Planning Tools
Planning for new transit stations and for enhancements in existing transit-rich neighborhoods should be designed to address the potential for gentrification and to mitigate undesirable forms of neighborhood change. Planning efforts should:
Begin early:
Land values and rents can rise quickly, even before a transit station becomes operational, so the planning process for anticipating and mitigating undesirable neighborhood change must begin as early as possible, preferably at the outset of the transit planning process.
Be intentional:
The risks of gentrification and displacement, and the importance of economic and racial diversity in transit-rich neighborhoods, will not automatically be considered in conventional transit planning, so planning processes need be designed from the outset to address issues of equitable neighborhood change.
Include all stakeholders:
Everyone with a stake in a transit-rich neighborhood’s future must have the opportunity to participate, particularly those who have the most at risk but can be difficult to bring to the table, such as renters, low-income households, people of color and immigrants.
Coordinate across agencies:
Comprehensive planning for neighborhood change in TRNs can involve transportation, housing and other government agencies at the local, regional, state and sometimes federal level; these agencies’ planning processes should be coordinated rather than disjointed, because multiple overlapping processes can drain participants’ energy and resources and allow critical issues, such as equity, to fall between the cracks.
Be implemented:
Planning matters only if the resulting plans are carried out, so implementation steps need to be built into all comprehensive and coordinated planning processes for addressing gentrification and neighborhood change in transit-rich neighborhoods.
Comprehensive Transit-Oriented Development Strategy
Broad-based Community Engagement
Coordinated Planning by Local Governments and Transit Agencies