KOTI - Korea Transport institute

The harmful effects of traffic congestion and environmental pollution in the capital region of Korea are serving as a hindrance to the sustainable development and the competitiveness of cities. To address this problem, transit-oriented development(TOD) has been established as a new alternative policy. Meanwhile, the construction of radial metropolitan railway lines around Seoul are being planned and pushed forward in the capital region. The measures to increase the demand for public transportation, to resolve traffic congestion, and to reinforce competitiveness within the nation and its cities through the interconnection of the urban development and transportation fields, however, are insufficient. Furthermore, the institutional improvement policy about the measures to enhance the interconnection between urban planning and transportation planning is becoming a major issue, but no clear alternative ways of improving the effectiveness of such measures to enhance the interconnection are being presented.
This study was conducted to come up with a plan for reorganizing the capital region into a spatial structure centered on rail for the current metropolitan railway project, by linking it with the TOD concept. Included in this study were the development strategies and implementation plans for TOD, and institutional improvement to relieve traffic congestion and to reduce the various social costs thereof. The spatial scope of this study was the capital region including Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do. As the analysis target of this study was the regional railway lines, the spatial scope was made to include the areas near the stations of the metropolitan railway lines, such as the Gyeongui Line, Gyeongchun Line, and Incheon Airport Railroad, and the TOD implementation strategies and institutional improvement measures were derived based on such a scope.
For diagnosis of the usage status and conditions of the regional railway lines in the capital region, the degree of how low utilization of the regional railway lines was determined. Such low utilization of the regional railway lines is due to the inefficient use of land in the areas near the stations. The capitalization effects of the housing prices in the railway station spheres in the capital region were diagnosed through the market prices of apartments. As a result, it was found that the capitalization effects of the railway stations were not reflected or even generated negative effects. This is interpreted as the result of the immature development conditions in railway station spheres. Furthermore, the negative effect of capitalization seems to be due to the fact that the prices of the apartments that are close to the stations were made lower than those of other housings due to the noises, vibrations, and other impediments to the beauty of such apartments, as most station buildings and railway sites for regional railway lines were developed above the ground. Therefore, the TOD of the railway station sphere needs to prevent negative effects of above ground railroads.
In an analysis of the correlations between the user demand for each railway station and the land use of the railway station influence areas in the capital region, it was found that the promotion of different land used efficiency advancement strategies by type of regional railway line and reinforcement of the transfer connection functions around the railway stations are needed. For example, non-residential high-density developments within walking distance areas for urban railway extensions, residential high-density development in the walking spheres for the regional railway lines in a narrow sense, and high-density development in the non-walking spheres together with complex land uses for interregional railway lines need to be promoted. It was determined that these different strategies will maximize the user demand for each type of regional railway line. Furthermore, it was confirmed that user’s railroad demand could be generated through the improvement of the accessibility and transfer connection function of the railway station buildings without any change in the land use in the neighboring areas.
An examination of the TOD concept and of overseas cases revealed that the TOD concept is developing and converging with other urban development concepts. The TOD concept started with 3 Ds(density, diversity, design), but since the mid-2000s, it has been claimed that the two planning elements of distance to station and destination accessibility, and the socioeconomic attributes of the population(demographics), need to be added. This suggests that the effects of TOD can be increased by considering the importance of public transportation and the demographics of the population residing in the development areas. Furthermore, the spatial scope of the TOD concept needs to be expanded from the point-unit development concept to the transit-oriented corridor concept(which emphasizes the transport network), transit-oriented community(which emphasizes urban renewal), and transit-oriented region. In addition, the need for a green TOD combined with the green-city concept is also being raised.
In a study on the TOD-type planned facilities and travel behaviors in the capital regional railway lines, surveys were conducted among the railway station users and related experts, and based on the results of such surveys, implications on government policy were derived. A survey of the relocation reasons of the residents near the regional railway stations showed that workplace accessibility, low housing price, and regional railway line accessibility were the residents’ main relocation reasons. These results show that the connection of the regional railway stations with the TOD needs to consider the improvement of employment and railway accessibility and the supply of inexpensive houses. The analysis of the results of a survey related to the use of regional railway lines showed that a greater demand for such lines can be created when they are used for commuting trips. An analysis of the residential locations and travel behaviors of the users and non-users of the metropolitan railway lines revealed that the better the accessibility, safety, landscape, and outdoor space conditions were, the higher the intention to use the regional railway lines became. This suggests that to increase the user demand for regional railway lines, it is critical to expand the connected transportation system and to supply high-quality residential areas.
