Rudin Center conference on Transit Oriented Developments
Last Friday, the Rudin Center at NYU hosted a conference on Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Over the course of a few posts, I’d like to offer a summary of some of the best ideas that were thrown around the room that day. Here’s what keynote speaker Doug Foy—an environmental activist and former head of the Massachusetts state development office—had to say:
Foy asked us to pay attention to capital flows and be on guard against city ordinances that discourage development in central cities and thus contribute to our reliance on the automobile for all but the shortest trips.
For instance, due to minimal playing field size requirements, schools are increasingly being built outside of towns and cities. Another exampe he cited are regulations forbidding additional sewerage capacity within central cities, which in many cases have prevented development that would add value to these areas as public transportation destinations.
Though mostly provocative, some of the rhetorical questions Foy asked point to a number of issues we should be addressing to make our towns and cities more livable. Chief among those he posed are: “Can every child walk to a library?” This question uses walkability as a lens through which to view other community issues, such as safety, education, and the role of government institutions.
In light of the recent electoral victories for public transportation projects, Foy also urged the democratization of transit funding issues. On these issues, he said, “voters are ahead of politicians.”
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