SB375 Impact Analysis Report
June 1, 2010
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Introduction
Purpose
This report summarizes the findings from a ULI panel that was formed to assess the economic implications of the California Senate Bill 375 (SB 375), and associated implementation recommendations. As the basis of this inquiry, the panel was charged with reviewing available empirical data and studies pertaining to SB 375 and the impacts of the kinds of development that full implementation is likely to produce, especially compact and transit-oriented development. Drawing on this research and its own substantial professional experience, the ULI panel then convened to review and discuss the economic impacts of SB 375 on the state’s economy and make recommendations that would help deliver on the bill’s goals of regional connectivity, policy alignment, efficient provision of infrastructure, and improved environmental quality.
SB 375
SB 375 was signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger on September 30, 2008. This bill links land use decisions to transportation…
Travel and the Built Environment: A Meta-Analysis
May 11, 2010|Journal of the American Planning Association
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Some of today’s most vexing problems, including sprawl, congestion, oil dependence, and climate change, are prompting states and localities to turn to land planning and urban design to rein in automobile use. Many have concluded that roads cannot be built fast enough to keep up with rising travel demand induced by the road building itself and the sprawl it spawns. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to summarize empirical results on associations between the built environment and travel, especially nonwork travel.
Ensemble / HCC Livable Centers Study
April 30, 2010
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Executive Summary
The following books are the story of a neighborhood in Midtown Houston. This study is focused on the transit district surrounding the Ensemble/HCC station area - though many of the challenges and opportunities are common to Midtown in general. The seven Books cover a lot of ground. We review Midtown’s past as an important window into its present. We look in detail at the current urban fabric and infrastructure in, “Integrate Systems”, and we document the prevailing and emerging patterns of land use in “Identify Districts”. These two Books go on to identify strategies and prioritized objectives for improving the urban fabric and the potential opportunities for strengthening and incentivizing increased land use activity - in line with primary objectives of the Livable Centers program. We address the particular challenges of implementation in terms of funding and regulatory contexts; and we identify speci.c project opportunities and design concepts that could…
Overlooked Density: Rethinking Transportation Options in Suburbia
April 2, 2010
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Executive Summary
Suburban multifamily housing is an often overlooked housing typology that is the fastest growing housing market in the country and holds strong potential for achieving smart growth goals in suburbia. This housing type is ubiquitous throughout all regions in the nation, is a widespread example of density in suburbia, and is typically located next to commercial uses. The proximity between suburban multifamily housing and commercial uses creates the potential for nodes of concentrated activity, mixed use, and the possibility of substantial non-auto transport in suburbia. While this potential exists, the design of this housing type often follows an enclaved pattern of development, negating any synergy, minimizing the possibility of non-auto transport, and denying any potential for sustainable development.
Through case studies of suburban multifamily development in Oregon, Arizona, Florida, and Massachusetts, this report looks at the specific ways in which regulation,…
Building Environmentally Sustainable Communities: A Framework for Inclusivity
April 1, 2010
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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has decided to include two key goals in all of its programs: encouraging sustainable communities and enhancing access to opportunity for lower-income people and people of color. This paper examines the relationship between these two goals through a literature review and an original empirical analysis of how these goals interact at the neighborhood and metropolitan area levels. We also offer policy recommendations for HUD.
Case Studies on Transit and Livable Communities in Rural and Small Town America
March 18, 2010
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Livability in Small Towns and Rural Areas
What does “livability” mean in a smaller town or city? Some would have us believe that livability is a foreign concept for our small towns and rural areas. The reality couldn’t be farther from the truth.
This collection of 12 case studies provides examples of how small cities, towns and rural regions across the country are transforming themselves into more livable communities. While some of these communities face formidable threats – from job losses and shrinking populations to disappearing farmland and strained resources – their leaders have forged collaborations and created plans that are growing economies, bene.ting people and protecting the land and lifestyles treasured by residents and non-residents alike.
The exact de.nition may di.er place to place, but these case studies reveal some core values and needs that exist in these communities across America. It is about providing people, including seniors and those who cannot…
Job Sprawl and Suburban Poverty
March 10, 2010|Brookings
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In nearly all U.S. metropolitan areas, jobs have been moving to the suburbs for several decades. In the largest metropolitan areas between 1998 and 2006, jobs shifted away from the city center to the suburbs in virtually all industries. As the U.S. population also continues to suburbanize, larger proportions of metropolitan area employment and population are locating beyond the traditional central business districts along the nation’s suburban beltways and the more distant fringes.
Transit Oriented Development and The Potential for VMT-related Greenhouse Gas Emissions Growth Reduction
March 8, 2010
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This study also examines real-world potential to use transit and transit-oriented development as an emissions reduction strategy in three different future development scenarios for the Chicago metropolitan area. The first is business-as-usual. The second assumes that residential and employment growth will continue at the same rate in the city and in the suburbs, but that all of this growth will be accommodated in the half-mile radius around stations. The second scenario is based on growth
projections from Chicago’s regional planning agency. The third scenario explores concentrating housing and jobs within a half-mile radius of transit stations, regardless of growth projections. The second scenario reduces emissions by 28 percent from levels of emissions growth that would have taken place without those strategies, while the third scenario results in a 36 percent reduction from levels of emissions growth that would have taken place without those strategies. (The study assumes no…
projections from Chicago’s regional planning agency. The third scenario explores concentrating housing and jobs within a half-mile radius of transit stations, regardless of growth projections. The second scenario reduces emissions by 28 percent from levels of emissions growth that would have taken place without those strategies, while the third scenario results in a 36 percent reduction from levels of emissions growth that would have taken place without those strategies. (The study assumes no…
Getting To Work: A Case Study Report on Accessible Transportation Projects
March 4, 2010|Center for Wokers with Disabilities
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Alack of reliable, accessible, and affordable transportation is consistently cited as a barrier to employment by people with disabilities. The four Medicaid Infrastructure Grant transportation projects (Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Jersey) profiled in this report illustrate a set of practices that address transportation needs. Although the MIG grants are not intended to provide or fund direct transportation services, state MIGs are well•posi•tioned to use their resources to create linkages with other agencies and entities engaged in accessible transportation planning and service delivery.
Land Use and Driving: The Role Compact Development Can Play in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
January 1, 2010|Urban Land Institute
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There are many diverse reasons to pursue compact development outcomes. Convenient and conducive to healthy lifestyles, clustered development patterns help lower overall community infrastructure costs by pulling land uses closer together. Now, as interest in building more compact neighborhoods, cities, and metropolitan regions has grown, another, related question has arisen: Can compact development help mitigate climate change by reducing the amount of driving people do?