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Streetcar projects as spatial planning: A shift in transport planning in the United States
... On the other hand, the proponents of streetcar projects often assert transformative changes brought by the streetcar system [18]. Especially in developed countries, streetcar projects have been found to bring various beneficial changes, in terms of increasing land and property prices [18][19][20][21][22], producing local employment and wider economic growth [18,[23][24][25][26], achieving local transit-oriented development (TOD) [27][28][29], etc. Creative city development is then regarded as an underlying but key factor that drives streetcar project developments [30][31][32]. Within and through neoliberal urbanization, the local governments have been paying more attention and spending more resources on particular civic projects to attract inward investments. The rebirth of the streetcar may prove especially informative concerning the question of making of the creative city for the following reasons: streetcars are exclusively urban [20,[22][23][24][25][26]; they are highly visible flagship projects driven first and foremost by city governance stakeholders along with representatives of local urban capital [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]; they constitute spatially highly concentrated investments in the tens to 100 s of millions of dollars [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]29,30]; and are generally planned in concert with local property (re)investment [30][31][32][33]. ...
... Within and through neoliberal urbanization, the local governments have been paying more attention and spending more resources on particular civic projects to attract inward investments. The rebirth of the streetcar may prove especially informative concerning the question of making of the creative city for the following reasons: streetcars are exclusively urban [20,[22][23][24][25][26]; they are highly visible flagship projects driven first and foremost by city governance stakeholders along with representatives of local urban capital [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]; they constitute spatially highly concentrated investments in the tens to 100 s of millions of dollars [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]29,30]; and are generally planned in concert with local property (re)investment [30][31][32][33]. ...
... Other cities that operate streetcar services and communities contemplating investment in streetcars might take successful projects as the achievements of best practice adoption, in the hope of the development potential of the new projects to meet the expected economic benefits [35][36][37]. Many streetcar projects do not even market themselves as mobility or congestion relieving instruments and instead focus on their role as economic development-generating tools [31][32][33][34]38]. From the government to every application for construction funds for these projects to numerous consulting reports on the potential impacts of streetcars, a constant refrain is that streetcars stimulate economic development. ...
In recent years, there has been a remarkable rebirth of the streetcar in China, with dozens of projects under consideration, in planning and construction, or already completed in cities throughout the country. The development of such a relatively mega-project often raises the question of “why Chinese cities develop their streetcar projects”. Building on insights into streetcar projects materials and in-depth interviews with elite figures, and together with relevant socioeconomic data comparisons, the paper sets out to reveal how the resurgence of the streetcar was facilitated and motivated, and why such urban mega-projects are so attractive to cities, and to further derive lessons to better inform policymakers, planners, and researchers in proposing, planning and implementing streetcars in China. Our findings revealed five major themes to motivate streetcars development in China, which unpacked the answer to the question into five aspects: rapid urbanization, supportive policy environment, less-restrictive approval mechanisms, goal-seeking for streetcar development, and potential inter-city competition. A discussion of these themes in the Chinese context leads us to the conclusion that the process of proposing, promoting, and approving streetcar projects is not only dependent on its expected achievements bring to the region but very much on the economic–political reasons and inter-city competition.
... Within this context of neoliberalizing cities (see Peck & Tickell, 2002), state actors, civic leaders, and private developers promote streetcars as an economic development tool (King & Fischer, 2016), rather than a means for improving speed or accessibility. Culver's (2017) critique of modern streetcars argues that such efforts, by attracting capital and the creative class, rebrand cities as "vibrant" (Brown, 2013), diverse (Brown-Saracino, 2010;Zukin, 1998) and"livable" (Smith, 2010;Taylor & Morris, 2015). ...
... Culver's (2017) critique of modern streetcars argues that such efforts, by attracting capital and the creative class, rebrand cities as "vibrant" (Brown, 2013), diverse (Brown-Saracino, 2010;Zukin, 1998) and"livable" (Smith, 2010;Taylor & Morris, 2015). In advocating for streetcars, typical growth machine backers cite economic benefits, including real estate development, property value increases (King & Fischer, 2016;Ramos-Santiago et al., 2016) and their believed capacity to spur private investment, obscuring how complementary policies, such as land use regulations, support these shifts (King & Fischer, 2016;Taylor & Morris, 2015). Thus, modern streetcar projects reflect neoliberal norms of state-action for private accumulation and assumptions that public investment should "enhance private land values" (King & Fischer, 2016, p. 384 emphasis added). ...
... Culver's (2017) critique of modern streetcars argues that such efforts, by attracting capital and the creative class, rebrand cities as "vibrant" (Brown, 2013), diverse (Brown-Saracino, 2010;Zukin, 1998) and"livable" (Smith, 2010;Taylor & Morris, 2015). In advocating for streetcars, typical growth machine backers cite economic benefits, including real estate development, property value increases (King & Fischer, 2016;Ramos-Santiago et al., 2016) and their believed capacity to spur private investment, obscuring how complementary policies, such as land use regulations, support these shifts (King & Fischer, 2016;Taylor & Morris, 2015). Thus, modern streetcar projects reflect neoliberal norms of state-action for private accumulation and assumptions that public investment should "enhance private land values" (King & Fischer, 2016, p. 384 emphasis added). ...
This article analyzes case studies of the H Street Streetcar in Washington, DC, and the Rampart Streetcar in New Orleans, two newly built U.S. streetcars that are part of a national trend of modern streetcar investments. We situate these investments within state-led gentrification that exacerbates racial disparities by expanding White privilege in Black neighborhoods and reshaping racial geographies. While supporters rationalize streetcars as economic development strategies, we contextualize modern streetcars within a broader framework of colorblind neoliberalism. We advance the concept of colorblind transit planning to codify a critique of current practices and advance an argument that colorblind transit planning minimizes the ongoing salience of institutionalized racism and exacerbates existing racial geographies and experiences of race, symbolically and materially reproducing a city of exclusion. Our findings caution against further public investment in streetcars, as they contribute to state-led gentrification and private accumulation, rather than address unequal modern public transit systems.
... Local conditions impact the financial performance of value capture tools, but they also influence local decisions about how and when to use value capture, as well as how to structure financing schemes. Transport financing strategies have effects that go beyond revenue generation to include shaping governance processes (Sciara and Wachs 2007;Taylor 2004) and justifications for transit investment (King and Fischer 2016), that are changing transportation planning in unanticipated ways. Yet, few studies have documented the practical applications of value capture (Mathur and Smith 2012;Smith and Gihring 2006) and even fewer consider the politics of its implementation or the nonmonetary benefits it provides to localities. ...
... Property development was a primary motivation behind Kansas City's streetcar investment, accounting for 79 percent of the projects anticipated benefits (King and Fischer 2016). Indeed, downtown revitalization has been a longestablished priority of local and regional plans. ...
... Modern streetcar projects are often criticized for their focus on development over mobility goals (Brown, Nixon, and Ramos 2015;King and Fischer 2016); yet, the nature of the transportation-land use relationship demands a long-term perspective that is not necessarily linear in its progress (King and Fischer 2018). Although regionally impactful transit investments are important for making changes to accessibility in the long term, localized investments such as modern streetcar systems may be a pragmatic strategy to change policy inertia surrounding transit investment and placemaking in the short term. ...
This paper provides a qualitative examination of the implementation of a value capture–funded streetcar investment in Kansas City, MO. Using semi-structured interviews, I show that the local benefits of value capture financing go beyond revenue-raising. Local officials used value capture to limit the public approval process to residents who supported enhanced transit and to redefine the metrics of a successful transport investment in terms of land development impacts. This strategic, and unexpected, use of value capture underwrites property-led economic development that uses infrastructure investments to signal public-sector priorities, in terms of both geography and populations.
... Despite these differences between streetcars and other rail modes, a recent evaluation of streetcar proposals found that approximately three-quarters of the expected benefits from the projects are associated with development (11). Yet, the evidence to date for development effects is limited to a mere handful of studies that do not typically employ the statistical controls found in the literature on heavy rail's and light rail's development effects (12). ...
... Yet, anticipated development impacts continue to strongly influence the decision cities make about whether to invest in streetcars. Cincinnati, Washington, D.C, Los Angeles, and Atlanta have projected the development impact of a streetcar system to be in the billions, far exceeding anticipated costs (7,11,(16)(17)(18)(19). These anticipated outcomes have significantly affected their decisions to pursue a streetcar. ...
... The development is estimated to have a market value of over $4.5 billion (3). Yet in Portland, the streetcar is only one element of an amenity package used to attract the desired development (11). Accompanying elements include zoning changes, the increase of density minimums, significant streetscape improvements, investment in public spaces, the creation of urban renewal and tax increment financing districts, and other tax and financing incentives (7,12,20). ...
In most U.S. cities, streetcars are not primarily pursued for the transportation benefits they might provide but instead for their anticipated development impacts. This paper examines the experiences of Portland and Seattle in order to better understand the nature of development activity around their streetcars. Using a multivariate analysis, the authors found that areas around Portland's initial line experienced higher levels of development activity than areas not served by the streetcar, although the differences in activity between served and not served areas since the opening of the second line have been insignificant. In Seattle, areas around the first streetcar line experienced greater commercial development activity but less residential activity than nearby unserved areas. These results remained consistent when focusing on the expanded Seattle Streetcar system since the opening of the second line. These findings indicate that in certain contexts streetcars are associated with increased development activity. The results also suggest the need for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between streetcars and development.
... Notably, the sub-municipal approach to public transit governance correlates highly with capital intensive modes, namely rail and ferries, and to date has not been used to expand buses or commuter systems. The systems in the sub-municipal category exhibit considerable flexibility and innovation in governance: Detroit's Q-Line is a public-private partnership that emerged from a regional planning effort [43], Kansas City's board of directors recently transitioned from appointed to directly elected and the city-operated Atlanta streetcar was (contentiously) absorbed by the regional transit authority, MARTA, several years after starting operations. Both the McKinney Ave (M-line Trolley) in Dallas and the KC Streetcar operate without a fare, using subsidies from the local municipality and localized land-based financing to cover the costs of operations. ...
