Building Livable Transit Corridors through Transportation Land Use Integration: An Interactive Guide, Calculator and Exercise

Abstract

Background For years, transportation and land use integration (TLI) has been an important approach for planners, engineers, and urban designers, but few studies have formally linked TLI to broader livability and quality of life outcomes. Methods In response, this research builds on a multi-year analysis of the livability literature, theory, and practice, followed by an extensive study of thousands of transit stations in over 350 corridors throughout the US--one of the largest studies ever on transportation, land use, and livability. Results This study finds that effective integration between transportation and land use and station area livability pivots on people’s ability to equitably access opportunities to improve or maintain quality of life outcomes, identifying key characteristics of stations to be applied toward a typological framework that can guide scenario testing and policy decisions. This study finds livability to be an effective organizing principle for guiding the practice of transportation and land use integration as it illuminates goals and strategies to provide individuals with equitable access to opportunities for a better quality of life. In turn, this accessibility measurably shows significant potential for providing many societal and individual quality of life benefits such as lower rates of obesity and cardio-vascular disease, access to health care, walkability, lowering auto-dependency, improving air quality, increasing household discretionary income, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Conclusions Unfortunately, while people are realizing higher quality of life (QOL) outcomes around Integrated station areas that are diverse from a transportation and land use perspective, they are not diverse from a socio-economic one, suggesting the need for policies for greater social equity and inclusion around these stations. This paper also introduces a practical handbook for building Livable Transit Corridors and a Smart Growth/Livability Calculator, which outlines key policies that can move use toward more equitable access to livability opportunities for all. Building on the work embodied in this study and paper, we are proposing to engage the audience in an interactive exercise using the smart growth/livability calculator and handbook to both assess corridors and station areas, and select policies and design solutions to address the strengths and weaknesses of these dynamic analyses.