City Centre Planning Considering Transport Network Design

A Report
CITY CENTRE PLANNING

CONSIDERING TRANSPORT
NETWORK DESIGN
Submitted to:
Prof. Jayadeep Barman
Submitted By:
Abhishek.Duvvada
13AR60R35
Masters in City Planning
Department of Architecture and Regional Planning

IIT Kharagpur
CITY CENTRE PLANNING CONSIDERING TRANSPORT NETWORK DESIGN
Contents
WHAT MAKES FOR GOOD CITY CENTRE DESIGN?....................................3
AIMS FOR CITY CENTRES DESIGN:............................................................3
CITY CENTRE – PUBLIC TRANSPORT:.........................................................4
The policy significance of public transport:..................................................5
PHYSICAL PLANNING PRINCIPLES:.............................................................5
LAND USES AND DENSITY........................................................................10
BUS STATIONS..........................................................................................10
PRIORITY TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT............................................................10
PEDESTRIANIZATION................................................................................11
PEDESTRIAN ACCESS TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT........................................12
DESIGN SUGGESTIONS:...........................................................................14
STREET LAYOUT....................................................................................14
STATION AND INTERCHANGE ENVIRONS..............................................18
PASSENGER FACILITIES........................................................................19
RAILWAY CORRIDORS............................................................................21
CONCLUSION:...........................................................................................22
REFERANCES............................................................................................23
Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 2

WHAT MAKES FOR GOOD CITY CENTRE DESIGN?
City centres should be the focal points of the local community they service
and can be essential components of an area’s local identity. They should be
the places where local services are concentrated and at which public
transport interchange occurs. Their design and appearance should
emphasize public and civic values. Their proper planning is the key to
reducing car dependence in Melbourne and other urban centres. The aims
that should guide the design of every activity centre are listed below.
AIMS FOR CITY CENTRES DESIGN:
1. Develop a good-quality public environment
Ensure public spaces within individual developments and throughout

activity centres are comfortable, engaging environments.
2. Promote street-based patterns of connection
Directly link developments within activity centres and with their

surrounding neighbourhoods using a fine-grained street system that
accommodates diverse modes of travel.
3. Improve community safety
Promote the natural surveillance of public space and street edge activity.
This can be achieved by ensuring buildings address the street and contain
active uses on the ground floor. Clearly define public and private space.
4. Encourage a mix of uses
Optimize the diversity of uses in activity centres where the mix promotes
vitality, extends the hours of activity and intensifies the use of existing
infrastructure.
5. Improve pedestrian and cycling amenity

Encourage an increase in pedestrian and cycling traffic by maximizing the

convenience, safety and appeal of these modes of travel.
6. Promote a public transport focus
Better integrate public transport with activity centres by increasing

community comfort, safety and accessibility.
7. Increase accessibility and integration
Ensure activity centres are a focus for the entire community, are accessible
to all, and are physically integrated with the surrounding neighbourhood.
8. Encourage environmental sustainability
Promote the efficient reuse of existing assets, prolong the life cycle of
structures, ensure energy efficiency and water and resource conservation
and encourage appropriate orientation and use of materials.
CITY CENTRE – PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
Public transport contributes to the prosperity of city centers by bringing in

workers, shoppers, customers for leisure pursuits and a whole range of
other activities.
Maintaining access whilst protecting the environment has been

fundamental concern in city centre transport planning.
Generally this has been based on defining two kinds of area; the area
in which access takes priority over the environment and another in which
environment takes precedence.
If activity centres are to fulfill the promise of increased sustainability, they

need to attract more public transport users. Many activity centres function
as critical nodes in the public transport system already. However, if public
transport use is to be increased, it must become a central feature of every
activity centre and offer a more convenient alternative to car-based travel.