For the preferences of urban planning facilities around the capital metropolitan railway stations, it was found that shopping centers, public facilities such as squares, and transfer facilities were needed. On the other hand, a survey among experts showed that shopping centers, multipurpose facilities, and amenities are important. The results of these surveys suggest that for the reinforcement of the connection of regional railway stations with the TOD, there is a need to improve the transportation connection functions and complex land uses.
The strategies to enhance the connection between the capital metropolitan railway lines and the TOD were presented based on the diagnosis of the development conditions, the consideration of domestic and overseas cases, and the analysis of the preferences for urban planning facilities and of travel behaviors. The results of the survey that was conducted among experts showed that there is consistency between the policy issues of the capital region and the expected effects of the TOD. Therefore, the resolution of the capital policy issues through the improvement of the connection between the regional railway lines and the TOD were presented as a vision. Based on this, the reorganization of the capital area structure for low cost and high efficiency was defined as a policy goal.

Six major directions of implementation for the improvement of the connection between the regional railway lines and the TOD were presented. First, measures to promote urban renewal in the existing urban areas based on the railway stations and on new development in the peripheral downtown areas, which are being used with low efficiency, were presented. Second, different TOD development strategies by type and location of the regional railway line need to be established. Third, a low-cost transportation structure, and highly efficient land use strategies need to be promoted at the same time by increasing the use of the regional railway lines through the construction of transfer connection systems. Fourth, the reduction of private cars use and increased railway user demand should be promoted by pushing forward complex land use around the metropolitan railway stations. Fifth, the realization of residential welfare needs to be promoted through the diversification of residential types. Sixth, the user demand for railway lines needs to be increased by promoting TOD considering the population and household characteristics. Based on these six implementation directions, four implementation strategies were suggested: spatial structure reorganization around the railway station influence areas based on choice and concentration, development and management of the railway station spheres considering the development conditions of each railway line, housing supply around the railway station spheres and realization of residential welfare, and mixed-use complex development of railway station buildings and reinforcement of the transfer connection system.
To smoothly carry out the strategy of improving the connection between the capital metropolitan railway lines and the TOD, the corresponding legal support systems and related plans need to be established or improved. As such, the related legal systems were examined, and four improvement measures were presented in this study. First, a mid- to long-term roadmap is suggested to be established for the TOD plan of the metropolitan railway lines. This mid- to long-term roadmap should be established to achieve consistency between the upper-level spatial plan and the railway station sphere development plan, to promote the interconnection between the development projects of the railway station sphere and its peripheries, and to harmonize the space and transportation plans. Second, financing measures need to be prepared to obtain the enormous funds required to promote TOD based on the capital metropolitan railway lines, and to realize residential welfare. For this purpose, the restitution of development gains from railway station sphere development needs to be improved. Objectivity should be improved by calculating the development costs and the development gains through an independent third-party organization. The scope and timing of funding needs to be readjusted so that the collected development gains could be used for the purpose of current projects. The scope of the uses for the development gains needs to be improved by expanding the uses to include small rental houses, parks and green belts, and other public facilities so as to realize public interests and to create business value. Third, guidelines for TOD-type development should be established. TOD-type development needs to be deployed in such a way as to guarantee sustainability, like urban general planning and extension town planning. In this respect, the guidelines must contain the vision of TOD for the future of cities, step-by-step considerations for the realization of TOD, and concrete guidelines for the formulation and implementation of the plans. Fourth, the related legal systems and the consistency between the upper- and lower-level plans need to be improved for the construction of a transfer center that interconnects the capital metropolitan railway stations and the TOD. The means of access to the railway station spheres needs to be diversified into walking, bus, and bicycle. Therefore, the legal support system needs to be improved so that the legal plans related to transportation and the TOD plans can reinforce the transfer connection function.
This study is meaningful in that it suggests the need for spatial-structure reorganization strategies when the domestic policy directions of TOD are to be expanded to metropolitan railway lines. In particular, the capital region has to improve the conditions of public transportation and must reduce environmental pollution by making full use of the metropolitan railway lines that are already currently in operation or that are yet to be opened in the future while at the same time making efforts for urban renewal in the existing urban areas. The findings of this study can be used as supplementary data for spatial-structure reorganization, for the promotion of desirable land uses, and for the construction of efficient transportation systems in the capital region