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Land Use
The Facts
More than half of Twin Cities households spend more than $10,000 per year to own and operate cars. What would happen if some of these people moved closer to public transportation options?
The Brookings Institution explored this question in “The Affordability Index: A New Tool for Measuring the True Affordability of a Housing Choice.” The report profiled a three-person family living in Farmington, which is an outer ring suburb located nearly thirty miles outside of the Twin Cities. Jim, a police officer working in downtown Minneapolis, is the primary wage-earner; 52 percent of the family’s income is spent on housing and transportation.
According to the report, if Jim and his family moved to south Minneapolis near the Hiawatha light rail line, the family could save $8,200 per year in housing and transportation costs.
Transit-oriented development blends land use planning and transit planning, creating healthy, livable, and affordable communities. Building housing and commercial developments near transit creates options: residents can walk, bike, or use public transit to get to work; for those who choose to drive, the roads are less clogged.
The Issue
Over 80 percent of Americans say they would use public transportation if it was convenient. Integrating land use and transit planning makes sense; providing incentives for these developments is the only way to make these communities happen.
Transit for Livable Communities' Work
- Transit for Livable Communities held a fundraiser at Bloomington Central Station, one of the premier transit-oriented developments in the Twin Cities. TLC brought HealthPartners, the city of Bloomington, and McGough Development together for a discussion of transit-oriented developments.
- Lea Schuster, TLC’s executive director, moderated a panel discussion on transit-oriented development at an American Institute of Architects—MN meeting in November 2004. Check out some of the presentations.
- “The Myth of Free Parking” notes that “free” and abundant parking contributes to congestion by providing incentives to drive alone. Read more!
- “The Citizen’s Agenda for Transportation in the Twin Cities Region” outlines the need for benchmarks for “Reducing congestion and identifying ‘acceptable levels’ of peak hour traffic congestion for different categories of roads.” Read more!
- TLC's Barb Thoman delivered this presentation, "Land Use and Climate Change," at the
Air, Water, and Waste Conference.
Resources
Organizations
- Project for Public Spaces works with developers and municipalities to ensure that new mixed-use communities, town centers and infill development are planned and designed in such a way that they integrate public spaces into the fabric of the community, bringing life to all aspects of the development.
- Reconnecting America’s Center for Transit-Oriented Development seeks to use transit investments to spur a new wave of development that improves housing affordability and choice, revitalizes downtowns and urban and suburban neighborhoods, and provides value capture and recapture for individuals, communities and transportation agencies.
Publications
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