... The devolution or decentralization of transit financing and decision making to sub-regional and even sub-municipal levels suggests the need for a new framework and new data sources to think about transit governance in the United States. Decentralized approaches to transit governance introduce new priorities, values and metrics including new definitions as to what counts as a successful transit project [43,44] and we miss important lessons about the politics of public transit and policy implementation by focusing primarily on technical questions about operations and regional scales of governance. Rather than impose normative views about the appropriate level of decision making across all contexts, the typology described in this paper aims to support inquiry into the decision-making behavior of local and regional stakeholders to better understand the politics of goal setting, policy adoption and implementation strategies in public transit. ...
This article describes a typology for formal governance structures of public transit in the United States to support inquiry into how organizational structures influence policy making processes, organizational capacity and policy outcomes. Scholarship of public transit has largely explored outcome-based research while paying less attention to how decisions are made. Despite some transport scholarship that shows how institutional characteristics influence financing, power arrangements and public discourse, there has been little recent analysis of governance within public transit systems beyond the regional role of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). Using data from multiple sources, we assembled a database of governance structure of transit systems in the largest 40 cities in the United States. We show that the structure of transit decision making has substantial variance across and within cities, and is far from limited to MPOs. The variety of governance models and growth of local and sub-local models suggest that local context is critical for better understanding transit priorities and decision-making processes.
... One set of strategies-called land or property value capture-aim to leverage the increases in land value that can come from public transit investment, based on the idea that the beneficiaries of transit investment include not only transit users but also property owners. Indeed, the modern streetcar trend, for example, emphasizes economic development, not transportation, benefits of streetcars which primarily accrue as increased property value for nearby land holders (King & Fischer, 2016). ...
... A particular rail investment, in fact, may do little or nothing for one of these goals. Recent literature on streetcar investment, for example, has shown that these infrastructure choices are pursued for the associated land value increases (King & Fischer, 2016), while often performing poorly as transportation (Brown, 2013). Considering transit agencies' goals more broadly, Taylor and Morris (2015) suggest that the stated goals to attract choice riders-while perhaps driven by political necessity-do not align with the core constituencies of those who actually use transit. ...
Equity concerns regarding local revenue sources are increasingly important in the United States, as local sales taxes for transportation increase amid perceived federal funding shortfalls. This study examines shifts in the federal role and local funding sources for public transit projects supported by the New Starts program. The analysis finds that total federal New Starts spending grew over this period, but was distributed across more costly projects, with a resulting decrease in the average federal share per project. As expected, there was increased sales tax use at the local level. The increase in local spending on transit should be met with concern. Prior research has established that sales taxes fail along both the beneficiary to pay and ability to pay equity principles. Thus, the recent massive commitment to expanding public transit infrastructure relies on concerning funding mechanisms and may also fail to prioritize the needs of those with limited accessibility.
... BRT systems are seen as providing similar development and growth opportunities as other forms of mass transit, with much attention being paid to strategies for encouraging station-area and corridor development (Levinson et al., 2002, Hook et al., 2013. For certain classes of projects, such as modern streetcars, the primary benefits are perceived to be related to land development and revitalization, rather than true mobility improvements (King andFischer, 2016, Ramos-Santiago et al., 2016). Even more intangible goalssuch as increasing international stature and urban re-structuringhave been linked to transportation investments (Siemiatycki, 2005, Enright, 2013, further complicating understandings of how equity figures into decision-making. ...
... In a sense, then, creating cities where a personal automobile is not needed potentially provides the conditions for increased accessibility, though this may be limited to well-connected areas and does not guarantee that disadvantaged communities will have access to these benefits. This focus on development potential may also be at odds with improving service and accessibility, as observed in other transportation projects guided primarily by economic development concerns (King and Fischer, 2016). While economic development goals could advance equity considerations if coupled with policies to create affordable housing or limit displacement, this is not likely to occur without explicit strategies to address this (Pendall et al., 2012), raising doubts about how equitably those benefits are distributed. ...
The distribution of transportation benefits is mediated through planning professionals and elected officials, who frame the goals of these investments and can prioritize the importance of fairness in decision-making. Despite increasing evidence of the importance of transportation equity, there are broad questions about how equity principles factor into planning processes. This work provides an empirical analysis of the role of transit equity in planning for BRT investments in three Canadian metropolitan areas. Our findings show that transit equity rarely figured into the design and planning of BRT systems and there is a lack of clarity in both defining equity and determining how it should be integrated in planning processes. Most definitions of transit equity focused on the equal distribution of resources for all groups, rather than consideration of transit-dependent riders. Equity outcomes were also in conflict with other goals, as BRT systems were viewed largely as a tool for encouraging development and focused on attracting car drivers to transit. This paper argues that there needs to be a better understanding of the values and priorities of those involved in professional and political decision-making processes if transit equity goals are to be realized.
... The fact that decisions to build LRT are based on other rationales than those purely related to socio-economic aspects is not only a Danish phenomenon (see Culver, 2017;Higgins & Kanaroglou, 2016;King & Fischer, 2016;Lagendijk & Boertjes, 2012;Olesen, 2014b). However, much contemporary criticism of LRT does not account for this fact (Olesen, 2014a). ...
... The results from the Danish cases reflect similar findings in many other countries, where broader spatial planning agendas take priority over strict socio-economic feasibility (Culver, 2017;Higgins & Kanaroglou, 2016;King & Fischer, 2016;Lagendijk & Boertjes, 2012;Suzuki 2013). This is a phenomenon not only limited to appraisals of LRT systems. ...
Light rail transit (LRT) is a popular public transport mode used to upgrade the public transport system and support urban development strategies. Despite the seemingly poorer socio-economic return of LRT in cost benefit analyses (CBA) compared to bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, LRT solutions are often chosen over BRT. Several studies show that the decisions to build such systems have not primarily been based on the socio-economic feasibility of the systems. Rather, they are often justified in terms of the branding value and positive image for public transportation, as well as the perceived ability to reduce road congestion and stimulate urban development. Drawing on Actor Network Theory (ANT), the paper analyses how LRT systems have been applied in a Danish context and the role that the CBA has played in this process. The results show that conventional socio-economic factors in CBA, such as travel time savings, play a relatively minor role compared tothe larger urban transformation visions that LRT projects are embedded in.
... Relatively few studies have focused on the impacts of streetcars, specifically on the traffic-related effects of these systems. Most of the studies that have been conducted in this area have been centered on the impact of streetcars on the development of neighboring areas (King, 2014;King & Fischer, 2016;Guthrie & Fan, 2013;Mokadi et al., 2013); while several research studies have focused on the traffic-related effects, such as traffic safety (Currie & Reynolds, 2010;Richmond et al., 2014;Ziedan & Brakewood, 2020) and few on traffic volume and congestion (Nguyen-Phuoc, 2017). The majority of streetcar assessment research is centered around crashes and injuries (i.e., traffic safety) while only assessing the safety changes before and after streetcar operation. ...
Introduction: Introducing new public transit systems impacts the surrounding built environment, and changes in the built environment can affect travel behavior. Prior research has yet to thoroughly conduct a comprehensive exploration of the influence of new investments in public modes of transit, particularly streetcars, on motor vehicle crashes occurring on adjoining streets, considering other related factors. In particular, the difference between short-term and mid-term impacts of streetcars considering initial break-in periods has yet to be thoroughly conducted. This study focuses on the short-term and mid-term effects of the streetcar on total, injury, and pedestrian-involved vehicle crash rates on the adjacent street, considering traffic volume, traffic speeds, and traffic conflicts (transit ridership, pedestrian volume, and traffic policy). Data & Method: This paper used the Utah Department of Transportation's (UDOT) crash count, annual average daily traffic (AADT), iPeMS data, Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) ridership, manually calculated pedestrian volume from Google Street View, and conducted interviews with UDOT's experts. In the method, we used three quasi-experimental research designs: (1) before-after without a control group, (2) interrupted time series, and (3) before-after with a control group. In addition, to identify the cause of this impact, we examined multiple dimensions, including traffic volume, traffic speeds, transit ridership, pedestrian volume, and adjustments in traffic policy changes. Results: As a result, the establishment of the S-Line streetcar eventually led to a significant decrease in total (short: 11%, mid: -15%), injury (short: -9%, mid: -41%), and pedestrian-involved (short: -25%, mid: -43%) crash rates on the adjacent street, especially after the streetcar was fully established (3 years after). In particular, injury and pedestrian-involved crash rates decreased significantly. Also, we found that increased drivers' awareness and vitality of the street due to the increased transit ridership (short: 43%, mid: 50%), increased pedestrian volume (short: 35%, mid: 75%), and improvement of traffic signal on the adjacent street can be the main causes. Practical Applications: The outcomes of this study are considered to help establish short-term and mid-term traffic policies that consider public transit improvements such as streetcars.
... One major aspiration for applying or extending transport infrastructure is to use it as a spatial planning tool to attain extensive urban development objectives. This is to promote friendly and healthy cities with an improved quality of life [26,27]. According to Olesen and Lassen [28], the dominant relationship between mass transit and city characteristics is twofold: the transit system forms cities, but key city features also shape transport infrastructure. ...
