Book excerpt: The interchange is a new form of transport building which integrates into a single whole various modes of public transport, putting the passenger first (rather than the infrastructure). This book presents design principles for transport interchanges and offers analysis of best practice in the UK and abroad. The author demonstrates how this complex new building type integrates with the city, on the one hand, and with different types of transport on the other. In this integration design in both plan and section are important, as is urban and landscape design. The idea of ‘interchange’ is increasingly relevant as town planners, engineers and architects address the question of sustainable development with its emphasis on energy efficiency, social cohesion, access for the elderly, and urban regeneration.