TODs provide communities that foster sustainable lifestyles by offering convenient access to high-quality public transit at an affordable cost, creating communities where residents can live, work, shop, play and study all within walking distance of their transit stop. TOD principles such as WALK, CYCLE, CONNECT MIX DENSIFY COMPACT all help achieve this aim.
TODs create walkable neighborhoods, increase transit ridership and business activity locally, reduce car traffic pollution levels, and help people live healthier lifestyles.
Walkable Communities
Walking is an environmentally-friendly form of transportation that offers many environmental, economic and social advantages. Community walkability enables individuals to navigate without using cars and provides improved access to amenities like grocery stores, parks, schools, jobs and cultural institutions.
Communities that prioritize walkability foster more connected urban fabric by connecting housing, work, shopping and recreational areas into pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. When designing for walkability, designers should prioritize safety, comfort and convenience – including well-connected paths separate from vehicular traffic that feature shade trees or public art pieces – when creating designs for walkability.
Local governments can promote walkable communities by offering financial incentives like tax abatements, grants and public-private partnerships. Furthermore, engaging residents through transparent and inclusive planning processes to build support and tailor initiatives specifically to individual needs will aid this cause.
High-Rise Development
High-rise buildings make efficient use of space, providing residents, businesses, or mixed-use properties a wide variety of residential, commercial, or mixed-use property potential. They can be an effective tool in fighting urban renewal efforts and curbing sprawl as well as increasing capacity of communities to meet housing needs. However, high-rise development also presents its own set of difficulties – particularly the difficulty associated with evacuation during emergency situations.
TOD emphasizes a mix of uses near transit stations. Vacant parking lots present opportunities for infill development that is tailored towards both the station and existing communities, with high density developments concentrated nearer the station and tapering off away from it in order to maximize accessibility for transit riders. TOD encourages supportive uses such as medium or high density residential, offices or schools that generate pedestrian activity as part of this approach.
Mixed-Use Development
Mixed-use development brings people and services together – whether revitalizing a rundown urban mall or creating an entirely new neighborhood around transit – by uniting retail space on the ground floor with apartments above, or by creating entire communities where homes, shops, culture spaces, and civic services coexist in close proximity.
These developments provide residents with a walkable city experience, with homes, amenities like restaurants and grocery stores conveniently close by – encouraging social connectivity that promotes community health and sustainable lifestyles.
Local governments should utilize planning tools to foster mixed-use development. This may involve auditing and addressing barriers such as restrictive zoning rules that limit allowed uses or segregate land uses; right-sizing dimensions, parking and subdivision regulations as needed; as well as offering regulatory incentives for development projects.
Infill Development
Infill development is a form of transit-oriented development which involves building new housing on vacant or underdeveloped lots within existing neighborhoods, such as vacant corner lots. Infill development may encompass anything from single family home developments on corner lots to the reconstruction of an entire block around a rail station.
Infill development not only offers economic advantages, but it can also promote sustainable land use patterns by reducing VMT and land consumption (Newbold et al. 2011). Furthermore, infill development preserves open space and farmland while supporting biodiversity while decreasing water demand and protecting natural resources.
Financial incentives like reduced system development fees and expedited permit processes are used to promote infill development. Municipalities can use transfer-of-development rights ordinances to redirect development credits from environmentally sensitive areas toward infill locations.
Transit Corridors
Housing and commercial space near transit stations can increase ridership, alter transportation behavior, promote walking, and capture value created from costly transit investments by capitalizing on those assets and expanding service.
TOD takes into account that most transit trips begin and end as pedestrian trips, which is why it focuses on areas within a five minute walk of transit stations – usually 125 to 250 acres in radius around their location.
TOD station areas can be defined as pedestrian-friendly environments that feature mixed uses, higher densities, parking management programs and quality pedestrian connections. They may include surface or structured parking options to accommodate various modes of travel such as automobiles. Policies aimed at creating TOD can reduce or waive minimum parking requirements in these areas in order to offer affordable housing solutions.