This research investigates how the Lahore Metrobus system (MBS) influences perceptions of urban space quality through the lens of urban design and transport infrastructure. Lahore is undergoing significant urban changes with the introduction of a newly constructed mass transit system, which thus necessitates a joint development strategy to preserve its cultural heritage. Recent evolutions in transport planning has heightened the interest in analyzing the way mobility factors affect the perceptions of a place’s quality. The gap in previous work lies in the limited focus on qualitative, human-centered perspectives regarding the impacts of public projects like the MBS on urban space quality. This study uniquely fills this void by examining the influence of the MBS on people’s lives and the quality of urban spaces. Comparing pre- and post-Metrobus scenarios, along with ques-tionnaire surveys of riders and shopkeepers, exposes the neglect of the social image during design and construction. The system was implemented with a focus solely on hard, core infrastructure, thereby neglecting soft components such as area development, social and cultural value, and hu-man-centered design. The government should unite transport agencies, stakeholders, and the public to craft a joint policy for enhancing revenue, ridership, and fostering transit-oriented development (TOD). Research findings will help in achieving social and cultural sustainability for upcoming transport lines in Pakistan, as well as directions for other developing nations looking to implement mass transit networks.
... The history of demographics in cities, for example, urban migration, can be evaluated against the roads that served these movements. The evolution of transit networks and their impacts on population distribution have been studied in the literature 24,[69][70][71][72] . With the current dataset one can conduct similar analyses and investigate the interaction between land use and the road network. ...
This study creates a historic dataset of road opening dates in Sydney. A method was developed for map digitization to extract spatial data from historic maps and place them in a collective vector layer. The method includes extensive georeferencing of the maps, as well as editing and cleaning the maps through raster and vector analysis. Preferred methods for map digitization used in the project were identified. For a considerable area of Sydney, in which approximately 52000 road links were included, almost half of the links were identified with an open date by the start of the twentieth century. A further half of these links were confined to opening within a thirty-year period. The project has established a strong foundation for a historic road dataset for Sydney. It has also outlined methods and procedures that can be followed to progress the dataset further.
... Additionally, we also observed that transport planning policy improves the accessibility of URT projects and economic development and stimulates uplifts in land value (Wu, 2015;King and Fischer, 2016). We show in Loop R3 that when a railway station is constructed and operates in a given location, there is a growing perception that significant financial investment will occur (Helling, 1997). ...
Urban rail transit (URT) infrastructure is critical for the economic and social development of an economy. The construction and operation of URT systems invariably require significant investment. Yet, governments are often subjected to fiscal constraints and cannot provide taxpayers with efficient and effective rails services. Development-based land value capture (LVC), a method for funding and financing infrastructure, can support URT delivery. However, there has been a tendency to apply LVC in a piecemeal manner. Thus, an absence of a systemic strategy to assist policy-makers with the implementation of LVC contributes to the ongoing debate about its effective use to support URT. Using the lens of systems thinking, our research aims to address the following research question: How can governments create an effective LVC strategy to support the procurement of their URT systems and networks? Drawing on the experiences of three Chinese cities, we develop a systemic model that policy-makers can draw upon to ensure the successful implementation of LVC. The contributions of our paper are threefold as we: (1) summarise the threads of LVC knowledge and its associated challenges; (2) provide the state-of-art experience of three cities that are using LVC to support their URT projects; and (3) identify the underlying systemic interdependencies that influence the successful adoption of the LVC strategy to support the URT system and network.
... Transportation planning's answer to this question has consistently been the regional level, finding that local transit systems lead to higher transfer costs and that planning should match the area of the commute shed, the zone within which residents accomplish their daily travel (Sciara, 2017;Weinreich, 2016). Yet increasingly, cities play a large role in transit efforts, building streetcars, developing transit plans, and reallocating road space to prioritize buses (King & Fischer, 2016;Ray & Higashide, 2018; UCLA Institute of Traffic Studies, 2019). The politicians and planners who push such efforts recognize that local government decisions have a significant effect on transit's success and that with such power, cities have a responsibility to plan for transit (Higashide, 2019). ...
Problem, research strategy, and findings
At what scale should we plan transportation to shift to more sustainable modes? In this study I explore the multiscalar effort by London’s (UK) boroughs and the traffic director for London to expand bus priority in London, viewing it as a real-world case of Iris Marion Young’s “empowerment without autonomy” regional governance model. Using archival data, media analysis, and interviews, I found that the boroughs acted as a source of policy alternatives to reshape the problem–solution nexus around congestion, a forum for diverse interests to discuss this transition to more sustainable transport, and a deliberative partner for the new regional actor with sufficient capacity and expertise to reshape the policy to better meet community needs. The establishment of the position of traffic director for London in 1991 created the empowered but not autonomous structure, giving the traffic director veto power over some borough roads but empowering them to manage parking. Working together, the traffic director and the boroughs installed 524 bus lanes between 1991 and 2000, more than doubling the total number of lanes and demonstrating that a deliberative process need not sacrifice speed. Because this is a single case, more research is needed to confirm the mechanisms of the empowerment without autonomy model and how those mechanisms are most easily replicated in other contexts.
Takeaway for practice
Transit planning is best done at both the local and regional levels, in an empowered but not autonomous structure that forces regional and local actors to deliberate with each other on how best to achieve the goals of each scale.
... Unlike other forms of rail transit that typically run at higher speeds on dedicated right of ways with more widely spaced stops, streetcar systems typically travel in mixed traffic corridors at slower speeds, have more frequent stops, and often provide an opportunity to concentrate activity and economic development along specific corridors. Investments in streetcar systems have been largely driven by real estate and economic development interests because they provide an opportunity to leverage a public infrastructure investment with private commercial and residential investment (King and Fischer, 2016). Recent research suggests that streetcar lines can be associated with increased development intensity but that this association varies by line and local context (Mendez and Brown, 2019). ...
Understanding how nearby residents feel about transit-induced neighborhood change remains understudied despite growing concerns over displacement and gentrification. This study analyzed 329 surveys of resident perceptions of neighborhood change and associated development near an existing commuter rail station and a planned streetcar route in Santa Ana, California, a largely low-income, Latinx community. We found residents were on average satisfied with neighborhood access to transport and amenities, and that higher neighborhood satisfaction was associated with a more positive assessment of development and neighborhood change. Living near the streetcar route was associated with more negative assessments of change, reflecting residents of these areas had heightened concerns about housing costs, displacement, and parking. Results provide planners with insights regarding support for and concerns about transit-induced neighborhood changes that can help foster more equitable and responsive development processes and outcomes.
... Today, trains remain prominent emblems of a new 21st century modernity, linked to sustainable collective mobility and connectivity, and, in the case of high-speed trains, velocity and efficiency. High quality transport infrastructure (including intra-or trans-urban mobility) accomplish social, economic and environmental objectives while achieving local development and urban revitalization (Garmendia et al., 2012;King and Fischer, 2016;Knowles and Ferbrache, 2016). Rail-based systems are often "symbol[s] of development, progress, and identity" (Niedzielski andMalecki, 2012: 1414). ...
With urban greening projects increasingly sparking conflicts with environmental and social activists, rail-to-park transformations reveal how ideas of modernity in urban planning enable the perfect “green growth machine.” Here, trains and connectivity—powerful symbols of Modernity in the 19th and 20th centuries—are interlaced with greening and sustainability, motives of the current progress paradigm, and planning orthodoxy. Through a political economy and political ecology lens, we analyze the material and symbolic assembly of two recent railway transformations—Valencia Parc Central and the Atlanta Beltline—and their associated parks. We examine the actual process under which parks are created (parks as a tangible, material object, as infrastructure) and how such a process is entangled in social, political, and economic dynamics that also shape adjacent gentrification. We argue that gentrification is implicit, yet necessary, in the process of park making. Such a process and its embedded politics shape the role that parks have in their neighborhoods and their cities, and what it is expected from them socially, politically, and financially. The conflicts arising from the park making illustrate the two speeds working within 21st century cities: the fast, modern, outward-looking competitive model and the inward-looking, caring more for local revitalization and residents’ welfare.
... These studies are therefore part of a growing body of literature that interprets streetcars and LRT projects as economic development or growth management tools, rather than purely vehicles for transportation (Baker and Lee 2019;Culver 2017;Hess 2020;Higgins and Kanaroglou 2016;King and Fischer 2016;Olesen 2020). Rapid transit infrastructure is increasingly rationalized in planning documents and municipal discourse on the basis of its predicted (but debated) contribution to raising property values, improving cities' competitiveness, and otherwise advancing revitalization goals. ...
Most studies of transit-induced gentrification rely on statistical analysis that measures the extent to which gentrification is occurring. To extend and enhance our knowledge of its impact, we conducted sixty-five interviews with residents living along the light rail transit (LRT) corridor in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, shortly before the system opened. There was already strong evidence of gentrification, with more than $3 billion (Canadian dollars) worth of investment, largely in condominiums, before a single passenger was carried. In line with contemporary critical conceptualizations of gentrification, our interviews identified new and complex psychological, phenomenological, and experiential aspects of gentrification, in addition to economic- or class-based changes.
... District Spatial Planing (TRTW) is general spatial planning in district level which becomes the elaboration of Province RTRW containing of district objectives, policies, spatial planning, strategic area determination, spatial utilization instruction, and spatial utilization zoning regulation [11][12]. There are many studies on spatial planning carried out around the world to be improved [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. ...
