Transit-Oriented Metropolitan Land Redevelopment and Spatial Planning

Dear Colleagues,

As metropolitan regions shift from rapid expansion toward high-quality, intensive development, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has gradually evolved into a strategic instrument for activating underutilized land, promoting urban renewal, and fostering inclusive and vibrant communities. At the core of this transformation lies metropolitan land redevelopment and spatial planning—how transit infrastructure reshapes land use patterns at the regional scale, unlocks the potential of underutilized land, and integrates diverse functions along transit corridors. An emerging research frontier is how TOD drives metropolitan land redevelopment through integrated land use optimization, place-making, and the interaction between transport networks and metropolitan space. However, systematic understanding of these processes remains fragmented, particularly regarding the coupling of transit infrastructure upgrades with land use optimization at the metropolitan level, the differentiation of built environment impacts across diverse regional contexts, and the governance mechanisms that support equitable metropolitan development. This Topic aims to bring together original research and comprehensive review articles to advance empirical, theoretical, and comparative knowledge of TOD-led metropolitan land redevelopment and spatial planning.

The goal of this Topic is to collect original research and review articles that provide new insights into TOD as a driver of metropolitan land use dynamics and spatial transformation, with a focus on integrated land redevelopment mechanisms, multi-scale interactions between public transport and land use, land use impacts along transit corridors, the influence mechanism of land use or built environment on residents’ public transport travel behavior, and cross-metropolitan comparative case studies. This Topic will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• The two-way interaction between metropolitan transport networks and land use systems;
• Accessibility and spatial justice in transit-oriented metropolitan land redevelopment;
• Metropolitan land use renewal strategies;
• The impact of transit corridors and their adjacent land use on metropolitan human activities and spatial organization;
• Comparative case studies of TOD-led metropolitan land redevelopment in different metropolitan contexts;
• Impact of land use on green travel.

Prof. Dr. Xu Cui
Dr. Bingjie Yu
Dr. Yuan Liang
Dr. Qiuyi Zhang
Dr. Zhikang Bao
Topic Editors