Improving the connection between different routes and modes of public

transport in well-located interchanges that are integrated with the street and
building fabric of the activity centre is an important
Component in encouraging increased use.
The policy significance of public transport:
Cities across the globe face many pressing economic social and
environmental challenges.
Efficient public transport networks are integral features of modern
urban transport systems.
Public transport networks can contribute markedly to urban economic
performance, social cohesion and sustainable environmental
outcomes.
Most major cities in the advanced nations, particularly those outside
the USA, could not easily function without the public transport
networks and the systems upon which many of their residents rely for
urban travel.
Mobility based on private motor vehicles is proving increasingly
difficult to maintain and support as urban vehicle fleets expand and
bring new costs measured in road congestion and increasingly
expensive road capacity expansion that now often requires complex
and costly engineering to avoid surface level displacement of urban
communities.
PHYSICAL PLANNING PRINCIPLES:
Design of public transport network depends on representing of several

groups such as passengers, operators. People and business in the locality
and taxpayers who provide subsidy. This translates into three main groups
of function.
 Accessibility of passengers: spread of routes to give a maximum

distance of 300/500meters or whatever the policy decided upon.

Avoiding as far as long detours and re-tracking which result in time

wasting and expense of operation.
 Minimization of nuisance in terms of noise, fumes, visual intervention
to people in locality.
 Operation of routes within the technology available slopes, turning
spaces for buses, traffic conditions, and cross-city routes have been
unpopular with operators due to heavy traffic in the town centre.
Ring road or primary peripheral roads to the city centre with parking
Figure. There are limits to what is a reasonable walking distance from car
parking near the ring road and this means that this arrangement work
best in the cities with a tightly defined inner ring road such as in
Birmingham. In larger cities public transport could be provided from the
car parks but the city centre would have to be more attractive to
overcome this drawback.
Figure 1: Suburb city centre bus oriented structure. Environmental areas may be shopping
centres
Public Transport goes right into the center to keep it alive. Services
between suburb and city centre may terminate in a loop. Cross-city
services, usual for trams, light rapid transit and metros but not so
common with buses, give a much better services to the opposite side of

city centre. A problem is uneven demand from suburbs at opposite end of

the route. Services terminating at the opposite side of the city centre are
solution where the road pattern allows. Although the services should
provide a better service to passengers, they have not been popular with
transport operators due to heavy traffic in centre.
Figure 2: Public transport node peripheral to the city with metro spur projecting into
environmentally protected areas
The city centre may be divided into cells with access from an inner ring
road. To pavement through traffic there may be no connection between
the cells. Birmingham and Frankfurt adopt this principle
Collecting nodes for public transport peripheral to the centre often

developed around the railway station. These nodes collect through traffic
to avoid it having to cross the city centre. Local public transport services
connect node with city centre

Figure 3: Public transport node peripheral to the city centre, penetration into environmentally
protected areas is by train, Metro or LRT
Cross-city metro, tram or light rapid transit associated with

environmental improvements such as pedestrianization or conservation f
historic buildings. Bus ways could serve a similar function and in fact
offer some advantages over rail transport except where demand is very
heavy. Bus ways are very expensive to construct more easily converted to
general purpose roads if required. More easily adopted to changes in
passenger demand and fit more easily into suburban bus network.
Figure 4: Two metro lines from a circle in the city centre; Main line railway station at one of
them

Figure 5: A metro replaces a busy bus route with limited pedestrianization ond other
environmental improvements above
Buses coverage on suburban metro stations and terminate there. To

permit change between buses it is usually better to terminate at metro
terminus and a few other stations. Some buses are therefore kept out of
the city centre resulting in a significant reduction in level of traffic on few
streets.
Satellite city centre to filter of some potensid journeys to the city centre
and escape high accommodation costs. Routine office jobs which do not
require immediate contact with city centre have been relocated to satellite
city centers.
Figure 6 A large city centre with several main line railway stations on a metro circle. other
cross-city metro lines mostly pass through atleast one main line station