Based on Detail Spatial Planning (RDTR) Map of 2018, Teuku Nyak Arief Street include into the spatial pattern of protected and aquaculture areas. There are several activity function violations in spatial utilization which does not met RTDR. The background of the research is how the compatibility of the spatial utilization on Teuku Nyak Arief Street Corridor to RDTR in protected and aquaculture areas. This research aims to evaluate the compatibility level of the spatial utilization on Teuku Nyak Arief Street Corridor on protected and aquaculture areas. The research use qualitative method approach through observation. The research location is in layer 1 building located on Teuku Nyak Arief Street Corridor in Kuta Alam and Syiah Kuala Sub District. Teuku Nyak Arief Street Corridor evaluated is starting from Ratu Safiatuddin Park Monument to Koplema Darussalam Gateway with 4.35 km length. The compatibility level of spatial utilization reviewed is classification of unpermitted activities spatial utilization based on RDTR of Kuta Alam and Syiah Kuala Sub District. The observation of spatial utilization on Teuku Nyak Arief Street Corridor is carried out in local protection block (PS), green open space block (RTH), trade and service zone (K), office zone (KT), general service facilities zone (SPU), non green open space zone (RTNH), and special zone (KH) based on RDTR of Kuta Alam and Syiah Kuala Sub District. The output of quantitative analysis shows that the spatial utilization of Teuku Nyak Arief Street Corridor on protected area of river border sub block, cemetery sub block, and green belt sub block have 100% of compatibility level, while city park sub block has 91% of compatibility level. The spatial utilization of Teuku Nyak Arief Street Corridor on aquaculture area of education sub zone, sport sub zone, non-green open space sub zone, and defense and security sub zone have 100% of compatibility level , office zone has 57% compatibility level, and trade and service zone has 99% of compatibility level. There are 9 zones and 5 sub zone found along Teuku Nyak Arief Street Corridor violating the function activities. It is required the regulation in controlling the spatial utilization from function deviation to ensure the spatial utilization meets RDTR determined by the government.
... In the last decade, emerging discourses in planning practice and in the popular media about the economic development benefits of urban transport have helped facilitate land use and transit integration. By framing urban transit investments as property-value enhancers rather than mobilityoriented investments (king & Fischer, 2016), emerging discourses enhance the political acceptability of urban transit investments, but they also install a narrow neoliberal policy agenda that pushes economic growth and competitiveness as common-send policy objectives (Purcell, 2009;Allmendinger & Haughton, 2012). Thus, changes in institutional structures do not simply facilitate TOD; they also shape the socio-spatial impacts of transit investments and land development policies in favor of particular social groups and problems. ...
... The concerns regarding public transportation are relevant, as more urban environments are overcrowded, and distances are getting wider in terms of travel time [25]. The shape, density and growth of a transportation network determine changes in property values [26][27][28], exposure levels to air and noise pollution [24,29], accessibility degree to private or public services [30,31], or sprawling patterns [21,32]. Thus, the design of the mobility networks within human settlements can influence their livability levels, unfunctional networks conducting to public anger and eventually to planning-based conflicts. ...
Large urban settlements are being organized in metropolitan areas, with a polarizing city influencing and shaping the landscape of the hinterland. Transport infrastructure networks are the main vectors for the permanent flux of resources, and these exchanges should be maintained undisturbed. A poor transportation network impedes the continuity of these flows, causing unsatisfaction, ultimately generating planning-based conflicts within metropolitan zones. This study aims in assessing the potential occurrence of metropolitan conflicts generated by the transportation network design. We used a quantitative approach based on a set of new proposed indexes. The methods were applied on nine metropolitan zones from Romania. The results show that each metropolitan zone has specific potential for conflict occurrence. The higher potential was recorded within the more recent established metropolitan zones. Our results raise the question on whether the Romanian metropolitan zones are fully functional and worthy of this status. The study provides a useful and usable tool in assessing the effectiveness of the transportation networks within metropolitan areas, establishing the potential conflict occurrence and it provides interesting insights about the metropolitan transportation issues, raising red flags toward local and regional decision makers and planners.
... It is becoming increasingly accepted within the transport studies literature that alternative forms of mobility, such as electric vehicles or light rail transit systems, must satisfy not only basic functions (e.g., a means to get somewhere) and the costs in doing so, but other societal and symbolic dimensions [1]. These can include efforts to revitalize urban centers, affirm the legitimacy of state planners, support innovation and even cultivate an image of a city or region as progressive and modern [2][3][4][5][6][7]. ...
Light Rapid Transit (LRT) systems are often backed not only because they satisfy basic mobility functions, but because they can revitalize urban centers, affirm the legitimacy of state planners, support innovation and even cultivate an image of a city or region as progressive and modern. In this study, we argue that electrified, automated LRT systems can fulfill private functional frames, private symbolic frames, societal functional frames, and societal symbolic frames. In particular, we argue that light rail can fulfill private functional frames (making passengers feel safe, offering a cheap and efficient mode of transport), private symbolic frames (signifying political identity or exclusionary planning), societal functional frames (environmental stewardship), and societal symbolic frames (such as modernism or innovativeness, or the lack of it). Essentially, these frames encompass not only what light rail is and does, but what it means and represents, and even some of its failures and challenges. The article then identifies ten specific frames associated with two case studies of automated light rail systems, the established Docklands Light Rail (DLR) in the United Kingdom, and the emerging Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) in Poland. We find that the DLR is not only a vital part of meeting (functional) demand for mobility, it is innovative and exciting to ride, legitimation of a conservative approach to project development, a social injustice (to some), an environmentally friendly alternative to cars, and a perceived magnet for global investment into the greater Docklands area. Similarly, the PRT is not only a reliable and safe mode of transit, but also a technical marvel, a monopoly breaking symbol, a clean and sustainable form of mobility, and a reflection of either progressive Polish innovation and entrepreneurship, or enduring failure.
... At the same time, the operating costs (per rider) of streetcars are generally higher than those of bus or heavier rail, leading scholars to question the cost- effectiveness of this mode. Studies focusing on transit- oriented development have found that many cities view their streetcar lines not as transportation, but as a means of redevelopment and enhanced local character that can- not be accomplished with bus routes (14,15). Streetcars and other rail-based transit are seen as a more perma- nent, long-term infrastructure investment that might entice developers to begin long-range redevelopment projects (1). ...
The resurgence of streetcars in American cities has presented planners and civic leaders with a novel means of transportation and redevelopment for cities, many of which have a history of failed regional transit votes and suburban domination of regional planning bodies. To overcome these political and financial obstacles, supporters have engaged in a host of creative strategies to satisfy or bypass streetcar critics. Using a case study of four American cities with recently built streetcars (Atlanta, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Tucson), this paper explores these strategies from the perspective of streetcar supporters. Results indicate streetcar projects in these cities were pursued in part because each city had faced at least one failed rail-transit vote in recent years (usually involving light rail). Supporters of streetcar plans anticipated vocal citizen opposition based on those past failures; however, in most cases this did not materialize to the expected degree. This suggests that narrowly focused and lower-cost streetcar projects can avoid the contentious opposition of pricey regional light-rail proposals by offering a different product and/or seeking fewer local dollars. Results also indicate widespread distrust for regional planning structures and a willingness of local boosters to bypass those entities and apply directly for federal funds. Although not all four cities ended up with the streetcar they envisioned, the findings nevertheless document an eagerness on the part of proponents to seek transit projects that transform public opinion, circumvent a burdensome regional planning process, and take advantage of a national funding environment willing to fund streetcars in urban areas. © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2019.
... While our national-scale data set does not allow a detailed description of the locations where having a car provides no additional benefit in the labor market, such a study would be of enormous value and would help researchers and policy-makers direct transit funding towards expanding the number of such places. However, many public transit operators have focused much of their resources on attracting choice riders in suburban areas and investing in streetcar projects in urban areas (Culver 2017;Garret and Taylor 1999;King and Fischer 2016). ...
We examine the relationship between transportation access on the one hand and individuals’ employment and labor earnings on the other. We improve on existing studies by bringing a large national panel data set to bear on this question, attempting to disentangle the mechanisms by which individuals improve their economic standing and, finally, comparing the economic benefits to the direct costs of car ownership. To do this, we use nine waves from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1999 to 2015. We find that access to a car is a strong predictor of future economic benefit for individuals, and that at very high levels of transit access, carless individuals can also fare equally well. Access to an automobile is strongly associated with employment, job retention, and earning more money over time. Though having a car is associated with economic benefits, owning and operating a car is expensive; yet, our findings suggest that the benefits may outweigh the costs for most people living outside neighborhoods with truly excellent transit service.
... If mobility improvements offset the costs of project construction and operation, then the project is justified. Common methods for valuing direct travel-derived benefits often are of an insufficient magnitude to offset project costs, however, leading planners to look for other areas of measurable impact, such as increased real estate value [6,7]. The inclusion of real estate development as an outcome metric creates favorable cost-benefit ratios that (among other things) qualify fixed rail transit projects for federal funding while also allowing localities to muster support for specific transit projects from a wider range of local actors who are not primarily concerned with improving transport mobility. ...
In recent decades, U.S. cities have invested in rail transit for reasons beyond supplying alternatives to driving. Increasingly, rail investments are specifically promoted to reshape the built environment for property-led economic development. In these cases, new investment in rail transit is claimed to facilitate particular types of land use changes, mostly in the form of dense multi-family residential and mixed-use developments. Although rail’s effects on land use are widely claimed, scholarly evaluations offer mixed results. This paper examines two potential reasons for these mixed results. First, as most empirical examinations tend to be conducted shortly after new transit investment opens analysis is often criticized on the basis that short time frames may not allow land use changes to materialize. The second is that rail investment often includes changes to local zoning and land use regulations, creating opportunities for types of development that were previously outlawed. This paper evaluates these two critiques through an analysis of long-term land use effects associated with new rail transit service in San Diego, California. The results suggest that even after three decades of development cycles, rail transit has not led to consistent regulatory patterns of increased density or new mixed-use development.
Activists and advocates are increasingly inserting themselves into urban governing regimes. Austin, TX offers a powerful example where these actors shifted public transit planning and decision making toward mobility justice—away from the demands of capital and toward everyday transit riders. Using primary source documents and 13 semistructured interviews with key participants, we demonstrate that a multibillion dollar voter-approved public transit expansion plan called Project Connect was undoubtedly shaped by activists and conceptions of mobility justice. Our results illuminate how these actors were able to influence the plan despite the marginalization of similar concerns in the American context. By engaging in the process early, shaping the initial investment plan that was put before voters, influencing project governance, and coalescing around a first-of-its-kind antidisplacement fund, activists created a permanent seat at the decision-making table from which they are able to fight for just processes and outcomes.
