A look at the future: transit, transit oriented development and new urbanism.

The US has done a lot of great things, started a lot of great trends and often inspired the world. It also created the concept of Suburbia and has created some of the worlds greatest examples of sprawl, some countires are following suit. But the US is finally moving away from this development trend, largely for demographic reasons.

This lecture explains well the nobel reasons for Suburbia, the subsidies that supported the idea and a discription of some new ways to develop. My favourite quote

"This is not ment to be a political statement, but if we had not faught a war in iraq qw could have put 50 of these light rail systems in place for every week that we have been in Iraq for the last five years."

There is also a discussion of a study carried out into the cost of each additional unit of housing in
a certain city, the outcome is that in the downtown areas at higher density the cost is around 1000 dollars per house for the council. For suburban areas the cost is around 22'000 dollars per unit.

Virginia Tech New Metropolist Lectures Series: "Thinking Big: Leasons from The Washington Metro" podcast, presentation.

To me, the best examples of urban development are transit oriented, having either trams, underground or bus rapid transit at the core. Perhaps the best example of Bus Rapid Transit in the world.

Bus Rapid Transit in Bogota. Video.

One of the best reasons for developing around transit stops is the reduced expenditure
on transportation costs and the consequent greater level of access to jobs for all
sectors of society.

University of Oregon, School of Architechture and Allied Arts. Shelly Poticha speaks on "Building the Livable Region: Transit Oriented Development and Development-Oriented Transit" podcast.

Home del.icio.us Digg This!