Striking the balance between density and life quality: The application of T.O.D approach for an urban renewal

Abstract

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a design and planning strategy focusing on creating connected, walkable, and mix-use communities around public transit hubs, whether central or linear ones. The main goal of (TOD) is to promote the use of public transport and gradually abandon relying on individual cars, with the aim of pushing cities towards urban sustainability, by integrating everything related to citizens daily lives, including housing; services; entertainment and commerce, within a close range, usually measured in a 10-minute walk towards and from transportation spots. This concept came to life in the late 1980s and early 1990s, led by urban planners such as “Peter Calthorpe”, and has come to play a crucial role in the urban renewal processes to save neglected and impractical urban areas and wastelands and impel them towards achieving tight connectivity in terms of functions and residents, revitalizing their neighborhoods, and promoting social justice by improving access; reducing chaotic and ill-considered residential sprawl and thus contributing to developing more flexible and livable urban environments. Through this study, the aim is to revitalize and renew the area surrounding the train station in Blida for the coming years as it represents the future centrality of the city, and change its dense, stagnant and suffocating state into a lively and more sustainable environment, and here the TOD as an approach and principle comes as an answer.