The new debate is also international in its scope, and the primary purpose of this book is to pool the best available knowledge from the United States and Europe so that the agenda for the end of the millennium can be established. This intro ductory chapter presents some of the key issues in transport and urban development and acts as a context within which the contributions in the rest of the book should be placed. Its second purpose is to introduce the reader to the structure of the book and to give some flavour of the arguments and evidence presented.

1.2. THE LINKS BETWEEN TRANSPORT AND DEVELOPMENT

Cities are changing with the movement of people and businesses out from the centre, increased suburbanization and the desire for lower residential and job densities. Suburbanization of employment has followed, and the simple local journey-to-work pattern or the public transport based movement to the strong central area employment location has been replaced by more complex longer distance car based movements. The exodus from cities is partly caused by a lack of affordable housing in the city centres, but also because of higher income levels, higher car ownership levels and the desire for more space. Investment in new roads to accommodate the new demand patterns may only result in further suburbanization and the abandonment of the city centre.

In the past, further transport investment in cities has been argued firstly on the basis of how to allocate growth, and subsequently on the main means to promote economic development and the revitalization of depressed areas (Banister, 1994). Yet the evidence seems to suggest that in advanced Western economics, the addition of new road links means that more traffic will be generated, making the environment more polluted and increasing the mobility problems for those without access to a car. In addition to housing and employment migrating out of the city, shopping centres, science and industrial parks and leisure facilities, have all moved to green field sites where the densities of development are much lower and access is made primarily by the car. The net result has been an unprecedented growth in car based travel with longer journey lengths, yet the transport infrastructure has not been expanded at the same rate. As Blonk (1979, p. 331) concluded some 15 years ago, ‘transport is a catalytic force; it is both an agent vital for industrial growth and an agent for decline where economic resources and conditions and human endeavour are insufficient to meet competition of outside areas’

In many cities there has been a strong reaction to the realization that more urban road construction has led to increased levels of congestion. The unconstrained growth in the demand for travel, particularly by car, is not desirable and there are substantial external costs imposed on people, cities and the environment. A range of policy levers has been used to internalize these costs, including substantially raising the price of petrol, limiting the access of cars to city centres, and making much more positive use of the planning system to direct new development. In the US, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) has changed the approach to the evaluation, financing and planning processes for new projects (see Paaswell, this volume). In the UK, the new plan-led system is encouraging town centre management schemes, packages of measures to deal with transport strategies in cities and new planning policy guidance to limit out of town development and the need to travel, particularly by car (Department of the Environment, 1994).

It is argued that these new measures are necessary to maintain town centre viability and to reduce the impact that the car has on the use of resources and atmospheric pollution. It is only through a combination of strategies that progress can be made towards sustainable development objectives. But here is the dilemma. It is difficult to see how the conflicting objectives of providing policies which give consumers the freedom to secure the maximum choice, can be reconciled with the desire to protect the viability of town centres and give opportunity to those who do not have access to the car.

To complement the reductions in the need to use the car, it is necessary to promote cities as desirable places in which to live, with a high quality of life. An important component is a high level of local accessibility and good quality public transport. Here again, transport investment in urban rail infrastructure is seen as a major instrument in shaping city structure and in promoting economic development. Changes in accessibility resulting from new rail infrastructure should encourage new development around stations. Many cities have invested in new rail systems and some of the associated development has been privately funded. Offices, shops and commercial centres have formed an integral part of that development. As redundant land around railway stations has become available, new development has also taken place. This compact and high density development is a direct result of changes in accessibility and land being released, and much of the recent new prestige office development in city centres has been of this form. Similarly, in many historic cities not designed for the car, and other medium sized cities, smaller scale bus, tram and pedestrian oriented changes have taken place. A generally better matching of transport facilities with mixed land uses and careful urban designs have resulted in an improved local environment, based on public transport, the bicycle and walking.

At the regional scale, the links between transport and development are also evident. Major transport infrastructures, such as international rail links, airports and ports, all have a substantial effect on local traffic, employment and the local economy. Apart from the direct employment in transport activities, these major transport infrastructures have substantial multiplier effects as they have to be served by a range of firms and industries. For example, Heathrow airport employs about 40,000 people directly, but there are nearly 100,000 people who depend upon it indirectly for employment or who supply services to those who are employed at the airport (e.g. local schools and shops).

Planners, economists and urban policy-makers have been concerned about the growth in urban traffic, particularly the increase in journey lengths and the reliance on the car. As noted above, part of the explanation for this increase in travel has been the decentralization of cities, the development of local centres of activity within the expansive city, and the concentration on particular functions (e.g. specialization in banking and financial services). However the links between transport and urban development are not well known, even in a physical sense. In addition to the physical relationships (e.g. density), there are important economic factors (e.g. rent levels and land prices), social factors (e.g. equity and distributional factors) and environmental factors (e.g. quality of life). In each case, transport has an important influence, which is well accepted at the general level, but at a more detailed level both the methodologies for analysis and the empirical evidence is limited.

1.3. QUESTIONS AND ISSUES FOR DEBATE

What then are some of the main issues which need to be discussed, debated and understood in a book on transport and urban development?

