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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Cities
Sec. Urban Transportation Systems and Mobility
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frsc.2024.1448697

Planning Nodes, Places, and Pedestrian Experiences in Mountainous Cities: An Empirical Transit Station Assessment Tool

Provisionally accepted
Yuanxiang Yang Yuanxiang Yang 1Shuiyu Yan Shuiyu Yan 1Cong Cong Cong Cong 2*Yu Tian Yu Tian 3Wen Liu Wen Liu 1
  • 1 Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
  • 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
  • 3 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In the context of ongoing discussions in Chongqing (China) about urban development strategies for the city's transit system, this paper introduces an empirical framework for assessing the development of urban transit stations in mountainous cities. Cities in mountainous areas possess unique natural topography, development patterns, cultures, and natural resources, leading to distinct urban development characteristics compared to cities built on plains. Drawing on the node-place modelling literature, we develop a multi-dimensional station assessment methodology adapted for mountainous cities. By adding the dimension of pedestrian experience, we propose indicators that represent the unique challenges of accessing stations in such terrains that are not typically reflected in conventional node-place analysis. Our findings reveal station-specific development opportunities in greater detail and can guide more targeted planning for land use around stations. Our assessment method is particularly useful for cities facing terrain challenges that impact pedestrian experience.

    Keywords: mountainous city 1, pedestrian accessibility 2, sustainable city 3, node-place model 4, transportation planning, land use planning 5

    Received: 13 Jun 2024; Accepted: 18 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yang, Yan, Cong, Tian and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Cong Cong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.