TOD
As Cities Benefit from Streetcar-Spurred Development, Atlanta Asks: Where's Ours?
New streetcar lines in cities like Kansas City, Tucson and Cincinnati are already generating residential development, long before the first passengers hop on board. As Atlanta lays the track for its new system, ATL Urbanist asks: Where's ours?
TOD in L.A.'s Low-Income Communities Gets $100 Million Boost
With L.A.'s transit system expanding its footprint and growing its ridership, $100 million in development capital from a national philanthropic organization will help fund projects around stations in the city's underserved communities.
Too Much TOD Set to Strain D.C.'s Subway
New development is poised to add thousands of riders to D.C.'s Metro, but rush hour trains are often packed already. Though Metro has proposed $6 billion in fixes, some see better land use planning across the area as the key to solving the problem.
Retaining Affordable Housing Near Transit Just Got Easier
Changes to the criteria for evaluating applications for the federal New Starts program could have a significant impact on efforts to preserve and expand affordable housing in close proximity to transit.
Can Transit Oriented Development be Effective in India?
TOD as a planning tool is new to Indian cities, where the idea is being championed as a solution to congestion, environment quality and housing equity. Can this concept, developed for the North American city, be successful in Indian cities?
CA Redevelopment Bill: Communist Land Grab or Catalyst for Affordable Housing?
Amid political demagoguery, a bill to help spur infill redevelopment and the creation of affordable housing in California, following the dismantling the state's redevelopment agencies, is advancing through the California legislature.
Editorial: Connecticut Must Do More to Support Compact Development
Though Connecticut is well served by commuter rail, a new report indicates that only half of the communities with Metro-North station have land use regulations in place to maximize development around them.
What is the Ideal Catchment Area for TODs?
The half-mile circle has become the standard metric for focusing planning efforts and judging the impacts of transit-oriented development. A new study examines whether the half-mile circle is an effective predictor of TOD success.
Is Your Project Transit-Oriented or Merely Transit-Adjoining?
As many planners know, building next to transit doesn't guarantee a project will have the ridership boosting effects envisioned by proponents of such developments. A new tool seeks to provide an objective measurement of TOD effectiveness.
Neighborhood Units Matter
This just in: Neighborhood Units missing in action as cities continue to attempt 3D governance using 2D laws. Howard Blackson argues why Neighborhood Units are the key element to placemaking.
Westside Fights Smart Growth: Can Any Development Navigate L.A.'s Traffic Nightmare?
On the Westside of L.A., where rush hour traffic slows to a crawl on the best days, a proposed transit-oriented development called the 'quintessential example' of smart growth by the Mayor's staff faces opposition to its size and attraction to autos.
Maryland County Seeks to Spur TODs by Fast-Tracking Approvals
Prince George's County will streamline the review process for developers who build around public transit stations, writes Miranda S. Spivack. The bill could speed up the approvals process by as much as a year.
Applying the Brakes to the Streetcar Revival
With Los Angeles, Charlotte, Washington D.C. and many more cities hoping on board, seats are filling up quickly on America's streetcar bandwagon. However, experts caution gung ho cities about unreal expectations for improving mobility.
Will New Mayor Seize the Opportunity to Build a 'Truly Urban' L.A.?
The new mayor of Los Angeles is young, charismatic, and a champion of urbanism and smart growth. He should start using all these assets immediately to transform Los Angeles into the vibrant, transit-oriented city it can become, says Bill Fulton.
Could L.A. Mayoral Candidate's Smart Growth Advocacy Cost Him the Election?
As L.A.'s mayor race enters its final week, polls suggest the two candidates are essentially tied. While there isn't much space between them philosophically, Eric Garcetti has supported density around transit, a position many find objectionable.
Dream of Suburban D.C. Light Rail a Nightmare to Local Residents
At an open house organized to update the public on plans to build a 16-mile light rail line linking spurs of D.C.'s subway system in suburban Maryland, planners' visions of smart growth where seen as a developer-driven nightmare by local residents.
10 Principles for Smart Growth in Existing Communities
Frustrated by what's passing as "smart growth" and "transit oriented development," Bill Adams postulates ten refinements (or less subtly stated clarifications) of the principles of smart growth and new urbanism.
Massive Development Fulfills 30-Year Promise of Buffalo's 'Train to Nowhere'
The development of the $750M Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, which will soon be home to 17,500 employees, is being seen as a catalyst for a culture change in the city towards urban lifestyles oriented around its heretofore underutilized rail system.
Denver Densifies as Developers Anticipate Transit Expansion
Before the first line of the multi-billion dollar FasTracks regional transit expansion opens to the public, developers are clamoring to build near Denver area stations. In a city that was beset by sprawl for a half-century, the shift is good news.
The Rise of Municipal Urban Design Departments
San Antonio City Design Center's Executive Manager Mark Brodeur describes his observations of the nationwide trend in cities establishing independent urban design departments.
Pagination
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.