Over the past decade, over $1 billion of public funding has been dedicated toward developing streetcar systems in the United States. Most systems in operation today are underperforming. I explore factors that may contribute toward poor system performance by examining the experiences of several U.S. modern-era streetcar systems. Focus is placed on the tension generated between often conflicting goals which drive system development. I find that a failure to adequately balance conflicting goals shapes planning and policy decisions in a manner that often supports a streetcar’s place-making capability while compromising its place-taking capability (i.e., the ability to take people places).
Investment in publicly subsidised social housing units – designed to ensure long-term access to dwellings for households with low and moderate incomes – is a strategy that cities around the world leverage to increase housing affordability. But the availability of such affordable units varies tremendously between cities, even within the same country. To what degree is this variation the product of local politics expressed through voter or policymaker preferences? To answer this question, I examine the inclusion of social housing in major development projects planned in hundreds of municipalities across the Paris, France, metropolitan region. Through a series of multiple regression analyses, I demonstrate that in cities with left-wing councils, shares of social housing units in new projects are an average of 7–11 percentage points higher than in cities with right-wing or centrist councils, after controlling for the ideologies of local residents, preexisting levels of social housing and community demographics. Though voters’ political preferences are closely associated with city-level social housing shares, elected officials’ partisan affiliations explain variations in the provision of social housing in newly approved projects. I reaffirm these findings by using a series of regression discontinuity tests to examine differences between communities with close elections. These results show how the partisan affiliations of local leaders affect urban planning choices in their communities.
Over the last decade, there has been increasing interest among geographers in a critical perspective on studies of transportation and mobility, or studies that take into account the power relations within systems of transportation that produce space, place, mobility, and/or identity. This ever-growing body of work includes people who might not consider themselves as transportation geographers per se, but nevertheless are expanding geographies of transportation beyond the traditional focus on vehicles, infrastructure, and economics. In this article, we review such work from three different perspectives: critical studies of professional practice, the interdisciplinary approach of Caribbean Studies, and the work of activists and scholar-activists to connect environmental justice with mobility justice.
Recent decades have seen a global resurgence in tram network development around the world. Despite a primary basis in transport, tram network development is increasingly framed as a spatial planning mechanism that is prioritised for its potential place-based outcomes. However, there has been limited academic research to investigate impacts of tram network development on community perception of place quality. This study contributes to the literature by presenting the results of 601 completed questionnaires investigating variation in perception of place quality between legacy and modernised tram streetscapes in Melbourne, Australia. Evidence demonstrates that modernised tram streetscapes were perceived to contain an enhanced physical design compared to their legacy counterparts. Additionally, modernised tram streetscapes were rated as higher quality locations overall that were more likely to facilitate a wide range of place-based activities and amenities. Overall findings provide evidence that tram modernisation can be framed as an opportunity for place quality enhancements, and appear to contradict some of the political complications that have played a role in stalling tram streetscape modernisation projects in Melbourne.
The inner and midlle suburbs of Adelaide South Australia have low levels of public transport use and high levels of private motor vehicle use for commuting compared to the inner and middle suburbs of Australia’s other major cities. A major reason for this is an absence of a rapid transit system in the region and the subsequent reliance upon bus commuter services in mixed traffic. The state government has proposed reintroducing light rail ’trams’ into inner and middle suburbs as radial routes connected to the central business district. The justification for the reintroduction is largely concerned with enhancing the city’s global image and facilitating urban infill. This article uses evidence from a literature review and statistical and physical analyses to ascertain the appropriateness of four common public transport systems, buses in mixed traffic, heavy rail transit, light rail transit and bus rapid transit for a central area of Adelaide South Australia where a new light rail line is proposed. This article argues ‘Curitiba’ styled bus rapid transit is the best option for the area because it is far less expensive than light or heavy rail, it has the potential to provide a rapid transit option for significantly more existing residents in the area, and would be more reliable and convenient for the people in its catchment. In doing so it can also provide a more equitable service.
Die wissenschaftliche Debatte zu residenzieller Multilokalität hat in den Raum- wie Sozialwissenschaften in jüngster Vergangenheit wieder an Bedeutung gewonnen. Insbesondere die angebotsseitigen Rahmenbedingungen hinsichtlich der Möglichkeiten zur Raumüberwindung haben sich spürbar verbessert, sodass sich zugleich eine wachsende gesamtgesellschaftliche Bedeutung des Phänomens „Multilokalität“ beobachten lässt. Dennoch sind die Auswirkungen multilokaler Wohnarrangements auf das Verkehrshandeln von Akteur*innen bisher kaum genuiner Forschungsgegenstand. Im Rahmen des vorliegenden Beitrags werden eben jene Auswirkungen in den Blick genommen. Anhand einer qualitativen Studie mit 26 berufsbedingt multilokal Wohnenden werden die Bedeutung von Routinen für das Verkehrshandeln nachvollzogen und verschiedene Bewältigungsstrategien hinsichtlich der an die Multilokalen gestellten Mobilitätsanforderungen identifiziert.
Seit vielen Jahren kann die Automobilität als hegemoniales Mobilitätssystem beschrieben werden. Das Fahren mit dem eigenen Auto ist heute also nicht nur die häufigste Art der motorisierten Fortbewegung, auch hat es sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten besonders tief in materielle, wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Sphären unseres gesellschaftlichen Alltags eingeschrieben. Nichtsdestotrotz fließen bis heute auch weiterhin immer wieder Gelder in den Ausbau von Infrastrukturen des öffentlichen Nahverkehrs. Basierend auf Beispielen aus Deutschland, der Schweiz und den Vereinigten Staaten wird im vorliegenden Beitrag argumentiert, dass insbesondere das Schienennetz des öffentlichen Nahverkehrs zum heutigen Stand jedoch kaum als eine Alternative oder Konkurrenz zum automobilen System bezeichnet werden kann. Vielmehr gleicht dieses einer Art Druckventil, welches mittels selektiven Einsatzes auf besonders staugeplagten Relationen dafür sorgt, dass die Hegemonie der Automobilität (vorerst) weiterhin bestehen bleiben kann.
The report presents an international literature review on Transit Oriented Development
(TOD) research carried out in order to frame the research problem and gaps for a research
project that is to be carried out largely in the Swedish context. The literature searches of peer-reviewed articles, literature reviews, and conference papers were carried out in the bibliographic databases Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science based on keywords selected by the project team. The report presents definitions of TOD, the application of the TOD concept in semiperipheral, peripheral and rural areas, the role of the private sector in delivering TOD, as well as best practice examples, including enabling processual planning factors, barriers and outcomes. It then identifies research gaps that are related to the above topics. Based on the findings of the literature review, the report suggests an outline for future research.
Seit vielen Jahren kann die Automobilität als zentraler Bestandteil eines hegemonialen Mobilitätssystems beschrieben werden, das sich tief in materielle, wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Sphären unseres gesellschaftlichen Alltags eingeschrieben hat. Nichtsdestotrotz fließen bis heute auch weiterhin immer wieder Gelder in den Ausbau von Infrastrukturen des öffentlichen Nahverkehrs. Basierend auf Beispielen aus Deutschland, der Schweiz und den Vereinigten Staaten wird im vorliegenden Beitrag argumentiert, dass insbesondere das Schienennetz des öffentlichen Nahverkehrs zum heutigen Stand jedoch kaum als eine Alternative oder Konkurrenz zum automobilen Verkehrssystem bezeichnet werden kann. Vielmehr gleicht dieses einer Art Druckventil, welches mittels selektivem Einsatz auf besonders staugeplagten Relationen dafür sorgt, dass die Hegemonie des automo-bilen Verkehrssystems (vorerst) weiterhin bestehen bleiben kann.
This research uses St. Louis, Missouri’s proposed Delmar Loop Transit-oriented development (TOD) site as a case study to identify how private interests overshadow overall inclusivity within a TOD space. Through content analysis and interviews, I reveal how establishing the TOD site aims to expand the existing entertainment district, but excludes the site’s predominately black and more transit-dependent West End neighborhood in TOD planning activities. Recognizing how different spaces and residents are excluded in ongoing TOD planning processes aims to highlight the spaces and residents most at risk for future displacement—pointing planners to areas of needed interventions.
In the last decade light rail transit systems have become a popular mode of public transport in many cities around the world to upgrade the existing public transportation network, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to support neoliberal urban development strategies. The paper takes its starting point in the growing critical literature discussing the politics of light rail and related transport infrastructure projects in the context of neoliberalism. The paper uses the case of Aalborg, Denmark to demonstrate how light rail projects are embedded in particular infrastructure imaginaries, which reflect wider political agendas of promoting urban development and economic growth. In the case of Aalborg, the city’s spatial strategies have played an important role in constructing an imaginary of the city as the region’s ‘growth dynamo’, which in turn have led to a growth-fixated conceptualisation of the city’s spatiality, and contributed to rationalise the need for investments in light rail. The paper argues that light rail projects are first and foremost politically rationalised as important investments for facilitating urban development and supporting entrepreneurial city strategies of urban and economic growth, whilst their social objectives of providing affordable public transportation play a less prominent role in the contemporary imaginary of the city.