1.It is widely argued that major new transport infrastructure has a substantial impact on the local economy and the development potential of an area. The logic is based on changes in accessibility which give one area a new competitive advantage over other areas, which in turn results in greater levels of efficiency and higher productivity. However, there are several complications ranging from the evidence on changes in land values and rent levels resulting from new investment, to the debate over whether the new activity is actually new activity or a transfer of activity from one location to another. The relative competitive position of one location is enhanced, but at the expense of another location. Even if there is a measurable impact, the scale and area over which it is experienced may be quite limited. The shift may also result in longer travel distances, more frequent trips and an increase in car based movements associated with low density development. If these new movements are replacing shorter trips by walk and public transport, typical of higher density locations, then the environmental and energy costs may be substantial.

2.At the regional level, much infrastructure investment is justified on the basis of regional development benefits which accrue directly from improved accessibility. These benefits include a greater attractiveness for new firms who might move to the area, cheaper distribution of goods and a general expansion of the labour market areas. However, there are counter arguments, in particular as to whether major investments, such as high speed rail links, actually increase centralization and the benefits to peripheral regions are minimal. Where local benefits are found, they are very highly localized and small in scale. The high speed rail network in Europe has been used to argue the case both for and against the regional impacts of transport infrastructure.

3.Locations of most potential occur where two or more transport modes come together at an accessible interchange point (e.g. Charles de Gaulle/ Roissy in Paris). It is at these points that the greatest commercial interest has been shown and airport locations have proved to be attractive locations for science parks, distribution centres, international conference and hotel facilities, as well as for activities directly related to the airport. These major new international locations are complemented at the city level by the new technopole developments and satellite cities, again with high speed rail connections to the city centre (e.g. Lille—see Ampe, this volume). However, the benefits at these smaller scale developments are more modest, particularly if they take place within an existing urban area. The shifts in development, which could potentially lead to compact growth and higher densities, may be overwhelmed by stronger regional trends towards decentralization with lower densities (see Cervero and Landis, and Townroe, both in this volume). Nevertheless, in each of these situations, the quality of the new transport infrastructure has been instrumental in encouraging new development.

4.Traditionally, it has been argued that transport costs form only a small part of total production costs. In Western economies, where there is already a dense network of routes, any additional link in the network is only likely to improve accessibility marginally. Other factors such as labour supply, access to markets, availability of land, government grants and incentives are all more important factors in the location decision. The logic of this argument is that the transport infrastructure is not a primary factor in determining where a firm or household should locate, but that it is a secondary factor, at least in developed economies. Yet it is often cited as a major reason to justify investment in peripheral regions, and in locations where there is high unemployment or where restructuring of the economy is necessary. Infrastructure investment must be subject to decreasing marginal productivities, as additional links in an already extensive network make more industries footloose and its potential influence as a location factor is decreased. Even if there are decreases in transport costs, these may be absorbed through higher profits or rents, or through higher wages, or through lower prices to the consumer. Most analysis is aggregate and not concerned with the distributional issues.

5.Most transport infrastructure has been funded through the public sector. But if there are substantial benefits to companies from locating near to new road, railway or airport facilities, there should be some means by which the added value can be captured through development taxes and other forms of exactions—otherwise there will always be a ‘free rider’ problem. This occurs where developers benefit from the increased accessibility resulting from a new infrastructure project without actually contributing directly to that project. This issue is becoming increasingly important as public finance for infrastructure projects becomes less readily available, and as national and international governments look increasingly to the private sector for finance, either through projects which are completely financed in the private sector (e.g. the Channel Tunnel—see Vickerman, this volume) or through jointly funded projects (e.g. the Jubilee Line extension in London). However, the opportunities for projects funded entirely by the private sector may be limited, as the scale of many transport projects is substantial with a high level of perceived risk (e.g. cost overruns, long payback periods, uncertain levels of demand). Most potential is to be found in partnership projects, particularly where there are associated development opportunities (Banister et al., 1993; and Gomez-Ibanez and Meyer, this volume).

6.Fiscal and taxation policies also influence transport, land development and location. There are many distortions within the market and these all lead to artificially high levels of housing consumption, free use of the car through subsidies to company drivers and parking concessions, and speculative office development in many cities. In some cases cities are very restrictive on the types of development allowed, but in other locations all types of development will be welcomed as they bring employment and increases the economic base of the local economy. Exactions and impact fees may help, but these costs may be transferred to the final user thereby worsening housing and office quality in the city centre. This in turn may lead to pressure for more development on greenfield and peripheral locations.

7.Allocation of resources between different transport modes has always caused problems. To achieve a fully integrated transport market where all modes operate in harmony could be seen as one means to achieve the maximum development benefits from the transport system. Conversely, it could be argued that each transport mode operates in a separate submarket and the greatest overall benefit could be achieved through competition in the market. However, the direct benefits to the supplier and consumer of the transport service need to be balanced against broader social, development, environmental and other costs which may be imposed. The fundamental message of Mitchell and Rapkin (1954) seems to have been overlooked, namely that evaluating proposals only on transport criteria, without evaluating their impacts on land use and development, is not sufficient. There are methods available which can combine evaluation of the transport and land-use impacts, including all relevant costs and benefits relating to the natural, economic, social and cultural environment. Community Impact Evaluation is one method which achieves these objectives (Lichfield, 1988 and 1994). This method advances evaluation beyond simple transport assessment and would test the degree to which the designers of proposals had or had not taken into account the land-use and development implications. Similarly, multicriteria analysis methods can be used to assess the impact that transport will have on economic and social development (Nijkamp and Blaas, 1994).