Figure 7: the figure-of-eight variable only for smaller cities. the rather circuitous route to the
city centre from the suburbs would render distances too great in larger cities
LAND USES AND DENSITY
Accessibility is a very powerful factor in determining land prices,

profitability and intensity of use. This is one area where planning authorities
have good reason not to try to divert the property market but to harness it to
raise the local taxes.
Workers seem to be more conscious of time spent in travelling than are

shoppers. Hence offices offices tend to take precedence around city-centre
railway stations, especially in large cities such as London.
The offices can also offer scope for much greater density of building and
can take greater advantage of accessibility.
Shoppers are more readily put off by obstacles such as lifts, stair cases
or the need to cross busy roads than are those travelling to work. Hence the
popularity of shopping on ground floors, first floors and basements.
We also can have shopping very close to transport nodes, perhaps in

under pass leading to it or on the ground floors of high rise office blocks.
Further away, density decreases and environment takes precedence.

BUS STATIONS
They allow passengers to change easily between services. Well designed

in the open air they can also be an attractive gathering place for shops,
leisure and other facilities. And the alternative to the bus stations is to use
only kerb side stops.
PRIORITY TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT
It is much cheaper and easier to give priority to give public transport on the
existing network as a supplement or a substitute for a new network.
There are variations on bus lanes and bus ways using existing roads with
varying degrees of separation from the general traffic circulation. A
separated bus lane at congested road stretch could help to reduce delays to
public transport. At the other extreme it can be separated road network for
exclusive use by buses as in Birmingham and Redditch.
Trams share on the road carriageway encounter problems for buses because
of their strength and accumulated momentum so they can be kept
underground through the congested districts as in Marseille.
Providing a new public transport such as metro systems is an expensive

solution in certain cities and not very effective in enticing travelers away
from their cars. It may also be environmentally destructive if not
underground as in Delhi
Rail based transport certainly helps to reduce congestion, stopping and

alighting from buses on the periphery of pedestrian areas and can give large
capacity direct access with little environmental change, especially if it is
underground.
PEDESTRIANIZATION
The majority of pedestrian schemes are associated with predominantly

shopping uses. This presumably reflects the importance of the environment
for browsing around shops at greater length.

The elimination or strict regulation of traffic is nearly always accompanied

by an increase in trade on the streets and environmental improvements are
concerned.
Bus lane Pedestrianization Upper floors

ground floor with
shopping activity compatible
Bus Station A well designed design with street land uses
street layout to infrastructure such as
accommodate
offices and
traffic
other
PEDESTRIAN ACCESS TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Distance to walk is not only a significant consideration but even the

distance is more, how you make the people to relive from boredom with
interesting design when they pass along the ramps and underpasses and
revenue producing shopping frontages with careful design of pavements and
street furniture and lightning to enhance environment as in German cities.

Shops and underpasses can be symbiotic. Underpasses are potentially well

trodden paths.
Shops can take advantage of their passing trade and indeed enhance it. By
acting as source surveillance they might help to reduce the chances of
violent crime.
Shops may even instill a sense of identity into those anonymous and for the
visitor confusing paths.

DESIGN SUGGESTIONS:
STREET LAYOUT
OBJECTIVE
To develop a street layout with a focus on public transport services.
DESIGN SUGGESTION– LOCATE NEW ACTIVITY CENTRES ON MAJOR

PUBLIC TRANSPORT NODES, ALONG MAIN ROADS AND CLOSE TO
ARTERIAL SYSTEMS TO ENSURE THEY ARE EASILY ACCESSIBLE.
DESIGN SUGGESTION– DEVELOP

A STREET AND BLOCK LAYOUT
TO ALLOW FOR THE
REQUIREMENTS OF LOCAL
PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES
AND CONNECTIONS TO THE
PRINCIPAL PUBLIC TRANSPORT
NETWORK.
For example, avoid dead-end

streets and ensure adequate road
width and block layout for public
transport vehicles.
DESIGN SUGGESTION– SEEK

OPPORTUNITIES TO PROVIDE BUS-ONLY LANES WHERE BUS SERVICES
CONVERGE INTO ACTIVITY CENTRES.
OBJECTIVE
To provide a well-connected road network with co-located access for

all users.
DESIGN SUGGESTION– CREATE AN ‘INTER-CONNECTED’ ARRANGEMENT

OF STREETS WITH INCORPORATED FOOTPATHS AND CYCLE PATHS.

