Embracing new strategies for a mobile community
Transit oriented development (TOD) is a planning and design approach that seeks to create compact, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods around new or existing public transit stations.
Many transit advocates, planners, community-based developers, and others have embraced TOD as a strategy to create more vibrant and connected neighborhoods, increase transit ridership, expand opportunity, and reduce the greenhouse emissions that contribute to climate change. However, the high demand for housing adjacent to transit can make TOD homes inaccessible to people with lower incomes, while the rapid appreciation sparked by new transit investments can lead to gentrification and displacement, countering equity goals.
How Tucson Norte-Sur works to make TOD more accessible
Tucson Norte-Sur is an Equitable transit oriented development (eTOD) strategic planning project for a north-south corridor stretching from the Tucson Mall/Tohono Tadai Transit Center in the north to Tucson International Airport in the south.
Equitable TOD, or eTOD, incorporates affordability and accessibility into all aspects of traditional Transit-Oriented Development, with an explicit commitment to achieve equity goals through dedicated strategies that ensure low-income residents and residents of color benefit from – and are not displaced by – the new development. This approach builds vibrant, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods near transit stops and stations so that all people, regardless of income, race, age, or ability, have access to jobs, basic services, and amenities.
Project information: https://www.tucsonnorte-sur.com