Transportation planning has become increasingly interested in the institutional changes needed to implement sustainable transportation measures. This research looks at six U.S. metropolitan areas that are implementing or have recently implemented transit priority projects—Seattle, Portland, Denver, Chicago, New York, and Boston—using interviews with local planners, media accounts, and analyses of project documents. It explores what policy statements and arguments were used to support transit priority, the leadership needed to support implementation, innovative funding arrangements, and the institutional changes within agencies that led to a virtuous cycle of transit improvement. The research found that cities that talked about their transit priority as a way to accommodate growth without cars or to manage street space efficiently were more effective than those who put forth transit priority, and particularly bus rapid transit, as a cheap solution to improve transit. It also found that leadership within city transportation agencies was more important than elected official champions, and that transit agencies can use the promise of increased frequency to leverage city funding for street improvements. Lastly, it found that city streets agencies that are serious about prioritizing transit develop transit planning programs, staffing capabilities, and set regular meetings with transit agencies that they view as partners in improving transit. © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2019.
Most U.S. cities pursuing streetcars are doing so primarily for their purported development effects, as opposed to for their
transportation role, yet there is little evidence about the nature or magnitude of these development effects due to a scarcity of
rigorous, empirical research. Most available work simply presents descriptive information about development outcomes (typically
measured as changes in population, employment, land values, or permit activity) within streetcar corridors as indicators of the
streetcar’s development effects. Alternate factors which may have influenced such results are often not considered, placing into
question the validity of such measures.
This study examines the development effects of streetcar investments in two U.S. cities that implemented streetcar service
between 2000 and 2010: Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. The authors explore the development outcomes (here
measured as the number of permits issued) through a combination of statistical analysis of development activity in the streetcar
corridor and interviews with key streetcar stakeholders. The statistical results indicate that areas around Portland’s initial streetcar
line experienced higher levels of development activity (more permits issued) than areas not served by the streetcar, although
the differences in activity between served and not served areas since the opening of the second line have been insignificant. In
Seattle, the areas around the streetcar line in the South Lake Union neighborhood experienced greater commercial development
activity (commercial permits issued) but less residential activity than nearby unserved areas. The interviews provide important
local context for the interpretation of the empirical results and highlight the continued importance of development as a rationale
for streetcar investments, as well as to the limitations of the streetcar as a transportation service.
Transportation agencies are increasingly seeking private sector funding, but resulting deals have implications beyond specific projects. We analyze the broader regional and equity impacts of private funding by examining Detroit’s donation-funded streetcar. Despite potential negative consequences for transit-dependent populations, the longer-term political will forged through streetcar planning has a contingent possibility to enhance regional transit. In addition to donations, the streetcar relies on public sector funds, but we found limited public influence to ensure collective transportation benefits. A federal-level actor did mandate that a regional transit agency form, but more systematic public action is needed.
As an agent in the production of place, transport plays a key role in shaping cities and their wider urban regions. Light rail transit can contribute to city boosterism - helping to enhance a city's image and quality towards broader development agendas such as economic growth and creation of sustainable and liveable cities. This paper examines the place-making role of light rail (supertrams, light metros and streetcars) through analysis of its material and meaningful impacts in relation to boosting city image and quality. It provides a critical synthesis of empirical ex-post evidence from a literature review of published and unpublished sources on wider economic impacts of light rail. Impacts include a modern image, reinforcement of cultural identity, prestige, social inclusion/exclusion, environmental quality, and physical transformations such as pedestrianisation and ‘greening’ the city. More positive impacts than negative impacts were found, though these vary with geographical location and over time. Some cities deliberately seek to maximise impacts through integrated transport and urban planning strategies. The paper complements existing cultural approaches to transport geography to shed light on the relationship between transit development and city boosterism. The paper makes recommendations for future research.
Seven U. S. cities reported operating streetcar service to the National Transit Database in 2012, and many other cities are building or planning streetcar investments. Yet despite the increased popularity of streetcar investments, there is a lack of information about how these investments function as transportation modes, as opposed to urban development tools. This paper examines the streetcar as a public transit mode by examining ridership, service, service productivity, cost effectiveness, and other indicators of the streetcar's performance and function in the carriage of transit passengers. There is considerable variation in all of these measures, with the variability a function of the different environments in which streetcars operate, the different roles they play in the local transit system, and differences in the operating characteristics of the streetcars themselves. Among the cases, Portland's streetcar emerges as a strong performer, Little Rock's and Tampa's streetcars as relatively poor performers, and the other streetcars have mixed performance results.
Strategic spatial planning practices have recently taken a neoliberal turn in many northwestern European countries. This neoliberalisation of strategic spatial planning has materialised partly in governance reforms aiming to reduce or abolish strategic spatial planning at national and regional scales, and partly through the normalisation of neoliberal discourses in strategic spatial planning processes. This article analyses the complex relationship, partly of unease and partly of coevolution, between neoliberalism and strategic spatial planning. Furthermore, this article discusses the key challenges for strategic spatial planning in the face of neoliberalism and argues for a need to strengthen strategic spatial planning’s critical dimension.
We examine American support for transit spending, and particularly support for financing transit with local transportation sales taxes. We first show that support for transportation sales tax elections may be a poor proxy for transit support; many voters who support such taxes do not support increased transit spending, and many people who support transit spending do not support increased sales taxes to finance it. We then show that support for transit spending is correlated more with belief in its collective rather than private benefits—transit supporters are more likely to report broad concerns about traffic congestion and air pollution than to report wanting to use transit themselves. These findings suggest a collective action problem, since without riders transit cannot deliver collective benefits. But most transit spending supporters do not use transit, and demographics suggest they are unlikely to begin doing so; transit voters are wealthier and have more options than transit riders.
Also published in slightly different version as "Role conflict: planners torn between dialogical ideals and neo-liberal realities" in: Jean Hillier and Patsy Healey (Eds) (2010): The Ashgate research companion to planning theory. Ashgate, pp 183-213.
Planners are inclined to be in favour of public involvement and open processes and opposed to manipulation and lenient control of developers. The hypothesis here is that the attitudes of the typical Nordic planner, in particular, are much closer to communicative planning theory than to New Public Management. The planner role is currently under cross pressure from conflicting values and expectations held by educators and part of the professional community influenced by communicative planning theory on the one hand, and politicians and administrators promoting New Public Management on the other hand. However, patches of common ground are also identified and analysed, in particular the concern for user influence, service quality, and client satisfaction.
Much of the literature on value capture reports empirical findings on the incidence of rising land values related to distance from a transit stop following the installation of rail transit improvements. This annotated bibliography shows that the elevated value effects of transit access are well documented. The authors maintain that it is now time for transit/land-use research to move from hypothesis testing to practical applications of value capture. Longitudinal models can help predict land-value increments over a period of time, yielding estimates of the total capturable revenues that would support the debt financing of transit improvement projects.
This paper revisits the question of the political and theoretical status of neoliberalism, making the case for a process–based analysis of “neoliberalization.” Drawing on the experience of the heartlands of neoliberal discursive production, North America and Western Europe, it is argued that the transformative and adaptive capacity of this far–reaching political–economic project has been repeatedly underestimated. Amongst other things, this calls for a close reading of the historical and geographical (re)constitution of the process of neoliberalization and of the variable ways in which different “local neoliberalisms” are embedded within wider networks and structures of neoliberalism. The paper’s contribution to this project is to establish a stylized distinction between the destructive and creative moments of the process of neoliberalism—which are characterized in terms of “roll–back” and “roll–out” neoliberalism, respectively—and then to explore some of the ways in which neoliberalism, in its changing forms, is playing a part in the reconstruction of extralocal relations, pressures, and disciplines.
This paper summarizes the theoretical insights drawn from a study of thirteen large–scale urban development projects (UDPs) in twelve European Union countries. The project focused on the way in which globalization and liberalization articulate with the emergence of new forms of governance, on the formation of a new scalar gestalt of governing and on the relationship between large–scale urban development and political, social and economic power relations in the city. Among the most important conclusions, we found that:
•Large–scale UDPs have increasingly been used as a vehicle to establish exceptionality measures in planning and policy procedures. This is part of a neoliberal “New Urban Policy” approach and its selective “middle — and upper–class” democracy. It is associated with new forms of “governing” urban interventions, characterized by less democratic and more elite–driven priorities.
•Local democratic participation mechanisms are not respected or are applied in a very “formalist” way, resulting in a new choreography of elite power. However, grassroots movements occasionally manage to turn the course of events in favor of local participation and of modest social returns for deprived social groups.
•The UDPs are poorly integrated at best into the wider urban process and planning system. As a consequence, their impact on a city as a whole and on the areas where the projects are located remains ambiguous.
•Most UDPs accentuate socioeconomic polarization through the working of real–estate markets (price rises and displacement of social or low–income housing), changes in the priorities of public budgets that are increasingly redirected from social objectives to investments in the built environment and the restructuring of the labor market.
•The UDPs reflect and embody a series of processes that are associated with changing spatial scales of governance; these changes, in turn, reflect a shifting geometry of power in the governing of urbanization.
In the early 20th Century New York City grew rapidly in population and developed area. The subway system grew rapidly to accommodate this new growth, but also as a concerted effort to decentralize the city away from lower Manhattan. This paper explores the co-development of the subway system and residential and commercial land uses using Granger causality models in order to determine if transit growth led residential and commercial development or if subway expansion occurred as a reaction to residential and commercial densities. The results suggest that the subway network developed in an orderly fashion and grew densest in areas where development had already occurred while lagged station densities were a weak predictor of residential and commercial densities. The implications of land use regulations and transit network density on residential and commercial land uses are discussed as are applications to contemporary planning debates.
The political feasibility of using prices to mitigate congestion depends on who receives the toll revenue. We argue that congestion pricing on freeways will have the greatest chance of political success if the revenue is distributed to cities, and particularly to cities through which the freeways pass. In contrast to a number of previous proposals, we argue that cities are stronger claimants for the revenue than either individual drivers or regional authorities. We draw on theory from behavioral economics and political science to explain our proposal, and illustrate it with data from several metropolitan areas. In Los Angeles, where potential congestion toll revenues are estimated to be almost $5 billion a year, distributing toll revenues to cities with freeways could be politically effective and highly progressive.
