**1. Introduction**

In the urban context, the importance of transport stems from the fact that it contributes to the productivity of workers and competitiveness of firms. It widens labour markets and makes them inclusive. It saves travel time and costs to reach valued destinations – for work, education, shopping and leisure. Urban transport investments augment agglomeration economies by enhancing access to the economic mass, reducing congestion and channelizing residential and non-residential development in desired directions. They balance the location of jobs, housing and common facilities. Urban transport plays an important role in the working of cities, enhancing their efficiency, facilitating economic growth, generating value enhancements to finance planned urban development, and creating livable, competitive and sustainable cities.

In the last four decades, the issues of urban transport have come into sharp focus in many developed countries around the world due to the problems of their

automobile-dependent model of urban development. They have been subject to high levels of traffic congestion, air pollution, accidents, damages to ecosystems and neighborhoods, segregation and adverse impacts on the quality of life in cities.

Rapid motorization has worsened traffic conditions, aggravated congestion and pollution levels in several cities around the globe. Apart from environmental concerns, traffic congestion is also detrimental to the economic health of cities by adding to the wastage of time and fuel and increasing the levels of emissions. It hampers productivity by delaying and hindering the movement of goods, raw materials as well as people.

The proliferation of personalized vehicles, lack of investment in public transport and implementation of a spatial planning model that promoted dispersed, automobile-centric development have been the primary factors behind the urban transport problems in countries. The search for ways of making urban communities provide a better quality of life and promoting sustainable cities led to the emergence of an urban design paradigm called 'New Urbanism' in North America and Western Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. This was followed by a theory of urban planning and transportation called 'Smart Growth'. This theory is founded on the following principles of urban design: (i) mixed land use; (ii) compact design; (iii) increased densities; (iv) housing opportunities and choices; (v) walkable and accessible neighborhoods; (vi) multiple transportation mode choices; (vii) neighborhood centres to foster social interaction; (viii) preservation of open space, farm land, natural beauty and critical environmental areas; (ix) strengthening of and directing development towards existing communities; (x) making development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective; and (xi) community and stakeholders' consultation in development decisions [1]. Transit-oriented Development (TOD), a key element of Smart Growth, aims at concentrating development around one or more transit stations or within a transit corridor.

TOD aims at compact, high density and mixed use development within easy walking or biking distance from a transit station, typically about 1 kilometer. Focused around a transit node, TOD facilitates access to public transit, thereby inducing people to walk, cycle and use public transport rather than personal vehicles. The selective concentration of development acts against sprawl, promotes agglomeration economies and mitigates congestion diseconomies. It also leads to increase in property values, reflecting the benefits to residents and businesses of diverse transportation options, and resultant automobile and parking cost savings [2]. Thus, TOD assists in the mobilization of value capture finance by harnessing the windfall gains accruing to land and property-owners. The key factors that support TOD include: land use and development policies promoting dense and compact development around transit nodes and discouraging such development in the areas without good access to public transport; development of public transit and provision of quality transit services; integration of transportation and land use; and application of other mobility management strategies. These factors jointly increase the cost-effectiveness and utility of TOD for consumers as well as businesses. TOD has the potential of becoming a powerful tool for planned development of cities and rural areas in developing countries. It not only improves connectivity between regions, but also saves a lot of time and costs of workers. It augments productivity and efficiency of economic agents. The case for transit-oriented development is well-argued in research [3].

The motivation behind this research is the need for India to move from an automobile-dependent to a public transportation-led and transit-oriented model of planned urban development. The current practice of master planning in India, rooted in the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act in the United Kingdom, has neglected urban transport. The model has not facilitated transportation-land use

### *Smart Growth and Transit Oriented Development: Financing and Execution Challenges in India DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95034*

integration, transit-oriented development and value capture financing. Land use planning and transportation planning have been pursued as independent exercises, a prime example being Delhi. Cities have thus not been able to benefit from the interaction of transport and land use for sustainable urban development and adopt a robust mechanism of financing public transit. In this context, this paper explores the theory and international practice of New Urbanism, Smart Growth and TOD. It also examines the potential of TOD to raise revenues towards financing public transportation. The objective is to draw lessons from successful practices to strategize TOD policy for cities in India. Finally, the paper analyses the existing practices in Indian cities, identifies its inadequacies and suggests corrective measures.

The study is organized as follows. Section 2 deals with the challenges of urban mobility in India. Referring to the trends of urbanization, metropiltanization and motorization, it highlights the imperative for a public transportation-based strategy of urban development in the country. Section 3 discusses the paradigmTransit Oriented Development (TOD), adopted by several developed countries to address their problems of sprawl, inefficient urban form, excessive energy consumption, greenhouse gas emission, and environmental degradation. It makes a strong case for TOD as a dominant paradigm of urban planning and development in India. Section 4 presents some examples of successful TOD strategies practiced world-wide and draws lessons for urban transport development and land use planning, in general and TOD, in particular. Section 5 focuses on financing and execution practices of TOD internationally in the overall context of urban transport development to present a range of financing instruments that Indian cities could consider to promote TOD. Section 6 presents the emerging approaches towards TOD in India, referring to case studies, including projects, policies and plans in the offing. We specially focus on financing issues. Section 7 brings out the challenges of implementing TOD in India and indicates some directions for the design of a public transportation-led, transit-oriented and value increment financing-based strategy to address India's urbanization challenges. It also calls for an effective institutional structure for the implementation of TOD and suggests reforms in the regional and urban planning model being followed. Section 8 concludes.