A fine grained street system will encourage pedestrian use and street
activity.
DESIGN SUGGESTION– DEVELOP A STREET LAYOUT THAT

ACCOMMODATES VEHICULAR TRAFFIC AND ON-STREET PARKING
NEEDS WITHOUT COMPROMISING WALKING AND CYCLING AMENITY.
Avoid solutions that segregate the different travel modes along separate
circulation systems as this can result in less activity in the street and can
therefore reduce pedestrian amenity.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – EXTEND THE EXISTING PRINCIPAL BICYCLE

NETWORK OR MUNICIPAL BICYCLE NETWORK INTO THE ACTIVITY
CENTRE AND LINK NEW BICYCLE ROUTES INTO THIS NETWORK.
DESIGN SUGGESTION –
PROVIDE ADEQUATE
ACCESS FOR COMMERCIAL
VEHICLE, SERVICE AND
LOADING ACTIVITIES
USING THE ACTIVITY
CENTRE STREETS.
ACCOMMODA TE
HEAVY/INAPPROPRIATE
VEHICLE MOVEMENTS ON
FREEWAYS OR ARTERIAL
ROADS THAT AVOID THE
ACTIVITY CENTRE.
In doing so, ensure bypasses

do not siphon off all
vehicular traffic as it can add

life and activity along activity centre streets, and increase the economic
viability of the centre.
OBJECTIVE
To provide appropriate street widths.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – RELATE THE WIDTH OF STREETS TO THE

CHARACTERISTICS OF ADJOINING LAND USES, THE SCALE, TYPOLOGY
AND SETBACK OF BUILDING DEVELOPMENTS, THE TYPE OF STREET
FRONTAGEAND ACCESS
REQUIREMENTS.
Consider the design of the

entire street width and not
just the roadway with regard
to the activities that occur in
the street (for example,
outdoor dining, public
transport waiting facilities,
etc.).
PROVIDE A STREET
CROSS-SECTION THAT
ALLOWS FOR AN
ADEQUATE LEVEL OF ON-
STREET PARKING.
CONSIDER THE NEED FOR
EMERGENCY AND SERVICE
VEHICLE ACCESS (THIS
GENERALLY REQUIRES

STREETS THAT ARE 4 METRES WIDE AND HAVE 4 METRES VERTICAL

CLEARANCE).
OBJECTIVE
To integrate activity centre streets into the local street network
DESIGN SUGGESTION – EXTEND KEY ELEMENTS OF REGULARLY

STRUCTURED SURROUNDING STREET (FOR EXAMPLE, STREET
PATTERN, ORIENTATION AND ALIGNMENT INTO THE ACTIVITY CENTRE).
Minimize winding street alignments, which increase pedestrian/cycling

distances.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – USE A BLOCK SIZE AND SHAPE THAT FOSTERS

ACCESSIBILITY.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – PROVIDE DIRECT LINKS TO SURROUNDING

NEIGHBOURHOODS, PARTICULARLY FOR PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS.

STATION AND INTERCHANGE ENVIRONS
OBJECTIVE
To encourage public transport use by providing convenient, prominent

and active stations and interchanges.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – INTEGRATE TRANSIT STOPS AND

INTERCHANGES INTO THE DESIGN AND LAYOUT OF THE ACTIVITY
CENTRE, AND LOCATE THEM CENTRALLY.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – DEVELOP

STATION FORECOURTS AS PART OF AN
ACTIVITY CENTRE’S PUBLIC SPACE
SYSTEM.
This can be achieved by developing the

entrances and approaches to stations
and interchanges to enhance their
appearance, and to make them function
as arrival points in the activity centre
and as public spaces in their own right.
Entrance points that are generous in
proportions and provide for safe,
convenient access will assist in this
process.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – SURROUND