This paper argues that a recent resurgence in Australian spatial planning has been superseded by a resort to infrastructure to address urban problems. The paper uses case studies of the Melbourne and South East Queensland (Brisbane) metropolitan regions to chart the renewal of new spatial planning, after a period of neglect. This paper then shows this spatial planning renewal has given way to a new emphasis on urban infrastructure planning as the primary mode of intervention in these cities. The infrastructure turn raises important questions about the spatial planning and infrastructure of cities within a new era of global strategic challenges. Yes Yes
Those who oppose tolls and other forms of road pricing argue that low-income, urban residents will suffer if they must pay
to use congested freeways. This contention, however, fails to consider (1) how much low-income residents already pay for transportation
in taxes and fees, or (2) how much residents would pay for highway infrastructure under an alternative revenue-generating
scheme, such as a sales tax. This paper compares the cost burden of a value-priced road, State Route 91 (SR91) in Orange County,
California with the cost burden under Orange County’s local option transportation sales tax, Measure M. We find that although
the sales tax spreads the costs of transportation facilities across a large number of people inside and outside Orange County,
it redistributes about 26 million from low-income residents to the more affluent. Low-income drivers
as individuals save substantially if they do not have to pay tolls, but as a group low-income residents, on average, pay more
out-of-pocket with sales taxes.
Mass Motorization and Mass Transit examines how the United States became the world's most thoroughly motorized nation and why mass transit has been more displaced in the United States than in any other advanced industrial nation. The book's historical and international perspective provides a uniquely effective framework for understanding both the intensity of U.S. motorization and the difficulties the country will face in moderating its demands on the world's oil supply and reducing the CO2 emissions generated by motor vehicles. No other book offers as comprehensive a history of mass transit, mass motorization, highway development, and suburbanization or provides as penetrating an analysis of the historical differences between motorization in the United States and that of other advanced industrial nations.
Discussing some of the most vexing criticism of communicative planning theory (CPT), this book goes on to suggest how theorists and planners can respond to it. Looking at issues of power, politics and ethics in relation to planning, this book is for both critics and advocates of CPT, with lessons for all.
This paper argues that spatial planning in England needs to be analysed as a form of neoliberal spatial governance, underpinned by a variety of post-politics that has sought to replace antagonism and agonism with consensus. Conflict has not been removed from planning, but it is instead more carefully choreographed and in some cases displaced or otherwise residualised. This has been achieved through a variety of mechanisms including partnership-led governance arrangements and inclusive though vague objectives and nomenclature around sustainable growth. Other consequences include the emergence of soft space scales of planning often deploying fuzzy boundaries that blur more concrete policy implications and objectives. Opposition to this post-political form of planning has led to new avenues for dissent that challenge spatial planning and its consensual underpinnings, ironically paving the way for the radical 'rollback' planning reforms of the Coalition government.
Many medium-size cities are planning or building new light rail transit (LRT) systems, the modern equivalents of streetcars or trolleys. Proponents argue not only that light rail is far less expensive to build than heavy rail, or subway, systems but also that it costs no more to operate than conventional bus transit and offers much improved service. Although it is too early to draw definitive conclusions, the first several years of experience of the new light rail systems in San Diego, Calgary, and Edmonton suggests that proponents have oversold LRT. In all three cities the LRT costs more than the conventional bus service it replaced. Public transit ridership increased modestly in two of the three cities, but the costs per added rider were high. 26 references, 9 tables.
Transit Oriented Development: Making it Happen brings together the different stakeholders and disciplines that are involved in the conception and implementation of TOD to provide a comprehensive overview of the realization of this concept in Australia, North America, Asia and Europe. The book identifies the challenges facing TOD and through a series of key international case studies demonstrates ways to overcome and avoid them. The insights gleaned from these encompass policy and regulation, urban design solutions, issues for local governance, the need to work with community and the commercial realities of TOD. http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&title_id=8710&edition_id=11109&calcTitle=1
This synthesis documents experience with selected streetcar and trolley projects and their relationship with the built environment. There appears to have been a resurgence of such systems in the United States. Their ability to spur growth and revitalization has not been adequately documented, whereas local potential for changes in land use are often used as justification for investment in them. Policymakers and planners seek a better understanding of how this mode of transportation interacts with the built environment. The report examines selected, built streetcar and trolley systems to trace their evolution, define significant factors, and identify commonalities among levels of success in impacting the built environment. This report presents an initial overview of published literature; a summary of an in-depth telephone survey of 13 of the 14 currently operating U.S. streetcar systems, a 93% response rate; and case studies of five systems with more details on the state of current knowledge and specific relationships of streetcars to their own built environments.
This article argues that existing critiques of communicative planning become more salient when we consider the challenges posed by neoliberalization, which is understood here to mean the ongoing project to install market logics and competitive discipline as hegemonic assumptions in urban politics and policy-making. I develop how neoliberalization, by its normal operation, produces important legitimacy problems that must be managed. Overcoming these legitimacy problems necessitates decision-making practices that do not fundamentally challenge existing power relations but still confer a high degree of political legitimacy. The article presents existing critiques of Habermasian ideals to argue that communicative and collaborative planning, insofar as they follow these ideals, provide an extremely attractive way for neoliberals to maintain hegemony while ensuring political stability. The article argues therefore that communicative and collaborative approaches are not well-suited to confronting neoliberalization. More promising instead are radical counter-hegemonic mobilizations whose goal is not to neutralize power relations, but to transform them.
Great cities are born of and give rise to great infrastructure. Historically, city planning has been deeply rooted in infrastructure and physical planning. One of its ontological bases has been to create urban place out of space through the intermediary of infrastructure. Currently, the links between infrastructure and city planning may be described as numerous but nonstrategic and noncomprehensive, even as the bond between infrastructure and cities remains tight. In part, this is because the planning profession has left key roles in infrastructure to other professions. This article chronicles the rises and falls in the fortunes of urban infrastructure in relation to city planning.
Recent construction of light rail transit systems in a number of North American cities raises crucial questions about their possible effects on land use and urban development. Although serving passengers and keeping construction costs down have been the primary aims of new rail investments, the possibilities for joint development and land use are numerous. This paper explores light rail transit's potential influence on urban growth and revitalizing central city areas. Some cities are integrating light rail transit with pedestrian malls as part of downtown redevelopment. A significant number of others, however, are downplaying the development potential of light rail transit by aligning their systems principally along abandoned railroad rights-of-way and industrial belts in order to cut costs. For most cities in the preconstruction stages of their projects, policymakers need to recognize the trade-offs involved when the lowest-cost corridor and alignment are chosen. On the whole, the land use potential of light rail is moderately high, where there are pro-development policy environments and other complementary forces.
Although transit-oriented development (TOD) has become an increasingly popular planning idea, very;few studies have examined how localities plan for and implement transit-oriented projects. This article helps fill that gap by studying the TOD implementation process near stations on the oldest of the current generation of light rail lines in the United States-the San Diego Trolley. Some parts of the San Diego Trolley have been in operation since 1981, but there are still only a few projects that both incorporate TOD concepts and were built after planning for the nearby rail line began. TOD projects were pursued most aggressively in the City of La Mesa, largely because TOD was consistent with local goals that went beyond transportation. Elsewhere in the San Diego region; several barriers have limited TOD implementation. Overall, the cities along trolley routes, though sympathetic to regional rail objectives, have approached TOD from a perspective of local goals, opportunities, and constraints. The result is that regional TOD implementation resembles the incremental model of policy-making. One implication of the San Diego experience is that incorporating TOD concepts into station-area developments is likely to be a slow process.
An empirical examination of the residential development patterns illustrates that accessibility and the availability of vacant developable land can be used as the basis of a residential land use model. The author presents an operational definition and suggests a method for determining accessibility patterns within metropolitan areas. This is a process of distributing forecasted metropolitan population to small areas within the metropolitan region. Although the model presented is not yet sufficiently well refined for estimating purposes, the concept and the approach may be potentially useful tools for metropolitan planning purposes.
Nearly all transportation policy debates concern money, and nearly all transportation finance debates concern equity. To some, this second assertion may seem puzzling, even counterintuitive. But the way public officials think of equity in transportation finance is far different from that of most social scientists or transportation planners. Equity gets defined differently by different interests at different times. This article examines transportation pricing and finance equity from a variety of perspectives to clarify what can be a fuzzy and confusing issue. The authors distinguish transportation finance and pricing equity from other forms of transportation equity and then discuss several competing theories of equity long debated by social philosophers. These theories serve as a basis for understanding the complex and often inconsistent notions of fairness that the public and elected officials have regarding the distribution of public resources and particularly transportation investments. Given these competing theories of equity, the authors argue that most conflicts over transportation pricing and finance are rooted in philosophical differences over justice and equity and differing notions of the appropriate units of analysis—individuals, groups, or jurisdictions—for evaluating equity. Accordingly, the authors offer an analytical framework to help planners and policy makers untangle these two issues. This framework transcends the philosophical characterizations of equity to allow for a more practical consideration of transportation finance and pricing fairness. They conclude with a discussion of the lessons offered by some recent debates in transportation pricing and finance for decision makers searching for a fair price for transportation.
