Transit-oriented development, development corridors and economic access: The Louis Botha development corridor’s impact

Apartheid’s impact on South Africa’s urban spatial patterns persists, resulting in spatial fragmentation and inequality. Unsustainable urban sprawl exacerbates challenges related to economic access. To address said challenges, the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) implemented the Corridors of Freedom (CoF) initiative, emphasising economic inclusion. Amid substantial public sector investment, the initiative prioritised the Louis Botha Development Corridor (LBDC) to create a dense, mixed-use, walkable urban environment. However, limited research investigated the LBDC’s impact from an economic access perspective. This study investigates how the LBDC has improved economic access and provides policy insights for urban areas in South Africa, within the conceptual framework of transit-oriented development (TOD) and development corridors. A quantitative research approach using Network Analyst reveals that the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system increased economic access by 16% compared to other LBDC transport services. This study demonstrates the potential of the dual implementation of TOD and development corridors to foster economic access in the study area and concludes with policy recommendations centred on cross-departmental collaboration, feasibility studies and risk allocation, location-based criteria and transit accessibility targets, transit-oriented design guidelines, and integrated transport systems.