Transit oriented development : best practices and stakeholder perspectives

Abstract

Congestion and traffic are dominating daily life as the populations in and around cities rise. People are spending more time in cars traveling to and from work than ever before which is leading to lost time, wages and productivity. Over the past two centuries, the US has assembled a tremendous asset that was overlooked during the Era of Suburbia--rail stations. Transit Oriented Development is a way to utilize these forgotten assets and create communities that are not reliant on the vehicle for transportation. A well-designed TOD project boosts accessibility to employment and entertainment and reduces congestion. The importance of developing TOD in order to continue to allow for population growth is vital. TOD is an opportunity to improve public infrastructure within the confines of a mixed-use project using private funds. However, these projects are complicated and often the approval of several public agencies is required in addition to achieving the necessary returns for the private developer to go forward with the project. The intent of this thesis is to develop a broad playbook that could be used for future TOD projects. The first step in this process is to understand TOD which is done through a brief history of the interaction of transit and real estate. Next this thesis will examine problems with the current system which primarily relies on vehicles causing traffic and congestion. Once the current landscape is well understood, through the use of case studies and proponent interviews, this thesis will point to ways in which to reduce risk, enable financing and facilitate the realization of TOD projects in Massachusetts.