Study on the Characteristics of Japanese Transit Oriented Development as Seen from Long-term Land-use Changes

Abstract

Many railway lines development in Japan is occasionally compared to TOD advocated in the US in the 1980s, yet no clear difference has been specified. The purpose of this research is to grasp the history of the plan of Tama Garden City and its long-term land use changes, compare to TOD, and clarify the characteristics of Japanese TOD. Firstly, the development plan of Tama Garden City was confirmed which was to develop urban functions in stages, not to keep everything under the plan, but to coexist with natural change. Analysis of the change of land use actually revealed the gradual development from natural land use to housing, commercial and business land use gradually advanced from the beginning of development. Next, the comparison of the land use at 600 m around the station with mixed land use complexity rate recommended by TOD was conducted which confirmed a similar value to that of TOD. From the above, we found that Tama Garden City was developed by the development method coexisting both spontaneously and planned with the lapse of time. In this research, we define this urban structure which develops gradually and takes time to satisfy the application designation as "Induced type TOD". And we confirmed that there are many induced type TODs around the railway station in Tama Garden city. In the future, to realize or sustain this induced type TOD, it is important to introduce a highly regulated land use system by limiting tax measures and development permits to specific areas.