The Trump administration’s 1 trillion-dollar infrastructure plan has brought much attention to how public infrastructure projects will be carried out in the coming years.  As anticipation for updating and fixing the outdated and crumbling infrastructure in the U.S. grows, Public Private Partnership is thought to be the solution, as these capital improvement projects tend to come with a hefty price tag, and public dollars are stretched thin.

 

In the meantime, cities in the U.S. are going through a paradigm shift as more people, in particular millennials, are choosing to live closer to their workplace in the urban centers, shifting transit stations and their surrounding areas as prime candidates to become mixed-use commercial, residential and employment centers.  In response to this trend, projects are being developed in various cities across the U.S. and we have seen transit operators partnering with private sectors to redevelop transit stations along with the often underutilized surrounding area.  

 

Attempts to utilize similarly underutilized spaces is also happening in Japan, and major transit oriented development projects involving PPP are being planned.  For example, construction is already underway on a project to turn a vacated rail yard in Tokyo into a large-scale transit-oriented development.  This project comes in a timely manner, as Tokyo prepares itself for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  The station is excepted to be open to facilitate transportation during the Games and the final completion is expected in the 2030s. The area will then serve as a residential, commercial, business, and transit center. 

 

For this workshop JITI has invited experts of PPP, particularly its use in transit oriented development, from Japan and the U.S. to discuss the challenges and benefits of PPP, lessons learned, and important takeaways for applications on future projects.