Transportation planning Archives

I have not mentioned this before, but my favorite planning book in the last year has to be Human Transit. Authored by Jarrett Walker, the book is based on much of what he has been saying on his blog by the same name. Reading his interview with the Urban Land Institute on how developers need to think like transit planners has resonated with me in my own practice.

A significant aspect of my job involves transit-oriented development. My role is to represent my agency as the planning stakeholder. TOD has been the rage in many suburbs in Chicago, particularly the ones with commuter rail. I have a good feeling when I go into a town for a TOD plan which one will succeed and which one will fail. As Walker states:

Even if your development is at a rail station, the bus system is almost always a key part of how a transit-oriented, low-car style actually becomes viable. That’s why it’s important for developers to think about what makes transit useful, which is often very different from what makes it superficially appealing. Only the useful is an enduring value.

I see too many towns that believe that by building development near their train stations that they can breed success. Of course, many of these places do not have bus service of any meaningful kind to provide a modal connection between the commuter rail and the rest of the surrounding area, nor are they willing to drop the parking minimums in the TOD area. Thus, it’s not really transit-oriented but rather transit-adjacent development that is planned. And by not taking into account frequency of service and multimodal connections between bus and rail, many TODs are simply not viable and are instead designed to support the car rather than stand independent of it.

I have been a huge fan of SimCity since I was a little kid. I’ve played the original SimCity, SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4. I’ve played it on the Super Nintendo game system and on my phone. And I’ve been waiting patiently for a new release. And that new release is coming next year! SimCity is a great game for urban planners like myself. But, for many of us in the profession, it still leaves a bit to be desired. Hence:

Regions should be more “regional.” In SimCity 4, the city was still treated as if it existed in a vacuum despite the regional map and transport connections. For example, you could still place power plants and other polluting land uses near the edge of your city to minimize the negative externalities and these externalities would not be present in the adjacent city. This has to change. Also, how about the ability to have multiple regions or a megalopolis?

Transportation needs to be realistic. SimCity had a built-in bias for roads when utilizing the transportation network. Subways were often under-utilized, even expressways! If this is the case, then buildings should be drawn to support these uses. That means more “suburban sprawl” because, after all, those cars have to go somewhere. I’m not advocating this, of course. What I would like to see is a balanced transportation network of roads, transit and bike/pedestrian infrastructure that is accurately modeled. We need to know that the transit systems we build will be utilized, and that bike and pedestrian infrastructure can reduce auto demand in a similar fashion that transit can.

Finance is critical. Admittedly, this might make the game impossibly difficult, but I’d like to see more realistic infrastructure and development costs. Revenues and expenses should be more realistic as should economic impacts on the city. How does the economy effect a SimCity? I’d love to find out.

Scale. Why do some factories that employ 500 workers take up the same land area as a middle class house? Why does an airport or seaport seem so small? I’d love to see a better sense of scale. Airports are gigantic and can the size of a city itself. Seaports often have huge areas for container stacking, railroad terminals and truck storage. These should be shown at a realistic scale.

These are just a few things that this urban planner has been thinking about. I am excited to play the next version of the storied franchise next year.

The nexus between transportation and land use.

Tag: Transportation planning

Transit Mode and Development Opportunities

SimCity 5