Transit-Oriented Development

RESEARCH RESOURCES

AARP International Conference on Livable Communities
www.aarp.org/special_static/gaplivable
The American Association of Retired Persons has identified promoting livable communities - with a range of transportation options and appropriate, affordable, and accessible housing that can enable older persons to age in place while remaining independent and engaged in community life as a high organizational priority. Through this conference, held in June 2005, best policy practices and innovations taking place in nations across the globe were compared. A number of the presentations from the conference are available on line.

California Department of Transportation, California Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Database
http://transitorienteddevelopment.dot.ca.gov
This database, maintained by the California Department of Transportation (better known as “Caltrans”) provides access to detailed information on 21 Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) in California - also called transit villages – including information on such topics as: land uses, site maps, implementation processes, financing, facilities, zoning, design features, pedestrian access, transit services, photos, travel benefits, contact information, and other valuable data.

Federal Transit Administration
www.fta.dot.gov
The Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation administers federal funding to support a variety of locally planned, constructed, and operated public transportation systems throughout the U.S., including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, streetcars, monorail, passenger ferry boats, inclined railways, and people movers. The agency also publishes a number of studies on these topics, which are available on its website.

Mineta Transportation Institute
www.transweb.sjsu.edu
Founded in 1991 and housed at San Jose State University in California’s Silicon Valley, the Mineta Transportation Institute engages in a wide range of research on transportation issues, with a wealth of publications available on line.

New Partners for Smart Growth
www.newpartners.org
The New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, organized by the Local Government Commission of Sacramento, California, has grown rapidly since it began in 2001. The 2006 conference brought together nearly 1,250 participants and over 250 speakers. Presentations from past conference speakers are available for free download from the site.

Rail-volution
www.railvolution.com
Since 1995, Rail-volution has been a leading conference that has brought together innovative minds from a variety of disciplines to discuss public transit-related issues, including elected officials, advocates, developers, urban planners, transportation experts, financiers, citizen groups, architects and others. Presentations from the previous year’s conference are available on line.

Smart Growth Network
www.smartgrowth.org
Smart Growth Online is a web-based catalogue of Smart Growth related news, events, information, including a broad range of resources on transit and transit-oriented development. Developed and funded through a cooperative agreement between the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Sustainable Communities Network, the website is designed to advance understanding of how smart growth can improve community livability.

Transit Cooperative Research Program
www.tcrponline.org/index.cgi
This website, hosted by the American Public Transit Association, makes available over a hundred publications regarding public transit, including a 2004 national study on transit-oriented development.

*NEW*
Transit Station Communities
www.psrc.org/projects/tod
Transit Station Communities is a term that combines the concepts of transit-oriented development and building livable communities. This site, initiated by the Puget Sound Regional Council, focuses on transit development in the Seattle-Tacoma region, but provides a wide range of information on transit-oriented development strategies.

*NEW*
Twin Cities Tool Kit
www.reconnectingamerica.org/static/twincitiestodtoolkit/index.html
A project of Reconnecting America, this project focuses on Minneapolis-St. Paul, but has applicability to projects elsewhere. Identifying lessons learned from the Hiawatha Corridor, the first light rail line to be built in the Twin Cities region, as well as lessons from other transit projects around the country, the Twin Cities toolkit provide technical assistance and information for people interested in the ways in which transit-oriented development can help reshape growth.

Voorhees Transportation Research Center
www.policy.rutgers.edu/vtc
Established in 1998 and housed in the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, School of Public Policy at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the Center conducts research on transportation policy issues, with a number of publications on transit oriented development.