Journal of Transport and Land Use

The knowledge economy and transit-oriented development: Effects at long-distance rail stations in Germany

Johannes Moser

Technical University of Munich

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1644-6990

Fabian Wenner

RheinMain University of Applied Sciences

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2356-8120

Alain Thierstein

Technical University of Munich

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1878-4862

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2026.2767

Keywords: TOD, Knowledge economy, Long-distance rail, Firm locations, Negative binomial model

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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.

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