TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT IN A METROPOLITAN RAIL NETWORK IN TRANSITION: EVALUATING STATION AREAS IN METRO VALPARAÍSO, CHILE
TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT IN A METROPOLITAN RAIL NETWORK IN TRANSITION: EVALUATING STATION AREAS IN METRO VALPARAÍSO, CHILE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23854/07199562.2025613.cortesKeywords:
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), railway transportation, Land use and transportation integration, urban accessibilityAbstract
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a key approach to sustainable urban planning, although its application in emerging metropolitan areas with regional rail networks presents underexplored challenges. This study evaluates the alignment of the immediate surroundings of Valparaíso Metro stations with TOD principles, under the hypothesis that the mere presence of rail infrastructure does not guarantee synergistic urban configurations with this approach. The research develops a TOD index based on five dimensions of the urban environment and complements it with an independent assessment of pedestrian accessibility, treated as an external variable, integrating multivariate analysis to classify stations typologically. The results identify five groups with contrasting performance, ranging from established central areas to low-density environments with limited functional integration. The accessibility analysis reveals significant dissociations between physical configuration and effective connectivity, demonstrating that high levels of density or mix of uses do not always translate into adequate pedestrian access. This research introduces the categories of incomplete centralities and functional stations without morphological synergy to describe environments where transport function and urban form evolve in a disjointed manner. Evidence suggests that, in contexts of urban fragmentation and legacy structures, TOD provides greater value as a diagnostic framework than as a rigid normative model. This approach offers replicable conceptual and methodological tools for assessing rail environments and guiding differentiated urban planning and transport interventions in emerging metropolitan areas.
Downloads
References
Acosta, C., Jauregui-Fung, F., Lana, B., & Aulestia, D. (2025). Financiamiento del desarrollo urbano: Suelo y movilidad pública en ciudades de Asia y América Latina (Documentos de proyectos N.º 81535). Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL). https://hdl.handle.net/11362/81535
Álvarez-Palau, E., Hernández-Asensi, M., & Tort-Aymerich, A. (2016). Modelo morfológico de crecimiento urbano inducido por la infraestructura ferroviaria: Estudio de caso en 25 ciudades catalanas. Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 20(527).
https://doi.org/10.1344/sn2016.20.15789
Banerjee, I. (2024). Railopolis: City within a city. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 17(3), 443–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2022.2074523
Bertolini, L. (1999). Spatial development patterns and public transport: The application of an analytical model in the Netherlands. Planning Practice and Research, 14(2), 199-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459915724
Bolleter, J., & Ramalho, C. E. (2020). Transit-oriented development (TOD) and its problems. En J. Bolleter & C. E. Ramalho, Greenspace-oriented development (pp. 17–33). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29601-8_2
Bonvino, G. (2019). Funding public transport in Turin with transit oriented development land value capture. En R. D. Knowles & F. Ferbrache (Eds.), Transit oriented development and sustainable cities (pp. 66–79). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Calthorpe, P. (1993). The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream. Princeton Architectural Press.
Campos-Sánchez, F.-S., Abarca-Álvarez, F.-J., Serra-Coch, G., & Chastel, C. (2019). Evaluación comparativa del nivel de desarrollo orientado al transporte (DOT) en torno a nodos de transporte de grandes ciudades: Métodos complementarios de ayuda a la decisión. Revista EURE – Revista de Estudios Urbano Regionales, 45(134), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0250-71612019000100005
Cervero, R. (2020). The transit metropolis: A 21st century perspective. En E. Deakin (Ed.), Transportation, land use, and environmental planning (pp. 131–149). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815167-9.00007-4
Cervero, R., & Dai, D. (2014). BRT TOD: Leveraging transit-oriented development with bus rapid transit investments. Transport Policy, 36, 127–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2014.08.001
Cervero, R., & Kockelman, K. (1997). Travel demand and the 3Ds: Density, diversity, and design. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 2(3), 199–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1361-9209(97)00009-6
Cervero, R., & Murakami, J. (2009). Rail and property development in Hong Kong: Experiences and extensions. Urban Studies, 46(10), 2019–2043. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098009339431
Cervero, R., Suzuki, H., & Iuchi, K. (2013). Transformando las ciudades con el transporte público: Integración del transporte público y el uso del suelo para un desarrollo urbano sostenible. Banco Mundial. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12233
Cortés-Salinas, A. (2023). Transformaciones socioespaciales ante cambios en las infraestructuras de transporte: El caso del mejoramiento del Metro Regional de Valparaíso y la autopista Troncal Sur en las comunas de Viña del Mar, Quilpué y Villa Alemana (1998–2022) [Tesis doctoral, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile]. Repositorio UC. https://doi.org/10.7764/tesisUC/ARQ/75396
Curtis, C., Renne, J. L., & Bertolini, L. (Eds.). (2009). Transit oriented development: Making it happen. Ashgate.
Deboosere, R., El-Geneidy, A. M., & Levinson, D. (2018). Accessibility-oriented development. Journal of Transport Geography, 70, 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.05.015
Dittmar, H., & Ohland, G. (Eds.). (2003). The new transit town: Best practices in transit-oriented development. Island Press.
Fouré, G. (2022). La planificación territorial en Chile: Realidades y potencialidades. El caso de la región de Valparaíso [Tesis doctoral, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona].
