Identifying through accessibility planning how sustainable growth can be achieved in the compact city: a case study of Edinburgh

Whether the goals of economic growth and improving accessibility in Edinburgh can be matched with sustainable development of the City is considered. The compact city has been promoted as a sustainable urban form by many researchers, and the evidence from travel patterns in more decentralised cities supports this, though the debate over this issue continues. The city of Edinburgh in Scotland fits closely to the compact city model, as its high density historic centre provides the focus for the city's business, shopping and culture, and is served by good quality bus corridors. The monocentric compact city model encounters problems in the case of high economic growth, as the busy city centre often lacks space for development. Edinburgh's economy has grown substantially in recent decades, mainly fuelled by growth in the financial sector. Increased wealth has led to greater car ownership and use, while much development has taken place at out-of-town business and retail parks. Furthermore housing development has not kept pace with employment growth and the number of commuters to the city, the majority of which travel by car, has increased. This study uses accessibility modelling in conjunction with modal split data to illustrate how the location of these new developments offers both greatly reduced public transport choices and very high car accessibility in comparison to the city centre. In light of congestion problems and the experience of out-of-town development over the last fifteen years, Edinburgh's local government has put forward an ambitious plan for sustainable growth in the city for the next decade. This includes a new light rail network with the first line linked to a major mixed-use housing and employment development on the northern outskirts of the city (the Waterfront) and a further two lines on existing public transport corridors. Plans also include improvements to the bus and heavy rail network and, far more controversially, a congestion charging scheme. Accessibility modelling showed that the radial nature of public transport links in the city severely restricts the number of people with viable public transport options to out-of-town development locations. If the new Waterfront development is to achieve the sustainable travel patterns that are found in the city centre then a substantial improvement in public transport must be delivered, in combination with the mixed high density land uses, public transport priority and parking restrictions already found in the city centre. Integrated land-use and transport planning is essential, and many recent planning and transport decisions have not been consistent with this vision. New accessibility planning processes have the potential to manage the joint working between land use and transport and to explain to businesses and residents the Council strategy. For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.