Powering up Place with PikTOC
PikTOC: Driving Transit-Oriented Regeneration Across City Regions
In an era where urban growth demands smarter, more sustainable solutions, transit-oriented development (TOD) emerges as a critical pathway to creating vibrant, liveable communities. At Layer.studio, we’re pioneering this approach with PikToc, a powerful decision support tool developed in collaboration with Ramboll and Hatch. This innovative platform is designed to identify and maximise opportunities around sustainable transit networks, driving the creation of Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) that balance connectivity, sustainability, and quality of life.
The Power of PikTOC
Layer.studio’s PikTOC methodology continues to evolve as a practical, people-centred decision-support tool shaping Transport-Led Regeneration across Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region. Developed with Ramboll, PikTOC brings together place data, lived experience, movement patterns and community-focused indicators to reveal where transit-oriented neighbourhoods can genuinely thrive. It reflects our wider ethos of creating life-centric places with people and nature at the core .
The methodology aligns with GMCA’s recently launched On the Right Track for Growth Rail Vision, which sets out a pathway for integrating local rail into the Bee Network and opening up opportunities for thousands of people to live closer to sustainable transport. PikTOC translates this ambition into clear, on-the-ground priorities — helping identify hubs, corridors and town centres where investment can unlock healthier, more connected everyday lives. It brings clarity to opportunity, constraint, market readiness and land-use potential, supporting strategic funding bids and the emerging Integrated Pipeline.Our work with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority extends PikTOC’s flexibility to a broader regional context, mapping brownfield potential, transit accessibility and neighbourhood inequalities.
Driving Change through Collaboration
The approach helps local authorities understand how transport can become a driver of social value, resilience and future opportunity, strengthening alignment between regeneration, transport planning and public-sector delivery teams across city regions.Layer.studio was selected from multiple entries to present PikTOC at the International Healthy Cities Congress, sharing how transport-integrated place strategies can support health equity, inclusive mobility and low-carbon living — key ingredients of thriving communities.PikTOC is increasingly used as a tool to help authorities move from vision to delivery: revealing where transit-oriented communities can take shape, and how coordinated interventions can build greener, safer and more inclusive neighbourhoods.
Our current commission for Tameside Council applies PikTOC across their 13 rail hubs, supporting Government-identified transit-led regeneration exemplars and shaping opportunities that respond to the needs, voices and identities of local communities.We are proud to be supporting a growing family of partners — including the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Transport for Greater Manchester, Platform 4, and Tameside Council — as they work to create connected, resilient places and better everyday journeys for the people who live, work and play in them. Link to the GMCA Rail Vision
Let’s shape the future of transit together. #LayerStudio #PikToc #TOC
@DannyCrump
