Inclusive Urbanization through Transit Oriented Development: Perspectives from the City

The event will launch the new version of ITDP’s tool “Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Standard” that seeks to define a way forward for inclusive urbanization. Beginning with a presentation of its main conclusions and methodology used to measure the integration of land use and transport and how well places promote inclusive and accessible urbanization. Representatives from different stakeholder groups will discuss what inclusive and equitable urban development means to their particular context. Representatives from the “women” and “children and youth” will discuss safety issues while “older people” and “people with disabilities” will address issues of access. Representatives from “grassroots”, housing advocates and slum dwellers will discuss upgrading infrastructure and neighborhoods while ensuring inclusive and affordable development. A conversation will be facilitated to seek to understand the commonalities of inclusive TOD that all groups can move forward on. This event seeks to understand what do we mean when we say inclusive urbanization and how we can achieve it by using TOD as a tool for implementation and building a broader coalition of action agents. TOD is a solution to the unsustainable, car-dependent, exclusionary and transit-poor urban sprawl that has characterized the growth of cities around the world in the last half-century. It contrasts with transit-adjacent development that fails to foster the strong walking and cycling environment needed to complement and actively support the use of transit and non-motorized mobility options. The TOD standard is a powerful tool to help define, understand, and assess urban development. It focuses on maximizing the benefits of public transit and non-motorized mobility while placing emphasis firmly back on the users: the people.