Transit Oriented Development (TOD) for Inclusive and Sustainable Rural-Urban Regions

Transforming TOD into a sustainable planning concept for rural-urban regions

Recent policy reports of the European level as well as national and regional governments, point to sprawled rural-urban development as one of the greatest challenges to achieve sustainability in Europe and elsewhere. Highlighting mobility-urbanisation processes as both the cause and remedy of sprawl, these reports focus on Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) as a promising counterstrategy. Integrating transport and land-use planning, TOD holds the potential to facilitate mobile lives while redirecting car-dependent sprawl to sustainable projects at strategic nodes along the public transit system. Yet, current TOD has an undifferentiated, model-based approach to mobility-urbanisation relations as well as an entrenched urban bias in planning. This approach is producing strategies that are at odds with differentiated mobility-urbanisation relations in rural-urban regions (RURs) (see image example of RUR). As a result of this lack of TOD strategies sensitive to rural-urban hybrid landscapes, current TOD is producing environmental unsustainable and social unequal side-effects and risks in RURs. If Europe is to make a transition to inclusive and sustainable urbanisation, the contextualisation and extension of TOD is essential, as most Europeans live in differentiated rural-urban areas, not in undifferentiated urban cores.

Research and training focus on Transit Oriented Development (TOD) conceiving public transport as a backbone for Inclusive and Sustainable urbanisation in European Rural-Urban Regions (TOD-IS-RUR). This ITN will analyse and develop innovative context-based TOD approaches for RURs by bringing in expertise, methods and training from the interdisciplinary domain of urban studies, and drawing on a wide-range of European rural-urban contexts. 9 beneficiary academic partners and 12 partner organisations, create a unique platform for 10 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), providing innovative, interdisciplinary and intersectoral expert-level training (see image TOD-IS-RUR Training). The research and training will prepare a new generation of highly-skilled professionals able to meet the scientific and societal challenge of countering urban sprawl in the spatial contexts where most Europeans live, developing much-needed approaches for socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable TOD for RURs.

The research programme is structured by objectives at the level of the regional network (WP1:ESR1-4), the local station area (WP2:ESR5-8), and the overall TOD concept (WP3:ESR9-10). WP1 will trace and harness the regional interplay of mobility and urbanisation in RURs. WP2 will deepen the context-based approach on the local level, studying and developing the place-specificity of the station area. WP3 will make use of the research progress of WP1 and WP2 and feed back into them with a meta-reflection producing a conceptual approach, from which academic and non-academic partners can make use to further develop TOD for specific RURs. (see image TOD-IS-RUR Work Program)

Year 1
The first year of the TOD-IS-RUR project has been dedicated to the setting up of the project, execution of the recruitment process, and organising the training program of TOD-IS-RUR. At the network level, all ESRs took part in the Kick-off meeting and the Research Design Week as well as designed posters and interviewed the Partner Organisations, published on the TOD-IS-RUR website. At the local level, ESRs took part in scientific and transferable skill courses organised at their host institutions, as well as attended conferences, workshops and PhD schools.

Year 2
The second year focused on advancing the research and training programme and strengthening collaboration with non-academic partners. ESR projects in WP1, WP2 and WP3 progressed as planned. A key milestone was the interdisciplinary Framework Paper, co-authored by all ESRs and supervisors under WP3. All ESRs took part in Studio Paris, Workshop Berlin, Studio Lausanne, and two additional training sessions, and engaged in conferences, workshops, and writing retreats.

Year 3
The third year focused on translating research into practical outputs and continuing academic dissemination. ESR projects in WP1, WP2 and WP3 progressed as planned, with all secondments ongoing. Key deliverables—two Handbooks and two sets of Policy Recommendations—were co-authored by ESRs with supervisors and non-academic partners. All ESRs joined the network-wide events: Workshop MICRO Sweden, Studio Antwerp–Amsterdam, and Workshop SYNTHESIS. Several ESRs submitted or published peer-reviewed journal articles, advancing individual research dissemination.

Year 4
The final year focused on completing research, finalising secondments, and deepening stakeholder engagement. A major output was the TOD-IS-RUR White Paper, co-developed with all ESRs, synthesising project findings. The TOD-IS-RUR International Symposium, fully organised by the ESRs, brought together stakeholders from academia, policy, practice, and civil society. ESRs remained active at international conferences and several published or submitted articles to peer-reviewed journals.

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TOD-IS-RUR (Transit Oriented Development (TOD) for Inclusive and Sustainable Rural-Urban Regions)

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