This document outlines a semester-long workshop between MIT and PUC-Chile to design Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors that promote urban revitalization. The workshop will bring together students and faculty from urban planning, design, architecture, and engineering to develop innovative BRT and urban design solutions. Students will work on BRT corridors in Santiago and Boston, examining how to integrate BRT into the urban fabric through routes, public spaces, real estate, and policy. The goal is to identify the conditions needed for BRT and urban design to lead to successful, equitable outcomes and transit-oriented development.

1. The BRT Corridor Design
Workshop
A semester long class taught simultaneously
Schools of Architecture and Planning and Engineering at
MIT and Schools of Engineering and Architecture, Design,
and Urban Studies (FADEU) of PUC-Chile.
Rosanna Forray, Rocio Hidalgo, Juan Carlos Munoz
Jan Wampler, Chris Zegras, John Attanucci, Nigel Wilson

2. Working hypothesis
• BRT systems can be a successful driver of
urban revitalization, conditional upon proper,
integrated design
– routes,
– public spaces,
– real estate projects,
– and related policy packages
• Testing this hypothesis requires a combination
of disciplines and contexts.

3. Partners
• Architecture and Planning (SAP) and the Dept. of Civil
and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at MIT and the
Schools of Engineering and Architecture, Design, and
Urban Studies (FADEU) of PUC-Chile.
• Academics and graduate students from both
institutions
• A selection of 15 Master’s students from Academic
Departments at both universities (i.e., 30 total) who
will complete the semester-long workshop, for credit.
• This collaboration builds from previous professional
and personal experiences among the members

4. Overall Objectives
1. help fill a practical knowledge gap regarding
urban design for BRT implementation using real
BRT examples from different urban contexts,
2. develop and demonstrate innovative design
solutions for actual on-the-ground conditions;
and,
3. teach the next generation of urban designers
and transportation planners how to integrate
BRT and urban design.

5. BRT Design Objectives
• Identify conditions necessary for urban design to lead
to “successful” BRT
– including equitable and inclusionary processes and
outcomes
• We will examine
– the corridors themselves (allocation of space to different
vehicles, modes, and activities);
• urban space and its role in mitigating the adverse
elements of BRT that might inhibit urban revitalization;
• policy and social measures that can lead to equitable
outcomes, with particular attention to housing
availability and affordability.

6. Approach

7. Approach: Workshop Specifics
• Simultaneously implemented in both universities
– enable cross-learning across the contexts and the
various disciplines involved.
• Broad parameters for student “design”:
– Can BRT deliver TOD by integrating BRT corridors and
stations into the urban physical and social fabrics in
which it operates?
• Focus on innovations, with integral vision from
the “vehicles to the buildings”

8. Project Phases
• Workshop Preparation: January, 2013-August, 2013.
– Developing all necessary support materials
– Selecting participating students.
• Workshop Implementation: August, 2013-December, 2013
– Beginning August, 2013. PUC Students start work on the Santiago Corridor.
– Week of 26 August, 2013. MIT students and faculty visit Santiago.
– Sept-October, 2013: Classes proceed in parallel, focusing on Santiago Corridor.
– Week of 14 (or 21) October: PUC students and faculty visit MIT.
– October-December, 2013: Classes proceed in parallel, focusing on Boston Corridor.
– December, 2013-January, 2014: Final presentations of final products.
• Post-Workshop Synthesis: January-May 2014
– Final, bi-lingual project report and website
– site-specific proposals;
– generalizable design recommendations
– educational lessons.
• Project Continuation….?

9. In Sum
• Bring together multi-disciplinary mix of students and faculty:
– Urban planning and policy;
– Urban design and architecture;
– Transportation planning and engineering.
• Objectives:
– develop new pedagogical techniques,
– new urban design/planning/transportation innovations,
– new levels of trans-disciplinary knowledge among the students, and
– experience in working in the field for specific clients and a range of stakeholder
groups.
• Offer experiences working, collaboratively:
– across disciplines;
– for a “client” on a “real” project;
– in two distinct contexts;
– across different cultures.