Chongqing- Chongqing has fully launched TOD (transit-oriented development) projects and will promote five to eight TOD projects per year before 2025. By the end of 2025, over 30 TOD projects will be implemented, according to the recently held Sichuan and Chongqing Urban Spatial Reconstruction TOD Forum.

Experts and scholars gathered at the forum, providing valuable advice for the TOD development in Chengdu and Chongqing.

Longfor Guangnian Jinsha Paradise Walk, China's first high-speed rail TOD project in the business area. (iChongqing file photo)

TOD, a sustainable urban development model

A transit-oriented development centered around a rail transit station integrates a functional work area, business, culture, education, residence, and tourism within 600-800 meters (5-10 minutes walking distance). Since 2020, Chongqing has fully triggered the development of TOD, establishing a cross-sectoral mechanism and building an open platform for multi-party involvement. 

Up to now, Chongqing's rail transit accounts for 42% of public transportation, with a travel mileage of 450 kilometers and a daily passenger flow of 3.6 million. Rail transit has gradually become citizens' first choice.

The design sketch of the Microelectronic Park TOD project. (iChongqing file photo)

As a sustainable urban development model, TOD can not only reconstruct the urban space but also boost the city's low-carbon development, improve public transportation efficiency, and ease the financing pressures of infrastructure construction.

Chongqing is an ideal city for the TOD construction

Constructing "Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle on Rails" remains a highlight discussed at the forum. 

A rail transit system is an engine for the city, said Qin Guodong, president of the Transportation Institute of China Urban Construction Research Institute Co. "The rail transit system should lead the construction of urban industries, establishing a TOD urban development pattern at the macro-level and implementing a TOD lifestyle center."

"Chongqing is an ideal city for the TOD construction, where rail transit provides a greater driving force than in other cities," said Li Yanchun, general manager of the southwest regional headquarters of China Communications Construction Group Co., Ltd. Li specifically mentioned the Longfor Guangnian Jinsha Paradise Walk, China's first high-speed rail TOD project, which impressed him deeply.

"In addition, new challenges will emerge in TOD research and practical exploration, such as how to deal with TOD and sponge cities and TOD and smart cities," said Chai Tiefeng, chief architect of Sichuan Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd. He indicated that each stage of the TOD model must identify the corresponding urban problems that need to be solved for the construction to be more targeted and effective.