A critical study of transit oriented development (Tod) in the historical centre of quito, Ecuador

The research presents a critical study of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the historical centre of Quito, Ecuador, which is a place of residence, commerce and tourism in a world heritage site. The paper draws on data gathered through a participatory study carried out with residents of Quito’s historic centre by the Municipal Institute of Heritage (IMP) from March to December. A deeper understanding of the results related to urban form, transport and social equity were then gained through a semi-structured interview with the IMP project leader in January for the purpose of this paper. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the historic centre is isolated from the TOD legislation of the city. As such, the objective of the IMP study was to determine grassroots’ perceptions and needs, which then became the overarching concept for the development of a new Integral Urban Development Plan for the historic centre. The results from the participatory study and semi-structured interview were used in this paper to examine a) what people expressed their core needs were, vs b) the requirements established by the TOD model. The historic centre of Quito is an interesting case for a critical examination of the TOD model. It is within the area of inuence of one of the new underground metro stations and contains one of Quito’s main bus/BRT transport hubs. Additionally, the resident population re ects dierent identities, visions and needs for the area, which became highly visible in the qualitative research carried out by the IMP. For example, as a world heritage site there is a constant ux of tourists, on which the commercial sector relies on. However, the needs of the tourist and commercial sector are o en at loggerheads with residents who have lived in the area for generations. Finally, a large sector of the population is characterised as low-income immigrants (from rural areas or abroad), who have entirely dierent needs. The results show the limitations of the TOD model when applied to the historic centre, and give an indication of the People Oriented Development (POD) approach that needs to be adopted instead.