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Browsing by Subject "Moving Communities Forward"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Enhancing Environment and Health in Transportation Project Design
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-12) Carmody, John; Singh, Virajita
    Good transportation design that enhances communities results in positive impacts on the natural environment--the air, water, soil, and biodiversity that are the life support systems for human society on earth. Design of outdoor and indoor environments can also positively influence human health. The issues related to environment and health fall under the concept of sustainability. This research includes a review of environmental assessment methods, rating systems and guidelines that are currently being used to transform sustainable building practices in the United States. In addition, there is an examination of case studies of exemplary transportation projects demonstrating the benefits of sustainable design approaches. The research includes case studies at three scales--large-scale development, buildings, and infrastructure--and identifies the lessons learned from these projects. While environmental sustainability issues are not new in transportation projects, there is a new and growing recognition that problems are more extensive and more urgent than previously recognized and that there must be a deeper understanding of the connection between planning, design, and construction decisions, as well as their resulting impacts. Transportation design can and should address regional and community scale ecological issues. Effective practices include applying an integrated design approach, making environmental outcomes explicit in the design process, and measuring performance outcomes during the life of the project. An emerging set of sustainable guidelines and standards can be effective tools for setting goals and organizing the design process for well-designed transportation projects.
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    Enhancing Transportation: The Effects of Public Involvement
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-09) Schively, Carissa; Beekman, Meagan; Carlson, Cynthia; Reed, Jenn
    This research examines the nature and effects of inclusive and effective participation in the planning and design of transportation facilities. The study develops a common base of information to guide the development and organization of planning and design processes for transportation facilities and provide a consistent methodology for evaluating process outcomes. The study places a particular focus on the criteria for effective participation, techniques used to engage the public, as well as the implications of public involvement on type, location, design, and program for transportation projects. In addition, the research identifies broader community benefits associated with effective participation processes. The study includes an additional focus on understanding the role of professional design experts in participatory processes. Six transportation project case studies are examined, pointing to a number of lessons to be considered by designers, agencies, and the public. The study concludes with best practices for public involvement in planning and design processes for transportation projects. This report is an executive summary of a longer report, which will be posted here soon. In the meantime, please contact Carissa Schively Slotterback at schiv005@umn.edu.
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    How Well-Designed Transportation Projects Make Great Places
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-09) Goldberg, Andrew
    Well-designed transportation projects demonstrate the potential to shape a community in ways that go far beyond the project's original purposes. Anecdotal evidence and advocacy exist on behalf of the benefits of well-designed transportation projects on communities. Yet there is little organized quantifiable or qualitative data. Nor is there a comprehensive guide for communities to maximize or integrate the diverse benefits that well-designed transportation projects can bring. Recognizing this lack of data about the role of design in transportation, Congress authorized a study in the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Moving Communities Forward: How Well Designed Transportation Projects Make Great Places seeks to achieve two goals: (1) beginning to measure how well-designed transportation projects can bring multiple enhancements to communities in terms of economic development, health and the environment, visual identity and design, public participation and public safety; and (2) providing communities, designers, transportation officials and policymakers a set of principles and practices to adapt to their unique situations and needs. The Moving Communities Forward research team employed a case study-based approach, analyzing nearly 30 transportation projects that represent a broad spectrum of regions, demographics and project types. Although a specific design feature or process works in one kind of transportation project, in one kind of community, it will not necessarily succeed somewhere else. But the broad principles and practices that designers employ can be repeated, in modified forms, across a wide array of transportation-related projects. The research team identified key principles and practices that designers and others can use - in the context of their unique situation and environment - to realize multiple enhancements to their communities.
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    Moving Communities Forward: Synthesis
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-09) Neckar, Lance
    This project summarizes and synthesizes quantitative and qualitative measures and best practices relative to the integration of design in the planning and implementation of beneficial transportation projects. This project examines the composite benefits discovered in four research projects under the rubric of "The Role of Well-Design Transportation Projects Enhancing Communities." These four research studies are analytical \ case studies of transportation projects, predominantly of two types: transit-oriented development (TOD), and context sensitive design and solutions (CSD/CSS). The studies focus on community enhancements through good design in each of four specific areas: economic development; public health, safety, and the environment; visual improvement; and citizen participation. This project matches key synergies of community design and planning processes to the outcomes in these cases. Highlighting both critical similarities and differences across the cases, the findings set new standards of integrative design excellence as they also suggest design principles that both broaden and focus design practices in community transportation projects. A final report summary of the study will be prepared and published.
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    Moving Design: Spaces of Transportation - Executive Summary
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-09) Forsyth, Ann; Jacobson, Justin; Thering, Katie
    Focusing on the design issues involved in two key types of transportation environments - context sensitive solutions and transit-oriented development - the report investigates design benefits measured in aesthetic and humanistic terms. These include issues of community identity, appearance, scenic quality, and cultural value. These characteristics are difficult to measure, more difficult to quantify, and even more difficult to cast in terms of monetary costs and benefits. Despite the difficulty of measuring it, design is an important element for the success of transportation projects and should not be overlooked. It is critical that we be able to measure the qualities of design so we can discuss it in a systematic and reliable way. In order to capture important details and reflect a range of potential definitions of good design, this report examined case studies in three regions - in Northern Virginia, the Saint Louis Metropolitan area and Missouri, and Northern California. In each it tested six approaches to measuring design quality: using a short score sheet rating tool and a longer inventory, eliciting the opinions of design experts and some of the users and creators of the spaces, using standardized drawing and mapping techniques to compare designs, and by assessing photographs. This report is an executive summary of a longer report, which will be posted here soon. In the meantime, for a copy of the full report, please contact Ann Forsyth at 607-254-5438 or af16@cornell.edu.
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    Traffic Safety Methodologies
    (University of Minnesota, Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-09) Davis, Gary
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    Transportation as Catalyst for Community Economic Development
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-12) Adams, John S.; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
    This study presents frameworks and methods for assessing economic development impacts of well-designed transportation projects. A literature review and on-site inspections of U.S. case studies provided lessons learned, best practices, and metrics for assessing outcomes. Project site matters, whether greenfield locations or redevelopments, and whether projects are in fast-growing metro areas, stable ones, or areas losing population and resources. Prevailing land prices and regulatory environments set limits on what can be accomplished. Economic development differs from real estate development. Economic development brings resources into fuller production of valued goods and services such that overall benefits exceed overall project costs over time. It is often accompanied by real estate development; sometimes real estate development provides a catalyst for economic development. Projects can be implemented at locations from downtown to the outer suburbs; distance from the core can affect conditions for project success. A project can be implemented in elite, upper-middle class, middle class, working class, or poor areas, with choice of sector influencing prospects for success. A well-designed project improves the community's balance sheet--enhancing assets, diminishing liabilities, and increasing net benefits to the community over time. It is important to distinguish absolute change from change relative to metropolitan-wide measures.