The Value-Creation Role Of Accessibility Through the Critical Realism Method: Istanbul Bus Rapid Transit System

Abstract

Public investments in "mass transit systems" provide an equal right of accessibility economic and social opportunities for everyone. Concurrently, they generate an increase in land value both along the mass transit line and within the accessible area of the stations. This article focuses on the socio-economic and spatial effects of the increased land value resulting from the accessibility created by the mass transit system. By reviewing world wide case studies and practices, it examines these causal processes within the framework of the Critical Realism Method using the example of the Istanbul Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System. As a result of the Extensive Analysis, an analytical method of the Critical Realism Method, it was observed that the rate of land value increase in the Istanbul BRT System was 28% and the rate of land value increase at all stations along the line varied between 20% and 280%. In the Intensive Analysis, it was observed that the increase in land value at selected stations varied depending on the proximity of the station to Istanbul's Central Business District, new incoming land use types, plan changes made by the public, the presence of vacant lands that would enable land speculation, and the presence of large projects around the station. This article provides insights which explains that “the change in land value resulting from accessibility” does not cause the same magnitude of value increase at every station along the line and does not create the same socio-economic and spatial impact at every station. It presents an empirically tested study by comparing the accessibility created by the Istanbul BRT System before and after its implementation.