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Public transportation can support higher density land development, which reduces the distance and time people need to travel to reach their destinations, meaning fewer emissions from transportation. Compact development also leaves more land in the region for parks, wildlife preserves, forests and other uses such as agriculture. Finally, it reduces the need for pavement, meaning less run-off that degrades the water supply.
Transit-oriented development (TOD) is compact, mixed-use development near transit stations. A recent report, Transit-Oriented Development in the United States: Experiences, Challenges, and Prospects, by the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) found that by encouraging in-fill and accommodating small lot projects, TOD can reduce pressures to convert farmland and environmentally sensitive areas into housing and commercial development. Another TCRP report, Costs of Sprawl – 2000, concluded that compact development could save the United States nearly 2.5 million acres of land. That TCRP report also found that compact development through TOD can improve water quality through reducing the amount of impermeable surface runoff and preserve biodiversity through reducing fragmentation of natural habitat.
Links
FTA’s Transit-Oriented Development and Joint Development Web Page
Center for Transit Oriented Development
Non-profit organization funded by FTA through a cooperative agreement to provide best practices, research and tools to support market-based transit-oriented development.
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A train passes through downtown Chicago. Compact development helps conserve scarce urban land and decrease travel needs.
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