Guidelines for a Polycentric Region to Reduce Vehicle Use and Increase Walking and Transit Use (original) (raw)
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Journal of Transport Geography, 2011
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As large cities seek to expand their transit systems to accommodate increasing travel demand, provide alternatives to growing road traffic congestion, and improve accessibility, more research attention has been focused on the land use effects of transit, most notably in the form of transit-oriented development (TOD). Many cities in the USA are starting or expanding rail transit systems with objectives that include more focused economic development near transit stations and along transit corridors. Denver, Colorado is one of the cities that is aggressively expanding its rail transit system and encouraging high-density, mixed-use development in the station areas. This study analyzes TOD data from the Denver Regional Transportation District and the Denver Regional Council of Governments for 0.5-mile areas around current and proposed rail transit stations. Early evidence indicates that the scope of transit-oriented development in Denver is considerable, resulting in nearly 18,000 residential dwelling units, 5.3 million square feet of retail space, 5.4 million square feet of office space, and 6.2 million square feet of medical space within one-half mile of existing or planned transit stations from 1997 to 2010. As one of the critical elements of the regional land use and transportation plan, the rail transit system and the emphasis on transit-oriented development is contributing to an increase in the average density of the Denver urbanized area.
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Like many urban areas around the world, Durham and Orange counties in North Carolina, USA are experiencing population growth and sprawl that is putting stress on the transportation system. Light rail and denser transitoriented development are being considered as possible solutions. However, local agencies and stakeholders are concerned the light rail may worsen housing affordability and have questioned whether investment in both light rail and dense redevelopment are necessary to achieve community goals. We developed an integrated system dynamics model to quantitatively explore the outcomes of these land use and transportation options across multiple societal dimensions. The model incorporates feedbacks among the land, transportation, economic, equity, and energy sectors. This paper uses the results of four model scenarios, run between 2000 and 2040, to address two main questions: (1) what role does redevelopment play in capturing the socioeconomic benefits of transit infrastructure investment? And (2) how do redevelopment and light-rail transit interact to affect housing and transportation affordability? We find that transit investment and dense redevelopment combine synergistically to better achieve the goals of the light-rail line, including economic development, mobility, and compact growth. However, housing affordability does worsen in the combined scenario, as transportation-cost savings are not sufficient to offset the rise in housing costs. We emphasize that model users may input their own assumptions to explore the dynamics of alternative scenarios. We demonstrate how spatially-aggregated systems models can complement traditional land use and transportation models in the regional planning process.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2018
Cities across the U.S. are promoting more compact and connected forms of development as part of a broader effort to create more environmentally and fiscally sound development patterns, under the banner of sustainability. In many fast growing cities, such efforts have had the unintended consequence of fostering redevelopment of currently affordable rental housing in central locations, thus further limiting access to these locations for low-income households and contributing to new patterns of economic and racial segregation. Integrating equity concerns into sustainability planning has proven difficult. Advocates have relied on a variety of measures to assess the average vulnerability to displacement, transit access, and housing and transportation costs facing households of various types across neighborhoods. We propose a more locally grounded approach that estimates the potential loss of affordable rental units and values transit for the access to employment it provides lowincome households in particular locations vulnerable to redevelopment, thus making tangible the overlap between social equity and environmental goals. Our three-part tool allows city planners to assess and compare conditions in transit corridors in order to prioritize and align investments in affordable housing preservation, transit improvements and mixed use redevelopment. It was designed to be replicable in other U.S. metropolitan areas by relying on an integrated national dataset, and linking it to a widely used scenario planning software plugin, Envision Tomorrow. We demonstrate the tool's utility and replicability for Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, two fast-growing cities at different stages in the development of their regional transit networks. Finally, we reflect on the utility of the tool for use in a variety of contexts including in cities outside of the U.S.
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2019
Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) providing funding for local land use planning is part of a growing trend which has so far received very little attention. This study surveyed a stratified sample of 30 U.S. MPOs weighted toward larger metropolitan areas. Of the 30 MPOs, about half were funding smart growth-oriented local land use planning through transportation and land use connection (TLC) programs. From them, 10 MPOs with TLC programs were selected and written up as case studies. Across the case studies it was found that the funding and support provided differs greatly by region. The ultimate goal of these programs was similar, however—to reduce suburban sprawl and the associated need for highway building, and instead to create more livable, sustainable, walkable, bikeable, and transit-accessible communities within the region. These gaols were achieved by promoting infill and development in and around urban centers, and encouraging concentration of activity around transit...