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Executive Summary In the wake of the 2008 economic downturn, Cleveland, Ohio, along with other former industrial US cites, faced severe financial difficulties. While a tough regional economy and shrinking population forced many of the surrounding cities to cut public services and reduce jobs in the public and private sectors, Cleveland managed to transform a modest $50 million investment in bus rapid transit into $5.8 billion in new transit-oriented development. By putting bus rapid transit (BRT) along a strategic corridor and concentrating government redevelopment efforts there, Cleveland managed to leverage $114.54 dollars of new transit-oriented investment for every dollar it invested into the BRT system, adding jobs and revitalizing the city center. A growing number of American cities are promoting transit-oriented development1 (TOD) in order to combat congestion and other problems associated with sprawling, car-dominated suburban growth. Many are planning rail-based mass transit…

Executive Summary

Low-income workers face multiple barriers to advancement Moving to Work examines the critical role of transit - as well as development clustered around transit (TOD) - in linking low-income communities with career-ladder opportunities Reconnecting America with Urban Habitat and support from the Great Communities Collaborative today released the findings and recommendations from a year and a half long project: Moving to Work in the Bay Area, a study of the barriers that low-income workers in the Bay Area face to accessing economic opportunity. The study found that while low-income workers in the Bay Area face multiple barriers to career advancement, the economic and workforce development fields often overlook a key barrier for low-income workers: transit access. In turn, transit advocates often overlook the importance of job creation and training to building a stronger Bay Area economy as well as…

Symposium Organization and Content The symposium in this issue of Cityscape is organized in four topical sections: (1) the expectations and achievements of mixing policies; (2) the realities of implementation; (3) an examination of moving to and living in subsidized private-market rental housing; and (4) a synthesizing examina­tion of these policies based on the articles and suggestions for future initiatives. For the initial three sections, a series of commentaries from housing policy experts follows the articles. In the first section, Diane K. Levy, Zach McDade, and Kassie Bertumen set the stage for the sub­sequent articles by reviewing the varying ways in which mixed-income living has been defined, evidence of benefits to adults and children, and the viability of mixed-income housing over time. They conclude with a discussion of research findings on which consensus and divergences exist, and identify gaps in what we know about the effect of mixed-income developments and…

(Report website)

Introduction Creating communities that are more “ transit-oriented” is one of the key goals of most land use and transportation plans in Metro Vancouver. Transit-oriented communities are not only more livable, sustainable, resilient and economically thriving, they also support higher levels of walking, cycling and transit and result in lower levels of automobile use and greenhouse gas emissions. In response to requests from local government partners, TransLink has prepared this primer to highlight the key attributes of community design that most strongly influence travel behaviour. This is not an official policy document but is rather an effort to share current thinking on how community design can best support walking, cycling, and transit. What are Transit-Oriented Communities? Transit-Oriented Communities (TOCs) are places that, by their design, allow people to drive less and walk, cycle, and take transit more. In practice, this means concentrating higher-density, mixed-use,…

Introduction Workplace travel plans have the potential to promote physical activity through active travel options (walking, cycling, public transport and combinations of these modes of travel) and at the same time address organisational concerns such as environmental impact, traffic congestion and parking pressures. Active transport has many co-benefits, including positive impacts on climate change and sustainability. Workplace travel plans are behaviour change interventions designed to increase uptake of sustainable transport modes for commuting and business trips, often at the expense of car driving. They have been deployed extensively throughout Australia, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands and the UK, but not necessarily as part of routine workplace health promotion programs, nor at Universities. They typically involve a survey of travel behaviour to understand existing travel behaviours. A recent report on the cost-effectiveness of prevention programs highlighted that an…