The Design Advocate: Training modules for creating and maintaining sustainable communities

Creating and Maintaining Sustainable Communities

(September 27, 2011) Reconnecting America today released four training modules created for and funded by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) that illustrate various principles of creating and maintaining sustainable communities. The modules created by Reconnecting America's LINK (Leadership¸ Innovation, Networks, Knowledge) Team were presented at three APTA conferences with the goal of educating practitioners, public transit agencies, elected officials and other decision-makers.

"The modules are applicable to a diversity of regions. We developed these modules to be flexible and adaptable to a variety of transit modes" said Catherine Cox Blair, Program Director of LINK.

The modules include:

TOD 101 Creating Livable Communities with Transit - This module highlights the many benefits of transit-oriented development, linking land use and transit development. It provides information on the interagency partnership for sustainable communities occurring at the federal level and how transit agencies and other partners can emulate those critical partnerships at the local and regional level.

TOD 201 Sustainable Urban Design and Transit - This module highlights the various principles of APTA's Sustainability and Urban Design Standards (SUDS) program to help transit agencies build sustainable communities through design. It illustrates how transit contributes to making a "place," when facilities are attractive, functional, and serve as community destinations.

TOD 202 Creating Mixed-Income Communities - Mixed-income TOD provides an opportunity for people of all incomes to live in neighborhoods with greater access to a wider variety of jobs, community resources, and truly affordable housing. This module highlights the benefits, strategies, and challenges of mixed-income TOD and the importance of the role of transit agencies and other stakeholders in planning and implementation. It also illustrates useful on-line resources such as the Housing and Transportation (H+T) Index developed by the Center for Neighborhood Technology and the Mixed Income Housing Action Guide developed by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development with sponsorship from FTA.

TOD 203 Corridor Planning and Transit-Oriented Development - This module illustrates to public transportation agencies how and why planning at the corridor scale provides an important perspective for planning transit that supports successful TOD. The basics of the session cover the types of corridors and how each type has a different impact on the TOD potential of the region, along with case studies from real places that have demonstrated successful corridor planning.

According to Reconnecting America's President, John Robert Smith, "These modules are a significant step in educating a broader audience about the importance of transit-oriented development in building sustainable communities."

"APTA is pleased to have worked with Reconnecting America to develop useful and informative modules for our members," said APTA President William Millar. "These will help advance understanding in this important area.

These modules are available online at ReconnectingAmerica.org and also available at APTA.com.

About Reconnecting America

Reconnecting America is a national nonprofit that is helping to transform promising ideas into thriving communities - where transportation choices make it easy to get from place to place, where businesses flourish, and where people from all walks of life can afford to live, work and visit. Reconnecting America is the managing partner of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, the only national nonprofit effort funded by Congress to promote best practices in transit-oriented development. Reconnecting America is also a founding partner of Transportation for America, a broad coalition of housing, environmental, equal opportunity, public health, urban planning, transportation and other organizations focused on creating a 21st century national transportation program. For more information visit our website, www.reconnectingamerica.org.