RAILWAY STATIONS, TRANSIT STOPS
AND INTERCHANGES WITH ACTIVE,
GROUND-LEVEL USES.
In particular, convenience shops, cafes

and other day-to-day services and uses
that stay open for extended periods can enhance safety and contribute to
the liveliness of the interchange. Minimize low-activity uses, large car parks

and blank walls around railway stations and interchanges as they can make
the interchange feel unsafe.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – MAXIMISE THE EFFICIENCY OF RAILWAY

STATIONS/MAJOR BUS STOPS AS TRANSPORT INTERCHANGES.
For example, provide separate, direct bus access to interchanges to avoid

conflict with parking and pedestrian routes.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – USE DEVELOPMENT TO FILL GAPS IN AND

AROUND RAILWAY STATIONS
PASSENGER FACILITIES
OBJECTIVE
To provide high–quality passenger amenity.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – PROVIDE COMFORTABLE, WEATHER-

PROTECTED STOPS.
Integrate weather-protected stops into the architecture and streetscape of

the activity centre and, where appropriate, provide air-conditioned waiting
facilities and real-time travel information, in safe, active areas.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – ENSURE THE INTERIOR LIGHTING OF SHELTERS

SUPPORTS PEOPLE’S ABILITY TO
SEE INTO DARKER SURROUNDING
AREAS AT NIGHT, BY LIMITING THE
BRIGHTNESS LEVEL AND
ENSURING A HIGH QUALITY ‘WHITE-
LIGHT’.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – PROVIDE

SECURE END-OF-TRIP BICYCLE
STORAGE.

This will extend the catchment area of public transport routes.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – PROVIDE LOCAL AND RELEVANT TRAVEL

INFORMATION.
For example, provide route maps, timetables and clear signage to transit
stops, station exits, platforms and public facilities including toilets,
telephones and taxi ranks. Where appropriate, signage should incorporate
familiar international symbols and walking times and distances and include
a current contact telephone number to call for maintenance.
OBJECTIVE
To provide safe, attractive and direct pedestrian and cycling access

to stations, interchanges and transit stops.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – PROVIDE CLEAR, CONTINUOUS, DIRECT AND

ATTRACTIVE PEDESTRIAN AND
CYCLE ROUTES TO STATIONS AND TRANSIT STOPS.
For example, focus well-used and connected local pedestrian paths and
cycle routes (including the Principal and Metropolitan Bicycle Network) on
the station or interchange.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – ENSURE A HIGH LEVEL OF VISIBILITY AND

NATURAL SURVEILLANCE ALONG ACCESS ROUTES AND ENCOURAGE
ACTIVE USES TO FRONT ONTO THEM.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – ENSURE SAFE AND CONVENIENT ACCESS IS

PROVIDED FOR PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL MOBILITY REQUIREMENTS SUCH
AS PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY AND THOSE WITH PRAMS AND SHOPPING
JEEPS.

RAILWAY CORRIDORS
OBJECTIVE
To minimize the dividing

effect of railway corridors
on activity centres.
LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES
TO DEVELOP UNDER-
UTILISED RAILWAY LAND.
The area above and alongside

railway lines and stations,
particularly above cuttings can often be used to connect the two sides of the
railway line closer together.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – RESPECT THE EXISTING CHARACTER AND

HERITAGE VALUES OF RAILWAY STATIONS, WHERE APPLICABLE, AND
MODERATE THE SCALE AND FORM OF NEW DEVELOPMENT TO SUIT.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – IMPROVE THE PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLING

CONNECTIVITY AROUND RAILWAY CORRIDORS.
For example, develop cycle and walking paths along rail corridors, where
appropriate, and link these paths to both sides of the rail corridor where
possible. Encourage natural surveillance of these paths to enhance the
safety of these public spaces.
DESIGN SUGGESTION – CONSIDER THE ROLE OF LANDSCAPING

AROUND THE RAIL CORRIDOR.
Improve the outlook from the train and the local environment and air quality
by landscaping available land beside railway lines. When undertaking
landscaping, ensure existing significant vegetation is not destroyed and that
planting does not impede sightlines or the ultimate growth of vegetation.

