Ten years ago, Orenco Station outside Portland, Oregon was the model New Urbanist, transit-oriented development community. And while the project has had great success in creating community, it still hasn't lured commuters out of their cars.
Eric Jaffe reports on a recent article in the Journal of Urbanism on Orenco Station, written by sociologist Bruce Podobnik of Lewis and Clark College. Podobnik concludes"
"... while the neighborhood has achieved a heightened sense of community and successfully encouraged walking, most residents still rely on the single-occupancy vehicle - not mass transit - as their primary mode of commute."
And yet, Jaffe writes, "...[t]he findings are not entirely bleak. Only a third of Orenco Station inhabitants say they never use mass transit, and more than half of them ride transit at least once a week..."
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