Focusing development around transit facilities has become a significant way to improve accessibility, support community and regional goals of enhancing the quality of life, and support the financial success of transit investment. The experiences of a new generation of transit systems highlight the powerful role that transit investments play in channeling urban development. Benefits attributable to transit-oriented development (TOD) initiatives include improved air quality, preservation of open space, pedestrian-friendly environments, increased ridership and revenue, reduction of urban sprawl, and reorientation of urban development patterns around both rail and bus transit facilities. Today, many transit systems and communities across the country are participating in TOD programs. TOD participants range from small local and intercity bus systems with community-related services to large local and intercity rail systems with numerous projects. Increasingly, transit agencies are looking at programs and analyzing real-estate competitiveness to solicit developer interest. This report defines TOD and joint development and offers insight into the various aspects of implementing TOD, including political and institutional factors; planning and land-use strategies, benefits, and impacts; fiscal considerations and partnerships; and design challenges and considerations. The report focuses on TOD and joint development and practice; the level of collaboration between various partners (e.g., the development community, financial partners, planning and land-use agencies, and government entities); the impacts of TOD and joint development on land values; the potential benefits of TOD; and successful design principles and characteristics. This report will be helpful to transit agencies, the development community, and local decision makers considering TOD.
This article summarizes recent literature from several different disciplines in two new ways, first identifying six mechanisms through which transportation policy and investment could promote economic development and then discussing the evidence of the connection, one mode at a time. All claims for transportation 's effect on economic development depend on increasing the productivity of private firms, increasing the efficiency of transportation itself fostering innovation, improving the quality of life and thus the supply of labor and entrepreneurship, affecting perceptions, or changing land use and spatial patterns. The historical effects of transportation on economic development have clearly been beneficial, but these benefits have diminished over time, whereas the costs and potential for harm have increased. If long-lasting infrastructure investments are not adaptable, they willfit poorly with increasingly rapid and unpredictable change. To realize the potential for transportation to positively influence economic development in the future, decision making should be structured to make transportation efficient andflexible and take citizens'concernsfor equity, self-determination, and stability into account.
The paper examines the Blue Line corridor, a 22-mile rail transportation route that connects downtown Los Angeles to downtown Long Beach. The line passes through some of the most neglected and poorest communities in Los Angeles County. Despite initial rhetoric by rail advocates and local politicians the line has not succeeded in improving the economic environment of adjacent communities. In this paper we use the Blue Line as a case-study in an effort to understand the real and perceived barriers to growth around inner city station areas. Based on information gathered through a series of interviews with politicians, planners, community leaders and transportation experts, and site analysis data from extensive field-work, we identify the 'missing antecedents' for neighbourhood development around inner city station areas.
Strategic spatial planning which takes an integrated approach to the development of a territory seemed to go out of fashion, but now there are signs that it is being re‐established. This paper explores these developments using case studies from 10 European countries. The analysis uses an ‘institutionalist’ approach, which examines how the ‘agency’ of spatial planning practices responds to the ‘structure’ of contextual forces, at the same time influencing that structure. The ‘driving forces’ which are influencing strategic spatial planning are investigated, as are two aspects of the changes in spatial planning: institutional relations and policy agendas. The conclusions are that—at least in the case studies—there is a movement in the institutional relations towards horizontal articulation, territorial logic, and negotiative forms. Policy agendas too are changing, becoming more selective and using new conceptions of space and place. Those institutional developments, however, are not necessarily being translated into territorially‐integrated policy (as distinct from functional/sectoral policy). That translation appears to require simultaneous re‐framing of relational resources (trust, social capital), knowledge resources (intellectual capital), linked to strong mobilization efforts (political capital). The cases considered varied significantly in how far that had been done. Where it had, strategic spatial plan‐making practices were playing a key role in developing institutional territorial integration and re‐invigorating territorial identities.
The author looks at changes in the imposition of local taxes to pay for transporation; he finds some movement away from user fees. Lawmakers have been reluctant to raise user fees to meet inflation. It has been easier to try new kinds of funding, such as sales taxes, the author says.
This article presents a Granger causality analysis of the coupled development of population and streetcars in the Twin Cities
of Minneapolis and St Paul Historic residence and network data were assembled for 1900–1930, and linear cross-sectional time-series
models were estimated at both a tract and block level using these data. It is found that, in contrast with transportation
systems that were expanded in response to increased demand, the rapid expansion of the streetcar system during the electric
era has been driven by other forces and to a large extent led land development in the Twin Cities. The main forces that have
driven this process include technological superiority, monopoly, close connections with real estate business and people's
reliance on the streetcar for mobility. Proximity to the streetcar is found to be a crucial factor that determines the distribution
and development of residences: it is observed that residential density declines with the distance from streetcar lines, and
significantly drops beyond a walkable distance; it is also observed that gaining a closer access to streetcar lines within
800 m (about a half mile) predicts the increase in residential density to a significant extent.
This paper draws from the findings of published empirical studies and observations of the impacts of rapid transit systems on urban development. Analysis is based on comparisons of impact findings by different researchers and for different cities. An initial set of key issues is proposed, against which available information is arrayed and compared. It is concluded that rapid transit can have substantial growth-focusing impacts, but only if other supporting factors are present.
One of the major unresolved research issues in transport is the question as to whether transport infrastructure investment promotes economic growth at the regional and local levels. The concern is not with the transport benefits, principally measured as travel-time savings, but whether there are additional development benefits from these investments. If they do exist, can they be measured? In this paper, we have developed a new approach based on defining the set of necessary conditions for economic development to take place – in addition to the economic conditions, there are the investment conditions and the political and institutional conditions. It is argued that it is only when all three sets of necessary conditions are operating at the same time will measurable and additional economic development benefits be found. A conceptual approach will be presented to encompass these conditions. The paper will also address some of the key questions that have haunted researchers over the last twenty years on this subject area. These fairly detailed findings on the relationship between transport investment and economic development are followed by a series of more generic conclusions relating to other key concerns of analysis. Included here will be a discussion of the dimensions of analysis, a new proposal for project appraisal, decoupling transport from economic growth complexity and causality, accessibility and proximity, and the role of policy design.
Ramp meters in the Twin Cities have been the subject of a recent test of their effectiveness, involving turning them off for eight weeks. This paper analyzes the results with and without ramp metering for several representative freeways during the afternoon peak period. Seven performance measures: mobility, equity, productivity, consumers’ surplus, accessibility, travel time variation and travel demand responses are compared. It is found that ramp meters are particularly helpful for long trips relative to short trips. Ramp metering, while generally beneficial to freeway segments, may not improve trip travel times (including ramp delays). The reduction in travel time variation comprises another benefit from ramp meters. Non-work trips and work trips respond differently to ramp meters. The results are mixed, suggesting a more refined ramp control algorithm, which explicitly considers ramp delay, is in order.
This article examines the changes that occurred in the rail network and density of population in London during the 19th and
20th centuries. It aims to disentangle the ‘chicken and egg’ problem of which came first, network or land development, through
a set of statistical analyses clearly distinguishing events by order. Using panel data representing the 33 boroughs of London
over each decade from 1871 to 2001, the research finds that there is a positive feedback effect between population density
and network density. Additional rail stations (either Underground or surface) are positive factors leading to subsequent increases
in population in the suburbs of London, while additional population density is a factor in subsequently deploying more rail.
These effects differ in central London, where the additional accessibility produced by rail led to commercial development
and concomitant depopulation. There are also differences in the effects associated with surface rail stations and Underground
stations, as the Underground was able to get into central London in a way that surface rail could not. However, the two networks
were weak (and statistically insignificant) substitutes for each other in the suburbs, while the density of surface rail stations
was a complement to the Underground in the center, though not vice versa.
Sales tax measures passed at the local level and dedicated to transportation projects have become increasingly popular in the United States. While revenues from fuel taxes stagnate, growth of local transportation sales taxes (LTSTs), most approved in local elections, has led to a gradual shift of the financial base for transportation projects away from user fees and toward broader-based taxes. In this study, the relationship between voter support and the social, political, and geographic characteristics of the voters is explored. Using precinct-level voting data and census demographic data for three local transportation sales tax elections in Sonoma County, in the San Francisco Metropolitan area of California, regression models were constructed to analyze this relationship. In addition, the relationship between the outcomes of the three measures was explored to better understand which transportation projects might have garnered more support for the successful measure. It was found that the closer voters lived to the transportation projects to be funded, the greater their support. Higher incomes were also positively related to support, controlling for other variables. Political leanings were found to affect support, with the direction of the effect dependent upon the project list in each measure’s expenditure plan. Finally, it appears that the latest measure, which passed successfully, benefited greatly from its multi-modal expenditure plan. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007
This paper uses a simultaneous model of census tract population and employment to study the economic impacts of Atlanta's MARTA rail transit system. The results indicated that MARTA has had no discernible impact on total population or employment in station areas, but it has altered the composition of employment in these areas in favor of the public sector.
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ntdprogram.gov/ntdprogram/Glossaries/pdf/Glossary2014.pdf).
The Transportation Experience : Policy, Planning, and Deployment
- W L Garrison
- D M Levinson
Garrison, W.L., Levinson, D.M., 2006. The Transportation Experience : Policy, Planning,
and Deployment. Oxford University Press, New York.
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- R Guzman
Guzman, R., 2012. Property owners split on $62 million streetcar. Retrieved July 13, 2015,
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HDR, 2011. City of Cincinnati Streetcar Project TIGER III Discretionary Grant Program
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The Orderliness Hypothesis: The Correlation of Rail and Housing Development in London (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. ID 1735652). Social Science Research Network
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Levinson, D.M., 2008b. The Orderliness Hypothesis: The Correlation of Rail and Housing
Development in London (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. ID 1735652). Social Science Research Network, Rochester, NY (Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=
1735652).
Federal Support for Streetcars: Frequently Asked Questions
- W J Mallett
Mallett, W.J., 2014. Federal Support for Streetcars: Frequently Asked Questions
[Report]. (Retrieved July 13, 2015, from http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/
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Neoliberalizing space Spaces of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Western Europe
- J Peck
- A Tickell
Peck, J., Tickell, A., 2002. Neoliberalizing space. In: Brenner, N., Theodore, N. (Eds.), Spaces
of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Western Europe. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 33–57.