Decisions for urban transport investments are based on urban transport planning and management and their evaluation is usually linked to transport related indicators (e.g. travel speed or traffic-safety). However, such investments have wider external socio-economic effects throughout the region and throughout time. The TranSEcon research project, funded under the fifth framework research program of the European Commission, is investigating these effects across European infrastructure investments focused on public transport (train, trolleybus, light rail and metro) but considering cycling and road traffic as well. One of the essential building blocks of network cities are attractive 'urban centres' that concentrate development. In The Netherlands, much effort is placed on the development of new development nodes. Examples are found in Amsterdam (at southern axis of the beltway), in Rotterdam (Kop van Zuid) but also the new town of Almere and Schiphol airport are developing into new urban centres. There are many questions about how to develop these new urban centres into attractive centres of urban life. Examples of city centre and subcentre development across Europe are used to explore alternative pathways. The research question how to implement integrated land-use and transport policies is considered in relation to some specific problems in The Netherlands concerning land-use and transport planning. The first problem is the way how to regionalise the integration of land-use and transport planners. The paper analyses the current weaknesses of Dutch implementation practice. After that some solutions and the relating best practices in other European cities are presented. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.
Abstract