TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD) AS A FACILITATOR FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT INTEGRATION: CASE STUDY: DU TOIT TRAIN STATION PRECINCT, STELLENBOSCH

There is a need for academic research to focus on solving or contributing to solving real-world societal problems. Transdisciplinary research (TDR) provides a way to produce functional and applicable research findings, which can be used to advance developmental causes. This TDR study explores ways in which South Africa’s spatial divide, entrenched through decades of discriminatory planning policies, can be restructured to bring about equitable access to places of employment, business, leisure and service for previously marginalised South Africans. It does by exploring the potential of the transit-orientated development (TOD) model to restructure and revitalise urban spaces in a collaborative model. The study focuses, through a case study, on the Du Toit station precinct in the town of Stellenbosch, on the peri-urban edge of the city of Cape Town, South Africa. The TOD model is increasingly viewed as an effective strategy for creating sustainable urban redevelopment initiatives, and it has been deployed successfully in other parts of the world. The model, which emphasises development density, diversity of land-use and infrastructure and transformative design, is customisable to a variety of country contexts. The study aims to answer questions related to the extent that the diverse stakeholders with interests in the Du Toit station precinct (such as the municipality, researchers, business owners and community members) could collaborate and use TOD principles to redevelop the precinct; and could the redevelopment of the precinct using the TOD approach facilitate urban mobility and spatial development integration.