# Towards Sustainable Regional Planning: Potential of Commuter Rail in the Madrid Urban Region
###### Abstract
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline
**Authors (Year)** & **Transport Mode** & **Study Location** & **Indicators and Factors** \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. (2010) [10] & Subway and bus & Madrid & Total number of passengers, number of subway lines, number of (inter)urban bus lines, net population, and employment density, mix of uses, and road density; 800 m radius \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. (2011) [11] & Light rail & Granada, Malaga and Seville & Evaluation of plans and projects for light rail development relating to innovations in the environmental, urban, management and quality, economic, technological, social, and modal fields \\ \hline [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2011) [12] & High-speed rail & Various Spanish cities & Position of the station in the city and transformations in the urban structure \\ \hline [PERSON] (2013) [13] & N/A & Alicante–Benidorm Axis & Population, population density, economic situation, competence framework, role of actors involved, and existing urban legislation; 800 m radius \\ \hline [PERSON] and (2014) [14] & Commuter rail & Polvoranca (Madrid) and Freiburg (Germany) & Extension, number of dwellings, density, mix of land uses, average size of dwelling, population between 6 and 18 years of age, population over 65 years of age, average number of residents, percentage of population employed, bus service, train trips (percentage of residents) and percentage of residents who travel by car and public transport; 500 m radius \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. (2014) [15] & N/A & San Vicente del Raspeig-University of Alicante & Land use, accessibility of train and tram stops and opportunities; 800 m radius \\ \hline Soria and Valenzuela (2014) [16] & Light rail & Granada & Residential density, diversity of activities (urban activities per 1000 dwellings; percentage of different urban activities), temporal coverage of activities (percentage of urban activities by time slot), levels of motorized traffic (vehicles per urban activities and buses per urban activities), influence of transversal axes; 250 m radius \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Latest studies on TOD and the NPM in Spain since 2010. These studies show that (i) there is a recognition of the influence of urban form (density, compactness, mix of uses and functions, and design of public space) in the modes of travel, and, consequently, greater coordination is demanded between transport planning and urban planning; (ii) from the methodological point of view, there is no established systematic procedure oriented to the study of urban areas around stations to promote more sustainable urban spaces; this may be due to the still incipient application of these approaches, the different approaches and analyses that can be carried out on the interrelation between the railway station and its surroundings, and the particular geographical features of each place; and (iii) there is a lack of a thorough analysis of the urban areas of non-high-speed railway stations both in metropolitan contexts and in rural areas--such is the case for the commuter rail in the Madrid urban region. In the context of the Spanish case, the proximity to a railway station and the accessibility that the train provides to other urban and metropolitan spaces can serve as strategic tools to develop or strengthen locations in terms of centrality and promote more sustainable mobility. From this perspective, we propose a new interpretation and analysis of territorial occupation based on the commuter rail network and the surroundings of stations. The main objective is to promote the transition from a metropolitan mobility and occupation model based on private motorization and dispersal towards another model organized in new polarities or centralities and more sustainable mobility patterns. The regional urban area of Madrid serves as the location for our case study and where we apply the model. Regarding planning and mobility, this urban region is characterized by three main features.