Designing BRT-oriented development

Abstract

BRT signifies a concrete commitment to bus transit, encompassing coordinated institutional, financial, physical, and operational interventions. This commitment can catalyse wider urban development by improving local and metropolitan accessibility and urban spaces and streetscapes. This chapter explores prospects for such BRT-oriented development (BRTOD). Transit-oriented development (TOD) aims to leverage the interactions between urban land use, mobility, and socio-economic systems. This chapter examines how BRT corridors might spur TOD, structuring the city and its spaces towards more equitable and transit-conducive urban forms. Specifically, it uses results from a graduate-level planning and design workshop set in two regions, Boston, Massachusetts and Santiago de Chile, to explore how BRT corridors might catalyse cross-disciplinary approaches to urban development. Adopting an integrated approach to the design of transit routes and infrastructures, surrounding public spaces, real estate projects, public policy and governance, the students’ proposals for these two corridors highlight BRT’s transformative potential across diverse urban settings.