TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD) IN DUHOK CITY- SHANDUKHA VILLAGE (NEIGHBORHOOD) AS CASE STUDY

Abstract

A Transit Oriented Development is an urban development style that supports compactness instead of sprawl, mixed land use, using public transportation as a main source of travel, providing pedestrian paths for walkability. Calthorpe (1993). The researchers selected Shandukha village (neighborhood) in Duhok city-Kurdistan Iraq, as case study for this research. The study highlights negative impact of sprawl use on land in Duhok city that leads to emerging informal houses and consuming the agriculture land via changing into sprawl residential use, then mitigating future generation needs of land. Different applications of TOD in American and European cities were studied to figure out the outcome of TOD application and how it served these areas. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used, involving site observation, interviews with local and international people, GIS and photographs for study area. For determining both variables of the study, the researchers selected the main hypothesis as “Cities with TOD style in growth are more sustainable than cities with sprawl style of growth”. gathered data from local and international surveys was analyzed by GIS, SOWT, and Excel. Finally according to analysis and findings the researchers concluded the answers to research questions with some recommendations to develop land use in Duhok city neighborhood.