The knowledge economy and transit-oriented development: Effects at long-distance rail stations in Germany
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2026
Subject Area
place - europe, land use - planning, land use - transit oriented development, land use - urban density, planning - methods
Keywords
TOD, Knowledge economy, Long-distance rail, Firm locations, Negative binomial model
Abstract
The location decision of knowledge-intensive firms (KIF) depends on many factors. In a globally connected knowledge economy, long-distance accessibility is one such factor, which is provided by long-distance railway, inter alia. Areas in proximity to long-distance rail stations are therefore candidates for the settlement of KIF. At the same time, the concept of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) posits the development of areas around public transit hubs for residential and commercial use with high densities and diversity of uses, which are additional factors for the settlement of KIF as they increase the location attractiveness of workplaces for employees. In Germany, TOD has not yet been embraced for guidance in actual planning procedures, at least not in an outspoken sense. However, we hypothesize that effects are likely to be detected: rail station areas that exhibit more pronounced TOD characteristics will be associated with higher counts of KIF. To test the hypothesis, we develop and apply a quantitative operationalization of TOD and contrast it with the settlement of KIF at 178 long-distance rail stations in Germany. The results show that the relationships between the variables are as hypothesized. Higher degrees of TOD implementation are associated with higher counts of KIF. Therefore, as our methodological innovation, we suggest adding depth of knowledge, here capturing the absolute number of KIF, as a TOD outcome dimension variable besides the conventional TOD dimensions. These results have policy relevance for (German) planning procedures as they show that more active use of TOD implementation practices is likely to entail positive feedback loops for cities by attracting the knowledge economy.
Rights
All contents licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC. ©2025 Journal of Transport and Land Use
Recommended Citation
Moser, J., Wenner, F., & Thierstein, A. (2026). The knowledge economy and transit-oriented development: Effects at long-distance rail stations in Germany. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 19(1), 157-181.
