Transit Oriented Development (tod) and urban policy using digital technologies for sustainable urban development

Japan, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism(MLIT) held the G7 Cities Ministerial Meeting in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture in July 2023.
Under the theme of " Achieving Sustainable Urban Development Together," discussions were held with G7 countries and observers UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) on "Net Zero Resilient Cities," "Inclusive Cities," and "Digitalization in Cities.
Particularly in developing countries in Asia and elsewhere, urban issues such as population concentration, traffic congestion, and air pollution are becoming increasingly serious as a result of rapid urbanization.
Advanced and sustainable urban development plans and urban policy measures need to be considered for sustainable urban development.
To address these issues, Japan is working to develop Transit Oriented Development (TOD), which integrates urban development with the development of public transportation, one of Japan's strengths, and urban development that utilizes digital technology.
In this workshop, the following points will be discussed regarding TOD and urban development utilizing digital technology.
The first is integrated and strategic planning in TOD.
In developing countries, public transportation systems such as railroads have been developed in recent years, but there are scattered cases in which transportation networks are being developed while peripheral urban development is left behind.
In Japan, on the other hand, efforts are being made to integrate urban development and housing development with a focus on networking public transportation, strengthening the function of stations as multimodal nodes, and promoting development around stations.
Integrated and strategic planning with a viewpoint of promoting networking with stations and lines at the core, including access to surrounding areas, is needed.
The second is the use of digital technology.
We believe that the use of digital technology will enable human-centered urban development that meets the increasingly diverse needs of people.
Japan, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is conducting a project called "Project PLATEAU" to create digital twins based on 3D urban models across the country, open them as open data, and utilize them. The outstanding feature of this project is that it efficiently creates a digital twin by utilizing existing data that has been researched by local governments over the past several decades. In addition, the national government has taken the initiative in developing and providing digital twin use cases and tools, thereby building the capacity of local government officials and communities, and efficiently promoting nationwide deployment and social implementation.
As a result, development has been completed in 200 cities in Japan, with the goal of expanding to 500 cities by the end of FY2027.