For this to happen a number of new infrastructure projects will need to be delivered around the world, particularly in developing countries where demographics are rapidly changing.

India needs to build 31,000 homes per day for the next fifteen years to meet the needs of its growing population, China is aiming for 60% of its population to live in urban areas by 2020 and the ASEAN and SADC members are all experiencing high growth.

This provides a once in a lifetime opportunity to challenge the approach to master planning and deliver solutions that are more comprehensive and integrated than ever before.

Although definitions of TOD vary, it is generally defined as ‘a mixed-use community of a sufficient density that encourages people to live near transit services and to decrease their dependence on driving’. Internationally many cities are building mass transit networks of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT) and metros as improving public transport becomes one of the key themes uniting cities around the globe.

In Asia, the concept of TOD has been adopted and taken to a whole different level, spurred by the speed of growth and development and perhaps best demonstratedby cities like Hong Kong and Singapore where land is sparse and density is the king.

The most widely recognised model is Hong Kong’s MTR approach - building near stations, beside them, on top of them, maximising the integration of uses and the opportunities for commercial and community development. If the definition of a TOD is sufficient density, then Hong Kong takes it to the extremes with its towering, compact development focused on the transit stations.

In Asia Pacific, one of key transport debates is around the continued growth and expansion of high speed rail (HSR) networks. This is typified by some of the more developed networks in Japan, Taiwan and China, but also the more recently announced proposals in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. For urban planners, the challenge is understanding what opportunities these networks and their new stations create and the potential for a TOD approach to planning.

For example, we have developed the proposals for Bandar Malaysia, a mixed-use city district at the terminus of the proposed Singapore to Kuala Lumpur high-speed railway. It is planned as a multi- modal transit orientated development with proposals for high speed rail (HSR) but also connected to wider regional and local rail lines, metro (MRT), bus rapid transit (BRT), cycle ways and a cool, shaded pedestrian network.

The 196-hectare project comprises residential, community, office, retail, leisure, cultural and hospitality space and will completely transform the community, providing a sustainably focused development linking Kuala Lumpur to the rest of the wider region.