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Transit Oriented Development: Reshaping The
Great American City
 Denver,
the “mile high city,” faces the prospect of
becoming
too many miles wide. A steady influx of people challenges the
community to grow in sensible, sustainable ways.
A key factor determining the shape of any city is its transportation
system and the effect of that system on the use of adjacent
land. As an energy producing state, Colorado is keenly aware
of the need for efficiency, conservation, and sustainability in energy
use and production. Denver-area citizens demonstrated that
awareness in 2004 when they approved funding of FasTracks, a new public
transit system with a price tag of $4.7 billion.
Taking the unique opportunity to influence public attitudes and private
decisions about what FasTracks could do for this growing city, AIA
Denver developed a documentary film called Transit-Oriented
Development: Reshaping the Great American City.
The
film is targeted to three audiences: neighborhoods,
municipalities, and developers. It shows how good design is
good business, creating special places and yielding a higher return on
investment than less thoughtful approaches. It encourages
viewers to expect and insist upon excellence in the environments around
future transit stops.
The film addresses access to the transportation system, connections,
context, density and growth, uses and activities, landscape, and
beauty. Through case studies, it identifies challenges and
opportunities and makes recommendations useful in the discussion of
site-specific projects.
While many cities across the United States are expanding their mass
transit systems, there was virtually nothing on film to show in a
dynamic visual way, the effect of design and development decisions
along transit lines and at transit stops.
Transit-oriented development (TOD) can enrich active lifestyles, serve
the elderly and disabled, increase property values, and bring vibrancy
to communities. It improves transportation choices, and opens
new options for where to locate commerce and housing. By
encouraging less dependence on private automobile use, TOD can help
improve air quality and public health. It can support safe,
attractive, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable
communities. It is an antidote to sprawl.
The roots of this documentary took hold in 2004 when AIA Denver led a
series of public workshops to establish transit-oriented design
criteria. The workshops involved local governments, the
Denver Council of Governments, the Rocky Mountain Institute,
universities, the Urban Land Institute, and the Transit
Alliance. Two years later, production of the film began, with
interviews of experts, developers, citizens, and the development of
case studies. In consulting with other AIA chapters across
the country, the producers discovered that many projects labeled
“TOD” are merely transit-related, and fail to take
advantage of the full range of opportunities TOD presents.
This research helped inform the final documentary.
The complete 90-minute film débuted at the Urban Land
Institute’s national convention in 2006, and was shown at the
U.S. Green Building Council Conference in Denver later that year.
The film is now available for distribution as the FasTracks design
process begins. Citizens can arrange for a showing in their
communities and before local governmental and regulatory
bodies. As citizens become informed about the powerful impact
of transit systems on their environments, they can help create
successful, sustainable and more livable communities for themselves and
future generations.
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