Designing Smart Places: towards a holistic, recombinant approach

Hence the volume offers an intellectual resource that expands on the current literature, but also provides a pedagogical resource to universities as well as a reflective opportunity for practitioners

Land Preservation: An Essential Ingredient in Smart Growth

The preservation of land for working rural landscapes, wildlife habitat, urban parks, recreational trails, and protecting water supplies and floodplains is emerging as an integral component of smart growth programs. Both the general public and nonprofit organizations have been willing to spend billions of dollars on land preservation because of a perception that traditional land use planning and regulation are not successfully accommodating growth or protecting valuable natural resources. The literature on smart growth has largely overlooked the potential of land preservation to curb sprawl and to foster livable communities. The literature on land preservation has focused on the mechanics of conservation easements and land purchases rather than on how land preservation can fit in the comprehensive planning process to achieve community smart growth goals. More research needs to be done on the strategic use of land preservation in shaping and directing growth as part of a comprehensive planning effort

The Role of Transit in Creating Livable Metropolitan Communities

Combines guidelines and case studies to provide a comprehensive approach for improving community livability and transit ridership in the United States

The Role of Transit Amenities and Vehicle Characteristics in Building Transit Ridership: Amenities for Transit Handbook and The Transit Design Game Workbook

This report consists of a Handbook and a Workbook. The Handbook identifies and describes passenger amenities and transit vehicle characteristics that attract ridership and explores how amenities may affect ridership. The Workbook includes information gathered from passenger surveys, focus groups, discussion sessions, and transit agency staff on the effect of recently implemented transit amenities on passengers. As a companion to the Workbook, a disk, The Transit Design Game, enables transit agencies to survey their customers about their priorities for enhancements and estimate the potential effect of enhancements on ridership. The intended audience includes transit planners, designers, general managers, and project managers; transportation policy makers; city and regional planners; and suppliers, vendors, and manufacturers

Transit-Friendly Streets: Design and Traffic Management Strategies to Support Livable Communities

This report will be of interest to individuals seeking to improve the livability of their communities and to those concerned with the role that local streets and public transportation can play in pursuing this goal. The report presents 10 strategies used in both the United States and Europe to create transit-friendly streets. The strategies are followed by case studies of five communities that have pursued different initiatives to improve their livability by making their streets more transit-friendly. The report culminates with lessons learned from the case studies. The report is very practical and will be useful to transit professionals, transportation planners, engineers, city officials, and local communities

Portland Public Market feasibility study and business plan

253 pp. Maps, charts, tables, appendices. Published February, 2006. Captured February 27, 2009.This report presents the findings from a Feasibility Study for the proposed Portland Public Market. This study was commissioned by the Portland Development Commission (PDC), and funded in part by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The Study assesses the market support and financial feasibility of a preliminary Market concept in the Skidmore Fountain Building, a historic structure adjacent to Ankeny Plaza in Old Town Portland and provides a detailed business plan along with implementation strategies. [From the Plan]"[F]unded in part by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.