Transit-oriented development, a term popularised by the planner and architect Peter Calthorpe in the early 1990s, calls for compact, walkable, mixed-use neighbourhoods clustered around rail and bus stations. The approach seeks to reduce car dependence by concentrating homes, jobs and services within a short walk of high-quality transit. Closely tied to New Urbanism, it informed regional plans, station-area zoning and rezonings across many US metropolitan areas. It became a leading framework for linking land use and transportation.
TOD reconnected American land-use and transit planning and provided a durable model for compact growth around stations.
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