CONCLUSION:
Could public transport revive the city centre?
The problems caused by loss or, perhaps more accurately, the transfer of
shopping, jobs and commercial activities may not be as great as has
sometimes been implied in feasibility studies for light rapid transit.
Nevertheless they are real in many cities and potential in even more.
Environmental deterioration is even clearer.
Shopping, entertainment, employers and other city-centre users already rely

on public transport to bring in up to a half or two-thirds of those travelling
to them. Public transport already essential to maintain the form of
practically large cities. Buses are the cheapest in fulfilling social aims. And
the question is ‘Should more expensive local railways be built on the
grounds that they will grow further to meet economic as well as social aims?’
Well there is an answer for that when the metros has been developed as part
of a restructuring of public transport, co-ordination of time tables,
pedestrianization and other measures to improve environment.
City centre planning policies must reflect a desire to progress towards four
main objectives:
 To give accessibility,
 To maintain and enhance the environment,
 To cause minimum of disturbance to existing users and
 To stimulate the economy of the centre.

REFERANCES
 CITY CENTRE PALNNING AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT by Barry J.

Simpson
 Activity centre design guidelines by Dept. of sustainability and
environment
 Public Transport and Urban Design – HITrans best Practice guide

City Centre Planning Considering Transport Network Design

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A Report

CITY CENTRE PLANNING

Prof. Jayadeep Barman

Masters in City Planning

Department of Architecture and Regional Planning

AIMS FOR CITY CENTRES DESIGN:............................................................3

CITY CENTRE – PUBLIC TRANSPORT:.........................................................4

The policy significance of public transport:..................................................5

PHYSICAL PLANNING PRINCIPLES:.............................................................5

LAND USES AND DENSITY........................................................................10

PRIORITY TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT............................................................10

PEDESTRIAN ACCESS TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT........................................12

STATION AND INTERCHANGE ENVIRONS..............................................18

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 2

WHAT MAKES FOR GOOD CITY CENTRE DESIGN?

AIMS FOR CITY CENTRES DESIGN:

1. Develop a good-quality public environment

Ensure public spaces within individual developments and throughout

2. Promote street-based patterns of connection

Directly link developments within activity centres and with their

3. Improve community safety

4. Encourage a mix of uses

5. Improve pedestrian and cycling amenity

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 3

Encourage an increase in pedestrian and cycling traffic by maximizing the

6. Promote a public transport focus

Better integrate public transport with activity centres by increasing

7. Increase accessibility and integration

8. Encourage environmental sustainability

CITY CENTRE – PUBLIC TRANSPORT:

Public transport contributes to the prosperity of city centers by bringing in

Maintaining access whilst protecting the environment has been

If activity centres are to fulfill the promise of increased sustainability, they

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 4

Improving the connection between different routes and modes of public

Component in encouraging increased use.

The policy significance of public transport:

PHYSICAL PLANNING PRINCIPLES:

Design of public transport network depends on representing of several

 Accessibility of passengers: spread of routes to give a maximum

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 5

Avoiding as far as long detours and re-tracking which result in time

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 6

city centre. A problem is uneven demand from suburbs at opposite end of

Collecting nodes for public transport peripheral to the centre often

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 7

Cross-city metro, tram or light rapid transit associated with

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 8

Buses coverage on suburban metro stations and terminate there. To

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 9

LAND USES AND DENSITY

Accessibility is a very powerful factor in determining land prices,

Workers seem to be more conscious of time spent in travelling than are

We also can have shopping very close to transport nodes, perhaps in

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 10

They allow passengers to change easily between services. Well designed

PRIORITY TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Providing a new public transport such as metro systems is an expensive

Rail based transport certainly helps to reduce congestion, stopping and

The majority of pedestrian schemes are associated with predominantly

Abhishek. D 13AR60R35 Page 11

The elimination or strict regulation of traffic is nearly always accompanied