Geurs, K. T., & van Wee, B. (2004). Accessibility evaluation of land-use and transport strategies: Review and research directions. Journal of Transport Geography, 12(2), 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2003.10.005
Hidalgo, D., & Huizenga, C. (2013). Implementation of sustainable urban transport in Latin America. Research in Transportation Economics, 40(1), 66–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2012.06.034
Huang, R., Grigolon, A., Madureira, M., & Brussel, M. (2018). Measuring transit-oriented development (TOD) network complementarity based on TOD node typology. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2018.1110
Hurst, N. B., & West, S. E. (2014). Public transit and urban redevelopment: The effect of light rail transit on land use in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 46, 57-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2014.02.002
Jamme, H.-T., Rodriguez, J., Bahl, D., & Banerjee, T. (2019). A twenty-five-year biography of the TOD concept: From design to policy, planning, and implementation. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 39(4), 409–428. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X19882073
Knowles, R. D., & Ferbrache, F. (2019). Introduction: Transit oriented development and sustainable cities. En R. D. Knowles & F. Ferbrache (Eds.), Transit oriented development and sustainable cities (pp. 1–12). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Knowles, R.D & Nikitas, A. (2025). Transit-oriented development versus car-dependent development: The importance of high frequency transit services and prior investment in transit. Cities, 166, 106231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.106231
Liao, C., & Scheuer, B. (2022). Evaluating the performance of transit-oriented development in Beijing metro station areas: Integrating morphology and demand into the node-place model. Journal of Transport Geography, 100, 103333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103333
Liu, Y., Nath, N., Murayama, A., & Manabe, R. (2022). Transit-oriented development with urban sprawl? Four phases of urban growth and policy intervention in Tokyo. Land Use Policy, 112, 105854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105854
Lyu, G., Bertolini, L., & Pfeffer, K. (2016). Developing a TOD typology for Beijing metro station areas. Journal of Transport Geography, 55, 40-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.07.002
Maturana, F. (2017). ¿Ausencia de planificación urbana en Chile? Algunas reflexiones. Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography. https://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/28064
Muga, E., & Rivas, M. (2009). Mutaciones y cambios en la estructura urbana del Área Metropolitana de Valparaíso. En R. Hidalgo, C. De Mattos, & F. Arenas (Eds.), Chile: Del país urbano al país metropolitano (pp. 201–222). Santiago de Chile: Serie Geolibros N.º 12, Colección EURE-Libros.
Napadensky, A., & Orellana, A. (2019). Metropolización y organización funcional de sistemas urbanos intermedios: Gran La Serena, Concepción y Puerto Montt. Bitácora Urbano Territorial, 29(1), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.15446/bitacora.v29n1.67325
Nigro, A., Bertolini, L., & Moccia, F. D. (2019). Land use and public transport integration in small cities and towns: Assessment methodology and application. Journal of Transport Geography, 74, 110-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.11.004
Orellana, A., Arenas, F., & Moreno, D. (2020). Ordenamiento territorial en Chile: Nuevo escenario para la gobernanza regional. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, (77), 31–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34022020000300031
Papa, E. (2019). Implementing transit oriented development in Greater London. En R. D. Knowles & F. Ferbrache (Eds.), Transit oriented development and sustainable cities (pp. 186-197). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Papa, E., & Bertolini, L. (2015). Accessibility and transit-oriented development in European metropolitan areas. Journal of Transport Geography, 47, 70–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2015.07.003
Pereira, R. H. M., Banister, D., Schwanen, T., & Wessel, N. (2017, September 1). Distributional effects of transport policies on inequalities in access to opportunities in Rio de Janeiro [Working paper]. Social Science Research Network (SSRN). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3040844
Pucci, P. (2019). Stations: Nodes and places of everyday life. En P. Pucci & G. Vecchio (Eds.), Enabling mobilities (pp. 59-79). Springer.
Rodríguez, D. A., & Vergel-Tovar, C. E. (2013). Bus rapid transit and urban development in Latin America. Land Lines, 25(1), 14–21. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/bus-rapid-transit-urban-development-latin-america
Schlossberg, M., & Brown, N. (2004). Comparing transit-oriented development sites by walkability indicators. Transportation Research Record, 1887(1), 34-42. https://doi.org/10.3141/1887-05
Staricco, L., & Vitale Brovarone, E. (2018). Promoting TOD through regional planning. A comparative analysis of two European approaches. Journal of Transport Geography, 66 (1), 45-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.11.011
Sun, Y., Han, B., & Lu, F. (2024). An overview of TOD level assessment around rail transit stations. Urban Rail Transit, 10(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40864-023-00211-3
Sung, H., & Eom, S. (2024). Evaluating transit-oriented new town development: Insights from Seoul and Tokyo. Habitat International, 144, 102996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2023.102996
Ureña, J. M., Menerault, P., & Garmendia, M. (2009). The high-speed rail challenge for big intermediate cities: A national, regional and local perspective. Cities, 26(5), 266–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2009.07.001
Vecchio, G. (2021). Train stations as nodes and places: The potential of trains for transit-oriented urban development in Santiago, Chile. Urbano (Concepción), 24(43), 84–95. https://doi.org/10.22320/07183607.2021.24.43.08
Vergel-Tovar, C. E., & Rodríguez, D. A. (2022). Bus rapid transit impacts on land uses and development over time in Bogotá and Quito. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 15(1), 425–462. https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2022.1888
Wu, H., Lee, J. (B.), & Levinson, D. (2023). The node-place model, accessibility, and station level transit ridership. Journal of Transport Geography, 113,103739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103739
Zhang, M. (2025). Next-gen TOD: Transforming transit-oriented development to embrace new challenges and opportunities. Urban Rail Transit. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40864-025-00242-y
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Revista Geográfica de Chile Terra Australis
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright notice:
Revista Geográfica de Chile Terra Australis retains the economic rights (copyright) of the works published in the Revista Geográfica de Chile Terra Australis. The reuse of the content is allowed under a license:
CC BY
Recognition
This license allows others to distribute, remix, tweak and build upon your work, even for commercial purposes, as long as you are acknowledged as the author of the original creation. This is the most helpful license offered. It is recommended for maximum dissemination and use of the materials subject to the license.
