Understanding transportation prerequisites to be integrated with urban development in developing countries: Iran as a case

Abstract

Transit Oriented Development (TOD), as an integrated transportation and land use policy and practice, was given attention in recent decades to (re)formulate urban areas worldwide. Amongst different TOD planning dimensions at play in, the transportation design and policies tend to basically form the backbone of TODs, since a multimodal sustainable movement — public transportation (PT) for long trips as well as non-motorized transportation (NMT) for short ones — is on the agenda. Although it is agreed that TOD can provide even greater benefits than in wealthier countries in long term, developing countries (DCs) are characterized with specific transport-related issues such as vexing congestion, inadequate PT infrastructure, financial obstacles, etc., that should be dealt with to deliver successful integrated TOD projects. In this regards, the present study sheds further lights on the transportation prerequisites of transit oriented urban planning in DCs. First, a systematic review of global literature provided a set of transportation dimensions integrated with urban development. Due to the recent national policies on TOD, Iran was selected as a case and a set of semi-structured interviews was conducted with Iranian urban and transport planners along with government officials in April-June 2019. The results showed that although there are some favorable conditions to TOD developments in Iran e.g., amalgamated transportation and urban development ministries, urban transportation is hindered by pro-car policies such as subsidized fuel price and lack of multi-modal infrastructure in comparison with the best practices in such DCs as Curitiba. The findings have also implications for transportation policymakers, city officials, planners, and interested readers and practitioners in Iran and other DCs interested in TOD.