8.There are many theories which have been used to examine the links between transport and urban development. The most important has been classical location theory, based on assumptions from land economics of optimality and equilibrium in land allocation. The basic causality assumed in the process is as follows. Accessibility determines the value for different uses at different locations, and as transport costs change, so do the rent levels, and as land uses and rents are linked by market processes, land uses and development also change. Reduced transport costs have allowed cities to spread as consumers have traded off the cheaper housing costs at the periphery against the higher transport costs. This has in turn reduced residential densities, a process reinforced by real increases in income levels. The same basic arguments have been applied to business locations. As transport costs have been reduced firms can become more competitive and expand or relocate at these accessible locations (see Berechman, this volume). Evolution theory argues that the initial growth of industry took place at particular locations (e.g. ports), and this in turn attracted associated activity related to the trade. Small scale activities in many locations were gradually replaced by concentration and dominance of a few locations which have particular competitive advantages. These dominant locations have easier links to their hinterlands, natural resources, a good transport infrastructure, but they must keep up with technological and other changes within the industry to maintain their position (see Van de Voorde, this volume). Models have been developed for location analysis, but not for evolution theory. In all cases they have been criticized on their narrow range of explanatory variables, their simplification of time, their assumptions on the nature of the household, and their base in market economics (Lee, 1973 and 1994; and Deakin, 1991).

More recent models have combined location and transport choice in a comprehensive and sophisticated manner (Wegener, 1994). Allocation of jobs and housing within a region is seen as a function of land availability, population and employment by category, household income and other factors. A second group of models has focused on a greater behavioural justification for location decisions, and has incorporated a wider range of detailed socio-economic and lifestyle descriptors. Transport is seen as only one of several decision variables. Substantial progress has been made in the development of models which more accurately reflect the complexity of the location and development issues. But this greater complexity has perhaps reduced their impact. There are still very few operational urban models which link transport and development, and even fewer have been validated in more than one application. Alternative, complementary approaches to problem solving and understanding the land-use, development and transport linkages are still required.

9. One of the basic methodological problems still remaining is that of causality between transport, urban and economic development. The specification of the counterfactual, or what would have happened if there had been no investment, is difficult. The treatment of time in analysis of transport and urban development is also weak as it has proved difficult to isolate the impacts over time, particularly where many of the factors being monitored change continuously by small amounts. There are specification and measurement problems, but the basic difficulty is in determining what one is comparing with what.

10. Similarly, where a major investment has taken place, new distribution networks have been established...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• THE CONTRIBUTORS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• OTHER TITLES FROM E & FN SPON
• CHAPTER 1: THE KEY ISSUES IN TRANSPORT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
• CHAPTER 2: TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• CHAPTER 3: ISTEA: INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND LAND USE
• CHAPTER 4: THE ECONOMIC DEBATE: THEORY AND PRACTICE
• CHAPTER 5: A EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE SPATIAL LINKS BETWEEN LAND USE, DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORT
• CHAPTER 6: TRANSPORT PLANNING, ENERGY AND DEVELOPMENT: IMPROVING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE BASIC RELATIONSHIPS
• CHAPTER 7: THE CHANNEL TUNNEL: THE CASE FOR PRIVATE SECTOR PROVISION OF PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE
• CHAPTER 8: CRITICAL ISSUES IN REGIONAL RAIL INVESTMENT
• CHAPTER 9: TECHNOPOLE DEVELOPMENT IN EURALILLE
• CHAPTER 10: DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS OF URBAN TRANSPORT: A US PERSPECTIVE
• CHAPTER 11: ACCESSIBILITY AND DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS
• CHAPTER 12: THE COMING OF SUPERTRAM; THE IMPACT OF URBAN RAIL DEVELOPMENT IN SHEFFIELD
• CHAPTER 13: URBAN RAIL DEVELOPMENT AND THE MEASUREMENT OF IMPACTS
• CHAPTER 14: DEVELOPMENT EFFECTS AT AIRPORTS: A CASE STUDY OF MANCHESTER AIRPORT
• CHAPTER 15: DEVELOPMENT EFFECTS AT AIRPORTS
• CHAPTER 16: SEA PORTS, LAND USE AND COMPETITIVENESS: HOW IMPORTANT ARE ECONOMIC AND SPATIAL STRUCTURES?
• CHAPTER 17: TRANSPORT TERMINALS, INTERCHANGES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• CHAPTER 18: PRIVATE TOLL ROADS IN THE UNITED STATES: RECENT EXPERIENCES AND PROSPECTS
• CHAPTER 19: PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT IN ROADS: THE RHETORIC AND THE REALITY
• CHAPTER 20: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS