Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) refers to communities with high quality public transit services, good walkability, and compact, mixed land use. This allows people to choose the best option for each trip: walking and cycling for local errands, convenient and comfortable public transit for travel along major urban corridors, and automobile travel to more dispersed destinations. People who live and work in such communities tend to own fewer vehicles, drive less, and rely more on alternative modes.
Transit Oriented Development
Houston To Require Better Walkability Around Transit Stations
City officials in Houston have unanimously approved zoning and policy changes that will encourage walkable development around the city's expanding light rail network.
The Houston Chronicle
Denver to Replace Public Housing Project with Mixed Use TOD
The Denver Housing Authority is planning on demolishing one of the city's oldest low-income public housing projects to make way for a new mixed-use, transit-oriented housing development.
The Denver Post
TOD Around Vancouver's New Rapid Transit, But What Kind?
As a planned rapid transit line gets closer to completion in Vancouver, there's a debate brewing about what sort of development should spring up around it.
The Vancouver Sun
TOD Slowly Catching on in Philadelphia
Transit oriented development is lacking near many of Philadelphia's transit stops, but new projects are bringing the city up to speed.
The Philadelphia Daily News
D.C. Stadium Bill is Really TOD Bill in Disguise
This column argues that legislation to build a new stadium for Washington D.C.'s professional soccer team is also a move to jumpstart development around many of the area's transit stations.
The Gazette
TOD Boom Goes Bust in Seattle
A transit-oriented development boom in Southeast Seattle is coming to a halt, as the economic recession sets in.
The Seattle Times
Denver Gets TOD Fund
The City of Denver plans to spend more than $15 million over the next decade to purchase real estate near mass transit.
The Denver Post
Pittsburgh Looks to Transit For Rebirth
Officials in Pittsburgh are hoping that expanding transit-oriented development will spur growth in struggling and decaying neighborhoods -- and they have the voter-approved legislation to help.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TOD Q&A With John Renne and Jeff Wood
Transit oriented development experts John Renne, PhD, and Jeff Wood recently fielded questions from Planetizen readers about TOD, its current applications and its future.
Light Rail Brings Housing Values Up in Denver
While home values in the rest of the region decline, homes near Denver's light rail system have experienced an increase in values over the past two years.
The Denver Post
Baltimore Makes Grander Vision for Arts District
Planners in Baltimore have unveiled a 30-year plan to remake its arts district into a mixed-use, transit-oriented, regional destination.
The Baltimore Sun
Phoenix Hopes for Light Rail Revitalization
Phoenix is counting on a new light rail system to revive one of the city's long-ignored commercial corridors when trains start operation at the end of the year.
The Arizona Republic
Plan Approved to Un-Sprawl Tysons Corner
In an effort to recreate sprawling Tysons Corner into a dense urban environment, county supervisors have unanimously approved a plan to build higher, denser, more transit oriented and more walkable.
The Washington Post
Winnipeg to Get Bus Rapid Transit
Winnipeg, for years Canada's largest urban center without rapid transit, has just announced the construction of a bus rapid transit system with associated transit-oriented development.
The Winnipeg Free Press
Comprehensive Analysis of Transit Energy Conservation Benefits
Tue, 05/27/2008 - 09:54
A recent report by the libertarian Cato Institute, Does Rail Transit Save Energy or Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?, claims that public transit service improvements are ineffective at conserving energy and reducing pollution emissions. But this conclusion is based on faulty analysis.
The Public Mis-Education of Transit Oriented Development
Tue, 05/20/2008 - 08:16
In 2004, voters in Denver approved the FasTracks ballot to build a regional rapid transit system. Now that planning is underway to construct about 120 miles of new rail and 60 new train stations, planners are beginning to focus on transit-oriented development (TOD) around many of these new stations. While much excitment exists in Denver for creating one of the top 21st century cities, some fears for TOD are unfounded. Mr. Ferguson's "Four Fallacies of 'transit-oriented development'", published May 13, 2008 in the Rocky Mountain News is typical of a common mis-education about TOD. What Mr. Ferguson does not realize is that TODs can help protect the rural and suburban nature of communities surrounding Denver. He proposes four tenets about why TODs are bad for the future. Below, I address each of these.
Calling for Statewide TOD in New Jersey
This editorial calls on the state of New Jersey to take advantage of the fact that it has one of the country's largest mass transit network and to better site homes and development near transit.
The Times (New Jersey)
Implications of Driving Less
A new report from the American Public Transportation Association hypothesizes that people who live in places shaped by transit tend to drive less thereby reducing their overall petroleum use and their carbon footprint.
American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
