Smart growth and transit-oriented development planning in site selection for a new metro transit station in Taipei, Taiwan

• New design techniques for built environment can be effective.
• A combined design strategy and TOD pattern planning can support life quality.
• Smart growth principles are included in TOD planning to select the best site.
• FAHP is used in a DEA/AR model to select a MRT station site in Taipei City.

In recent years, the application of transit-oriented development (TOD) concept to urban development has been proposed based on the planning principles of smart growth and sustainable development. The development of appropriate design techniques for the surrounded built environment of TOD has become increasingly important as TOD concepts apply to urban development. The available evidence lends itself to the argument that a combined design strategies and TOD patterns planning approach that promotes the quality of urban built environment will help create active, healthier, and more livable communities. This is an essential element of this research. The TOD design strategies can be proposed by utilizing the supply side prediction methodologies of planning. There has also been an increasing interest in the urban built environment design in the past decade. This interest is motivated by the possibility that design policies associated with the built environment can be used to control, manage, and shape individual activity and behavior. This paper first studies and classifies smart growth principles based on literature review. Then the individual expert's judgments are obtained and utilized to evaluate the relative importance of smart growth principles. Next, the site selection for a new metro transit station in Taipei (Taiwan) is conducted to show the application of our proposed methodological approach. A combined Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model with assurance region approach is applied to select the most suitable station from a given set of possible station sites. Both the selected station and the proposed methodological approach are provided to the public sector.